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Sep. 28th, 2009 04:24 pmSUP PEOPLE OF LJ
The latest thing on my brain is ETSY (it's a good thing I don't have any money because I've been looking at Etsy a lot lately). Specifically, speaking in the short term, it'd be nice to pay back my parents a little for my SA tickets, but on the long term, I'm trying to be more productive with my free time. And I've got these thingers I mentioned in my last post:
(I have Anna, too, now, and I'm in the process of making Wendla -- my first priority is to finish off these SA girls -- if you're not in the loop, I previously sewed all of the SA kids into dolls about half the size of these. My love of SA aside, I have fabric now that looks like all of the girls' dresses that I need an excuse to use, so there's a practical reason to make them again :P)
That people online and off had said they'd pay me to make.
Yes. I am thinking about opening an Etsy store. I've been reading FAQs and discussions and so on on their site a little obsessively the past couple days. Does anyone on my flist have an Etsy store or know someone who does (or buys a lot from Etsy)? I need... advice, and warnings, and pointing outs of anything that someone like me would be likely to not even consider.
I know my strength would be offering custom dolls and that's what everyone wants to hit me up for -- that's even a little scarier, because that would also involve not only having to hunt down fabrics but figuring out just how to do custom orders and shop policies and LOTS OF SCARY THINGS for someone like me who's never even had a real job (which would also be why it would be GOOD FOR ME because, you know, go after things that scare you etc).
I'm also wondering what to charge for them. My mom would be like SELL THEM FOR $2 PEOPLE AREN'T GOING TO WANT TO PAY FOR SOMETHING YOU HAPHAZARDLY SEWED (I was thinking more like $6-8...), but people on Etsy are making lots of good points about pricing, such as a) you shouldn't undervalue the time and effort you put into it, even if it's just a hobby on the side, b) people come to Etsy looking for unique, homemade things, and if they wanted cheap they'd go to Walmart -- underpriced items don't really come off as LOOK A DEAL and more like, if that thing is so cheap it must not be very good. Though if I tend toward more obscure fandom-y things, the casual Etsy shopper probably won't be my primary audience. The closest I've found to what I'm doing so far is this person (whose dolls are basically exactly twice the size of mine). Looking through what they've sold it's mostly all really geeky dolls, so that gives me hope. They make me wonder if I should up the size of mine again, though. I've been thinking about it, since mine aren't particularly cuddly-sized.
END.
The latest thing on my brain is ETSY (it's a good thing I don't have any money because I've been looking at Etsy a lot lately). Specifically, speaking in the short term, it'd be nice to pay back my parents a little for my SA tickets, but on the long term, I'm trying to be more productive with my free time. And I've got these thingers I mentioned in my last post:
(I have Anna, too, now, and I'm in the process of making Wendla -- my first priority is to finish off these SA girls -- if you're not in the loop, I previously sewed all of the SA kids into dolls about half the size of these. My love of SA aside, I have fabric now that looks like all of the girls' dresses that I need an excuse to use, so there's a practical reason to make them again :P)
That people online and off had said they'd pay me to make.
Yes. I am thinking about opening an Etsy store. I've been reading FAQs and discussions and so on on their site a little obsessively the past couple days. Does anyone on my flist have an Etsy store or know someone who does (or buys a lot from Etsy)? I need... advice, and warnings, and pointing outs of anything that someone like me would be likely to not even consider.
I know my strength would be offering custom dolls and that's what everyone wants to hit me up for -- that's even a little scarier, because that would also involve not only having to hunt down fabrics but figuring out just how to do custom orders and shop policies and LOTS OF SCARY THINGS for someone like me who's never even had a real job (which would also be why it would be GOOD FOR ME because, you know, go after things that scare you etc).
I'm also wondering what to charge for them. My mom would be like SELL THEM FOR $2 PEOPLE AREN'T GOING TO WANT TO PAY FOR SOMETHING YOU HAPHAZARDLY SEWED (I was thinking more like $6-8...), but people on Etsy are making lots of good points about pricing, such as a) you shouldn't undervalue the time and effort you put into it, even if it's just a hobby on the side, b) people come to Etsy looking for unique, homemade things, and if they wanted cheap they'd go to Walmart -- underpriced items don't really come off as LOOK A DEAL and more like, if that thing is so cheap it must not be very good. Though if I tend toward more obscure fandom-y things, the casual Etsy shopper probably won't be my primary audience. The closest I've found to what I'm doing so far is this person (whose dolls are basically exactly twice the size of mine). Looking through what they've sold it's mostly all really geeky dolls, so that gives me hope. They make me wonder if I should up the size of mine again, though. I've been thinking about it, since mine aren't particularly cuddly-sized.
END.
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