How to Sell Hand Made Cards

Sell handmade greeting cards in stores, online and at craft shows.

Creating handmade greeting cards is a hobby that many crafters enjoy. Interestingly enough, there is a strong market for handmade products, including handmade greeting cards, wedding and party invitations. Crafters who would like turn their card making hobby into a business or extra cash have several options for selling their handmade creations.

Instructions

1. Price your handmade cards. There are two different pricing schemes that you should calculate for: wholesale and retail pricing. Wholesale price is the amount that you are willing to sell your cards to a retailer for. Retailers often buy items in bulk for use as inventory in a store. A retail price is the amount that you would sell your cards to individual consumers for. Wholesale prices are set by considering the material and labor costs associated with each card. Retail prices are set by marking up the wholesale price by an amount that is acceptable to the market. You can analyze the retail prices that consumers are willing to pay by checking out other handmade cards for sale at craft shows, local shops and online retail sites.

2. Sell your cards through local shops and craft fairs. Contact local drug store, supermarkets and novelty shops in your area. Set up a meeting with the store’s buyer to show samples of your work. If the shop agrees to carry your cards, discuss the placement of the cards within the store, negotiate prices, order quantities and re-order terms. If your budget allows, you might consider setting up your own specialty card shop. In this case you should choose a location with a high volume of foot traffic as well as adequate parking for potential customers. Purchasing a table at a craft fair is also an effective way to sell handmade cards since you will have access to a large volume of potential customers who are interested in purchasing handmade products.

3. Sell your handmade cards online. You can set up your own website by purchasing a domain name, hosting service and signing up for a merchant services account for processing online credit card orders through your site. If you are not familiar with website construction, you will need to hire a web developer to get your site up and running. An alternative to setting up your own site is selling your cards through specialty sites such as eBay, Etsy and Made It Myself. Each of these sites allows sellers to sell their handmade products and process payments online for a small listing fee. All the seller must do in order to use one of these services is sign up for a seller’s account, upload an image of the product for sale, provide a brief description of the product for potential customers and list the price. After a purchase is made through one of these sites, the seller will receive the customer’s order and shipping address. The seller is them responsible for packaging the products and shipping them.

References

• Card Making Crafts.com: How to Sell Your Handmade Cards
• Work at Home Mom Revolution.com: Start a Handmade Greeting Card Business From Home
• Making Greeting Cards.com: Pricing Homemade Cards

Resources

• Made It Myself
• Etsy
• Ebay