Any luck selling crafted items?

[biolerchick]

To make a long story short, our income will be decreasing and that won't leave much, if any, room in the budget for craft and hobby purchases. :frown: Therefore I am pretty motivated to find a way to make a little side income.*
Has anyone had any luck selling anything? I'm going to open an Etsy shop and list some hand stamped cards, some cute printable labels I designed, and possibly food items. How do you get people to your shop? I know that just listing some items on there, even if they are great items, won't get the job done. I thought about starting a craft blog, but I don't see people who actually do the crafts and read those blogs being the type to actually buy the items. Any ideas?
I also really wanted to list some labels I made with my Cricut, but I found out that we are not allowed to sell things made with Cricut cartridges. I've been wanting a Silhouette but have to find a way to earn the money first. Does anyone know if you can use the images bought from the Silhouette store in items that you sell?
I would also really enjoy selling Stampin Up and actually had a lot of success with that when I did it ten years ago. However I live in a different place now, and none of my friends would be interested in or able to afford stamps. So I don't really have a starting point?
I understand that being successful requires hard work and I'm willing do that if I think it will pay off. I guess I'm a little afraid of putting a lot of time into something but it not paying off.*
Any thoughts, advice, or experiences would be appreciated!

[XcessStamps]

Yes, I have sold some craft items.
(I've never tried selling my cards.) Most of my sales are to friends. I found that no one knows what you do unless you show it off. So I take my creations to bowling with me to show off or give then as gifts.
My last flurry of orders were from explosion/magic boxes I made. I put a place for gift cards in the center and they sold like hotcakes for graduation and wedding gifts. And because of this, a gal on my league that is a wedding planner, wants me to do some for her brides.
I also made 300 stamped coaster's for a friend's daughter's wedding for favors.
Christmas time is a good time for me to take fancy gift card holders to bowling with me. I get lots of orders for them too.
I don't usually make my items ahead of time, that way I don't spend money or time on something that won't sell. I make a sample and them take orders. Works well, especially when the customer can get it in the colors or design they want.
Wishing you the best of luck!

[NWstamper]

I'm very interested to hear what everyone shares in this thread. For me, I've been able to sell crafted items at craft fairs/vendor fairs but I've learned you have to be picky when selecting where you sell. If an event is not well known or well marketed you won't get any sales. So, make sure you know how they are marketing and don't make a ton of items beforehand until you know what sells in your area because it does seem to vary. I have a friend who shared cards she had made on facebook and with her friends and neighbors and got orders for her to make them copies of the card (for graduations).

Etsy is a bit harder because there is so much up there right now. I know that you can create a shop for free and Etsy will start sending you newsletters with tips and helpful info on how to make your shop a success and how to market and pick the items you sell. You could always get your shop and start reading the articles before deciding how to get started.

As for direct sales, if you are passionate about it and love it, I think you could be totally successful, even if you moved. Its crazy, I started with SU after I moved to a town where I knew about 3 women - spouses of my husbands co-workers. Then we moved twice more to towns where I didn't know anyone. My business actually started really kicking off after one of those moves where the only people I knew were not interested in buying SU. So, you can totally do it, especially since you seem driven and motivated to make it a success. I'm not saying direct selling is going to be an easy route, but if you love a companies products and would have fun doing it, don't let the fact that you moved make you think you can't do it.

Oh, and I was going to say about the craft blog, I think you are right. A lot of the traffic you are going to get at least at first will be from other crafters who likely are not going to be your target audience for selling completed crafts. Its not a bad idea to show off what you are selling, but I wouldn't do it expecting to get sales from it.

What ever you end up doing, good luck!!

[HeatherHolbrook]

I've had an Etsy shop (Unique Collage Art Soldered Jewelry and Greeting by PisforPaper) for about 4 years and had pretty good success. I sell mostly soldered pendants and collage art, I sell a few cards now and then.

You really need to bring traffic to your shop, using your own blog, social media like Facebook, Pintrest, Flickr, Google search, etc helps (but don't blatantly advertise, that turns a lot of people off and on Flickr it's against the rules).

Great photos and descriptions are a must on Etsy.

You need to list and renew often to get noticed. Since they changed their search engine last fall taging items is more tricky, it's based on relevance instead of most recently listed. You kind of have to play around with the tags to see which ones work for you, what people are searching for and how they found you.

The forums at Etsy are *really* helpful, there are a lot of great people who are happy to help you and answer questions.

[zousha]

I've just recently started a store on Artfire - very similar to Etsy, in fact a lot of sellers have stores at both Artfire and Etsy. I like Artfire's layout and pricing structure vs. Etsy. I have had a few sales (mainly friends) but have also traded with other sellers for jewelry items. I love the community on Artfire, extremely helpful and always willing to help promote each others' items.

It does take a lot of time and effort, social media marketing and perseverance and don't expect sales to take off straight away�it will take time.

Good luck to you.
Lisa
cardsbylibe on Artfire.com

[winnieu]

I haven't tried ETSY. I just make cards for people who request them of me and do well. It isn't enough to live on, but it keeps me in supplies and now I am making a stamp room with the money I earned.

[Valantina]

There's a website called Tophatter.com that you might want to check out, I sold a few things on there its and auction site.