Selling an occasional piece of funiture

[Robert Goodwin]

My wife used to work with me, but since the birth of our children, she has been at home. We planned for this and I couldn’t be happier. Money gets a little tight this time of year though with Christmas and all, which got me to thinking. I am a hobbyist, and some of the projects that I really want to build do not necessarily fit with my wife’s taste. I’d like to build a piece a year or two just for fun and to sell around the holidays for a little extra cash. How would one go about doing this? I’m not into this for a business. I probably would not like to do a commission due to the lack of time I get in the shop with two small kids. A commission would require a schedule/deadline. I have too many of those at work.

If the piece doesn’t sell, no big deal, I am sure I could just give it away for a Christmas present. But ideally it would be nice to get my money back for wood for the next project and have a little extra for Christmas gifts.. Any ideas what would be a good way to sell an occasional piece of furniture? Consignment, Newspaper???

[Noah Alkinburgh]

Couple of suggestions. Take pictures of your projects and bring them in to work. Show them around casually to close friends at work and then some may ask you about selling or you may be more direct and let them know that it is for sale. If they are small projects and you can do it, bring it in to work and display it.

Another option is ebay.

Church or other social group you might be a part of. Do the same thing as at work.

Best of luck!

Noah

[Carl Eyman]

The low end antique shops that sell furniture sold by Sears or Woolworth in the first third of the twentieth Century Might be a good choice.

I had such a relationship once. If a customer bought a dry sink (commode) for instance and wanted a shelf unit to make it into a hutch you could do that. It is commission, but a small enough job so time would not be so big a factor. Another approach is to ask the shop what sells, make the piece, and give it to them on consignment.

[Jim Young]

Dond't know how social you are at work, but there is the perfect hobbyist market. I have mentioned to a few people that I do woodworking. This usually brings questions like "can you do this?". Every once in a while someone will ask for some special "thing" that they can't find in stores. I have gotten several projects this way. The people always love the item and never complain about the timing because they know that you are doing this as a hobby.

The bigger question is "how much do I charge"? I'll let you wrestle with that one for a while.

[Ed Marks]

I also agree with the comments about selling at work. By just talking about the hobby I've managed to hook up with a few people who come back each year for something. It puts a few dollars back into the hobby and usually funds whatever Santa delivers to the workshop. Having a WWW site of your work goes a long way at work. I never actually set out to sell things to people I knew from work, it just happened.

Another method is to hook up with a higher end gift shop that might be interested in selling on consigment. Around here there is everything from shops dedicated to selling furniture and other craftware (pottery, etc.) to antique shops that carry a line of furniture. Small items like jewelry boxes and unique turnings can be quite profitable; although, they take time to sell. If you think about it early enough and can get some peices placed you can probably sell one or two a year. You might also meet a potential buyer that will come back.

[Robert Goodwin]

Thanks for all your responces. I did not think about the workplace as being a good place to sell. I have had people ask about some of the pictures I have had at my desk.


Thanks again,
Rob

[Lynn Sonier]

The "how much to charge" thing gets to me too. Materials are so darn expensive it seems like its a shame to also charge an hourly rate. I do a lot of work for churches and feel bad when I submit a bill which includes materials and my time. They pay it but its like taking money from a friend. Another thing, I enjoy doing the work so much it is almost its own pay - but not quite. Made a couple of doors for a table for a local church today - rail and stile - and they're the best I ever did. That's a pretty good rate of pay in itself. (Maybe I shouldn't say that I made them out of white oak instead of red oak because I picked up the wrong plank at the lumber yard.)

[Robert Goodwin]

I agree about the joy of working on it being my hourly pay. Since I would only be make a piece a year or two to sell, I don't think that I would be hurting local funiture makers by undercutting them. Atleast I hope not, I would not want to impact a business in a negative way.

[Noah Alkinburgh]

I agree about the joy of working on it being my hourly pay. Since I would only be make a piece a year or two to sell, I don't think that I would be hurting local funiture makers by undercutting them. Atleast I hope not, I would not want to impact a business in a negative way.

Robert,

One word of caution on pricing. If you start low its very difficlut to raise the price. I struggle with this too especially when selling to friends and family. It is one of the reasons I haven't sold much, but when asked about price I always ballpark higher then I am comfortable with. Even then I am probably low. While I understand not wanting to charge hourly the bottom line is they are getting a piece of you and your passion and even if you don't think your hours should be paid for, you attention to detail, care, and personal touch should be worth more then anyting else.

