10 Low-Risk Ways To Get Started Selling Your Crafts
So now you have decided to turn your hobby into a money-making endeavor. You have weighed the costs, your time, and other factors into your decision and you have decided to give it a go. This article will offer 10 low-risk ways to get started selling your crafts. These are my own personal tips based on my own experiences and these may not be right for you or your situation. In fact, these tips may turn out to be not so low-risk at all for you depending upon your own needs and personal situation. Hopefully, by reading this article you may walk away gaining new perspectives and ideas.
When first starting out selling your crafts, you may not want to start off selling at a high-risk event. A high-risk event is one that has high fees, strict requirements, perhaps a large up-front deposit amount, and more that leave you wondering if you might even sell a single thing there. Of course, you should research the events that you do sign up for well ahead of time. You should find out how many people are typically in attendance, how well other vendors have done in the past there, and the specific demographics of the shoppers. If you have never participated in any craft fair previously, this information may not be all that useful to you because you are still uncertain if your product will sell-at all.
Here are 10 low-risk ways to get started selling your crafts if you are just getting started. Low-risk means that there is a nominal fee to participate as a vendor, few participation rules, no up-front deposit amount, and requires minimal effort on your part. While these suggestions might not yield huge sales due to the nature of the event, it is a way to get started that is not intimidating and you won’t have to put down a huge amount of money in order to sell your crafts. Some of the suggestions I have here are specific to Hawaii because that is the state I reside in, but you may be able to apply it to a similar venue in the place that you live. Here are my 10 tips:
Post and sell your crafts on social media. Take good pictures of your items and include prices and invite people to contact you if they are interested.
Have a garage/craft sale at your own residence. Combining garage sale type of things along with your crafts to sell reduces the total amount of crafts that you need to have made. You can even combine this sale with your neighbors or friends.
Sell at your community association events. My neighborhood association holds a monthly garage/plant sale at the neighborhood recreation center for members. The association also holds a monthly craft/food sale for the community for a nominal fee. It is a small and cozy event and you can meet and connect with your community.
Sell at the local swap meet. On Oahu, there is a swap meet held at the Aloha Stadium on Wednesday’s and Sundays the cost is low and the event attracts locals as well as tourists so there is a good crowd.
Booth share at a local, inexpensive craft fair with another vendor or vendors. This will reduce the cost of the event as well as give you company and moral support as you venture out selling your crafts for the first time.
Sell your crafts on consignment at a local craft store. Here in Hawaii, we have the Ben Franklin Craft Stores through out the state. They have locker spaces, glass cubicles that lock where crafters can rent and sell their crafts. The locker space is approximately 17x17 inches and you can basically set up your own little storefront there. Customers who visit the store can browse the lockers and if they see something that they’d like to purchase can tell a store clerk to open it up and they pay for it at the register. The crafter then receives a monthly check for the merchandise that has sold. The crafter only pays the monthly fee for the locker space. The cost to rent a locker ranges from $40-$60 depending on the location. Eye-level lockers are premium and cost the most. The ground level lockers are the least expensive. Several stores allow locker space vendors to set up a table outside of the store and sell their crafts via a vendor trunk show. This used to be free, but now costs a very nominal amount. Vendors can do very well selling at the trunk shows and also selling out if the rented lockers.
Sell at a weekly Farmer’s market. While Farmer’s markets are generally for selling food, produce, prepared meals, baked goods, and plants, I have also sold my crafts and have done very well. The cost of participating at weekly farmers markets is generally lower than the cost of high-end craft fairs.
Sell on social media marketplace or online yard sales. This is a no-cost way of selling your crafts to see if anyone may be interested.
Find a low-cost craft fair or fundraiser event. I participated in a local club fundraiser Bingo night event that cost $25 and there were only 6 vendors there. Though it seemed like a no-sales event, I made killer sales. Seek these out.
Sell at a local school or church fundraiser craft fair. These are typically low cost and smaller venues. This is how I first got started. You can too. Find out these venues by inquiring with other vendors and visiting these venues in person and you will soon get more leads as to where you can sell your crafts.
I wish you the best success in your craft sales. Follow your passion and your dreams!
Here is one of my Ben Franklin Locker Spaces!
Here, I am selling my crafts at a Ben Franklin Vendor Trunk Show outside of the store!