Advice for Etsy business pls

[mayncae]

hello all,

sorry is going to be quite a long one...

I know many mums started their own baby clothing business once they become a parents, and so do I! I have an Etsy shop but not getting much attention...:(

I have quite a few designs with funny saying, geeky, nerdy theme, baby James Bond etc to be printed on baby clothes. Just wondered if anyone can recommend any baby clothing drop shippers? Where you upload the designs and sell, and the printers/drop shipper can do the rest = printing + shipping. The garment printing companies I found here in UK are very expensive, and I can't really get them from China as my order quantity is too low. Does anyone in this line of business can recommend me where to get their baby clothes printed? Being on Etsy is really hard competing with the americans that is in the same line if business because they have quite an established clothes printing industry and their prices are very low.

I read somewhere that suggested trying to give your products to businesses ( ie baby magazines, websites etc) for free like competitions to promote business, anyone tried that? Will they accept it or not interested?

Also would really appreciate if you can help share my shop or give some advice about the designs, just wondered if some of it is not really suitable for babies, after all the parents are the buyer, or perhaps my designs are more suitable for daddies rather than mummies?

www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JafNMac?ref=search_shop_redirect

thanks a mil!
May

My first piece of advice is this -stop cheaply selling your designs for people to print when you are selling the same designs on items.

Honestly, not only should your design be worth more than one product it is printed on (it's the design that sells, remember) intead of less than half of one product, but you are actively encouraging people to cheaply buy your design print it on anything they want, meaning their is less need or desire to actually purchase a product from you. Why would they when they could do it cheaper themselves - follow your instructions, print it out and use an iron?!

Stop that. Now. Seriously bad move. Your designs are what make your business! Total insanity.

Right, onto the rest. You need to get looking into printers if you want to make this successful. If you want to get advertising via giving samples to magazines etc then you clearly want this not to be teency tiny. That means you need to be prepared to keep up to order demand, should it occur.

I also think Etsy probably isn't the best market for this. I can imagine it being on Not On The High Street though. Take a look around on there for similar. I'm not sure how popular your stuff would be, but take a look, see what the market is and then, when you have considered supply properly, consider applying. It will cost you around £200+ to join and you can only join if they accept you, but it's worth looking at.

And get promoting on social media and increase your product range. Do some market research

hi TripTrap, thanks for your advice :)

I won't bother with Not On The High Street.not only a high joining fee (£250+VAT), they also charge 25%+ VAT. it just wont be suitable for baby clothes, I know a lot of baby clothes are selling on that website, those that can make it are either printing themselves, have their own studios hence they can afford to sell at a reasonable price or their selling price is very high,to cover the 25% commission... I'm struggling to look for printers hence I need help but so far I haven't got any advice on that at all, the only way to buy cheaply is to buy ready made ones from manufacturers, well that's my research so far, I have contacted many printers, some is charging me £13 just for the baby clothes n printing... so you can imagine my selling price IF i want to make any money.

I do have my reasons why I'm selling just my designs to allow people to print it themselves, so that I can concentrate on designing and I don't need to deal with packaging and posting and stocking up. is a lot of money just to stock up, and I simply can't deal with that and accounting and designing and marketing, promoting etc..... my costs is really high just to get those baby clothes printed, because the baby clothes size are so small, so is harder to produce and is also hard for printers to print. plus commissions for Etsy and bank charges, I'm really not making anything. There is also a limit of how high my prices can go, not many will want to pay more than a certain amount for a baby T-shirt. so if people do like my designs and like the idea to print it themselves perhaps they might even buy a few designs to play around with or make into gifts, just download the designs after payment, and I don't need to deal with P&P but some other more important stuff like promoting :)

thanks again for your advice n time :) much appreciated

OK, I'm going to be totally honest, and I'm sorry if this comes across as rude.

I know nothing about the business side, but as a potential customer I find your designs and prices more suitable for eBay rather that Etsy.

God, that sounds harsh, but I do think you'd sell more.

Ok, I have to be honest then and say that it doesn't appear that you are able/willing to run a business properly.

I am going to be bluntly honest here. As a mother of a baby, I wouldn't pay £9 for a single item with a design like that. This is partly because I know of other businesses that sell hand printed (screen printed) vests for similar prices (see here for instance - I know the design is nothing like yours - but it's £1 cheaper and to me looks like a much better product www.lemonadeandmagnolia.bigcartel.com/product/lion-tie-dyed-baby-grow-purple-9-12m).

I also know of businesses that sell handmade rompers and dungarees for around £20. Obviously this is more than your products, but to me it seems a more justifiable purchase.

Screen printing (I believe) often works out cheaper for the manufacturer as its a much more DIY approach. Could you look into something like that? Simplify your designs and go from that angle to keep your costs down?

Alternatively, go for a higher quality product. I bought t-shirts for DH and DD from here before - again more justifiable as it seems a high quality product: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/blackbirdtees?section_id=16652704

Sorry - first link should be www.lemonadeandmagnolia.bigcartel.com/product/lion-tie-dyed-baby-grow-purple-9-12m

I was actually just thinking OP, that maybe you could try Amazon. However, you still need to be able to produce your orders and really need to stop selling the designs for people to print out. Saying it's easier for you is really bad business sense.

