[17] Should You Sell Your Craft Online?

In today’s episode, I'm going to take you through a workshops that will help you decide whether you should sell your craft online. You might find that you prefer to sell via wholesale or consignment in shops, or at markets -  or maybe you can do a mixture of all three. I love selling online; it suits me and my lifestyle. Why? Well, amongst other things, I like to have my weekends off - and I especially love the idea of making money in my sleep! No matter what, you need to have a website and a couple of social media channels but that doesn’t mean you have to sell your products online if that isn't a good fit for you and your particular product. Listen in and think about each of the points below to see whether selling online is a good fit for your business. It will take you longer to make money. Is your item easily shipped? Are you happy to sell internationally? Is your work easily reproducible? Do you value face-to-face interaction over online interaction? Do you have the products to do markets? Do you like having your weekends free? Are you willing to invest the time to take and edit stellar photos? Do you enjoy the process of selling and marketing? Are you happy to make less money selling to shops? Do you have the time or the skills to set up an online shop? In the podcast, I take you through each of these points in detail, in order to help you consider the pros and cons of each question. Quotes and Highlights from this Episode: If you decide to focus on selling online, it will take you longer to make money; unless you have a lot of money upfront to get your shop running with lots of advertising and marketing. Online is more about the long game. “Once you’re established and you have traffic going to your site, you’ll make money in your sleep.” Consignment and wholesale will make you larger chunks of money but more sporadically. If you make small items, selling online can be easy since shipping can be reasonably low. If you make large or heavy items then shipping might put off some customers. If you sell online, you’ll make more sales if you’re happy to sell your things online. "80-85% of my sales are International". It can be really exciting to sell to people overseas. Don't be worried about losing items in the mail. “I sell thousands of parcels overseas every year and I have about four go missing. I write these off as expenses and send a replacement.” Don’t be concerned about language, use Google Translate and use a disclaimer that you’ve used that service so the customer. If you’re going to have a successful online business, you really have to have some items which are reproducible. You need to do so much for one listing (photography, description, loading onto the site etc) that it makes more sense to sell the same design over and over again. "All I have to do when an item is sold, is make the item and send it. Each item is as close to the prototype as I can make it - and though it might be the 'same' as another product I've made, it’s still handmade with love.” You don’t have to give OOAK products all together, you just need to have a reproducible range too. Then you can put your high end creations online when you have the time and passion to create them and not feel like it becomes a chore. You can interact on your own terms and in your own time. “I don’t even have a phone line, I do all my business via email.” If you love face-to-face and you get energy from interactions with other people then selling online might not be the best thing for you. “I don’t have any stock. I make a design, I photograph it and then more often than not, I keep it myself or I give it to Nick.” Wearing your own jewellery is a great way to market your goods. Markets don’t make much ‘time sense’ if you don’t have a lot of products lying around. If you can make a lot of product quickly, markets might work for you.