When you have a handmade business planning and preparation is key, and I admit, I’m not the best at it – ok I’m terrible.
But this year I’m determined to be better and much more prepared for Christmas; I’ve started to make some tree decorations and planned other items too, so I’m already way ahead of previous years.
I generally like to only list what I have ready-made, making to order freaks me out a little, but how many of each item does one make?
You want to have enough in case some wish to purchase more than one, but then you don’t want to make too many as they may not sell at all, and you are left with stock; plus it feels like you’ve wasted time and materials in making them.
At least Christmas does come around every year.
Then you have to consider if you are going to just make one size, and/or different colour options? Sell them singularly, in a bundle, or both – but if you do both, you need to have enough stock to be able to fulfil any mixture of orders you may get.
With everything I sell, I think the hardest decision is pricing my items.
I’ve put together a spreadsheet that calculates my Etsy fees, and I’m slowly adding my inventory, including supplies and how much everything costs, so I can use this as a guide. Plus I look to see if anyone has similar listings.
1 item I’m making though, another seller in the US has used the same design and has it listed for about 4 times more than I was planning to sell it for. I didn’t look to see if they had sold any.
Finally, I think about packaging. I like to make it as Eco-Friendly as possible but wrap everything nicely. I have my Silhouette Cameo and create my own cut files, plus I’ve stacks of white cardstock that I can print a design onto, related to the item I’m packing, before cutting out an envelope pocket or box. So it could be re-used if the buyer was going to gift the item, or simply go into the recycling
September is the ideal month for me to make my Christmas listings live.
A listing lasts for 4 months, or until it sells out, so that gives people time to (hopefully) buy and anything that doesn’t sell won’t be hanging around into the new year.
I’ll have them on manual renewal so they don’t get relisted automatically.
And they will be available for me to re-activate next year if I decide to sell the same items.
Penguin and the Bee 