Vacation Mode - HA!

I am "on vacation" at etsy.

I had my first home show last night (don't ask about sales, I may cry...nothing beats jewelry - Slipada 5, Tilt 0.) and the Huntington Woods Womens Leagueshop for a cause progressive home show tomorrow. I hope to have better luck there.

I am starting to feel that I may to rethink things. I don't want to slash $$ just because the ecomony is in the gutter...I spent too much time and effort to just give it away. Perhaps just add less expensive items in addition to my main purses, maybe? Belts, hats, scarves? I don't want to make things just because they will sell. But I have no problem taking the time to find things I enjoy making that also happen to sell. Trends were never my top priority. And I am not much of a salesperson - I am not a very competitive person. But I do need to find a way to sell online. Magazine quality pics may be part of the answer.

Now, my photo skills leave a lot to be desired. And I realize that pictures are what sells. So the more I can get them to look like they came for a magazine, the better. The best sellers on etsy all look like they were professionally shot (and many are). But I am not selling photography, so I need to make do. After pics, comes price.

My mom thinks the pricing may be too high, but I have crunched the numbers and compared them to similar items on etsy and elsewhere, they are very mid-range. I know, and she nows, that she is not exactly one to ask for pricing critiques. She would say she is cheap, I would say she just never felt the need to spend anything on herself. She's pretty darn unselfish - and I love that about her. She can't see why people would spend $30-60 on a purse. I had pointed out to her that nearly every woman that walked in to that party had a bag that was well over $100...but it was a ritzy area and most of the bags were leather or had some name brand plastered all over the bag. I did receive compliments on the bags and some were interested in them, but after the holidays when they buy stuff for themselves.

One area I need to make more prominent in my displays: "HANDMADE". The women seemed suprised when they realized my bags are all handmade. It was posted on the invites, but they may not have read that part. They thought that the large variety were just samples of each style, not OOAKs. So today I am making some signs to put up by my business cards that cleary state "Handmade".

I am hoping that a venue where handmade items are the norm will be better for me. I am hoping to get more lower priced items made in time for next Thursday's Ladies Night Out in Bad Axe, which is going to be all handmade. And then there is the December 6th Flint City Handmade show. And if I get my apps turned in by the deadline & the shows are not full: Affirmations & Ferndale Recreation Holiday Showplace Arts & Crafts Show November 22nd
and December 13th Fieldhouse Craft Show in Swartz Creek.