outlet for wood projects

[Mark Saberniak]

Does anyone know of place where you can take projects so that they can be sold. Or maybe give me some suggestions on where I could sell my furniture and wood projects. I have tried E-bay but there is a problem with shipping large items.

[Kelly Anderson]

Local flea market. I have seen some pieces for sale in a couple around here.

[Nancy Laird]

Depending on where you are, there are some areas that have a "crafter's mall" type of place. You rent a booth, usually 6x8' or 8x8', in the "mall" and you can put anything in there to sell and decorate your space as you see fit. I know of some in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area, and others in the Salt Lake City area, and I'm considering trying to open one in the Albuquerque area. The owner of the space collects a small rent for the space and may take a 1-2% cut of what is sold, to have an operating budget. They are great places around Christmas to find unusual and one-of-a-kind gifts and many times the booth holders will take special orders for products.

Nancy (117 days)

[Robert Waddell]

Mark,
Try your local farmers market, craft shows, your own website, galleries or what Nancy was describing is emporium type stores where you rent a booth. I'm doing all of theses with varying degrees of sucess in each. Your product really dictates what location and type venue works best. Best of luck to you.
Rob

[Roy Hill]

Nancy (117 days)

Hi Nancy,

I'm just curious and maybe I have missed it on the Creek but, why are you counting the days?

Roy

[Bill Huber]

Nancy (117 days)

Hi Nancy,

I'm just curious and maybe I have missed it on the Creek but, why are you counting the days?

Roy

Nancy is really lucky, my number is 912 days........










It is days to retirement....

[Roy Hill]

Thanks Bill,

When I retired I set a jar of marbles on my desk a year before I left. Took one marble out each day. The jar got a lot of peoples curiosity up and made for good conversation. I passed that jar and marbles on to the next guy in my department to retire. My boss didn't believe I would actually retire but, I did and have never thought twice about it.

Roy

[David G Baker]

-2255 days approximately. Retired in July of 2000 at the ripe old age of 55. I didn't have a marble jar prior to retiring but I have lost a few in the past 7 years. Went on a 4 week vacation, 2 weeks into the vacation I called my boss and let him know that I was retiring.
On the topic of selling larger wood products, Ebay will work if your customers understand up front the shipping and handling costs. Finding a shipper that will give a good rate may be a problem. I use UPS for heavy items but not over sized.

[Roy Hill]

In keeping with the topic. I have a brother-in-law that makes instrument stands (banjos, guitars, etc) and he ships them UPS and or USPS. He states the shipping up front and has had no problem. If your products are what people want they don't mind paying the shipping. At least that is my experience as a buyer. Good luck Mark on your endeavor. I would like to try making some wood products and selling them someday. At present I am still trying to get my workshop completed that I have been working on the last four years.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I will mention a couple of things about the outlets mentioned. Craft malls can be good and I had very good success in the years I sold at one. If you go that route decide if you will take custom orders. At mine a customer would come in looking for something not in the mall and the manager would put me in contact with them. Also be aware that in some you also rent yourself. By that I mean that some require booth renters to put in a certain number of hours at the mall per month - assisting with sales, cleaning, etc.

Craft fairs and flea markets can be good, but you never know when there will be a good crowd. No rhyme or reason sometimes. Also there's the hassle of getting ready, setting up, being there (sure as you leave with someone else "minding the store" someone will show up with a question that they can't answer and a prospective sale is gone) and then packing away what didn't sell.

I've not tried selling on eBay or other internet outlets. Especially for large items even if I figured it into the cost I don't want take as much time to build a suitable container and pack it as it seemes it took to build the item in some cases. And also I don't want to worry about the item arriving in the same number of pieces as it started (see the many threads on the forum about shipping).

Don't mean to rain on your parade, but thought I would mention these things. Good luck to you.

[Marc Myer]

You can always try Craigslist. People often post a particular piece they would like to sell in the Furniture section, even if it's new. It's a good way to get some local exposure and feedback. Heck, you may even sell it.

Then you can also post in the services offered section as well. The best part: it's free.