I have been asked to make cards to sell

[bdeyes9]

I have a friend that owns a Wine Shop.
She has asked me to make Wine Related cards to sell. I plan to make cards, Wine Bottle tags and bookmarks.
I have a lot of questions.
How should I price these?
Should I have her buy the cards from me or
Consignment.
I think having her buy out right at a discount
Might be easier for us both.
Any help will be appreciated!!

[JBgreendawn]

I find that consignment does not work for me as cards / tags even if they are inside plastic clear envelops ( all of mine are) if the shop has fragrances, those will seep through the plastic and if the shop owner treats you like you are a hallmark factory distributor and wants cards "swapped" out as the seasons change what are you going to do with smelly cards? ( I am allergic to perfume and sold some to a candle/soap store she loves my cards and she bought them flat out and then tried to get me to switch them, which I did one time and had to give away everything I took back from her...) and I tell her upfront if she buys them from me at a booth she is buying them, I am not going to stop what I am doing and run down to her store and swap them all out for fresh cards. :lol:
and that works much better for me.

[wavejumper]

Hey now! That's great!

Luckily there are a LOT of wine/drinking related stamps and images.
I would suggest gift card holders too.

Do they have other cards there? Check their prices-that helps. I might ask them what they plan to sell them for and work backwards from there.

Ie if they can only charge 4 bucks then I am thinking single layer, CAS cards because they likely are not giving you more than 2.... If they are charging 10...you can do more. See what I mean?

Do they have an idea of what they want? Do they want simple or they want gussied up? They might be thinking for fancier than they have now?

Imho, You have to decide what how to value them once you know those things b/c it is personal. I never think we can get enough for a card so it becomes how much am I willing to give away my time?

[bdeyes9]

My plan is to make 2 cards of each design

Send one to my friend and one to keep for

My prototype. She can choose the designs she thinks will sell. I�ll make the cards she wants to sell in the quantity she would like.

I think having her buy outright would be the way to go. I will ask her what she thinks

Her clientele would be willing to pay and how much she wants to make from them and price accordingly.

Is this a good way to go about pricing or should I just price them and let her mark them up to make her �commission�

Thanks in advance!

[JanTInk]

I would look into some books on how to successfully price your crafts.

For cards, I would not do consignment, because there is bound to be some cards that will get shop worn, and then you will lose money because you will be forced to take them back.

I would price the cards higher than you'd find in a Hallmark card store. These are handmade, unique pieces, not something you'd pick up in a dollar store. I sell on Etsy, and I have gradually been raising my prices over time because people are looking for unique, handmade, artisan style cards, so they are willing to pay higher prices. I price my cards at $8 to $10 depending on how complex they are or whether they are hand colored/painted plus shipping, and I get those prices. But I don't have a middleman and I get 100% of the price minus the Etsy fees.

Consignment usually goes the shop keeper takes 10% to 15%, from what I can remember. For wholesale, though, you usually price at half the price the store will charge for them, so you need to build that into your pricing.