Any suggestions on how best to market craft items?

I've been selling my handmade items online for a little more than 18 months. I've had a decent experience so far and I know quite a few crafters that make their living marketing their creations. I'm no where near selling enough to make a living and I have a full-time job, but with my spare time, I make jewelry and market it online at a few sites that cater to the handmade community. It's taught me a lot about running a business. I enjoy creating my jewelry and knitting and find it very therapeutic after working all day... but the promoting, dealing with customers, taking pictures, listing the items, website maintenance, etc, etc is not very much fun... but it is a learning experience.

Thanks for asking these questions! I wanted to know too. I would love to sell my crafts online but I don't have the foggest idea of where to start. What I've been debating on doing is starting a website and get some products and pictures on it figure out prices make a secure checkout. Basically really basic but with great colors. Let people know on your blog and other sites and maybe even around town marketing about the website. The great thing about having your own site youc an create one for very little and I believe it's cheapier than trying to sell them on ebay once you build your cliental. Of course these are just some ideas I've been thinking about.

A bit off-topic, but a story to share of a recent Etsy experience with a seller from the UK... There is a group on Etsy that once or twice a month does something called a sneak attack on a new members shop. Usually the member has less than 2 sales, and is fairly new. The group picks a night, chats the event up in the promotions forum and at the set time, announces the shop in their blog. Anybody who wants to participate goes to the shop, checks it out and makes a purchase if they choose. The last time I noticed a sneak attack, the seller was from the UK and had about 10 items. The sneak attack occurred while she was sleeping and I believe she either had one item in her shop when she woke up the next morning or she had sold out. I picked up a very pretty card from her shop.... but I really would've enjoyed being a fly on the wall at her house that morning... she logged into her shop to find it emptied. I have to think she was probably gasping in surprise and yelling for joy when she checked her paypal acct to see everything was already paid for.

When I lived in Texas many years ago I did ceramics as a hobby. I had many people who came to my house and liked my pieces so I would give them the item they liked since my house was filling up with finished pieces. Someone said I should sell my items as I was really good at what I was doing. Well, I took my pieces to a few stores and ask if they would sell them on consignment, which they did, and which made me some money. I moved to Wisconsin for a job opportunity (another story)and when the job was over I needed to find something else to do. My love for ceramics was still there and I decided that was what I wanted to do so I opened up a ceramic shop. I had much more room in the building than I needed for the shop (or so I thought at the time)and decided that it would be a perfect storefront for my finished pieces. It was, but I could only paint so fast and there was a lot of empty space. I decided that there had to be other crafters that needed someplace to sell and display their talents so I opened it up to other crafters. To make a long story short I now have 37 crafters putting things in my "hand-crafted items only" gift shop and people love it. They know they can come in and find something unique, original, made in the USA, and at a wonderful price. The best selling point I have is that chances are very slim that the person the gift is for will have something like the item they are buying. I also do custom orders which helps. I have since opened an ebay store to reach a wider customer base and it is going very well. I thought about doing etsy but there are so many crafters on there that I felt people would be overwhelmed by choices. I think you need to find what works best for the area you are in and the craft you do. Make a plan and then work hard to make it happen. I have been in business with my crafts for three years now and each year my sales are increasing. I believe it takes time and hard work but if it is something you love to do then you at least have to try. Wrongway www.stores.ebay.com/oleandlenasofwisconsin www.oleandlenas.us

I am not exactly sure myself, but I wanted to put my 2 cents in. If you could take them to work or have friends, neighbors, family take it to their workplace ("it" being your crafts) that will be a bit of marketing. Local Libraries, newspapers, and stores also help, if you can ask the manager to post a flyer for you... Well Like I said, not sure myself but I do hope that my suggestions for marketing helped! If they didn't, sorry for wasting your time. Have a wonderful day.