Sunday 27 May 2012

Merchandise for Crafters

Overview

Now that I've got my dye sublimation kit up and running, I'm able to start offering a service.
I'll only be talking about mugs in this blog post for the sake of simplicity and clarity, but the range of substrates is huge.



Firstly, make sure you've caught up on these previous posts:

  1. Making Your Art Work For You
  2. Make Your Art Work Harder
  3. Making My Art Work For Me
  4. Under Pressure
  5. Zingy Rocks My World
Now then, there a million things I could suggest to you here, but try this:

If you're a crafter, have a look at your range. Would any of your designs look good printed on say a mug? If you're a painter it might be a good alternative (or sideline) to prints and cards.

Maybe you're a jeweller or a knitter. Would a photo of your work look good on a mug maybe just as a way of showing off what you do when having a coffee with friends, or as a promotional tool.



Or maybe you're thinking of a birthday coming up? Your friend is a dog lover and a mug featuring a photo of your friend's pet would be the perfect affordable gift! Perhaps you took a photo on holiday that you'd like on a mug? Personalised father's/mother's day gift? Put your thinking caps on and you'll come up with a ton of uses.

Well, you could go to Vistaprint or Funky Pidgeon, or you could keep it personal and spread the love by using a fellow crafter - me:-)


How it Would Work

You contact me with your idea and possibly your jpegs and I print your mug. Simple! What you do with it is will affect the price. A mug for your own use or gift is one price. A mug you want to sell online, from a shop, or at a craft fair will have a slightly different price. The amount of mug coverage and colour/b&w will affect the price too, but we're talking pennies. Conatct me for a quote - you'll be amazed when I undercut the big boys.

When you buy mugs from me, you have to add postage. This makes your selling price a little higher than you might like, but I have a solution. Oh yes! Once you've bought a couple of mugs to examine, keep, sell, give away, photograph for your own promotion, we can talk about a dropshipping arrangement.


Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a great way of saving you money. You think a mug featuring your image would be popular but you don't know how popular. So how many do you order? Oh dear, you can't afford that, and look at the postage! 
You photograph and promote the mug you buy from me just as you would for any of your items. When you get an order, you send it to me along with a paypal payment for whatever split we decide on. I print and ship the mug for you. 
You 're not paying for anything upfront. You're not paying postage twice. You're not holding a ton of stock. You can afford to take a risk with a mug you're not sure would be popular because you're not paying for it upfront. Theoretically, you could have an online shop with hundreds of different mug designs and not spend a penny on stock! 



So there you go. Get in touch if you need more information or would like to discuss a design

11 comments:

  1. Lol! I keep telling people that Zoe, but so few of them believe me:/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a great idea Dave, hope you get loys of takers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too! Big investement to recoup! Wouldn;t your avatar look just lovely on a mug? ;-)

      Delete
  3. Liking the dropshipping idea Dave ;)

    Hope its a massive success and can't wait for my first mug to arrive!

    Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. Thanks - hope so! Wasn't cheap to set up:/

      Delete
  5. Wonderful idea and I wish you the very best of success!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely idea! I will have a think and contact you soon.

    ReplyDelete