Last time I mentioned selling on Etsy, but the competition there is tough. What about focusing more locally? Are there other ways to generate income by making things with a CNC machine in my area?(Miami) I’m open to exploring ideas beyond online sales like local markets, partnerships, or custom projects. Anyone here have experience with this or suggestions on where to start?
1 Like
Have you seen:
2 Likes
When I was selling, Craigslist / Offerup was neck-and-neck with Etsy.
Craigslist/Offerup was nice because I kept all of the money instead of losing a percentage on the sale, a percentage on the shipping label, a percentage on the credit card transaction, a percentage on. . .
Craigslist/Offerup was not quite as nice because sometimes people didn’t show up like they said they would, and I would usually meet them at a grocery store a mile or so away because I did not like inviting random internet strangers to my house all the time.
I am retired so my perspective is different than some. Personally the effort to make and sell is not worth it to me. I just want to enjoy what I do and not have a production goal of X number of widgets a day to produce.
That said local craft fairs are all around. Even small towns have fairs and festivals with booths for selling hand made gifts.
At the gun shows I go to there was always a man there selling pens he made. I talked to him because I make pens. He was retired from Honeywell and was about to give up selling at the gun shows. He stated he made good money but there is a circuit of the shows so almost every weekend there was a show somewhere here in Texas. So he had to travel, stay in a motel, setup his booth, sit there for 2-3 days staying more nights in a motel and away from home. Then during the week he had produce pens to replenish his stock.
Making income is nice but frankly I would rather enjoy my hobby than turn it into a JOB. As Patric Swazey said in the movie Roadhouse “Opinions Vary”. Just be aware that selling your wares is a job and requires dedication to that job to be successful.
I agree about Etsy being a bad place to sell. Lets say you make jewelry boxes and someone is looking at your boxes. At the bottom of the page are other makers of jewelry boxes. So on Etsy you have to be unique to stand out. At a craft show you would have less competition of your particular specialties. Plus you get to actually meet and talk to real people. If the weather is nice you spend a pleasant day outside. In my opinion selling more locally is better but still requires face time to be successful. So be careful what you wish for. Making money is great but it is real work to be successful. Money dont buy happiness but it sure helps.
5 Likes
The issue I have is that anytime I post an item for sell on any sites, like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or any other locations, people come on there talking like they are at a yard sale trying to find yard sale prices. They offer prices way below my asking price as if I will drop the price so low that they would feel like the were stealing the item(s) from me.
Plus, pricing is also tough. One item that I make might take many hours to produce one of. Then I do market research to see what people would pay for this item, and the numbers I get back don’t warrant me producing this product, unless I can find a way to greatly reduce the work on it. Then I run another product and see numbers much higher then expected, but the also means, not as many people can afford to get this item.
Also doesn’t help when people are used to shopping at Walmart and online like Amazon, for items that are a ton cheaper. Can’t compete in a market where people think of our wares as compared to Walmart or online discount stores.
One example was a coffee table I made. Had a buyer back out on me before the table was done. I put it on different location sites and nothing happened. I even was able to showcase it in a business on consignment. The company that took it to try to sell it wanted me to give them a good deal on my price so they could do their markup. Problem was that I didnt realize they were going to mark it up so high that nobody would buy it. What they used it for was a showcase piece to bring people into their stores, and then when the price was seen, people would back away from it, but it usually lead to a sell in their store. I found out what was happening after the table sat in their store for months before I asked to remove it. Someone forgot to remove the price tab on the bottom underneath of the table and when I saw it, after getting it to my shop, I was flabbergasted at what they were asking for it. They had marked it up $1000 above my asking price of $500. So they were trying to sell my $500 table, that I reduced the price on some for them, and were trying to make $1000 on my table, or just bringing in customers.
Anyways, there are places to sell our wares, we just need to plug into them where we fit in better. Research and know your market and target demographic of people. Not all people will want, or even can afford what we might be selling. And it is hard to sell to people that have the mindset that Walmart sells about the same thing for way much cheaper.
