Working Tuesday: Selling your creations - the shops

Another way to sell your creations is to get your work into shops. In my experience, there are a couple ways shops will take your work: they'll either buy it outright at a wholesale price or they'll take the work on consignment with a markup. In pricing your work for shops, it's probably a good bet there will be a 100% markup. Keep in mind, your work will still have to be reasonable enough to sell, but you'll need to make enough on the piece to make it worth your while. That's the balance you have to strike.

This is where testing the market comes in handy. If you've been selling your work, you should be getting a feel for how much people are willing to pay for your pieces. When you have this knowledge, it's much easier to price your work for sale in shops. That leaves the hardest part of this process - getting into a shop.

Here's where you'll have to do some research to find shops in your area or state that would be a good fit for your work. When I was still living in WV, I heard learned that Tamarack - the State's answer to helping regional artists sell their work - was jurying craftspeople. I found out that on a certain day the buyers were looking at artists work, packed up my samples and stood in line to see the buyer. The buyer looked at my work, selected several prototypes, discussed terms and placed an order. It took some perseverance, but the sale was worth the trouble!

Once you've identified a shop you think would be a good fit, call the shop and ask if they accept artists and ask their terms. Some shops work on a jurying process you'll have to get through. If the terms are acceptable, ask to make an appointment with their buyer. Sometimes this is the shop owner and I know from experience this can make for some great long-term relationships.

Here's where being prepared can be very important. When you meet with the buyer, make sure you have everything priced according to the terms. That way there's no confusion if the buyer wants to take certain pieces on the spot. Some buyers will give you an order for x number of pieces in x style. I've never been afraid to tell the buyer if a certain style hasn't sold well in the past. After all, if your work doesn't sell well for you and it doesn't sell for them, they might not want to sell your work in the future.
Before you leave the meeting with the buyer, make sure you set up payment terms. Don't beafraid to clearly spell out the relationship. It saves a lot of pain in the end and this is business!

One more tip on selling to shops. I've recently come across a website called Trunkt. I'm still exploring the possibilities, but it could be another opportunity to get your work into the hands of sellers!

Next week: shows.