Recommendations for selling?

[RockandCole]

Fairly new to pen turning, although woodworking is almost second nature.. I am hoping to use pen turning as a means of subsidizing my youth pastor income, any recommendations on how/where to sell? My wife and I opened an Etsy shop, but that market seems to be flooded with people selling pens for next to nothing, which I can't do, because I value my time and reputation enough to not try to turn $10 pens. Any recommendations would be helpful, with my job, making it to craft fairs on the weekends would be difficult.

 

[jttheclockman]

Hello Cole

Welcome to the site. It would be nice for you to stop by the introduction forum and give us a little insight into your life so we know a little more about you. We are a family oriented site here and we like to get to know all new members. It also gives you a chance to enter into a newbie contest which I am sure someone will mention. We love to see some of your work because we all love pictures here. We do have a few pastors here as well.

You will soon find out that you stumbled onto the best pen turning site on the web. There is more info packed within these walls that it will take you a long time to read. But the good thing is we have a library and also 2 search features here that will help you get answers easily. Plus always any questions you have will get answered by many members. Now you will run into many different answers to the same question but there is no right or wrong answers just different ways to reach the final goal.

To your question. It is sort of difficult to give you exact answers like this. First we have no idea how well you make pens, what type of pens you make, where you live, what price range are you talking about and so on. So info there will help.

Now as far as selling goes, there are many here that do this as a hobby and just give pens away or sell very few. There are some here that do it for a living so there is a wide range of answers. But your usual craft shows is a good start. Some do big shows but they are costly. some do the consignment store thing and do well. Some do farmers market and do well. It all depends on location and the people you are reaching out to. Many times word of mouth can land you some big commission jobs. selling to family and friends. Some people have actual web sites so that is another avenue.

Here are a few links of past threads on this subject and there are a ton more because this is an oft asked question. Doing a site search using the search feature at the top of the page will get you more. Good luck.

www.penturners.org/forum/f22/need-some-selling-advice-144243/

www.penturners.org/forum/f22/first-craft-fair-tips-pointers-143358/


www.penturners.org/forum/f22/etsy-how-many-items-views-143223/

www.penturners.org/forum/f22/need-advice-selling-pens-shops-141584/