Things learnt from my event & feedback

A little bit of feedback ;)

I re-priced all my jewellery beforehand to include my hourly rate. In some cases my prices doubled =:-O I agonised over that for ages, but stuck with it. I arrived early, which made a huge difference, as I was much calmer and focussed on potential customers, instead of how nervous I was. I had one particular jade piece that I'd priced up at £39 and thought, no-one will buy THAT, its too expensive. Well, a lady looked at it a few times, told me it was too expensive, then someone else came along 10 minutes later and bought it! You should have seen the first lady's face when she came back and saw it had gone! I was chuffed to bits. :D The other amazing thing was I'd made an egyptian style necklace with drops all the way round and threw together a bracelet in all the colours that I can make it in and sold that too. !

What I learnt from the event:

Pricing Re-pricing including an hourly rate didn't put people off, I made more sales. I read somewhere that people have far too many decisions to make with their busy lives and that if they look at something that is low in price, they immediately think 'cheap, mass produced'; whereas if they see something at a much higher price, they are buying an item of quality that will be treasured.

Have some multicoloured things, people are more willing to spend their hard-earned cash on a piece of jewellery that will go with a lot of clothes, rather than something that only goes with one outfit. (Another reason to buy some of those lovely lampies that Di has shown us!:Y:). I'll also be researching info on colour coordination for gift buyers too.

Set your stall up early – you will attract other stallholders to your stall if you are ready, whereas if you are still setting up and its already opened, you could lose valuable sales. The same applies at the end of the event - I was considering packing up about 10minutes before the end, as it had gone quiet, and in the last 15 minutes made quite a few sales.

Make sure your labels are spelt correctly and use good grammer - I won't buy from anyone that advertises something incorrectly spelt or with bad grammer - after all if they can't be bothered to check their spelling, what does that say about their products (whatever they are)!

You know what guys, I know I wouldn't have been as successful at this event without all your help and guidance and can't thank you guys enough. Here's a piece of virtual cheesecake for you all.

oh dear, I have waffled, I'll get my coat

LotsaLove

Jules - all you needed was confidence in yourself. You can't really get that from folk who aren't in the same position. Others see your stuff and think 'wow, its good. What is she worried about.' Whereas those of us 'in the know' understand exactly what the lack of confidence is about!

I am so pleased that things went well for you - that's another strand of confidence to your bow ;)

i would only dream about being as successful as you were at your event Jules, (not that i have actually done any lol) Good on you girl! []

Jules,

Thanks for the great feedback. I know I've always had a problem with whether to charge an hourly rate on the price of an item, but the one or two pieces that I have sold on this basis haven't caused too much fuss. Hoping to get my online shop up and running by the end of the month so taking your advice about the quality/workmanship versus cheap makes me feel a little better.

Glad you did so well with your sales too.:Y:

Fi

Brilliant feedback Jules thanks for all that!!!!:ta:

But......

...'bad grammer'?...... :rofl: (sorry, couldn't resist :D)

Thanks for really useful feedback Jules, I'm spending this Wednesday repricing all my jewellery for a fair that I am doing at the weekend, I know I have underpriced them and your post has given me a better insight into customer expectations and the confidence to go ahead and bite the bullet and do something about it. I'm still worried that people won't have enough cash with them to be able to buy as I don't have a card reader so can only take cash or cheques, but I'm hoping that people come to these type of events with cash rather than expecting to be able to use cards?

Thanks again
Lisa x

Thanks for the compliments guys :X Yes, you're right Di, its all about confidence isn't it.

Ominicci, OMG bad grammer!!! :-D:D oh dear... what can I say - I have just been slapped for that mistake!

Lisa, I think most people go to events with cash - a lot of the people at my events are only paying by cash - I think they are thrifty with their money and only buy what they can afford. So I don't think you should worry too much. BTW, you could write their name and address & bank details on the back of the cheque. As I am still very much of a novice, I charge £8 an hr, instead of £10 which I've heard others mention.

cheers

I think if I paid myself £10 an hour you would need a bank loan to buy my stuff, it takes me ages and ages !!!

xxx

Jules, I am very interested to know what kind of piece you had priced at £39, because I don't find that expensive in the least. What on earth was that woman on about? If I love a piece of handmade jewellery, I am quite willing to pay way more than £39 for it (when I am in the pink).

Superb feedback - thank you for sharing your experiences with us
I'm doing my first big craft fair next month so will be reading all peoples
experiences avidly ;)
Nic x

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lindyloo

Jules, I am very interested to know what kind of piece you had priced at £39, because I don't find that expensive in the least. What on earth was that woman on about? If I love a piece of handmade jewellery, I am quite willing to pay way more than £39 for it (when I am in the pink).

