Friday, August 19, 2011
Patterns coming to Etsy or my website
I'd really like to start selling some patterns online. My problem is my business is super new. I haven't checked on selling digital materials and really need a fellow Texan online crafter's help on the rules. Anyone out there know what to do? Also I'd love to find out if I should sell them on my Etsy site or Ravelry or even my own site. I'm not quote sure. Fellow crafters that read my blog: Could you please chime in for some help...or supportive encouragement if you;d like to see me sell some patterns. Selling the patterns would be nice bacsue it would help me buy supplies and equipment I need to make the FREE videos that I already do. Thank you so much fellow crafters and knitters! Happy Crafting! -Kristen
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Hi Kristen, we've never chatted before but I can say I feel I know you after watching so many of your videos. I like your videos better than any other out there! Your voice is very soothing, a great quality for a teacher! Mikey is good, but I didn't like all the pro gay stuff he wanted to get across when all I wanted to do was learn about loom knitting. I got into loom knitting to take a break from politics! haha
ReplyDeleteBefore I start to help with your question, I would like to briefly tell you about me. My name is Michael Austin from North Topsail Beach, NC. I have a condo right on the beach and love it here. I am disabled, going on 12 years now. My beautiful bride looks after me and has always tried things I like to do. Last week she asked me if I would do a project with her, loom knitting. How could I say no to such a sweet face? So here we sit, side by side in bed, knitting together. hahaha
Since you helped me make a beautiful new born hat for my wife's boss's daughter, I thought the least I could do is give you a couple of ideas for your business.
The best way to sell something on the internet is to have a "shopping cart." Many web software packages have them available. What I would do if I were selling something like that, I would accept payment and in the receipt, I would send the link to the download page for that item. You can put a password on that page if you feel the need. One thing you want to monitor is the number of downloads = to the number of sales. That will tell you if people are giving out your link and password to friends. If that happens, simply change your password each day.
There is a web site, http://www.madbeetech.com/, that specifically deals with selling documents online. You might want to check and see if they are worth the price to handle your web site. Or check with the web farm where your domain is today and see if they have any add-ons that will do the same thing.
Believe me, I understand why you want to do this. I want to ask you a few questions, not to find answers, but to possibly cause you to think of something you may have overlooked. I don't know the answers because I'm extremely new to loom knitting! I only ask so it might help you think of things I wouldn't even know about.
So far, the only thing I look for are freebies. I've been loom knitting for exactly 1 week! Think about yourself as a customer. How often did, or do, you search for a pattern that was not free? Are you open to paying for patterns with so many free patterns that are available? After family and friends purchase your patterns, do you see a market for strangers? If so, have you tried selling any of them on eBay? You can open a store on eBay and sell things for the price you want rather than having people bid on them, or you can do both, sell for a set price AND let them bid.
I hope this was at least a little helpful Kristen. It would do my heart good to know I was able to do something for you in return for what your videos have done for me! Feel free to ask questions if you have any for me. My email is mcaustinsr at gmail.com.