Start a 'cottage industry'... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

karren

can anyone offer me some idea's? i have loads of fabric and eager to make some money from it, i can sew and am eager to do a craft stall, so some basic ideas would be fab.

Money~Bunny_3

karren wrote: »

can anyone offer me some idea's? i have loads of fabric and eager to make some money from it, i can sew and am eager to do a craft stall, so some basic ideas would be fab.

Aprons, tool belts, teatowels, pincushions, pillowslips are all fairly easy. If you have a machine that does herringbone or another decorative stitch you can brighten them up. I've also used waste canvas to add counted stitch motifs to my sewn goods, which can look very cute.

kezia

Karren said.....
"can anyone offer me some idea's? i have loads of fabric and eager to make some money from it, i can sew and am eager to do a craft stall, so some basic ideas would be fab."

What about PE bags? Quick and easy?

Hardup_Hester

So much for my plans of reducing my stash, a friend of mine is moving & gave me binbag of wool. I'm using it up by crocheting squares, but I'm not making any money, just making blankets for various charities.
My other plans have all gone awry as my lodger is proving more & more time-consuming.
Hester

Jo_F

princesspoppypop wrote: »

I have found when visiting craft fairs there were loads of card and jewellery stalls. The stuff was quite expensive and the people were snooty.
My craft items are neither of the above and are unique items I am working on. They do take quite a long time to make but I enjoy making them. Im going to have a look at E-bid but also about setting up my own website, but it all looks complicated.

As a jeweller that works mainly with seed beads and crystals, I can say that the jewellery is not expensive, but the time and materials make it look like that, on a bead forum that I go to, we have been debating what shuld be charged and how to work it out. Most jewellers never get back the time that they put into the work.

I made some spiral rope necklaces, a 16 inch necklace takes about 4 -5 hours to make, if I charge the national minimum wage + materials I would never sell it, so have decided on a charge of £1 per inch.

If I use acrylic beads, the items are cheaper, but in some cases look cheaper, so now I work mainly in glass and Swarovski crystal.

I know that you can buy jewellery for next to nothing, but please remember that people that make jewellery (and other crafts) don't really get much back for the time and effort they have put in. And 9 times out of 10 its a one of kind piece, so you know that not all the girls in town are wearing the same!

Frugaldom

Well said, Jo_F!

I think that's why I found this thread a little confusing (and contradictory) as it's been started under the heading 'Up Your Income' in 'Home, Work and Play', it's worded as though it was going to be about starting a part-time home based business to supplement income, but I thought the whole idea of 'industry' was to turn a profit and earn a living.

I think we need a good example on here of a profitable homebased cottage industry and I would love to hear from anyone who has achieved this. Can anyone offer some pointers on how to create and maintain a commercially successful 'cottage industry' please? I'd love to be financially self-sufficient from home and I know plenty of others who would, too. If anyone knows someone who would be willing to come on here and share their stories, please invite them, otherwise it's just a hobbies thread with the chance of selling something homemade.

Luna69

misspixierocktastic wrote: »

Hi everyone
Does anyone here use etsy at all and to those that have. how have you found it ?

I registered with Etsy a while ago, but haven't used it to sell as you need to list a credit card and I don't have one to use, just a few to pay off! Being from the US they said they were looking into other options but right now it was just credit card.

I did like the look of it though.

Luna69

princesspoppypop wrote: »

I have found when visiting craft fairs there were loads of card and jewellery stalls. The stuff was quite expensive and the people were snooty.
My craft items are neither of the above and are unique items I am working on. They do take quite a long time to make but I enjoy making them. Im going to have a look at E-bid but also about setting up my own website, but it all looks complicated.

This is the problem with card making now. I have been card making for years, and attempted more seriously about 11 years ago, back then if I'd started doing craft fairs I probably would have been okay, but now it's probably a waste of time. I know not very positive, but that's the feeling I get, especially when my partner contacted our local monthly craft market to get some information for a possible stall to help our current business. When talking to the lady she asked what line of products did we have to sell and he reeled off a few items, mostly printed items.. but he mentioned my cards and he said the lady just sighed and said we cant' take any more cards and you have to stick to one line of product.

