selling your cards

[ali-son]

Hi, for the first time I sold some of my cards at Christmas and have sold a few (birthdays) since. Didnt start out to sell them just as a hobby to help me unwind. I have however starting to build up a little collection of cards-get carried away sometimes and friends have been going on at me to approach shops to see if they will sell them(locally).
do any of you sell your cards and where do you sell them.
tia
alison

[jadzea]

Hi, yes I sell mine but I am lucky I have a hairdressers so I haven't had to go out there and sell them. It would be worth approching your local hairdressers because they really do go well. I get a lot of orders for special one's too. The local post office has asked me as well if I would supply them but I have to think about that one.
Good luck

Andrea

[mrsb]

i have not bothered selling mine in shops or anywhere like that ,i dont think you can make anything from it ,i sell lots of mine to family and friends and have built up circles of regulars from there ,i now have about 8 regular customers who only ever buy my cards and have not bought a shop bought one in 4 years ,it keeps me ticking over ,then we have the odd fair or two throughout the year at the local community centre .
i was thinking of maybe approaching the old folks homes and asking if i could try sell some there as not all of them can get out to the shops and they like to choose their own rather than having family / friends get them for them

[ali-son]

thanks for the replies, dont want to make a big on the cards just want to make them self funding.
will try both ideas.

thanks

alison

[curias]

I sell my cards to a local shop and to friends. I started doing it last April and between all my sales have made $1500 CDN. So it's not a huge business right now, but still that helps out for buying supplies. I have a website, but I haven't promoted it and use it for my friends to search for cards.

[sharybo]

The Old folks home is a good idea. I have sold cards to some local shops and have found that florists and chocolate shops are good places to approach. If you're a bit nervous, offer them the cards on a 'sale or return' basis, that way they're more likely to give them a go as they have nothing to lose.

Another good idea which someone gave me was to think about specialist shops - for example taking some golf themed cards to the pro shop at the local golf club.

Sharon x

[JaneH]

How do you handle the bookkeeping part of it? Do you keep supplies separate for card making? In the U.S., if you deducted the cost of making the cards from the net, you'd have to show all your receipts and keep it all separate from your 'hobby' supplies. Also, it would affect taxes as the money you earn is not all profit but you need to deduct the COST.

I'm asking because I'm looking into doing something like this myself, but I'm just unsure about all the tax stuff.

[Mrs Mac]

Good point Jane
Many years ago I was part of a small card making group, i started to sell a few, one of the other girls reported me to the tax man and if you sell what you make you "have to" fill in a self assesment form every year, even if you dont make any money.
There is always a green eyes monster watching out for folks doing something better than them!

[Jay]

Good point Mrs Mac. I sell a few to friends and collegues, but I would like to find an outlet. I like the old folks home idea, I may pop into the one along the road from work and see if they would be interested.

[Catherine S]

I too have been thinking of selling cards. I have recently found myself making more and more cards and doing less and less scrapbooking. Less planning and forward thinking required I think. Would love to sell a few to fund my growing stash!

I will get my thinking cap on as to an outlet.

[witchy1066]

Hi all
the best thing to do is sell to friends and family first and then ask a friend or 2 to take them into their place of work once a month, you will soon build on this, i have 2 boxes on the go. The self assessment form is very easy to fill in it can be done on the internet and unless you are earning a lot of money you will not pay tax. One thing to bear in mind if you use graphics on your cards is to check copy right i have had a bad experiance on this point.
Hope this helps
If you need any advice feel free to ask. I have been making and selling cards for ten years
Regards
Witchy xxx

[ali-son]

Good point Jane
Many years ago I was part of a small card making group, i started to sell a few, one of the other girls reported me to the tax man and if you sell what you make you "have to" fill in a self assesment form every year, even if you dont make any money.
There is always a green eyes monster watching out for folks doing something better than them!

sorry I am a bit late coming back to this.
I am self employed, so I already do a self assesement for the tax man every year , I keep a note of how much I have sold and keep reciepts etc so there will be no problem there.

I only started selling them back at christmas and at the moment just sell to family and friends.

thanks for all the replies.

[silverst170]

i started selling mine at bootsales and saturday markets
i dont come away now without 150 in my pocket
i love it and its nice for people to say i make cards but there not as good as this
i get a bit carried away sorry girls
id like my own shop but cant afford it

tina

[Mis_chicka-bea]

I use to sell mine on ebay, but since fee's etc has gone up, it's not worth me doing it, i did approch local shop's, what i did was wrote a short letter & enclosed some cards for sample's, waited for them to get back to me, some did'nt so i contacted them, sometimes they need prompting!!

Out of 5 shop's i wrote to, one came back & i supplied for a while, but card sale's are down in local small site shop's as the larger chain (birthday's, clinton cards etc) take's most of the custom.

[silverst170]

yes know what you mean
it is hard for us card makers

tina