Making money selling crafts

fiddlesticks

Oh dear.
I've been self employed before. That was one client and I had no outgoings to keep track of. It was a lot of hassle and stress and if I have to go through that again for 5GBP a month I know I'll never get round to selling anything . The keeping track of what I spend on making an item is someting I never do and specifically don't want to do. It would also be impossible given some of my materials have been in my craft stash for years.
Howevr if I don't shift some of my stuff in 20 years I'm going to be one of those people who can only use one room in the house and die in a landslide of jumpers

I did carefully read the rules and regs on both Folksy and Etsy and it seemed to me that they are for serious crafters, people who care about marketing, customer service, quality... all the stuff that I find impairs my enjoyment of the making stuff thing. For me its just about avoiding chucking things in a skip

I was confused by the fees thing as I wanted to charge 99p but the fees came out at 1.35. I have sold a few things on Ebay before several years ago and it didn't work that that but I guess they have changed the structure.

And yes I agree about the facebook thing.... if you have network of people who are interested n the stuff you have to sell than absolutely its a medium for selling. I live in a small town, I don't know anyone here anymore and particuarly not anyone who would pay for crap.:-)

Flyonthewall

fiddlesticks wrote: »

Oh dear.
I've been self employed before. That was one client and I had no outgoings to keep track of. It was a lot of hassle and stress and if I have to go through that again for 5GBP a month I know I'll never get round to selling anything . The keeping track of what I spend on making an item is someting I never do and specifically don't want to do. It would also be impossible given some of my materials have been in my craft stash for years.
Howevr if I don't shift some of my stuff in 20 years I'm going to be one of those people who can only use one room in the house and die in a landslide of jumpers

I did carefully read the rules and regs on both Folksy and Etsy and it seemed to me that they are for serious crafters, people who care about marketing, customer service, quality... all the stuff that I find impairs my enjoyment of the making stuff thing. For me its just about avoiding chucking things in a skip

I was confused by the fees thing as I wanted to charge 99p but the fees came out at 1.35. I have sold a few things on Ebay before several years ago and it didn't work that that but I guess they have changed the structure.

And yes I agree about the facebook thing.... if you have network of people who are interested n the stuff you have to sell than absolutely its a medium for selling. I live in a small town, I don't know anyone here anymore and particuarly not anyone who would pay for crap.:-)

As I said before, anything you already have and have had for ages you can sell as personal items rather than business.

Could you give some items as gifts?

A lot of people on them sites will be businesses and the sites themselves obviously want buyers to keep coming back. You don't have to market the item. So long as you're polite and as helpful as possible to (potential) buyers there should be no issues as far as customer service goes.

The fees are 10% for a private buyer on ebay. You get 20 free listings which means you don't pay to list, you only pay the final value fees. Fees are charged on the whole amount. So 10% of 99p + postage costs.

So if you charge 99p + £1.80 postage (£2.79 total) your ebay fees will be 27p (or 28p if they round up).

Paypal fees are 3.4% +20p on the total (that's the total before ebay fees are taken).

Basically you pay 13.4% +20p in fees overall on the total sale amount (item + postage).

Did you add any extras to the listing that cost?

Pop_Up_Pirate

fiddlesticks wrote: »

Oh dear.
I've been self employed before. That was one client and I had no outgoings to keep track of. It was a lot of hassle and stress and if I have to go through that again for 5GBP a month I know I'll never get round to selling anything . The keeping track of what I spend on making an item is someting I never do and specifically don't want to do. It would also be impossible given some of my materials have been in my craft stash for years.
Howevr if I don't shift some of my stuff in 20 years I'm going to be one of those people who can only use one room in the house and die in a landslide of jumpers

I did carefully read the rules and regs on both Folksy and Etsy and it seemed to me that they are for serious crafters, people who care about marketing, customer service, quality... all the stuff that I find impairs my enjoyment of the making stuff thing. For me its just about avoiding chucking things in a skip

I was confused by the fees thing as I wanted to charge 99p but the fees came out at 1.35. I have sold a few things on Ebay before several years ago and it didn't work that that but I guess they have changed the structure.

