you know when all you lovely people give advice...

rog2

PaP - I have just googled 'Handmade Greetings Cards' and the majority of cards on offer are no more professional than yours and cost anything from £2.50 up to £20 each.

postingalwaysposting

right i just went away and sorted something i can control ~ my xmas/birthday cupboard and i come back

and cry ~ good cry i cant believe people think they are worthy of buying. I dont know why but when you give things as a gift you dont really 'care' (thats not a good word) if the recipient likes it/thinks its good however when you are selling your work its different :rolleyes: anyways i think i shall upload thee onto ebay and give them a chance... i have about 5 spare cards left to create onto however i have kept £40 out of my holiday savings so i can buy some more plain cards and a winter fleace for me. I shall see how these go first... after all the public shall decide :rotfl: making more this afternoon... so we shall see :rolleyes:

rog2

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

right i just went away and sorted something i can control ~ my xmas/birthday cupboard and i come back

and cry ~ good cry i cant believe people think they are worthy of buying. I dont know why but when you give things as a gift you dont really 'care' (thats not a good word) if the recipient likes it/thinks its good however when you are selling your work its different :rolleyes: anyways i think i shall upload thee onto ebay and give them a chance... i have about 5 spare cards left to create onto however i have kept £40 out of my holiday savings so i can buy some more plain cards and a winter fleace for me. I shall see how these go first... after all the public shall decide :rotfl: making more this afternoon... so we shall see :rolleyes:

That's the spirit PaP. :T What we need to do is to 'transform' the cards from a 'hobby' to a business. You need to write down exactly what it costs to make the cards and what your 'overheads' will be. Then you can set a realistic selling price - you will probably need at least a 100% mark up.
Rather than Ebay, you should consider your OWN website - you can 'buy' a website from 'MrSite' with your own domain name for around £25-30.
You should also consider the 'mark' i.e. promoting your individual brand as a 'designer' label. I know it's probably pushing it to get up and running in time to capitalise on this Christmas, but you've got a good product and people will buy it.
We're ALL behind you PaP - please feel free to PM if you need any help with costings etcetera.

postingalwaysposting

rog2 wrote: »

That's the spirit PaP. :T What we need to do is to 'transform' the cards from a 'hobby' to a business. You need to write down exactly what it costs to make the cards and what your 'overheads' will be. Then you can set a realistic selling price - you will probably need at least a 100% mark up.
Rather than Ebay, you should consider your OWN website - you can 'buy' a website from 'MrSite' with your own domain name for around £25-30.
You should also consider the 'mark' i.e. promoting your individual brand as a 'designer' label. I know it's probably pushing it to get up and running in time to capitalise on this Christmas, but you've got a good product and people will buy it.
We're ALL behind you PaP - please feel free to PM if you need any help with costings etcetera.

rog thanks... i think this is where i become 'stuck' turning something into a business i know nothing about. I already have income/expenditure on a word document ~ so far i have spent £100.61 and made nothing :rotfl:but as you say everyone buys cards. Its getting the sells... but i shall get there :T

Thanks for all sticcking with me ~ it means a lot especially as some people i have told has laughed at me love you all

SarahNeedle1872

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

thanks all, i really dont know what to say, just finding it really hard to cope at the momment and its getting to me :rolleyes: sorry i cant reply to you all indivdually but thanks and i will hopefully sum everything up now :rolleyes:

driving ~ i will get there but its hard because every month its £200 that i could be saving, my next test has come through though ~ january have a 4 hour lesson on tuesday but i am going to tell him that i can only do 10 hours a month which is £200 because i cant physically afford any more. I can drive and i love driving i just cant pass the test :rolleyes:

cards ~ they do look totally awfull and cheap. to be honest anyone could throw together the cards i have made without any tallent :rolleyes: i havent listed them yet because they are awful. i will pop some pic up at the end of this note. Snaggles i thought about the 50% thing but i am note sure how i could work it? its difficult. Anywyas i have ran out of blank cards now so i can do nothing untill payday anyways.

i have been listing some of my craft stuff on turbolister ready for upload because it isnt going to work is it? i need to be realistic...

anyways some of my 'cards' although they will prob be taken to the charity shop to sell.

PaP, these cards are lovely! Handmade cards never look all pristine (sp?) and shining like the printed ones, but that's what makes them so much more appealing! I agree with Rog, u should look at setting up ur own website for them..... but if u do put more on eBay, I'd love u to PM me ur eBay username so I could buy some, I love handmade cards, esp for the MiL!

Sorry that ur not feeling urself lately, u've had a rough time lately with ur bunny plus all the work stuff.....
Don't beat urself up about the money situation..... u are not back in debt, and don't forget u have ur 'locked saver' that u can't touch, so it's not like u've blown all ur money! Perhaps u could review ur budget and allow urself a bit more 'spends' money so u don't feel restricted all the time...

Keep ur chin up hun, ur doing really well!!!

Lots of love and great bigs cyber hugs....

Sarah x

Snaggles

Ooooh yes, ifyou're willing to pm your ebay username, I'd like it too!

postingalwaysposting

hi sarah and snaggles... i think i am comparing myself too much to other peoples/companys work which of course will never work as all my work is one of a kind. i ghess i need to try them out and see what happens. I have my ebay account ready so will upload this 'set' tonight (look in my profile for the address) i have also made some ver simple ones which i will charge less for as not much is included on them ~ i am trying to make my target audience bigger :rolleyes:

postingalwaysposting

well i cant use the ebay account that i was set to use because they seem to have closed it :rotfl: i dindt really want to set up a new one so i have opened a shop attached to my main account its free for the first month and then its £6 per month with only a 3p insertion fee... dont know if it will work out cheaper or not? however i can always close it if it doesnt work out.

skint_spice

Hi Pap, tried to post this morning but was in a rush and it disappeared so what I was going to say was "chin up and have a go". Glad to see you've already cheered up a wee bit and you're getting sorted on ebay. If they don't sell it doesn't mean they are pants just that folk are looking for something else. Can't see the cards for some reason, my set up must be wrong but I'm in a rush as I'm off out in a mo. I'm sure they are lovely though. Good luck! and with the driving - you'll get there just stop fretting.

P.S. made a gorgeous card for my friend's birthday last night and DS has in my eyes wrecked it by adding a big "40" to it - arrrggghhh. hopefully she'll see the funny side!

Gemmzie

*hugs* for feeling crappy, read any of my rants from the last few days and you'll see it's been a bit of an epidemic lately.

Job-wise, if the 20 hour job is something you want to do, go for it. It's only money and sometimes you have to put yourself first (she says glaring in the mirror knowing she should take her own advice :rolleyes: ).

The cards are beautiful too, and I definitely think handmade cards are growing in popularity. Shop bought ones are so expensive and so plain, it's about £3 for a half decent one in the card shop beginning with "C".