I wrote a bit on pricing at:
1 Like
Thanks, going to check it out now.
Pricing for our wood projects verses handyman work or home remodeling is completely different, and it makes it hard to keep them separated from each other when pricing things out. This is my issue here.
In most of my home remodeling pricing, I can add up all the cost of materials and usually double that cost to formulate the total cost including the labor at that point. E.g., a job might have $1000 worth of material, I might charge a total of $2000 for the whole job. This is, of course, the simple formula of figuring a bid. Now there are exceptions to this formula when a job might be very low material cost, but a very time consuming job. It’s a give and take as in any bidding for a job.
When asked to build furniture I add the cost of the supplies and what my time is worth and provide them the price. It’s either acceptable or not? I can’t control their decision, if it’s not worth it to them then my time is not worth their project. I’m retired and do not depend on making furniture as a business.
As a business you have to be competitive or have a niche product to make $$.
And you’re right, Walmart/Ikea have made it hard to sell furniture these days. It’s no longer a world of buying good furniture for the long term. It seems our society has the “replace it all” every ten years.
1 Like
If it’s a pricey production/custom work - ask for a deposit/retainer - supplies aren’t free and once we agree on a design I’ve already invested money into your project just making the design, so you can invest in the supplies to make it happen. No deposit, I retain the design and move on. Don’t pay for the final product, well at least I keep the deposit to cover supplies and design - you can have the design but I reserve the right to modify it for the next customer since you didn’t complete the purchase. blah, blah, blah. There’s a thousand ways to skin an onion. And yes, for me, this is a hobby, NOT a job. I’m open when I open and I’m closed when I close and unless you’ve put money to the effort there’s no deadline/timeline/commitment. Just my 2 cents worth.
4 Likes
For me it’s hard to see what items I can do and sell, I usually always use black acrylic for Boat Dash Panels
I’ve made several for my and brothers boat, we used starboard. This was with the Shaper Origin prior to the 5 Pro however. It’s amazing what it can do!
1 Like
Every time I enter my e-mail address in the box it says “Success! Please check your email in a few minutes.” I think I’ve tried it several times in the last few months and I’m still waiting. I’ve even tried two different email addresses. Any suggestions?
1 Like
Same thing happened to me just send an email to support, they sent it through there
1 Like
I am pretty new to the CNC Router world, but have been doing metal art for a good while. I have found that I cannot and will not try and compete with the market on pricing my metal art. I only do custom work, and the artwork alone is very time consuming. Metal cost goes up and down so it is hard to advertise a price. I enjoy the creativity of doing custom work and pleasing a customer with something personal that they know was made for them. Word of mouth is my only means of advertising. I charge by the number of pierces, inch of cut and size of the metal. Artwork is usually no charge because I usually have to do a rough design just to price it. Not getting rich by any means but enjoy doing it. I have been getting a few requests for wood projects, on the CNC Router, but have no Idea how to charge. Cut time alone is unreal compared to plasma so I don’t see I could do it for the money. If I can make enough to cover some of the cost of my toys, I guess I am Happy.
3 Likes
I am dumbfounded by how one person’s artwork/sculptures, etc, can be worth thousands, and another person’s is worth pennies, when both produce similar designs and quality. A painting that an artist painted that took them minutes to paint, like moving blank canvases under a swinging pendulum of paint bottles, and that is called art worth $40,000, and I take a brush an splatter paint across a canvas, and to the critics, this is called an accident looking trashy, just blows my mind. A white canvas with just a single red square on it and its brilliant art and my red line is a disaster.
So, what I have learned in art is, art is only as good as the critics that rate and purchase it. I think I stopped pricing my stuff to the market of others when the balances and measures are skewed at what someone calls art and a great piece, verses those that say it just looks like crap. Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, and others, were all great painters and many of their paintings were not worth much at the time of them living. But now their paintings are worth millions, but also, a person that put a banana on a column with 3 lights facing it from different angles, is called art and worth a ton of money. Make it make sense to me, lol.
