Do you sell your stuff?

[LewisB]

For the hobbyist woodworkers out there who are employed but like to do woodworking on the side.

Thanks

 

[Bingy man]

I don’t very often sell tools as usually I regret it at some point but I’d consider donating to a charity or say to member who was ( god forbid) a victim of the thieving scum that take other people’s tools and destroy their livelihoods .

 

[LewisB]

I don’t very often sell tools as usually I regret it at some point but I’d consider donating to a charity or say to member who was ( god forbid) a victim of the thieving scum that take other people’s tools and destroy their livelihoods .

Yeah you're right. I was actually referring to the stuff you make.

Cheers

 

[Blackswanwood]

I make jewellery boxes to order but only for people I know (or are introduced by someone I know). I’m clear it’s my hobby and not a business and only charge for materials with a request they make a donation to a charity of their choosing if they offer to pay more.

 

[Bingy man]

Yeah you're right. I was actually referring to the stuff you make.

Cheers

My apologies I’m easily confused 😕

 

[TRITON]

Some of the craft shops take in work, which basically sits there till someone happens along, likes and buys and you split profits with the craft shop and yourself. At whatever percentage was decided before hand.
Craft fairs are another route, and there you can hire a table to stick your stuff on and hope to sell, or get to know other makers and jointly rent the table.

Etsy. But there though i couldnt say 100% as ive never listed on there but i know how some customers are and some whine and complain trying to get a refund, and if refused maybe you'll get your stuff back, maybe not or even will it be damaged.

Then you have Ebay and gumtree

Ebay is very similar to etsy and people buy and when it arrives look to find fault, or dont understand that hand made can include flaws, and again they're looking for a refund or partial refund, but thats not every case obviously.
Gumtree is better, especially for larger items. I did a number of reproduction arts and craft type hall chairs. Just basic slab type of thing, but seemingly favoured by interior designers.

Another possible there is to 'properly' copy things like for example Charles Rennie Mackintosh or 'Mockintosh' as it is also known. But youre not really plagiarizing his work(ok you are but nobody is going to come knocking at your door looking for a percentage.
Hill house or Argyle chairs are sought after, though there there are quite a number making those so you cant expect anything over say 300 per chair.
Hill house chairs are easier to produce than the Argyle, which require a much higher degree of technical skill to make properly.

What I would recommend is to try to have a range of objects - furniture(small tables, stools, lamps etc) things like pens from kits. Turned goods like wide 'table center' bowls and platters vases etc.

Other skills you can advertise by word of mouth, but not putting yourself out as a joiner as theres plenty of those, is 'homer' type jobs you let people know you can do- like installing skirting and architraves, hanging the odd door. Even building ikea etc flat pack furniture(amazing the number of people cannot build simple flat packs, even with the instructions in big pics and a full description)

 

[Stigmorgan]

I agree with Triton although I don't have much experience selling online I hated having stuff on Gumtree, nobody wanted to pay more than pennies and would offer insultingly low amounts, I stopped after a few months. Fairs have been hit and miss for me but to be fair (🤪) the failures were caused by bad weather at most of them.
I've had a table in a shop since last December and whilst some months have been just OK, most have been poor to bad, in 10 months my overall "profits" amount to £20 a month, I've had a range of items from £5 to £100+ and so far have not found anything that sells reliably, although having said that, I missed out on Easter sales due to a mould outbreak in the makerspace that heavily infected a lot of my wood and finished turnings, I've not really looked at Halloween, instead I am prepping for Xmas, I'm hopeful that this year will be a good one, last year we opened the shop a week into December and I made almost £400 in 3 weeks and this year I will have more and better stuff available.

 

[Orraloon]

I only sell when someone asks me to make something for them. Mostly cigar box guitar kind of thing. At times I whip up a bunch of tea light candle holders on the lathe when the wife's family history group are doing a charity stall. I have had people come and ask for particular things only to turn pale and back off when I mention just the cost of the wood. Like Blackswanwood has said if I can recover the cost of materials and its a project I want to do then all good. It is a hobby after all. I think most of us early on in woodworking have thought it might be good to make a bit on the side but then it would become a job. The hardest bit by far would be making it pay a profit.
Regards
John

 

[Drifter2406]

I only tend to make stuff for home, doors, stairways etc. My wife wanted a set of stairs/ garden pot rack type of thing, I had some hard wood so I made it, when her friends saw it I ended up making about ten of them by the time their friends saw them etc, apparently the ones you buy look cheap and nasty (their words not mine) so was willing to pay a decent price. I replaced the woodwork under the stairs and when that was seen I got asked to do all sorts of jobs, some of them I didn't really want so put extra money on them (still was not silly money) but they still wanted it so i did it.

 

[Essex Barn Workshop]

I made some big end grain chopping boards from oak, and they came out beautiful. I want a decent price for them, and from experience I know I wont get that at a craft fair etc, so I took the plunge and went into a very high end, independent kitchen ware shop in my home town (think bins at £200, tea cups at £35 etc) and asked the owner if he was interested.
He now has them for sale in his shop at £150 with an agreed percentage split when they sell.

