Selling Work

I have been wanting to start selling some work online for a long time, and now summer is approaching its the perfect time to start designing and printing. As research, I thought this would be the perfect excuse to buy a few things of some of my favourite designers to see how they do things. I've found out that special extras, taking care with the packaging, and adding a business card or something that links back to your sites so if they like your work they can come back is a good idea for more business.

I want to re-work some designs I've already done to sell and then think about new things. I want to create designs I like and am interested in rather than just what will sell, as I'm doing this to improve my own professional practice rather than to make money, I don't expect to make a lot.

I need to find out postage costs, where is a cheap place to get the packaging, etc and look at more sites to see what my competition is selling. I could link this in with the enterprise stuff we learnt at the beginning of the year and do SWOT analysis and things like that.

I could also try and sell at small gift shops when I have some items ready to approach them with.

Things I could sell: (based on things I've already designed)
- alice in wonderland notecards
- gift pack containing a few different things such as A5 print, postcard, bookmark, stickers etc
- geometric patterned book
- dinosaur tea towels
- cupcake birthday cards

New things/themes to design:
- dalahorse
- stationery theme
- initials
- animlas
- perfume
- dragonflies and butterflies
- alphabet
- different shaped wine glasses etc
- cameras, vintage, new etc
- fruit and veg
- clocks
- playing cards
- camping theme

Materials I could cover:
- tea towels
- prints
- postcards
- notecards
- note books
- bookmarks
- gift tags
- keyrings and badges
- screenprints
- make your own sets
- stickers

Plan of action. (Starting as soon as the last module is handed in!)

1. What are postage costs, restrictions etc?
2. Where will I get the packaging from and how much?
3. Research other shops
4. Etsy Terms and conditions
5. Design!
6. Get designs printed
7. Decide prices
8. Set up shop
9. Promote
10. Evaluate progress