The other issue I have found is marketing to those people that shop at Walmart and such stores verses those who wont step foot into a Walmart because they see everything in there as cheap and crappy, has a major impact on how much I can sell my wares to. Walmart shoppers I’m selling for pennies, other shoppers I am selling for thousands. So, know your target demographic, and sell to them.
Another example that I have is for a few roofing jobs I did this past year. One of them the guy was complaining of how much he was spending, but wanted so much more done then just a removal of old shingles and replacement. I gave him a base price without even looking at the house as a reference price. We agreed on a price, which I shouldn’t have yet, and then came and looked to start working on it. He wanted to add a little here and a little there. I didn’t mind at first because the little wasn’t much. But then he saw that I wasn’t charging him any extra for these little add-ons. Well, then he wanted more and bigger add-ons for free. When I started telling him the add-on prices per each work, he started getting mad and bringing up the price he was paying already for the roof.
This went back and forth for awhile between us for the work. He agreed upon the prices, then later complained to me that he was spending so much more for what we agreed upon. Once I finished the job and got paid the remaining balance, we had a falling out later about the price he paid and that I should have done more work for what he paid. I explained that all the work I did at the price I did it, he wouldn’t have had another company come and complete it for as low as I did.
Then he called me again complaining about the cost and what his friend kept saying about things. I finally just had to tell him to stop calling me, and that I was not going to be doing more work for him. This example is where one person complains about the simple cost of repairs and his add-ons, and my friend paid $24,000 easily to repair their roof. My parents paid $22,000 to redo their roof a few years back. And this guy paid $9,500 and was still complaining about spending so much for a new roof, dormer repairs, two window repairs, both front and back house soffit install and rafter tail repairs. New facia and facia guard put up, and a chimney tuck-point and some brick replacement.
Sorry that was a bit long winded.
All my taste is in my mouth. I went to the Menil Museum in Houston a few years ago. In the upstairs gallery they had a giant “painting” that was about 20’ wide and about 10’ tall. It was painted a medium gray and that is it. I looked at it for a long time to see if there was something else hidden. There was not anything but the medium gray paint. They called that art. I went over to the Houston Fine Arts Museum to see a Monet exhibit that was traveling around. The paintings were beautiful but when impressionists painters started painting in the late 1800’s they were not well received. Now in the 21st century those paintings sell for millions. After painters die they art goes up in value. Later people like Andy Warhol painted Campbell’s soup cans people went gaga for them.
Your work is worth what you think it is worth. Now whether people will pay your price is a different question. Craftsmen are different from artists. A craftsman figures time spent and material costs and a profit margin. Most artists simply paint or sculpt what they want and if it sells great but there are many starving artists in this world.
Being a craftsman is a business and has to be approached in that manner. So figure our your over head, cost of your labor and your materials and settle on a profit margin. Reputation is everything. A good roofer has to get a bigger price over a chuck in a truck type roofer. But a quality roofer has to stand behind their work and fix the inevitable problems that arise. That willingness to fix what they dont do right has a lot to do with their quality reputation. Even the most experienced craftsmen make mistakes but a true craftsman knows how to figure out how to correct their mistake when possible but also have to decide when to drop the whole thing in the trash and start over. Just know your own worth and stick to your guns. At craft shows people will ask for a discount on your wares. Resist the temptation to drop your price because if you have priced it right there is no reason to drop the price. The people searching for a bargin are not serious buyers in most cases.
1 Like
The first thing many work on is signs, toys, small articles/boxes. IF you"re in Miami and know/speak Spanish, do a couple of signs in both Spanish and English with same wording on both and post in your front yard.
My only reply to the Spanish or other language that you are not familiar with can get you in trouble in translation. Spanish uses different syntax than English so run a language you dont speak by someone that does speak it before going into production.
An example was the Chevy Nova. In Spanish Nova means “No Go” so in English it the sudden brightness of a star but in Spanish no go was not a popular name for a car. The idea of other languages is a good one just be careful.