Turning Pens ain't for sissies

[Bart Leetch]

I am thinking of getting into selling pens as well as animal calls & bottle stoppers & what ever else there is...........
I figure it will take quite a while to get together the materials & kits & displays & make all the items needed.
So the big question what in your experience has sold the best or does it change from time to time?

Yes I already know I'm nuts but the money has to come from somewhere to continue the spinny enjoyment:eek: :D .

Thanks. Bart

[Randy Meijer]

This question gets asked a lot and the answer is always the same or always different!! :confused: :confused: Some guys sell a lot of something and for another guy that same item won't sell at all. What you sell will depend, to a great extent, on who you sell to....what your local market is like. Farmers in a small town in Iowa bitch about paying $20 for a slimline while lawyers in Dallas by $125 fountain pens like they were candy bars. I'm sure you will get a bunch of opinions; but chances are you won't have an answer for sure until you start selling and see what works for you.:D :D

[Corey Hallagan]

Aside from pricing.... your basic slimlines and comfort pens are always a good low cost pen to have. I also like to offer a nice European and cigar pen. You can add a rollerball or founten pen like the Baron for an upscale pen. The Berea Pefect pen kit is a nice one as well that is basically convertible between a ballpoint or pencil. Chrome is a good long lasting finish that is very affordable. For gold I now order Titanium gold unless the person wants the 24Kt finish and they understand it won't last forever. You will have to figure out what works on pricing but it really isn't even geographical.... I sell pens in my office and one person won't scoff at paying 35.00 for a comfort pen and another 20.00 is tops they will spend (which limits the wood & kit options) Women seem to like the colored dyed pens or resins and guys seem to like the the nice woods primarily. You can slowly add to your aresenal. 5.00 for the bushings, 5.-10.00 for the drill bit and a couple kits and you can add to the ranks. That is how I started. I now make the Slimline, Comfort Pen, Berea Flat Top Ballpoint ( Pain in the butt) Berea Flat Top Roller Ball, Berea 8mm Euro, Berea Sierra which is an excellent 1 barrel pen that is easy to make and looks great! I plan to add the Berea Perfect Pen next. Remember there is alot you can do with the basic slimline. You can modify those to make some nice looking pens that don't look like a slimline and not add any cost. See the attached.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f288/challagan/SAModified4.jpg

Corey

[Frank Kobilsek]

Bart,
For me pens sell best from my pocket, not at shows. Around holidays it picks up. People comment on 'my' pen and I go into sales mode. I do have a lawyer that buys 10 at a time from me a few times per year. He likes a Baron roller ball, ebonized walnut, CA finish, I think they look like shiny plastic but he's the customer.

I do the best $ with stoppers at craft shows and through wine shops on both consignment and even wholesale.

Bowls, boxes and platers will sell but most of mine are given as gifts or to charity. Think about donating to your favorite causes. If they sell it at thier charity auction I write it down as a donation of that amount for tax purposes. I just added it up last night, my sales and my donations where equal YTD. Expenses were greater than sales & donations combined (by alot!).

'What does a woodturner do if he wins the lottery? Keep turning until he runs out of money' Go slow with your expectations of profitablity. To me selling something is a function of cleaning off the mantel so I have room to put the next piece on display in our home.

I don't mean to be discouraging but test your products and your sales outlets and experience will tell you what to make, where to sell it and for how much.

Frank

[Frank Fusco]

Locally, I can't sell pens. Folks are simply too cheap. They faint at $10.00 for a slimline and have cardiac arrest at $60.00 for a gold Ti Baron with exotic wood. My duck and other game calls do sell if I am at the right show. But to justify traveling to a show I would have to sell a whole whoop of calls. Most of my calls are priced at $35.00. After calculating gas, meals, table rent, motel, etc. Probably ten sales would be a break even. And I have had one sale days. Balance that against days you sell ten or twelve and it's tough to call it a profit. Like the man said, it depends on where you are. A store in a big city several hundred miles from my home that specializes in high end pens has expressed interest in carrying my pens. All we have to do is agree on prices, quantity and him buying as opposed to consignment. I won't do consignment. Have been on both ends and the very concept is fraught with disaster. Good luck. For now I have stopped making all but a very few pens. I make only Europeans in Dogwood and Bethlehem Olive Wood with cross clips. And I'll make a few better pens in Gold Ti. Otherwise I don't see any sense to adding to my current store of several hundred already made pens that aren't selling.

[Dario Octaviano]

Bart,

As mentioned, various localles/market seem to have their own favorite. You will have to experiment and see what your market likes. How much they are willing to pay also varies.

I suck at marketing so I hardly make any sales. I am also stubborn about making pens only with kits I like so that doesn't help me any.

I have some request for ones that I discontinued (slimline, and 7mm Euros) and I keep making them but with a heavy heart.

Good luck!!!