consignment at local craft store?

[workinwood]

Over the weekend the owner at our local craft store in the mall ask me about putting some of my scroll projects in her store. The deal deal is its a 30/70 cut that almost a 1/3 of the cost of the project. My thoughts are I think its a little high! Has anyone here ever done consignment and what are the pros and cons? Is 30/70 a good cut?

Thank You in advance, :cool:

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Dave,

Here is my story.

I will give you my answer as I have done consignment setups in three different malls and in each two different locations so in respect six different setups. I did this for about 5 years starting about 1995 if I remember correctly. At that time scrolling was big. Crafts as a whole were big. I did quite well especially Holidays such as Easter, Mom's Day, Dad's Day, and of course Christmas. In between not so good. But the other times carried the load. Having the stores and doing some craft shows at Christmas and Easter really put a strain on my inventory and keeping up with orders. Working a full time 8hour job and then coming home to scroll put a burden on my desire to scroll and felt it was another job. But the extra money was great and I was doing well in the stores. Then things started to take a turn for the worst. The people that ran the stores in all the malls got out of the business and sold to others that did not put the effort into helping the crafters and security was bad so I started to have theft and breakage so I pulled out of the malls because the losses did not outweigh the gains. I really did not mind because I noticed sales started to slip drastically because the age of Walmart started springing up and people buying cheap imports plus people's tastes were changing from that homemade crafts look to modern junk. I will say this the time I spent doing them was a blast because I got to set up my business and make some extra cash plus met so many nice people. I did not miss the deadlines and the telling people I cannot get their pieces done on time but they did for the most part understand. I did go into this with alot of stock already made and the store thing just started expanding because I started out thinking of doing just one store but the owners liked my stuff so much they wanted me to follow them.

As far as the arrangements it was quite pricey because it is a large retail mall and their rents are high. They charged by the space per month which at that time was about $300 for a six foot space and you decorate or setup any way you want to the ceiling. They had other spaces that were less and some were more depending on the space. You could also take just shelf space which was shelves on a rack and you usually had different crafters mixed in the rack depending how many shelves you took. I always had the six foot spaces except one store which was hot I had a 10 foot space. I was able to get discounts because I was in so many areas and they took that in consideration. They also charged 10% of your earnings. What they did for you in return is keep the place clean and secured as much as possible, collected the cash and wraped the piece and basically sold it for you. Took care of all taxes and credit card fees. They would take orders for you or give your card to a prospective buyer, called you if you need to restock your area and like I said it was an experience. One thing you learn to do is mark up your prices to compensate the charges. Also always have sales prices clearly marked on your pieces. My stores supplied sales tags that you put the price and item number on so it rings in the registers and you get a areceipt and a check at the end of the month of what you sold by item number. So you had to keep inventory by item numbers. That is why I know I have made over 350 different items when I was really big into scrolling. That has gone up since but slower now. One thing you learn is to turn your stock over and have fresh things there to satisfy different people's tastes just like a craft show.

So that is my storey and sorry for boring you but if you are asking if you should do this it comes down to you. Questions to ask are is the area a very well visited area?? Today the malls around me are nothing but teenager's hangouts and even Christmas is not as busy any more especially with the internet and money tighter than it use to be. Big drop off in mall attendence.
Second thing is the people reliable, are there other crafters there that will compete with your things, ( Does not make for a good selling area ) If you did do well can you keep up with the orders or keeping store stocked.
Third thing is what kind of contract do you have to sign and how long are you locked in for?? Mine a six month lease. Fine if you pulled out early.
Fourth thing what arrangements will the people be responsible for?? collecting cash via credit cards, taxes, and also are they liable for theft and breakage ( This one I doubt it )

I hope others weigh in here and if you do decide to do this, keep us informed on how it is going. Good Luck!!!

[Deanna]

I inquired at a local store.. and they wanted a 60/40 split. He said that with his overhead, he thought it was fair. I never did take him up on the offer. The profit margin is just not there for a 60/40 split in my opinion.

