vm845 Posted July 1 Report Share Posted July 1 Hello Everyone, I am a hobbyist potter (38 years) and recently a lot people have interest in purchasing my creations. So I has decided to start a website to see if I could sell my creations. Im not expecting to make a living off the profit at the moment. But I would love to someday. I figure that I need to start getting people to notice my stuff now. For starters, how do you calculate you pricing? What is standard profit %? I spend a lot of time glazing my pieces as I have a slight obsession with the Peacock technique. I have several tech contacts whom suggested that I try to build it myself to save money and was suggested to try WIZ to create the website. Any other suggestions? I am in the process of creating a Instagram and Facebook pages. Anywhere else that is easy to upload and update regularly. I am also doing a markers market in December. What advice can you give me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEP Posted July 4 Report Share Posted July 4 You’ve asked some very broad and generalized questions that are difficult to answer. The best way to answer these questions is through experience, so my best advice is to move forward with your plans and see where it takes you. I would start with Instagram and Facebook accounts, these are very easy to initiate. Start posting photos of your work on the regular basis. Consistency is really important. You don’t need an e-commerce website to start with. You can simply include in your captions “DM me to arrange a purchase” or something along those lines. An e-commerce website is a much more complicated project compared to a social media account. You can tackle this when the frequency of your sales makes it necessary to give your customers an easier purchase process. It doesn’t really matter what platform you build your online store (Etsy, WIX, Square, Shopify, etc). They all come with costs, in one form or another. What’s important is how effectively you can drive traffic to your store. Doing local in-person markets is also extremely important in terms of developing a following, so I encourage you to keep those plans! As for pricing, that’s a question that many sellers struggle with, including experienced pros. There is no quick formula. Basing your prices on the amount of time spent on your decorating techniques is not a valid method. This doesn’t have any correlation with market value and sellability. Figuring out the correct pricing for your work is a long term process. Start with prices that make sense to you, then adjust them up or down based on actual sales metrics. It will take a couple of years at least before you feel this out. Start small, be humble and flexible, and see where it takes you! Good luck, and congratulations for having the courage to start! rox54, Callie Beller Diesel and Min 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denice Posted July 6 Report Share Posted July 6 I would check out some other potters website and see what they sell their work for. Pricing can vary due to size, high price glaze, popularity and the complications of the design. If it a well known potter than you will want to sell it for less money than a similar piece. Denice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted July 8 Report Share Posted July 8 I agree with Mia on all points except about the mention of Etsy. I used to think it was a fine place to get started with, but I don’t anymore. They’ve brought in a number of policies around payments, taxation and how they charge for some things that I think disadvantage the makers too much. It’s less about the percentages they take, and more about timing and transparency. LeeU 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEP Posted July 9 Report Share Posted July 9 21 hours ago, Callie Beller Diesel said: I agree with Mia on all points except about the mention of Etsy. I used to think it was a fine place to get started with, but I don’t anymore. They’ve brought in a number of policies around payments, taxation and how they charge for some things that I think disadvantage the makers too much. It’s less about the percentages they take, and more about timing and transparency. I have never actually used Etsy, and have not been following its recent changes, so if Callie says to avoid it, then listen to her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeU Posted July 10 Report Share Posted July 10 On 7/8/2024 at 12:50 PM, Callie Beller Diesel said: disadvantage the makers too much My daughter has/had an Etsy store and it has gotten harder, more compicated, and more costly for her to market her goods and get the level of traffic she used to (with no identifiable changes other than their monitization model). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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