Setting up own giftware/craft business

[mattio78]

Hi all,

Am new to the group so hello one and all!!!
Myself and my partner are in the process of setting up giftware. home accessory with craft items business, but are struggling on where to find suppliers and where to get info on the fairs etc and how to start up.
We are on about starting on ebay, and then doing the fairs then finally i want a shop.
Has anybody else done this??
Any ideas or tips would be great!!!

Many thanks!

Matthew

[AniccaJewellery]

Hi Matthew

Welcome to the forum! Good luck with setting up your shop. Do you want to sell handmade items? If so, it may be worth a trawl through Folksy and Esty to find sellers with items that you want to sell, then just get in touch with them to see if they will sell to you at a wholesale rate. Most of my jewellery sales are wholesale to shops and galleries.

there are also threads on the forum regarding UK Craft events or your could visit http://www.stallfinder.com

Hope this helps.

[bynicki]

Hi Matthew.

All I can say is its hard work, but also great fun!. I run a home accessories and craft business, partly handmade and now part bought in. I don't have a shop I just sell online and to selected retailers. I started off about 18 months ago and had a basic idea of what I wanted to make and sell. I basically trawled through the internet day and night for weeks looking for suitable suppliers, I went to all the craft and trade shows (large and small) all over the country to get ideas and contacts. I must say that everyone on here helped me a great deal too.

Ebay is a good place to start to sell but you will find that a lot of people on ebay just want to buy a bargain. Local craft fairs are quite good to get yourself known in your area.

You do need to market yourselves, a lot, everyone I come into contact with gets my business card. I dont know whether you are thinking of having a website aswell as the shop but one of the best things I did marketing wise is to join Google Adwords, it can cost quite a bit and some find that it doesnt work for them but my sales increased online massively when I joined.

Hope some of this helps you. Good Luck.

[mattio78]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply!
We want to sell home made items, gift ware (i.e ornaments, candlabras, you know the sort of thing!) etc..

Its hard to find these wholesalers!
Thanks for that though.

If anybody else any other info, then much appreciated!
Have to leave this dead end, mind numbing job!!!

matt
xx

[Daisy & Me]

Hello Matt - and welcome to the forum.

Afraid we can't really help with setting up your business, but there are lots of very talented people here who would be delighted to sell their crafts through a fellow member.

Are you going to have an actual shop, or through the internet? Where are you based? Will you be selling jewellery (teehee, that was a bit cheeky - sorry !)

The events section of the forum is really handy when looking for fairs - not only dates, venues etc, but a lot of them have been attended in the past by forum members; so you sometimes get "insider information" !

Anyway, good luck - and keep us posted on your progress

[mattio78]

Aaaaw..thank you!
When we do get the shop set up, we would be looking at having homemade items by creative people! Obviously i would take a 90% commision lol! (just kidding!)

Its all very `where do i start??¬!!!!!!` at the mo, need to grab the bull by its horns and get on with it!
Anybody else, set up a business???
At the mo it will be homebased, so its proving tricky to get things going!

xx

[nikkisnoveltygifts]

dont be discouraged...

Hi there,
It's certainly not easy and can be quite costly to get going but if you are serious about it then there's no reson why you can't succeed.
I started on ebay - it's a good place to begin. I got myself an ebay shop and traded from there. Then a free website with freewebs. I went from there to use mrsite as a host.
If you have your own handmade items, start locally with some cheap craft fairs and get yourself noticed.
Post your own items in places like craftjuice with a link to your site.
Join forums like these and make friends with other crafters.
Get a signature on the end of your email linking to your site - it helps your google ratings.
There is really too much to go into. I would recommend this book:
GREEN, Jim, 'Starting an Internet Business at home', Kogan Page, 2001.
I know it's old but it covers the basics. Why not go to your local library and ask for it and any others similar (you need dewey code 658.04102 or thereabouts). There are some fab books about making money on ebay too that may be useful.
Hope that helped a little?

[autumn rose]

Hi &to the forum! Glad you found us, great advice given already, Good luck with your new venture!

[matt.chatterley]

Hi all,

Am new to the group so hello one and all!!!
Myself and my partner are in the process of setting up giftware. home accessory with craft items business, but are struggling on where to find suppliers and where to get info on the fairs etc and how to start up.
We are on about starting on ebay, and then doing the fairs then finally i want a shop.
Has anybody else done this??
Any ideas or tips would be great!!!

Many thanks!

Matthew

Good luck!

One of the challenges you will face is that any larger companies will be wary of doing business with you until you are established.

Of course - going down the handmade/crafted goods route could stand you in good stead - there are some awesome crafted products out there - and you could perhaps aim to corner the market for more unusual, higher quality giftware and homeware?

Definitely start on ebay, do some fairs and that kind of thing - then have a think about if it merits a "proper" web presence, and a physical locality!

All the best!

[rhulme]

hi i have my own little stall but its open 6 days a week yes its very hard to set up the costs of sunning it in the first year and that i started my stall a mth before xmas 2007 with only salts soap a few oil burners oils lamps simmering grtanules that sort of thing now i have to try and find places foir things to go. well worth looking on ebay for wholesale stock and selving thats were i got mine from. the differecult thing i found for my products is labelling and jars and bottles but i have a good suppler of bottles now and will stick to that i am also in the process of looking for nice boxes like the american chesinse takeaway ones so thats my mission for this year
Racheal

[kevin197]

There are some nice boxes at MOD EDIT - URL REMOVED AS PER FORUM RULES both gift boxes and normal cheap cardboard boxes for shipping.

[mattio78]

Am overwhelmed by all the replies and good luck wishes! Thanks!
Some great ideas there. My friend owes me a website from a while ago, which we paid for and never got.. (long story! lol) So thats that bit sorted. It was mainly going to be giftware, but homemade giftware sounds pretty appealing, so thats an avenue im defo going to go down.
( i can be pretty artistic you know! )

Good old Google! The hours i am now spending!

Matt

[warin]

Hi Matt,

I'm in the same boat with you but I'm being designers (shark tooth necklace for all those extreme sports geeks) , importers, wholesalers and also retailers for handicrafts. I've to say that finding a reliable suppliers is the trickiest bit as I don't want to spend big money buying stocks that I'm not sure yet if will be able to sell (less experience). So what I do now at the first step is searching for products that I think it's saleable.Then contact the seller for being a dropshipping first. This way even you get a very small profit in return but you're gaining experiences day by day. That's what I do now.

All my products are sell wholesale too, you can take a look at my website and see if you like any products - then give me a shout I'm sure we can sort something out.

(Note: my website is still be working on - but it's still give you an idea what I'm selling)

Sorry for my bad English.
Thanks and good luck on your business!

Warin

[sewandsoaps]

Hi its hard to start with but once your up and running things soon fit into place!!

i sell handmade gifts which are all personalised, i also have a wholesale section if your still after products?

Good luck with everything
Sarah
www.sewandsoaps.co.uk