And yes I agree about the facebook thing.... if you have network of people who are interested n the stuff you have to sell than absolutely its a medium for selling. I live in a small town, I don't know anyone here anymore and particuarly not anyone who would pay for crap.:-)

Set your mind at rest and phone HMRC and ask them directly,

They are unlikely to tell you to register as a business but do check for yourself rather than relying on information on here.

fiddlesticks

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Could you give some items as gifts?

I've tried. no what wants hats scarves or socks. :-(

.
Did you add any extras to the listing that cost?

Not that I was aware of.....

misswansea

How about doninating excess items to a local Charity to sell in their shop or at a Christmas craft fair etc?

No business to run, things find good homes and the charity gets the cash.

Some charities may even be able to pass on donated craft materials for you to turn into items for them to sell.

Just a thought

Flyonthewall

fiddlesticks wrote: »

I've tried. no what wants hats scarves or socks. :-(

Not that I was aware of.....

Unless you added a very high postage cost I'm not sure why it would be so much. If you go to myebay and click account you'll see the option of invoices on the right hand side. That will show you what you sold and the fees. You should be able to see how the fees came to £1.35.

How can no one want them? o.O

I think donating is a good idea too. Charities and local places/events (for example, a care home - either for the residents themselves or to donate to their next fayre if they have one to raise money for the home).

fiddlesticks

yeah I deleted the listing and started again- fees were much less so i guess I had hit the wrong button somewhere.

Charity shops... well in there lies a story. I once volunteered in a charity shop. only lasted 6 weeks as I couldn't cope with the amount of stuff that they deemed 'unsaleable' and threw in the skip. Since them I find it difficult to give anything to charity as it now seems an just an elaborately complicated way of throwing stuff out.

Flyonthewall

fiddlesticks wrote: »

yeah I deleted the listing and started again- fees were much less so i guess I had hit the wrong button somewhere.

Charity shops... well in there lies a story. I once volunteered in a charity shop. only lasted 6 weeks as I couldn't cope with the amount of stuff that they deemed 'unsaleable' and threw in the skip. Since them I find it difficult to give anything to charity as it now seems an just an elaborately complicated way of throwing stuff out.

Ah right. If it stated fees before you clicked submit then chances are they'll be fees you have to pay despite the listing having been cancelled.

Whenever I list an item my fees before I submit the listing always say £0. No listing fees, no extras. I always work out my final fees for if the item does sell (if it doesn't sell I pay nothing), but only see them listed by ebay once invoiced.

I've worked in a couple of charity shops. Clothes/material we wouldn't be able to sell (due to rips, stains etc.) were given to the rag man rather than just thrown.

Anything broken or in a disgusting state would have been thrown. Soft toys without the labels couldn't be sold for safety reasons.

Basically as long as it was safe it would be priced up and put out on the shop floor. Anything that didn't sell after so long would be packed up and sent on to another store to see if it sold there as obviously some items sell better in certain places than others.

There are charities out there that would really welcome such items.

Perhaps have a walk around you local charity shops. See what they're selling and talk to the staff. You might get an idea of the good shops who will actually value your items then and those that won't.

Or as I suggested before, give them to others who might want them like care homes or maybe homeless shelters or local schools that are trying to raise some money and would welcome donations.

WeAreGhosts

If you want to feel like you're doing something worthwhile with your knitting/crocheting, this is a good cause: http://www.thebigknit.co.uk/

Wizzbang

Why not knit hats for fishermen? https://www.missiontoseafarers.org/knitting2

Blankets and baby clothes for premature infants- contact the PICO/ Neonatal dept of your nearest hospital. http://www.bliss.org.uk/knit-for-premature-babies

There are many more charities listed here: http://www.ukhandknitting.com/knitting-for-charity/charity-list

This would seem a far better way to fit with your values/ beliefs/wants and needs.