Selling Your items

[Paul Ray Moore]

I am considering selling some of my turnings with the goal of selling enough to upgrade from a Jed 1442 to a Powermatic 3520b. I am thinking about selling on Etsy and wondered if anyone has had any experience using this web site for selling their turnings. The fees seem reasonable but I'm just wondering if anything is really sold off this site.
Thanks for the help.
Paul

[Jeff Fagen]

I talked to a guy in our club that has used Etsy with good success.It kept him afloat when he was out of work.

[Robert McGowen]

I have had an account with Etsy for a couple of years. I have sold a few things and have quite a few items for sale at this time. The fees are very reasonable and it is easy to do.

Knowing all that, I can absolutely tell you that you will probably be waiting many, many years to earn enough off of there with turnings to buy a PM3520b. It is not juried and you do not have to get past a gallery owner that knows what sells or what is good. Therefore, you have 1000's of items listed, 90% of which are horrid in my opinion, that someone has to look through to try to get to yours. Also, you have people selling fairly nice pens for $20 each and on the other end, there are items that I would be embarrassed to say I made that are listed for $300. I sold 6 pens in a gallery for $95 each and listed identically turned pens on Etsy. I kept lowering the price until I hit $35 each, and I still could not even get any views, let alone sales.

I personally would try to sell quality items in a shop or gallery.

Just my opinion of course.

[Curt Fuller]

I sell Christmas ornaments on Etsy every year. The trick is to refresh your listings every few days. It only costs 20 cents to list each item and another 20 cents each time you relist. But it keeps your items at the top of the list of hundreds or even thousands of items for sale. My theory is that most buyers don't wade very deep into the listings so if you keep your items near the top you have a better likelihood of selling them. If they don't sell after a few relistings, I just let them go. Also, make sure you cover your packaging and shipping costs.

[Primvs Aebvtivs]

We have "folksy" in the uk, and some of the sellers there also have "etsy" accounts, selling the same items. There has been mention recently that some sellers are making more on their Facebook pages, so if you're on there, why not give that a go? Not sure about Etsy search engines, but Folksy allow the searcher to specify different keywords (like googling for stuff), so - advetise where you can, update frequently, and make sure you tag your items ACCURATELY!!! My stuff's on folksy, but not sold much tbh. Good luck. (I'll take your old lathe when you get the new one...)

[Paul Ray Moore]

Thank so much for the information. I'll give Etsy a shot and also look around for a gallery although I live in a small area so there aren't a lot of options. There is a new art museum opening here and they were looking for local artist for their gift shop but they take 60% of the sell price which I'm afraid will push the prices of my items out of reach for most customers unless I take a lot less than what I would like for my items.

[Jon McElwain]

Be sure to look into the insurance and business licence end of things too. I had a shop flood a couple years back and my tools were replaced by insurance. They must have asked me a dozen different times if I had ever made any money doing wood working. If I had said yes (thankfully I had never made a cent with them) they would have considered the tools commercial and would not have replaced them through the residential insurance policy.

[Allen Howell]

I haven't tried it yet, but Artfire might be another location that works. It used to be free with a commission, but now I think it has a minimal cost.

[Jim Burr]

Just cuz I feel like it....no pic's...no sale. Let's see what you want to put up!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Paul I have to agree that if you are selling on Esty to get a PM 3520B you may be at it a while. I haven't sold much on there because what I want for my pens there are some selling dirt cheap. I just quit. I have my turnings in a art gallery and they only take 30%. I have some in another small town and they wanted 50% but haggled with them down to 30%. I would talk/negotiate with them because in my books 60% is out of line.

[Paul Ray Moore]

Here are a few of the pictures of items. I was mostly going to focus on bird house ornaments and pepper mills. I figure I have to sell between 80 to 100 items at an average cost of around $50 to get enough to get a lathe. I've got to work on my picture taking next. Thanks for all the suggestions.
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[charlie knighton]

if the lathe the goal, you have to turn items that sell, is what pleases you the selling , the craft, or the art?

[Paul Heely]

Charlie brings up a good point. I bought my PM3520b with money I made selling my stuff. At the time the majority of my sales were pens, the bulk of which were in the $60 - $100 range. Making a few pens was fun. Making enough to sell at craft shows and taking special orders was not much fun for me. Have not made more than a few pens in the past 3-4 years. I made them because I could sell them, but was never passionate about making them. To me they were a means to an end. Just something to think about.