Archive for November, 2007

Tips for selling your crafts online

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

If you are into crafts and have decided you want to make some money off of your hobby. There are a lot of different ways that you can sell them. If you are thinking about selling your crafts but don’t want to spend the time going around to different boutiques try selling your crafts online. Selling your crafts online can be one of the easiest ways to sell them. Here are some tips for selling your crafts online.

The first tip for selling your crafts online is to find out where people look for the crafts you are selling the most. One big place that people look for crafts is on ebay. Ebay is a great place to sell your crafts because you can set a reserve of what you want the bidding to start at and go from there. This way if you have a limited amount you can only post as many as you have available. Then after you sell your different crafts you will be able to see what hot items are and what are not quite so hot.

The second tip for selling your crafts online is to sell your crafts on local online websites. If your community has a website that is attached to the newspaper or a local tv station you wont have to do a lot of advertising you can just post it and people can go through and see what is available. This is a great way to sell your crafts because people come to these websites with different things in mind that they want to buy or just to browse. This is a great way to get people to see what you have to offer with out having to spend a lot of money advertising to get your name out in the public.

The third tip for selling your crafts online is to set up your own website. This can be pricy depending on what type of website you set up and how involved it is. If you have to hire a web developer you will have to pay them by the hour. If your website is really involved you will end up paying them more because of the time they will have to put into it.

The fourth tip for selling your crafts online is to build your own website. There are a lot of e-commerce tools out there that can help you design your own website. The only hard thing with this is you won’t have advertising tools that you will have posting your crafts on local sites.
There are so many different resources out there that you can use for selling your crafts online. You just have to find out which ones will work best for selling your crafts. For example if you are selling wood crafts you will probably want to put it online where people will be looking into crafts that are wood. If you put your woods crafts on a website where there are glass crafts being sold you are probably not going to get as much publicity because people that are looking on that website are wanting glass crafts. The best tip for selling your crafts online is to get your name out there. Advertise your crafts and make people get excited about your crafts. If you are not excited about your crafts other are not going to be excited either. Also you will want to make sure that you post pictures. People like to see what they are buying. If you just have a description of the crafts you are selling people are going to be more hesitant to buy your things because they won’t know what to expect. Find what tips for selling your crafts online will help you to sell your crafts and get going.

 

 

What you should know about Swarovski crystal and other lead crystal beads

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

If you enjoy making things out of beads you have probably run across lead crystal beads by a manufacturer named Swarovski. One thing that you might not know about these crystals is that they are 100% man-made, and are made following a secret formula. This is part of the reason that this company leads the industry in lead crystal beads, as well as other things made out of crystal. One thing that you should be aware of is that genuine lead crystal beads of good quality are going to be more expensive than other lead crystal beads, but in order to create the best work you should pay the extra expense and know what kinds of beads you are working with.

Here are some tips about things you should know about Swarovski crystal and other lead crystal beads.

Tip one:
There are actually no American standards regarding lead based crystal beads, but most of the world, the United States included follows the official British Standards that states lead crystal must contain 10% to 24% lead oxide and full lead crystal must contain 24% or more lead oxide and that fine crystal must conatin 6% to 10% lead oxide.

Tip two:
Another thing that is important to know about lead crystal beads is that in order to get the different colors of crystal chemicals rather than dyes are used. Clear crystal is harder to obtain because it must be free of impurities so that it is perfectly clear.

Tip three:
There is a type of glass bead that is most commonly confused with lead crystal beads. It is a Czech faceted fire polish bead that is made from glass. The glass is pressed into a mold to make the bead, roughly faceting it by hand or machine, then the surface of the bead is slightly melted to "fire polish" it which gives it a better luster. The "fire polish" actually rounds off the facets which makes it harder to identify it as a lead crystal bead.

Tip four:
Here are some ways to tell if the lead crystal beads you are buying are real Swarovski’s. By the way this company actually leads the industry in making lead crystal beads.
 The facet edges, which are the corners where the points meet, should always line up perfectly.
 Swarovski beads are never sold as a strung strand of beads, if they are being sold that way you should take a closer look at what you are buying.
 Because these beads are machine cut you should take a close look to be sure that there are no variations in size or shape from bead to bead. Only hand cut beads will have different variations, machine cut beads are done in mass quantities on a machine that has pre-determined sizes programmed into the machine.
 Swarovski lead crystal beads sparkle more than other types of beads. You can easily tell the difference if you hold an original and a fake up into the light together.
 You shouldn’t see any type of flaw in the finish, by flaw we mean any type of swirls; the sheen should be uniform with no imperfections.
 The swan logo of Swarovski is only used for their created jewelry; it is not used for their beads and components.
 There shouldn’t be any visible bubbles in the beads
 The Swarovski crystal bead will have a thinner rim and will be more translucent in the fatter area; you can see this by taking the beads into a bright light and looking down at them so that you can see the hole in the center of the bead.