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when i priced my stuff up the cost of the stuff i had made so far, using the formula recommened on here, i was horrified even before adding labour, and the pieces were a darn sight more than that!

Hi Jules
I feel like a bit of a fraud reading this because I had not a scrap of wisdom to offer to you when you were in need, but I wanted to let you know that what you have written has been massively helpful and inspirational to me (& I'm sure others).
Thanks so much and really glad that it all went well for you :Y:
J x

Mine would be expensive too Su. But I think the idea is that when you get more experienced, you get faster. So maybe until then, we might have to lower our hourly rate.

Well done Jules, great feedback - it's always a steep learning curve when you first start doing craft fairs, but it looks like you have picked up some good tips and your confidence has grown. Roll on the next one, you'll be ready and chomping at the bit ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lindyloo

Mine would be expensive too Su. But I think the idea is that when you get more experienced, you get faster. So maybe until then, we might have to lower our hourly rate.

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yeah when i did add the labour i tried to imagine how long it would take me when i wasnt a noob, and cut it down dramatically, praying that i wasnt cutting it rediculously

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lindyloo

Jules, I am very interested to know what kind of piece you had priced at £39, because I don't find that expensive in the least. What on earth was that woman on about? If I love a piece of handmade jewellery, I am quite willing to pay way more than £39 for it (when I am in the pink).

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I'll post a piccie of the £39 necklace tomorrow, when I've got a bit more time..off to bed now as we're up early tomorrow.

Love

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jayne

Hi Jules
I feel like a bit of a fraud reading this because I had not a scrap of wisdom to offer to you when you were in need, but I wanted to let you know that what you have written has been massively helpful and inspirational to me (& I'm sure others).
Thanks so much and really glad that it all went well for you :Y:
J x

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Hear hear, i have certainly taken onboard the comments for when i finally pluck up the courage to sell. thanks jules :D

Thanks for the feedback. It's always useful to hear other people's experiences. I think it depends on where you're selling as well. At a small local craft fair they won't pay as much as at a large expensive fair in somewhere like London that attracts more middle class customers. I'm always amazed as well at how much more people will pay in galleries.

As I'm just getting into pricing items all the information that has come up on the forum has been really useful to me - including the feedback provided on this thread.

Right now my hourly rate is only £2 on the grounds that I'm slow - especially when finishing the piece as I haven't quite got the hang of smoothing sharp ends (luckily it's my wrist that was scratched, not that of a customer). I hope that in time when my production rate picks up and my pieces are finished better I'll be able to increase the hourly rate slightly.

Thanks to all the forum members for all the helpful advice. [[]]

I'm glad my feedback was useful, as I felt I waffled on a bit.. :">

You guys that are scared of charging too much need to pay yourself at least the minimum wage, that's how I started. Once you have sold a few pieces, gauge their reaction, tell them its an introductory price, that way you can then justify putting your prices up when you've become a bit more established and are known a bit more in your local area. I started on the minimum wage and after a while gave myself a bit of a pay rise and put my prices up a little bit - it didn't put people off, they snapped up the stuff... go on give it a go and tell us how you get on.

(I'm supposed to be on 'holiday' whilst being at home), so will pop in later for a bit more of a chat.:~:

love

I'm really glad your event went to well and your feedback was really interesting. I am planning on doing some events next year after not doing any for 3 years by then. so it's useful stuff, and certainly not waffling!

i HAVE to do some when i have more stock, but frankly its the only drawback to this business as i am terrified

Hiya Su, :~:

Have you thought about having acupuncture or hypnosis to help you with your lack of confidence?? []

I've had some acupuncture in the past to help with my depression & problems I had at work and it made a huge difference and I have a real fear of needles! Acupuncture needles are nothing like the needles used by Doctors/Nurses, they are tiny and VERY VERY thin and don't hurt at all. Here's a link or if you don't mind travelling, I can recommend my friend Allison, who used to 'needle' me when I worked with her, she's excellent and has a practice in Sussex. PM me.

BMAS - The British Medical Acupuncture Society

take care x :X

PM on its way :)

I was when I fist did an event Su and probably will be again when I start again! It get's easier though and is a big confidence boost when people start to buy your work!

yeah i guess, but it also seems that an important decision is what kind of place you do you stalls, not just any old place

You need to research your selling locations carefully. Also, who are your customers? Suss out the competition at local craft events/shops/galleries, see what sells, what doesn't, what the quality is like and what the prices are - that's what I did before I set my prices and its where I worked out how I wanted to display my stuff.

x

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Petal

You need to research your selling locations carefully. Also, who are your customers? Suss out the competition at local craft events/shops/galleries, see what sells, what doesn't, what the quality is like and what the prices are - that's what I did before I set my prices and its where I worked out how I wanted to display my stuff.

x

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Okies thanks hun