Does anyone out there use their crafts as a home business?

I agree that you have to let people know about the product and how to buy it. I'm thinking of starting with a webpage and taking pictures of the scarves and then using paypal for people to buy it. I can then just get the page into every search engine I can and webrings and stuff like that. My second plan is that my grandma and her sisters go to a craft sale twice a year and buy a booth together. My grandma said that I could do it too and sell my stuff there as well. But, I have to get quite a lot made by then. Haha!

dismalgrin, I think that is a great idea to start up a webpage and showcase your creations. It is a good idea to submit a site to as many search engines and also dictionarys you can if you want to have your site more likely to be seen by more people-if you want to know any sites to submit to any time please feel free to PM as I know of quite a few-I know you need to get your site started first before then. Yes PayPal is a good system to use for payment if you dont mind having the money kept online.I have wondered how much people make on those craft stalls, have you thought of car-boot-sales and faytes which me and my family has had success at both selling and buying and had a good time at and jumble sales (though why are these usually so crowded you never hardly get too see anything,its like been inside a Rugby Scram).

That was intreasting you was saying about puting your creations online-because just before I read that my Mum was saying about wanting to do the same things with her kniting!

That is the price for handmade items. I charge 35.00 for a scarf. You have to realize the price of yarn, your time and you want to make a profit. I charge 150.00 to 200.00 for an afghan and 25 to 35 for dolls depending on what kind. The price you want to charge is only covering what you paid for the yarn and your time. Its not worth it in my opinion.

Is that site serious! Selling scarfs for $40.00! I was thinking more along the lines of 8-10 dollars! Whoah!

That's really true. I just got through making two knitted hoodies for a couple. They paid $75 each for them, and by the time I bought the yarn and paid for shipping, I made $20.50 for a week's work each. Not gonna get rich like that! LOL

That is what I was going to say Peavey I totally agree with you on not making so many of one thing till you know they are selling. Thing about it though, you cant guaranee no matter WHAT you make if it will sell today and not tomorrow. It is SO hard to guess. I have some things on consignment right now. I had tried flea market booths but the rent was too high to really make anything after the rent. The bad thing on selling your crafts to me is that you don't really get back what your time is worth! It may be a little profit over costs for materials but you basically ,especially right now about have to just do it because you enjoy it instead of giving away your time for free. Good luck!!

I totally get what you mean about the economy. Some of my distant cousins sell some of their scarfs to teenager in their town. They do them up in the colors of the school... and since teenagers tend to have jobs or make some type of money, but not have many if any bills... it's a good market for them. I personally only like to work with cotton and my grandma is trying to get me to work with cheaper yarns because she says that the price I would have to mark up the cotton scarfs to make money of them is more than many are willing to pay. She says that most people are buying for the color and design of the scarf, not the material it is made from. Haha. So. I don't know, but I'm going to go ahead and give this a try because I could use a little cash.

that's a good idea. I think that as long as the fabric isn't itchy or too delicate then it shouldn't matter what it is. You'll have to tell me if your business goes well.

LoL! Awhile back when the idea first took root that I could sell some of my scarves to make money I had knit up about 5 scarves in a week! I was so excited because visions of how I could set up this business started dancing through my head and they were all neatly folded in a bag in my house. The neighbor kids were somehow fascinated by my knitting, though and begged me for the scarves and since I lived in low income housing at the time I felt like it was sort of charity work and was so flattered that they liked my scarves (I figure if the younger crowed likes what you make, you really have something) so I gave 5 of the neighbor kids a scarf and told them to tell people that liked it that I sold them. Well, I ended up making 5 more because more kids ended up coming to me and begging me to make them a scarf too! Argggg! Haha.

I do cross stitching too. That is a lot of work to put into something that no one would buy! Haha. Most of the stuff I have done was kits from my local xmart, so I don't know if it would be legal to sell it anyhow. Hehe. But, the things I have stitched up I wanted for my home too, so that is pretty good. I did up a wizard a couple of years ago. It took a looooong time to put that one together. My second child was an infant when I started it and it was mostly something I snatched bits of time doing while we watched our family movie in the evenings and when she would sleep (the movies seemed to lull her to sleep) And when she got a little older I worked on it when she was taking a nap and her older sister was in preschool. I finally got it done after she was about a year old. Something you put that much time into... you can't really sell that anyways! Haha.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately, as I love to knit, in fact, I enjoy mostly all creative hobbies, writing, poetry, are two of my favouriteis, as,I believe we should all be using our talent, not only for our pleasure, to let the world know, we have a skill worth paying for, as I'm sure we all can do with a little extra money coming in at the moment, so, why, not sell, what we are good at? Internet, is a good, effective way to start, I've set up my own website, so, by doing this, I can show, what I can make, what else is on offer, be there for help, advice, giving a more personal service than an shop would do. Car Boot sales, are another great place to sell what you have made, loads of people flock to see what is on offer, these should soon start up, look in your local paper if you have never been to one before, they will list the areas, places when, the car boot is being held, it is a bit dauting the first time you set up stall, most people are welcoming, helpful, if, you can brave the cold, wet, stay until the end, the money you make, will give you a much needed boast, do not price your items too low, as a lot of work has gone into say. a hand knitted item, never mind the cost of the wool you used to make it. Market stalls are also useful places, ask around to, even addvitise in a shop window for a small fee. Word of mouth is always best. More than anything else, believe in yourself, what you can do, you will suceed.

That is a really good idea. I wonder how I would go about doing that. Would I send the item to them to donate to their local shelter? Or would they just pay for it for me to send to a local shelter? I did think about tossing around the idea of people donating for baby hats that I would knit for a local pregnancy help center. In that case I would only work with cotton, though, because babies have sensitive needs. But, cotton yarn is a bit more expensive than some of the other types of yardn out there.