Anybody sell on Country Living or recommend a forum ...

[nolassie]

...that might include those that do?

I've just discovered that Country Living has an online shop. It's my target audience but it costs £200 +vat to register plus 25% commission. I can't find any mention anywhere on the Internet of anybody else selling there so don't know if it's worth it. Any experiences?
TIA

I signed up with them, and I'm pretty sure I never got a sale. They don't have the same audience as NOTHS etc. If you're going to be with anybody, focus on NOTHS or just go straight to Shopify and do it yourself.

Are you an established brand in any way at all? Where do you currently have your products?

They emailed me to invite me to join them, and mentioned the £200 and I sent them a lofty email saying that I was vair important and couldn't imagine paying somebody to be in their shop. So they didn't charge me. But then I never got any sales either! I must log in some time and see if I even uploaded my products correctly (I closed that side of my business shortly after).

Feel free to DM me if you want to talk more.

Huh. My brand isn't even there. God. Maybe I lost the will to live before I even uploaded everything? I was sure I had completed it all. But this was back in January 2014, so...

Hi NYNB! Thanks for replying, I'd given up up on a response so sorry for taking so long to reply myself.

That's all pretty much as I thought. I've tried to get into NOTHS but 'wasn't the right fit. ' No more feedback the that.

I sell gift wrap and cards mainly on Amazon and a tiny bit on my own site and etsy but it's the huntin' shootin' fishin' stuff which is the best selling so I thought I'd focus on that.
Other stuff has happened recently and I'm starting to licence artwork to a manufacturer so who know where that will go but will still sell stuff myself. How did you get an invite to sell? Would still give it a go if I didn't have to fork out the joining fee.

They came after me, I'm afraid (my stuff is a perfect match for them), but seriously - these drop ship "buy an entire shop off the shelf" people have ZERO incentive to sell your stuff in the way a traditional trade stockist has. It's honestly not worth the effort. You'll go through all that crap and get about £32 a year out of them.

Similarly, NOTHS is a pain in the arse and v difficult to make money out of anyway.

Have you thought about doing The Stationery Show or even Top Drawer? Or just reaching out to shops in person - it's not that hard to identify potential stockists and bug them until they order from you. Minimum order £100 + shipping. Shipping charged at £7.99. Free shipping for orders over £150. Proforma for 1st order, 30 days AT YOUR DISCRETION for orders thereafter etc.

How much does it cost you per unit? I was spending about 30p per unit because I was printing in relatively small batches and using fancy envelopes. Trade price of £1 or 95p if the client was ordering well.

Huntin' shootin' fishin' retailers might carry them too, but poss. not.

Card agents are a waste of time unless you have HUNDREDS of designs.