Christian R. Eberle on sat 24 may 97
Hello All,
I want to ask all of you who sell your work currently and have perhaps been
doing so for awhile now, what is your best vehicle for selling your pieces?
Do you do a lot of juried crafts fairs, consign your work, sell to shops
and galleries or have your own shops? Which ones work best for you and
why? Which one provides the most reliable income for you ?
I'm new to selling so any thoughts at all on this subject that any of you
could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ruth W.
in Warwick, NY
Cindy on sun 25 may 97
Hi, Ruth.
I sell my work almost exclusively to galleries and shops. At first I
consigned, but once the shop owners discovered that my work sold well, I
switched to all wholesale. Expect to discount your retail prices by 50%
with this arrangement. (I know, that's hard to take, but for me it's worth
it to escape from consignment hassles.) In my area, I have yet to find
art/craft shows worth attending. That's very different in other parts of
the country, I understand. Of course, it probably made a difference that
two of the shows I booked for last year happened to take place in the midst
of blizzard conditions. :( The third was kind of a dud. I was one of the
few present to cover my costs with a little bit over for my time. Not
enough, IMO, to justify sitting there for two days, but at least I came out
in the black. As you can see, I don't have a lot of experience with shows.
Maybe this year I'll have better luck. :)
Cindy Strnad
Black Hills, SD
Clayphil on mon 26 may 97
Hi Ruth,
There are several books out on the subject of the business of art and
selling art. I recommend you take a look at a few of them. I have used
Wendy Rosen's, which is pretty helpful. In general, I think selling one's
work is a process not unlike developing artwork. Everyone has to find the
best markets for their particular work that they can. It's just not the
same for everybody. It also involves a fair amount of trial and error and
"learning by your mistakes". Best of Luck, Phil in Chicago
been
doing so for awhile now, what is your best vehicle for selling your
pieces?
Do you do a lot of juried crafts fairs, consign your work, sell to shops
and galleries or have your own shops? Which ones work best for you and
why? Which one provides the most reliable income for you ?>
Emily Pearlman on mon 26 may 97
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hello All,
>
>I want to ask all of you who sell your work currently and have perhaps been
>doing so for awhile now, what is your best vehicle for selling your pieces?
> Do you do a lot of juried crafts fairs, consign your work, sell to shops
>and galleries or have your own shops? Which ones work best for you and
>why? Which one provides the most reliable income for you ?
>
>I'm new to selling so any thoughts at all on this subject that any of you
>could give me would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Ruth W.
>in Warwick, NY
Hi Ruth:
Far and Away, the wholesale craft shows are the best source of sales for my
work. I do 2-4 shows per year. They are the Rosen Buyers Market and the
George Little Gift Shows. Good Luck
Emily
Emily Pearlman-Pottery (clayfeat@echonyc.com)
http://humanarts.com/emilypearlman
http://www.craftweb.com/org/pearlman/pearlman.htm
(in NYC)
Wendy Hampton on tue 27 may 97
I have been selling wholesale for a couple of years and thought I was hassle
free and compared to consignment. BOY was I wrong. I recently sent on order
to a gallery in Ketchikan Alaska. The shipping costs were $2 per box higher
than last year. I called the gallery a couple of days before sending the
work to get their okay. After that I shipped the work thru the post office
COD (at their request). I get a call 2 days after they have been shipped and
they tell me they are going to refuse them because the shipping costs are too
high!!! They wanted me to cut my costs in half before they would accept
them. We had to negotiate this problem but my feeling at this point is that
they were unprofessional and unethical and I do not want to do business with
them again. I would appreciate any objective input - mine is pretty slanted.
Thanks
Wendy from Bainbridge Island WA
Don Jones on wed 28 may 97
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I have been selling wholesale for a couple of years and thought I was hassle
>free and compared to consignment. BOY was I wrong. I recently sent on order
>to a gallery in Ketchikan Alaska. The shipping costs were $2 per box higher
>than last year. I called the gallery a couple of days before sending the
>work to get their okay. After that I shipped the work thru the post office
>COD (at their request). I get a call 2 days after they have been shipped and
>they tell me they are going to refuse them because the shipping costs are too
>high!!! They wanted me to cut my costs in half before they would accept
>them. We had to negotiate this problem but my feeling at this point is that
>they were unprofessional and unethical and I do not want to do business with
>them again. I would appreciate any objective input - mine is pretty slanted.
>Thanks
>Wendy from Bainbridge Island WA
Post Office COD might be higher then UPS COD. Just a thought.
Don
Dave Eitel on wed 28 may 97
I called the gallery a couple of days before sending the
>work to get their okay. After that I shipped the work thru the post office
>COD (at their request). I get a call 2 days after they have been shipped and
>they tell me they are going to refuse them because the shipping costs are too
>high!!! They wanted me to cut my costs in half before they would accept
>them.
Seems to me they're obligated to take your work. On the other hand, if
they're a good account, you might not want to lose them, and a negotiated
settlement sounds like it might be an option. I once got stiffed for air
freight from Wisconsin to Australia by someone who knew in advance the
shipping would double the cost of the merchandise. They paid for the
stuff, but never for the freight. Fortunately it wasn't that much and it
wasn't worth pursuing long distance, so I wrote it off.
Later...Dave
Dave Eitel
Cedar Creek Pottery
Cedarburg, WI
pots@cedarcreekpottery.com
http://www.cedarcreekpottery.com
Ray Carlton on fri 30 may 97
At 08:33 AM 27/05/97 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I have been selling wholesale for a couple of years and thought I was hassle
>free and compared to consignment. BOY was I wrong. I recently sent on order
>to a gallery in Ketchikan Alaska. The shipping costs were $2 per box higher
>than last year. I called the gallery a couple of days before sending the
>work to get their okay. After that I shipped the work thru the post office
>COD (at their request). I get a call 2 days after they have been shipped and
>they tell me they are going to refuse them because the shipping costs are too
>high!!! They wanted me to cut my costs in half before they would accept
>them. We had to negotiate this problem but my feeling at this point is that
>they were unprofessional and unethical and I do not want to do business with
>them again. I would appreciate any objective input - mine is pretty slanted.
>Thanks
>Wendy from Bainbridge Island WA
>
>any gallery that carries on their business with this kind of crap needs to
be blackballed by everyone in the industry you gotta make sure that you
have your deal straight prior to shipping. I do a lot of this stuff some of
my clients are thousands of miles away and you do run risks however if we
all stick together and make sure dealers who do shit get their name spread
around and before long nobody will supply them and poof! their not there
any more
ray carlton McMahons creek vic australia
Ray Carlton McMahons Creek Victoria Australia
raycarlt@ozonline.com.au
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