August 17th craft show

[dehrlich]

Thought I would post a few photos of my booth I had at a craft show last weekend. Lots of new stuff I haven't posted pics of. Wish it had been a better day sales wise, but it was good practice setting up the booth.

64263 One of the examples
64259Overall shot
64258
64256
64257 Pattern I created for boot jacks. Used to take your cowboy boots off for those who don't know.
64261 A mini blanket chest made from QS white oak, pattern of my own design, with some help from a few here on the forum.
64260 It came out pretty nice, thinking of putting it in the state fair next month.
64262 Mail and key caddy I designed. Works great by the front door, put your out-going mail in the box and you won't forget it.

[TerryT]

Some really nice stuff! Craft show sales should pick up in a couple of months.

[unitedcases]

That blanket chest is something else. Very nice displays all around.

[RogerB]

Very Nice work. Like the boot jacks

[Digitalwoodshop]

Excellent collection and fantastic craftsmanship....

AL

[Proctorw]

Great looking products. My wife and I are getting ready for the "Fall Craft Season" and I don't seem to have enough hours on the weekend to build up inventory. Your inventory is impressive, lots of different type of products. I have been concentrating on a couple of items. I am still struggling with the painting of Plaques, but should get better over time. I am definitely not in your league when it comes to painting. One last question, how are you pricing? That is something else we are struggling with. Well, good luck with your craft season.

[dehrlich]

Thanks! Yes, I struggle with getting enough inventory together as well. I work by myself and together with being disabled which only allows me to work a few hours a day most times, it can be difficult. As for pricing, I try to make a good range of products. From $5 oven sticks (with my website address carved in by the way) to $20 for the boot jacks... there are some simple $30 carved plaques. I had $150 on the blanket chest, which I thought was cheap considering the time I put in to it... as most of you know sanding white oak can be a chore, and it took a good deal of time just to cut all those box joint fingers! I had almost everyone that came by look at the chest but walk away when they saw the price like it was too high. Pricing is tough, I usually consider how much trouble it was to create, i.e. building, painting etc and come up with what I think is a fair price. If people say something about it being too high or want me to discount it, I explain what was required to create the piece and generally they understand.

[aokweld101]

I have the same problem with the pricing, I must be awful proud of what I make, When you buy bits wood and time you would think it be worth something, they think u should just give it away I think what we make are specialty items lets see then go to wall-mart or walgreen's and see what they would pay if they made them!!

[rossclark]

IN Montana and Wyoming craft shows, you need some items under $20.00 . That's all they bring to spend .so build it out of lower priced wood . Key boards for $8.00 or $9.00. That's what pays the booth rent. I have been doing craft shows since 1979 . You need to only do juried shows, they seem to pay more for your products. Ross

[dehrlich]

I have the same problem with the pricing, I must be awful proud of what I make, When you buy bits wood and time you would think it be worth something, they think u should just give it away I think what we make are specialty items lets see then go to wall-mart or walgreen's and see what they would pay if they made them!!

Amen to that brother!

[chief2007]

Keep in mind that most folks attending craft shows also want items they can purchase then and there. You may get a few custom orders, but most customers are "grab and go" per say. I also found most people were the "$20 crowd" at the craft shows.

One thing I did that seemed to work was If they purchased 2 items, I knocked off $5 seemed to work pretty well. I tried to keep everything no higher than $30, which means you have to gear your inventory to the crowd, but once I did that sales started increasing very quickly.

I also posted signs stating Veteran made, made in the USA, As you are a Vet, let them know, If you can except credit cards on the spot it will help a lot with sales, Paypal has a very good credit card program - no monthly fees.

[dehrlich]

Keep in mind that most folks attending craft shows also want items they can purchase then and there. You may get a few custom orders, but most customers are "grab and go" per say. I also found most people were the "$20 crowd" at the craft shows.

One thing I did that seemed to work was If they purchased 2 items, I knocked off $5 seemed to work pretty well. I tried to keep everything no higher than $30, which means you have to gear your inventory to the crowd, but once I did that sales started increasing very quickly.

I also posted signs stating Veteran made, made in the USA, As you are a Vet, let them know, If you can except credit cards on the spot it will help a lot with sales, Paypal has a very good credit card program - no monthly fees.

I tried to use Paypal, but their program only supports certain phones, and I don't have one of those. I got the intuit go payment thing instead, but the one I tried to do that day didn't work for some reason. I need to experiment with it more to make sure everything is ok before the next show. And I offered to give an oven stick for free to one of the few purchasers I had and she didn't want one LOL. Guess I can truly say I couldn't give the stuff away HAHA

[Proctorw]

I use the Intuit credit card system. I tried the square, but the biggest problem with that is "No Human Support". Everything is via email. If you have a problem, you have to either use chat (which was frustrating because they never understood the issue) or email. After my experience with Square I checked around. Unless you are going to sell $1000's of dollars a month, Intuit was fine. If you are going to sell more, there are other credit card providers with lower percentages. But for what we are doing, Intuit works fine. Just don't waste your time with square.

[kcc2012]

I have sold very little of my products. Mostly because I was trying to really learn the craft also I kept having people telling me I don't charge enough or they think prices are to high. Somebody used a scroll saw to make a really lousy and amateurish Coast Guard C130 and sold it for $150 I made a beautiful 1 of a kind original piece of art you can't find anywhere else with a $75.00 price tag on it and people thought it was to much. I lowered the price and they still turned their nose up at the price. Nothing but rave reviews and comments. I finally gifted it to my Church to give as a gift to a visiting Bishop. This next summer I'm going to focus on the tourist market. It's crazy what people will and will not pay for.
Good luck on pricing.

[dehrlich]

kcc2012, I know exactly what you mean. At this show I had a guy next to me selling metal art, stuff he doesn't even make. Stuff that looked like a kid with a cutting torch cut out... and ppl were buying the hell out of it, some with prices that were 3 times what I would pay for it... but they wouldn't even consider stuff that I had made by hand and that looked professional. Never can tell.