Tips for selling your crafts in a boutique

Friday, November 2nd, 2007

There are so many different places where you can sell your crafts. You can sell your crafts at yard sales, or online, or even in a boutique. If you want to sell your crafts in a boutique but don’t know where to start, here are some tips for selling your crafts in a boutique.

The first tip for selling your crafts in a boutique is to call around and find out the cost. Different boutiques have different ways of charging fees. Some boutiques will charge you by the space you are using; others will take a certain percentage off of everything you sell. For example if you have an item for sale for $20.00 the boutique might take 10% which would end up making you $18.00 and them $2.00. You need to make sure that if you are putting your crafts in this kind of boutique that you price your items right. You don’t want to have items that are way outrageously priced because then you will not make any money. You also want to make sure that you are making money. You don’t want to break even after you pay the boutique their portion because then you are pretty much making your crafts for free.

The second tip for selling your crafts in a boutique is to pick the right kind of boutique.  You will want to do a little research when picking a boutique. You will want to make sure that you find out what items are being sold at different boutiques. For example some boutiques might specialize in home décor while other boutiques might specialize in crafts for babies and children.

The third tip for selling your crafts in a boutique is to actually go check out each boutique. Once you have narrowed your choices down it is a good idea if you go take a look at each one. You will want to make sure that they are in a location that you wouldn’t mid going to. To will also want to see how their booths are laid out and how they present different displays. You will want to make sure that your crafts are going to be noticed. For example some boutiques just lay different displays out of a lot of different peoples crafts all mixed together, while other boutiques display your crafts all together. This is something you will want to make sure that you take into consideration.

The fourth tip for selling your crafts in a boutique is to make sure that you make your display desirable. You will want to make sure that you lay out your crafts in a manner that people are going to want to but yours over some one else’s. This can be done by adding greenery, or putting your up above some one else’s. Depending on the type of craft you do will depend on how you will wan to go about displaying it.

There are so many tips for selling your crafts at a boutique. Every boutique is going to be a little different. They can be different from the way they display your crafts to how much they charge you for selling your crafts in their boutique. You will want to make sure that you get as much information as you can so you know exactly what to compare when you are deciding which boutique you want to display your crafts in. If you want more tips for selling your crafts in a boutique the best people to ask are people that have experience in selling crafts in a boutique. This way you will get the most accurate tips for selling your crafts in a boutique.

Tips for selling your crafts at a craft show

Thursday, November 1st, 2007

There are so many different hobbies that you can get into. One hobby that is becoming more and more popular is doing crafts. Crafts are a great activity to do, but you can also make money by doing something that you enjoy. If you have been making crafts and enjoy doing it and are thinking about wanting to sell them to make some extra money, there are a couple of ways you can go about doing it. You can sell your crafts online, you can sell them at a boutique, and you can even see your crafts at a craft show. If you are interested in selling your crafts at a craft show but need some help, here are some tips for selling your crafts at a craft show.

The first tip for selling your crafts at craft show is to pick what craft show fits your style. You want to make sure that you are going to feel comfortable about selling your crafts to the types of people that are going to be at the craft show. It is hard enough for some people to talk to strangers at all. You at least need to make sure that you are in an environment that you are comfortable in. Check around, and see what craft shows are available in your areas.

The second tip for selling your crafts at a craft show is to make sure that you bring enough inventories. You are going to sell out of things that is a given. The goal is to make sure that you sell as much as possible. You want to make sure though that you have the inventory that is in demand. If you have sold your crafts online or in a boutique you know which crafts you have sell and which ones don’t. If you have never sold your crafts anywhere and don’t know which things you should make more of, do some research. If you have a product that is similar to something some one else is selling see how it is doing. If it is something that is original you will have to make a guess.

The third tip for selling your crafts at a craft show is to make your crafts presentable. The best way to make your crafts presentable is to make them look like they would if they were on display at your house. You can do this by adding greenery, or staggering then. Depending on what crafts you want to sell will depend on how you want them displayed. You also want to make sure that people will not be overwhelmed when they are looking at your crafts. Make sure that your area is not too cluttered and that things look like they were meant to be in that particular place.

The fourth tip for selling your crafts at a craft show is to see if you can get a booth in the middle. Some people will not buy from booths if they are at the beginning because they want to see what crafts are out there before they spend all of their money. You also do not want to be at the end because people have already spent their money and are pretty much done and want to go home by the time they get to the end booths.

These are just a couple of tips. There are a lot more tips for selling your crafts at a craft show. Depending on what crafts you want to sell will depend on what tips you will want to use for selling your crafts at a craft show.