I live in a small town, and what I have started doing is taking my stuff to campgounds, restaurants... stuff like that. The owners of the stores are happy to have something different on their walls, and they don't (or haven't yet) charged me anything. I just started doing it this year, and while the sales are hardly worth mentioning... it's better than collecting dust in my shop!

However, and this may be just me... but I want to meet the people who buy my products... I feel "left out" not knowing who bought it and why. Maybe it's a pride thing, or maybe I'm just nosey!

We only have craft fairs at Christmas time... I know I should expand to outlying areas, I just haven't got there yet. I am looking forward to this year's craft fair, not just for the selling, but the meeting, the chatting, the looks and the comments that come hand in hand with setting up a table.

[ndtroll]

I have some items on consignment in a few locations.... I usually do a 75/25 split and adjust my prices a bit higher to compensate for some of the fee... When local people see my prices at the show are lower I telll them it is a "show Special"....
I do have one restaurant and a local winery that use my products as decoration for their establishment.... They get the decor... I get some sales.... I re-imburse them for the credit card fees.... The winery is becoming a tourist stop in Minot, ND .... They want clocks and I have sold a few.... it gives me an outlet for showing my clock, ( about 15 styles on display)....
other stores doing consignment usually want 40% --- I believe that is too much

[pops-shop]

After reading all the replies, I am inclined to skip the consignment and wholesale arena. 40% to them is my profit - I'd rather keep it myself. Lower sales to me, but, as we have said before, It's a hobby with some money thrown in for more toys. :rolleyes: :cool:

Thanks for the input.

[wisconsinwoodch]

Im Like Dave I have a few at two supper clubs, they get the new decore, and I get the money. I pay them there credit card charges and taxes. I keep my prices the same, even on my internet store. Adding 30 or forty% just puts the cost out of line, just my way of thinking, and then you must keep them supplyed It becomes a job, I gave that up six years ago. besides Ilike to go out to eat and come home with more money than I left with. :) :) :) :)

[Woodbutcher68]

I've got items in 4 stores - two Christian bookstores, a winery and the gift shop of the local art association.
One bookstore buys them outright at 20% off, the winery sells on consignment keeping 20% and the other bookstore and art gallery wanted to mark them up 40%. I discounted them 20%, then they marked them up 40%. I felt that 40% over my craft show price was too high and would hinder sales. If possible have you name and phone number on each piece or at least your business card with them.
I had a guy see one of my plain maple bottlestoppers and ask me to make him some. I told him that I was making some out of olivewood from Bethlehem soon and he asked for 3. I sent him a picture of the four I had made and told him $20.00 each. He bought all four and called me the next day to order four more. Easiest sale I ever made.

[cranbrook2]

After reading all the replies, I am inclined to skip the consignment and wholesale arena. 40% to them is my profit - I'd rather keep it myself. Lower sales to me, but, as we have said before, It's a hobby with some money thrown in for more toys. :rolleyes: :cool:

Thanks for the input.

I am with you on that one.
i had a website offer to sell my work for 10% . i don,t know if that is a deal or not?
JOHN

[crolf]

We have a craft store that just opened this spring. My wife and I have some things in the shop. They charge us 20 % of the sale price which realy isn't much when you do the math. The part I like is I deliver the goods to the store and I do not have to mess with the people. The owner is also planing to put some of everyone's projects in a local craft show and to our county fair and we will not be charge any extra for this service. If a customer wants something custom made the owner will either call us or give the customer our number. and we can sellthe item with out going through the store if we want.

[workinwood]

Thank you all for you replies: Like always we have alot of different opinions, and I agree with them all. 40% percent is to high for sure. I think I might try it just for the holiday season. Just doing x-mas oraments, and other smaller items just to see how it goes.

I really need to talk with owner concerning terms of contract if thier is even one. She never mentioned it to my better wife.

[chris_shawn100]

why not try to do it now,while you have earn enough experience and capital,you can open one of your own store?