Hello

[WIFAG]

My name is Paul Liggins, I am an ex MD of a medium sized Printing company ,now following my retirement I now have time to follow my love of woodworking and wood turning in particular, I have been making pens for a few years now selling mostly at craft fairs when I had the time ( the job was full on so not that much spare time) but I am getting more and more frustrated at the silly cheap prices some people sell their pens for, at the last fair I was at just before Christmas there was a guy selling fancy slim lines in wood only for £7.00 each !!
Does anyone on the forum have any ideas they can share for selling pens at premium prices, have attached a photo of one of my more recent efforts in Yew Burr and purple resin.

 

[Morse]

Lovely looking pen Paul.
A warm welcome to the forum.
I think you may have a few replies re the price of selling quality pens.
I do like the 'hybrid'.
My first hybrid peeled away from the resin. Haven't done one since, though I have a couple of blanks still.

Dave

 

[Frederick]

Hello Paul

Welcome to the best and friendlest forum. As I do not sell my pens (I give them away as presents or donate to charities) I feel sure that someone here will offer you good advice. A lot of decent chaps here. There are probably ladies as well but I am not aware of any. Welcome aboard.

Regards
Frederick

 

[Gadget-UK]

Welcome to the forum Paul and has already been said, lots of great people here more than happy to help (and learn) :wink:

regarding selling pens, I sell through a couple of shops who sell on commision or Sale or Return basis, they each have about 30 pens of different types, styles and most importantly cost.
Cheapest slimline they have off me for £15 each (they sell for £20 ish) up to pairs including matching letter opener for £70 to £80.
Most expensive pens are the hybrids and they sell a fair few of them

Also do craft fairs but only sell at MY prices, never ever undersell yourself or your time, effort etc.
Last craft fair sold over 35 pens and returned with just over £900 so an average of £25 per pen.

Its also down to location (as I have been told many times) I live on the South Coast and the shops are rather “Trendy - Exclusive” and the Fairs are rather well to do affairs (enter POSH), I class myself as being very lucky, others are not and sell pens as good as (if not better) than mine for a lot less, its down to your market and knowing what you can reasonably ask for a pen knowing you can sell it.

BUT.... I think I give more pens away to family, friends, clients and charitys than I sell anyway

Anyway, hope that helps,

 

[Penpal]

Hot Potato Paul,first welcome mate. Secondly when you have a stall make it professional and friendly irregardless of others stall and pricing. From your offerings today IMHO your quality will be seen to be worth purchasing from you. Giving a quality refil goes a long way to helping or promoting sales.

Peter.

 

[Phil Dart]

Hi Paul - welcome to the forum

Those who sell pens cheaply tend to do so either because they don't value their time, or they don't value their product. There are also those who don't need to value either of those because they only want to recoup a few pennies to help fund their hobby. I have sympathy with those who just want to recoup a bit, but not a lot for those who undervalue their time or their product. However, the upside is that they are usually the people who complain that last weeks market wasn't very good, whilst the realistically priced pen sellers all had a profitable day.

I think the key is to believe in what you're making and selling - the realists all regularly report that the outsell the non-realists, and from the customers point of view, a cheap price often equates to a cheap product in their mind's eye. I would say just keep doing what you're doing - your pens look excellent. Just pretend the non realists are not there, rather than trying to compete with them on price. You may get a pleasant surprise.

 

[wm460]

G'Day Paul,

Welcome from the bloody hot Alice Springs, in the centre of Aust.

 

[fortress]

Hello and welcome to the forum Paul, those are gorgeous looking pens.

 

[flexi]

Welcome aboard mate.....I sell where I can, rented space in a craft shop, craft fairs and in a gun shop, if your priced realistically you will sell....prices become dependent on location....but as long as you don't undervalue yourself you'll do OK

 

[Bucks]

Welcome to the forum Paul, theyre a couple of cracking pens.
Unfortunately i havent managed to get round to selling many of my pens the last couple of years, as i got side tracked with my PenBlanksAndMoulds side of the business lol. I did hope to do a few local craft fairs but other family circumstances prevent that.

 

[martin.pearson]

Welcome to the forum Paul from another that is fairly new here.
I don't make many pens to sell, why ? Well because people often sell them for very little lol

Is this a hobby or a business ? I don't want to start an arguement or sound to contraversial but if it is a hobby then you are only allowed to make sales of £1000 a year before paying tax which may be why some people sell so cheaply, it's a hobby & they don't want to get in trouble with the tax man or have to fill out tax forms. That's not even £1000 profit as you can't claim expences if its a hobby.

 

[Cumbrian Craig]

Welcome Paul. All the very best.

Regards

Craig

 

[silver]

Welcome on board Paul.

This is the most discussed topic between craft makers that I know of, yes other crafters have the same issues.

It's one I believe Phil has answered fairly and accurately.

There is another reason I know of and that's when there are people making pens just so they can help there mental state, general health and the feeling of getting out of bed and actually doing something, making something and feel they only need to cover the costs of doing it.