I might charge a little more than the average person with cards listed on the likes of ebay, but I still don't think I charge enough for the time I put into them. I work more with personalised designs that are usually made from scratch and not using pre bought embellishments that I have seen a lot of out there.
I am looking at different items to work on as well as the cards, don't really want to give up on the cards altogether as I've loved making them forever. My 6 year old looks like going the same way at the moment which is probably the age I started.

I would say I'm lucky in having a web designer as a partner, but because he concentrates on the paying customers mine is hanging there.
I have had one, just being redesigned for the last year or so.

I'm contemplating trying ebid instead of ebay, had enough of ebay to be honest.
Then hopefully if I get my website sorted out, I can use both. I think mostly though it's the advertising and marketing of your products that will help but usually the hardest part.

Good luck

Frugaldom

Luna69 wrote: »

...I'm contemplating trying ebid instead of ebay, had enough of ebay to be honest. Then hopefully if I get my website sorted out, I can use both. I think mostly though it's the advertising and marketing of your products that will help but usually the hardest part.

Good luck

Hi Luna,

If you decide to use eBid then I can suggest a quick web site solution for you at the same time. Once you set up shop on eBid (It's only £49.99 for lifetime membership at the moment) you can have 5 different categories of stores and there are no monthly fees to pay. But the best part is that once you have loaded your photographs of what you are selling, they stay there in your own gallery folder. This means (although I'm not sure if it's technically allowed by eBid) that you can build your own website around their facilities and link to the photographs stored there, use their secure shopping and invoicing service for PayPal, PPPay, Google Checkout etc and just mask the whole lot with your own site and domain name.

I do realise that the marketing and promotion is, by far, the most difficult part of establishing anything new, but there is still the chance that eBid visitors will find your items. This is something I was unable to do using eBay as once your items expire the URL changes and they no longer show up on your site. eBid, on the other hand, haven't yet closed that possible 'little loophole'. The other benefit that can be utilised is that eBid submits certain items to Google every month and there is a simple way of making sure your items get included. :cool: (Handy to know.)

Luna69

nykmedia wrote: »

Hi Luna,

If you decide to use eBid then I can suggest a quick web site solution for you at the same time. Once you set up shop on eBid (It's only £49.99 for lifetime membership at the moment) you can have 5 different categories of stores and there are no monthly fees to pay. But the best part is that once you have loaded your photographs of what you are selling, they stay there in your own gallery folder. This means (although I'm not sure if it's technically allowed by eBid) that you can build your own website around their facilities and link to the photographs stored there, use their secure shopping and invoicing service for PayPal, PPPay, Google Checkout etc and just mask the whole lot with your own site and domain name.

I do realise that the marketing and promotion is, by far, the most difficult part of establishing anything new, but there is still the chance that eBid visitors will find your items. This is something I was unable to do using eBay as once your items expire the URL changes and they no longer show up on your site. eBid, on the other hand, haven't yet closed that possible 'little loophole'. The other benefit that can be utilised is that eBid submits certain items to Google every month and there is a simple way of making sure your items get included. :cool: (Handy to know.)

Thanks for that.
I'm definitely looking into that, just need the money to set it up. It will be better to take out the life time membership at that price no doubt, but still need the money.
I've just closed my ebay store, had 3 of my items left on normal listings, 2 buy it now and one auction and I surprisingly sold one buy it now today, so hope has not all been lost.

I've actually found something else, which may or may not be any good but possibly worth a try, I'm going to start a new thread with it, but I'll also put it here.

While searching for glue pads, I came across a store website that has recently started a forum and a site to sell hand crafted goods for free.. all free, no fees at all!
You can also sell or swap unwanted craft items too.
http://artymiss.co.uk/barter/index.php.

I've just registered, don't suppose it can hurt to try it, if it doesn't cost anything, not lost anything if nothing sells!
One other thing is that the site and store are really nice, colours are lovely.. if you like pink that is, but it just looks really pleasant and friendly.