BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Crochet Does anyone sell their projects???

I know some of you have said that you are doing fairs to sell the items you have completed. I am wondering if anyone sells on ebay. I have been checking ebay and see stuff being sold, but at very cheap prices. Can't understand how someone puts in such hard work and then receives no compensation. Are there other places to successfully sell completed items? Also, how do you price the items?

I come from a community that is not fashion trendy and people would not pay good $ for quality made garments or items.

Thus far, all the projects I have completed have been for my kids or family members. Everyone always says they are nice, but have not sold anything.

Whew, this turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. Thanks for the help.

I don't sell as a business, but when I have made projects for friends and family, I have taken orders from their friends.

The main problem is that although people love the idea that it is hand made, they don't understand a) How much wool can cost, and b) How long things take to make.

You may spend 5 hours on a blanket, but you cannot charge a respectable hourly wage, when they can buy a beautiful, if standard blaket from Asda (Wall Mart), for �4. Which is less than the UK minimum hourly wage.)

Of course people expect to pay a little bit more, but it depends on your market and your products.

At craft fairs people seem to sell at higher prices with success, but then they have overheads.

It will be interesting to see what other peoples thoughts are.

You have to find the right market place for your item. For example, I love to make all kinds of rugs and of course crocheted sweaters etc. Where I was living before (dayton,NV) I couldn't get a nickel for them but now I moved to Elko,NV and I can get a fair price for my work. It really depends on where you live so if you are living somewhere that doesn't appreciate the art, then take a look online. There are several places (ebay, quilted bear, etc.) that you can sell your items at good prices.

I think small consignment places are the way to go, I have a small "olde fashioned general store"-type place where I put a basket of mittens, a few scarves and some hats, as well as the occasional baby blanket and whatnot on consignment. I don't sell much, but what I sell, I sell for good money. The tourists from the city who visit the country for the weekend are willing to shell out big bucks for handmade crafts, and it works out well for everyone! I'm certainly not selling in any volume, though, I sell maybe 30-50 items a year.

I give away most of my stuff. I did sell quite a few poncho's and shawls last year. and one year, i paid for my christmas (for the kids) making those frameable name doilies. it comes and goes.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and ideas. I will continue to look into this and try not to be discouraged too soon. I will of course let you know how I do.

I sold at a craft fair for the first time ever! The Apple Festival in Springville, CA.

I got a lot of 'oh, I know how to knit/crochet' and some audible gasps at my prices (between $20 and $40 for scarves), I still sold 9, for a total of $270.00, and even got a few custom orders.

The thing I find hardest to combat is what I call 'The WalMart Mentality'. Yes, you the consumer can buy a scarf from WalMart for $8.00 (or whatever they go for there). But I really tried to educate the people at my booth. I explained that 1) these are ALL hand made. By me. Not by a machine and not by some 8 year old in another country. 2) the materials are much higher-end than WalMart . . . Alpaca and Mohair and Angora. NOT SYNTHETIC. 3) No one will have this scarf. Each one is individual, not from a pattern, and I don't duplicate them. Once made, that combination of stitches and material/color will not be used again.

The nine that I sold were to people that didn't quibble about the price, appreciated the materials used and the one-of-a-kind aspect, and overall spend on quality rather than quantity.

Quantity is good when you're buying paper plates, but even then . . . do you want the terrible ones that seep through and bend when you hold it, or do you want the ones that cost a little bit more and actually do the job?

We're not just creators either, here. We're consumers too, so we should remember that the next time we see something of 'quality' and mentally compare it to something we've seen at WalMart. I know I look at stuff differently now, knowing what it takes to make something by hand!

i sell my things off and on, i have a blog which i sell on too. but have not done a lot. mostly word of mouth and yes i agree completely with your assesment of people i actually had one lady who said i was over charging for a poncho for 40.00, the material alone was 25, so i was making a whole 15.00 needless to say i would not sell to her, after me explaining why it was higher she actually did say well i am after a bargain and that is not, i told her quite politely, to bug off lol
said if she was not willing to pay the price i was asking i was not reducing it for her. some people i have, but its only because i am making more than 15.00 on a item that takes me 3 or 4 hours. sheesh is worse pay than walmart

Since I'm now beginning to crochet clothing (doing my first cardigan sweater right now...I've done two cardigan vests before) and I now know first hand what kind of work goes into making sweaters, when I see the cheap, poorly made sweaters at Walmart, I think to myself that I can do that...and mine look a heck of a lot better than what the WalMart sweat shops put out.

altho, I only work with synthetic (allergic to wool, havent found a good cotton yarn that I like yet) at least what I make will last longer than 6 months. I've bought sweaters at WM that fell apart the first time I washed them.

i sold a shawl today like this one for 40.00 i am so excited <img src="/images/graemlins/heart.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/heart.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/heart.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/heart.gif" alt="" />