Just a thought....

Noah

[Robert Goodwin]

Robert,

One word of caution on pricing. If you start low its very difficlut to raise the price. I struggle with this too especially when selling to friends and family. It is one of the reasons I haven't sold much, but when asked about price I always ballpark higher then I am comfortable with. Even then I am probably low. While I understand not wanting to charge hourly the bottom line is they are getting a piece of you and your passion and even if you don't think your hours should be paid for, you attention to detail, care, and personal touch should be worth more then anyting else.

Just a thought....

Noah

Good point. I might just steer clear of Friends and family for selling purposes. Although I'm pretty easy going there is no telling what kind of problems could occur if my idea of what a friend wanted is different then mine.

[Jared Cuneo]

Its tough, I just completed 2 commisioned, small, hinged boxes and I put a ton of hours into details and sanding/finishing. In the end, they came out great but in all honesty, I made about $5 hour. My normal job, sidework would pay $75-100/hr, but I hate doing it.

Also, I had to recut some parts for this job, thankfully, the wood was not figured nor were the size of the pieces of any consequence, but you must take these things into consideration.

HOWEVER, your situation is somewhat unique in that you are just doing it for pleasure and it doesn't really matter if the piece sells. This helps take the pressure off. And believe me, even though this is not my day job, it always seems like when you are just playing it by ear and not building to spec, everything goes right....When you have deadlines and customer spec, the craziest nonsense seems to happen

I would also agree with Noah, just like a job, its very hard to increase price/salary....don't start out low....if your work is good, it will show and they will pay for it....gotta be a salesman too.....the things we make in our shops don't come off an assembly line in China....

JC

[Chuck Lenz]

I would charge what you have to have in labor. If they don't like it, well theres allways the made in China products they can buy. Custom anything is more expensive than mass produced products. And don't tell everyone it's your HOBBY ! I'm not so sure that selling your work at work is the way to go either, if anyone has a issue with your work or prices you may create some bad feelings and put your main income at risk.

[Matt Lackey]

I did furniture full time for a few years, now I am in the same boat. I plan on avoiding $15/BF figured wood and make things I like. I will be trying my luck on craigslist to see if I can move some tables and etc. I think I may present somewhat anonomously like "Made by a local craftsman."

There is a huge difference in the value of custom and spec work. With custom, people participate in the creative process and they have to pay for that, they like to pay for that.

If I just make something, I get the enjoyment and the buyer just gets a well made product. I do not meet them at their house nor do I deal with their "interior designer." The price has to be lower or I am gouging. Also, with spec work, dimensions can be determined by the size of offcuts in the shop. You cannot chage custom pricing for that. You can if they want a second one that matches however, you should not charge for design time.

Whenever I "market" to people I know I always endup hornswagled into some project I do not want to do. This is why you should just sell completed products if that is what you have time for.

Matt

[Lee Schierer]

Look around your area. Here where I live, there is are a couple of finished/unfinished furniture shops that would take custom pieces on consignment. There is also a permanent indoor flea market that has booths you can rent. You could rent your own or talk to someone that already rents one. There are also several local craft fairs in the fall. I'm sure your area would have similar places. Just remember what ever price you first mention at craft fairs or flea markets, will likely get negotiated down rather than up. Most people shopping like to haggle over the price a bit when they shop those types of places.

Some people rave about craigslist, but I can't ever seem to get it to work locally.

[Rod Torgeson]

About 11 years ago I started making pens. I got my lathe and supplies at the beginning of my Christmas break from work. We had about a week off over the holidays. Between then and next Christmas I made a bunch of pens. Then just before the holidays in 1997 I took some to work and showed them around at the appropriate time to people. I sold about $500 worth of pens to co-workers. Most of that was accomplished by word of mouth. I retired in January of 1998. In the fall of 1998 I went back to work on contract for 2 months. During that time I had people come up to me and ask if I still made pens and was I selling them. Once again I made around $500. One lady had lost the pencil to a set that she had bought for herself. I made her a new one, no charge. She had bought several sets from me for gifts.

I also contacted some jewelry stores in the area where I lived(Marysville, WA) and there were three that bought from me and then doubled the price in their store. One store would give a set away when someone purchased a high dollar item.

Now I still make pens and give them away to The Freedom Pen Project.

Rod<---in Appleton, WA