 

[Steliz]

I've had people tell me that I should sell my stuff plenty of times and the conversation usually goes something along the lines of -

Them: (picks up and admires one of my pieces) You should sell your stuff on the internet.
Me: Nobody wants to pay a fair price because they don't understand how much time and effort goes into it. That piece took me 4 hours to make, how much would you be happy to pay if you saw that in a shop somewhere?
Them: £15

 

[Amplidyne]

I've had people tell me that I should sell my stuff plenty of times and the conversation usually goes something along the lines of -

Them: (picks up and admires one of my pieces) You should sell your stuff on the internet.
Me: Nobody wants to pay a fair price because they don't understand how much time and effort goes into it. That piece took me 4 hours to make, how much would you be happy to pay if you saw that in a shop somewhere?
Them: £15

And that is the biggest problem. It might be relatively easy to make stuff for us who are interested in doing so, but getting a decent price for it is another matter. I spent over 20 years designing and making wooden furniture, so I know what a struggle it is.
Galleries selling on consignment, which most of them do, want 40% plus VAT of the selling price. No allowance for materials. It's no good going to the wrong sort of gallery either, they don't have the right sort of clientele, people with money who appreciate hand made stuff.
A lot of my furniture was oak. I'm glad I got out of it when the market started to be flooded with cheap "solid oak" imports. Business was already starting to fall off.

 

[HOJ]

He now has them for sale in his shop at £150 with an agreed percentage split when they sell.

Genuine question, how many have you sold.

 

[Stigmorgan]

To add to my previous and somewhat repeat what others have said,
This last year has shown me that it is very hard/almost impossible to make woodturning a viable source of income as a hobbyist, there just isn't enough time to be able to make stock, plan/do shows/events, keep rented shop space stocked & rotated all at the same time as having a job, I'm fairly lucky that my job has a house on site so I don't lose time travelling to and from work but even so I still only get around 3 hours a day free once i have lunch and walk the dogs, I could also do weekends but then there's no home/family time with my partner and our dogs.
In my opinion the only way to make an income would be to do it full time, have more than just turned items and spend every weekend selling at craft shows alongside having stuff stocked in shops and selling online.
Pricing of our items is a subject that seems to divide people here, many think it's OK to charge very little as long as cost of materials are covered and I have had discussion with people that think I price too high considering I don't pay for most of my woods, my argument there is that if I only account for my time and not the material then when I do have to buy wood for a piece then I either loose money by charging for the wood and not my time or have to explain why it's so much more money than other similar/identical pieces, also by selling at such low prices I would be devaluing the work of people who actually rely on it as an income, ultimately something is only worth what people are willing to pay for it but as a seller it shouldn't make a difference if you pay for the logs/boards, price your items based on paying for the material and your time making it.

 

[Blackswanwood]

To add to my previous and somewhat repeat what others have said,
This last year has shown me that it is very hard/almost impossible to make woodturning a viable source of income as a hobbyist, there just isn't enough time to be able to make stock, plan/do shows/events, keep rented shop space stocked & rotated all at the same time as having a job, I'm fairly lucky that my job has a house on site so I don't lose time travelling to and from work but even so I still only get around 3 hours a day free once i have lunch and walk the dogs, I could also do weekends but then there's no home/family time with my partner and our dogs.
In my opinion the only way to make an income would be to do it full time, have more than just turned items and spend every weekend selling at craft shows alongside having stuff stocked in shops and selling online.
Pricing of our items is a subject that seems to divide people here, many think it's OK to charge very little as long as cost of materials are covered and I have had discussion with people that think I price too high considering I don't pay for most of my woods, my argument there is that if I only account for my time and not the material then when I do have to buy wood for a piece then I either loose money by charging for the wood and not my time or have to explain why it's so much more money than other similar/identical pieces, also by selling at such low prices I would be devaluing the work of people who actually rely on it as an income, ultimately something is only worth what people are willing to pay for it but as a seller it shouldn't make a difference if you pay for the logs/boards, price your items based on paying for the material and your time making it.

I think you make a really good point there on pricing Stig about potentially devaluing the work of those who do this stuff for a living.

 

[Katomi woodsmith]

No I don’t sale things I make
It’s a hobby and I want to do it when and how I please, non of this must have done by..... time /date
Eg today I had planned on a day wood turning, I have just finished re shaping an oak bowl that distorted very Badly after turning. As much as 5mm out on the rim, having got that... as close as it’s going to get,, I decided that enough for today.

 

[Amplidyne]

No I don’t sale things I make
It’s a hobby and I want to do it when and how I please, non of this must have done by..... time /date
Eg today I had planned on a day wood turning, I have just finished re shaping an oak bowl that distorted very Badly after turning. As much as 5mm out on the rim, having got that... as close as it’s going to get,, I decided that enough for today.

Very wise if I might say.
I've turned a couple of hobbies into jobs, and if you do, you eventually lose the love of doing it.
As you say, it's nice being able to say "Near enough" and packing in.

 

[johnnyb]

Hobby workers unsurprisingly make the same product(or similar) what then happens is some work for nowt. That then devalues every other "hobby" item. Think outside the box. I have little joy with etsy tbh. But ebay is universal...every strata is on there. From homeless to millionaire.

 

[Stigmorgan]

I think you make a really good point there on pricing Stig about potentially devaluing the work of those who do this stuff for a living.

Turn A Wood Bowl did a video on his YouTube a couple of years ago about it and it's stuck with me ever since.
Either him or Mike Peace (can't remember which) did a video about pricing bowls around the same time.