Price wise I think other posters have a point, although I've seen similar on NOTH at the same price,but their designs may have been a bit more original and funny - the Big Bang Theory one you have really isn't original and I've seen the exact same print on many things.

I sometimes buy printed t-shirts for ds (16) from Amazon, usually paying between £11 and £15.

So consider your pricing too.

You need a proper think about this,especially on the printing side. Remember that if you advertise through magazines etc it's with the expectation of gaining orders. Gaining orders is no good if you cannot fulfill them

hi Ladies,
thanks for the advice and time.

TripTrap, my msg here is to ask for help and advice, (some mentally support too as is very stressful to look after a young baby waking up a few times during the night, penniless and still trying to make some money to look after my baby). as someone just starting their own business, of course I am serious, just because I can't do it your way doesn't mean I am not serious to run my business. IF I have the capital, I will pay good money for really good photos and get print/clothes produced, have my own studio (that would be a dream come true). I need to start some where small to work my way up to run it properly, too. I am still learning. I would love to put in more effort and time (and money too of course) to make it work, but I need to start somewhere. Adults and teens are "easier to sell" with that price range and I am well aware of that. I didn't really look into much of others designs,(I'm worried I might uncounsiously copy their designs) thanks for letting me know about The Bang Theory design, no, I didn't know there are something similar, but I suppose this is a famous shows and it must be similar to others in some way. ... Yes I am thinking of advertising, all these things take time and money. I said made things "easier" for me...I'm not just sitting down waiting for money to roll in. there is still a lot to do with marketing and promoting and designing, customer services. A proper set up company will have a separate department to do different jobs, not saying I'm not willing to work hard, I need to do what I can manage too. I do appreciate your advice, but to say I'm not serious was quite hard to stomach, maybe I am not doing it right, but I am serious. Starting a business is not easy. i am willing to listen to what strangers says and access the possibilities. learn along the way.

Milk Two Sugar - Thanks for your honest opinion, yes harsh but got me thinking perhaps I'm selling my design too cheaply. Is really hard to judge on selling price, you have people that like and some hate your designs, (just like celebrities) I don't want to cheapen myself but I do want to make it affordable for people to buy and make their own baby clothes, to have fun, profit is one thing, but I want to be happy, too, and I also hope to put a smile on my customers not everyone can afford premium prices, I need to look at my competitors's prices too. I can't be too far off. That's my thinking, as I said i have a lot to learn. I know I am not Picasso, but I still spend time and effort to think & draw those designs. I see many selling just texts on the baby clothes and the prices is about £10 and above and there are still people willing to pay. So I think understanding what customer will pay or like is very hard. [I'm still learning! :( ]

BlibBlob - thanks for your advice, I did look into screen printing, the printers I found was also charging me almost £10 to print. and like I said previously, many doesn't want to work with me because my quantity is too low, the ones that will work with me charge me sky high.
So I really hope someone can recommend me some printers- that was what I really need help with. like you said, you won't want to pay £9 for my designs, and of course I respect and I did think of that myself, I'm trying to think as a buyer myself. I do want to make this work, but I need to make it affordable for my customers too.

Although i am sitting behind my computer screen now, but is really scary to put myself out here to get jugded, too, people criticising my designs or prices. This journey is really physically and mentally challenging :)

I know it's hard. However, it really is something you should've thought of beforehand.

Apologies but I don't think Milk was saying your prices are too low either. It was a combination of price and design she mentioned. I agree based on some of the designs,specifically the BBT one which is done by everyone. EBay would get it out there with the rest more and is probably the right market. That or Amazon.

Where did you get the ones you currently have printed? How much did that cost?

The thing is with anything someone designs and makes is that they also need to factor production in first. Some things can be made to order,some don't sell so well if they are. But what I'm wondering is how you were planning to supply any customers currently if UK printers charge so much?

Have you asked about volume printing costs and business prices?

I've just googled and found www.screenprinting.co.uk 10 t-shirts for £4.79 each.. Yorkshiretee offer a printing and drop shipping service.

But as I said, and it's not about 'my way' it's about getting a business head on and doing it the right way, it is really something you should've looked into first. What would've happened if you had got loads of orders?

Also, honestly, really don't sell you designs for people to print themselves at £3. Seriously. You won't do yourself any favours and they could well wonder if you are printing them out and ironing them (onto primark bodysuits), as you've said they can. It lessens your chance of an actual product sale.

As for not getting many viewers. You have to work at test pretty much daily,at least to start with. Most etsy sellers moan and most say how much work it is to get those viewers. You have competition to battle with.

You also do need to check out the competition

And I know it's hard. I'm a single mum with a severe and complex autistic to look after. I run my own business as a jewellery designer, goldsmith and silversmith. I started with an investment of less than £100 on silver and gemstones, made one of each of the initial collection and put them online as made to order so payment was received before I paid out for more materials to make more. Now I can also produce more before sale. I design,plan,scale, hand cut,forge,set stones and polish, photograph,run the website and marketing,package and post everything myself and it is a lot to do. BUT I can do it because I planned before I started,including making a marketing plan. The initial planning really will it much easier and more viable for you.

Get yourself a social media business page too.

Update etsy as much as possible. Get networking etc. Consider other selling platforms as you need to find what is most suitable for your products.

What quantities have you been looking at getting printed currently?

I like your designs :-) and i think you've had some great advice on here already so keep at it.