Is it Live?… or is it Internet?

Determining how and where you sell.

Live From Florida!

Having sold live in the 80s and 90s, demonstrating our crafts at shows, fairs and theme parks across the country, we can testify that it is hard work; booking venues, building up stock, creating visually appealing displays, traveling, setting up, spieling your pitches over and over 12 hours a day, finding someone you trust to watch your stuff while you grab a greasy lunch or visit the “powder room”. Then, securing your booth for overnight or if it is the end of the show, packing up and traveling to the next town to do it all over again. If the show is successful, you have to consider where to stash that wad of cash until you run across a branch of your bank that is open, all the while keeping an eye out for people that may be watching YOU. 

Admittedly, live shows are great fun. You meet fabulous people and experience the cultural variants that make up our great country. The ego boost and energy you get from a busy live show sustains you. However, slow shows are more common and (after enough of them) may drain your crafting soul making you want to find a job converting huge rolls of tissue into user friendly toilet paper.

Enter the Internet

Selling online has been a learning curve for me since 2008, as I never even dabbled with the internet until 2006. I quickly came to learn that everyone has a different concept on how this thing works. This realization allowed me to create an experience to fit my rules. I made it my own, using the parameters set down by the hosting websites. It has opened a worldwide audience for showing my wares that I never would have dreamed of in the 80s. 

There have been rabbit holes that have promised grand returns and exposure for the price of a subscription and/or a cut of my sales. Most of these were short lived, regardless of their good intentions and hype and I have learned to recognize and learn from them.

There are unlimited choices to make once you are ready to go live on the internet. At the beginning of my online foray, I took a scatter-gun approach to see where the interest lied. I listed my wares on every venue that was free or had low-cost terms. This took a lot of time, getting my photos right, writing descriptions that not only appealed to potential customers, but that Google could recognize and pick up with their ever changing search algorithms. Learning the various idiosyncrasies of each website’s listing platform was also a challenge. 

Simply learning to “Copy and Paste” has been an invaluable tool in speeding things up and has become a natural action in everyday computer activities. I looked everywhere for a word processing program to create description drafts and lists of “tags” for those items which are essential for people to find you amid the ether squalor. Then it occurred to me that my email (GMail) was the most accessible and familiar place to write, label and store drafts.

These have been sites that I have posted my woodstuffs on (in order of best to least effective):

• Etsy - Now my primary sales outlet. Arguably the best venue for truly handmade products and vintage collectible items (20 years or more old). I have dropped all other avenues to sell exclusively on Etsy. In my opinion, their platform offers the vital tools and services to minimize time on the computer, thus leaving more creative shop time. With their size and advertising campaigns, they offer the most traffic of people looking for unique items. Although, due to ineffective policing, the last few years it has become messy with manufactured crap and sellers who are merely selling stuff that would be better off on eBay. The theft of intellectual property (other’s artwork, designs and copyrights) has recently been a focus and they are clamping down on their definition of “handmade”. It is slowly getting better again.

• eBay - A great starting point for me in 2008, I had hundreds of sales until about 2016 when they changed payment schedules and other policies that made me drop out. I still retain an account there and may try it again if Etsy traffic ever wanes.

• Zibbet - Now I believe defunct, Zibbet was a site I engaged with from 2009 to about 2014. They kept promising upgrades that never came to fruition. I was moderately successful for those few years but traffic was light. It was competing with my time and required a lot of self-promotion.

• ArtFire - Shut down because it could not compete with Etsy.

• Bonanza - Sells everything. I had a reasonable response to my work but handmade is not a focus. It seems that I had a problem with their shipping platform (in 2012?), but it is likely fixed now. Probably a good venue if you are a reseller and can’t meet Etsy’s handmade or vintage criteria. I would keep them bookmarked as an Etsy alternative.

• Half a dozen others that I have tried are not worth mentioning because they have ceased to exist.

I have found that once you determine that a venue is right for you, you should concentrate your efforts on it and eliminate the chaff. Time is a commodity. You want to use it for creation, family and personal pursuits.

The Ultimate Venue

I love the idea of having my own website. However, it can be difficult to balance creation of your craft with building and promoting your own site. Ideally, if you have (or a family member has) website building skills and the patience/time to manage it, you should definitely consider doing it. 

Once your own dot-com is set up, you will retain more of your gross income and have complete control over your branding image and what or how you sell. You will have to be relentlessly self-promoting and patient to succeed.

On my voyage, I have created four or five websites that I have abandoned for lack of time to properly nurse along. However, platforms are getting more intuitive and straightforward all the time. Launching this blog is yet another attempt at having my own website without the demand of needing to sell from it. I can simply write up ideas when I feel the inspiration and direct readers to my Etsy shop.. 

Eventually, I would like to build another Dustynewt.com website and embed this SubStack in it, complete with a store, shopping cart and other cool sections that I would like to share. Perhaps I may even offer an eBook or three on certain aspects of my craft.  Stay tuned… Lots of ideas are possible with your own site.

“I got a head full of ideas that are driving me insane.” ~ Bob Dylan from Maggie’s Farm

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If you are enjoying what you see… I like it hot and black. 😉

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