alexseanchai | (no subject)

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sunbow

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Craft fair went suckily. $25 for the table. Sold $19 worth of jewelry. One sale. One frickin' sale. Don't know what happened to the person who said she'd buy a necklace but I waited until the absolute last second to disassemble my displays and she never came back. Gave away three business cards and heard about a craft fair next month and, because I brought my supplies with me, left with a bunch more inventory than I came in with. And there was a girl when I was cleaning up who asked how it'd gone and told me she thought I was overpricing my things because the other jewelry vendors were selling their earrings for $5. I suppose I could sell my cheapest things for $5 instead of $10. If I value my labor and creativity at $0, that is. $5 about covers materials, shipping expenses, Etsy's and Paypal's cuts, and the ten percent of every sale I give to charity, and that only if materials come to under a dollar, and I'm not giving a discount to people who buy at craft fairs instead of online. And my labor and creativity are damn well worth something.

So between the table price, the hot dog I bought because it was lunchtime and I was hungry, and the earrings I'd cheerfully have paid $15 for if they weren't tagged $5, today's excursion has put me $12.50 further in the hole. $14.40 once we figure in the charitable donation, which Mom is going to laugh at me for and probably refuse on behalf of our square dance club (she's the club treasurer, so she's the one to whom any donations go, and because it was square dancer earrings that sold, it's the square dance club gets the money). Le sigh.

And apparently Occupy Somewhere got a bunch of paper dumped on them, which pissed the occupiers off, because they were job apps for McDonald's. Because clearly the McDonald'ses of Somewhere have enough job openings for all the occupiers who haven't got jobs. And this is amusing to my mother, for reasons I can't parse. And when I point out that this is in fact highly offensive, because there are six fucking job applicants for every job opening, and also many of those applicants have valuable skills better used not flipping fucking burgers and asking if you want any fucking fries with that, Dad shouts me down, because apparently I'm not allowed to have opinions contrary to Mom's while I owe her money and live in her house. And I can't go through with my original plan of going square dancing tonight and attempting to sell more jewelry while I'm there, because it's going to take everything I've got to finish cooking fucking dinner without letting them see me cry.

Hugs would be gratefully appreciated.

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Hugs are most definitely offered. What is your Etsy, that I might go see your wares? (I hope I can remember my etsy account password.)

cjmr

(The McD's near my in-laws is getting more like 50 apps per job opening.)

*hugs*

Sunbow Gems. Fuck only knows when the stuff I made at the fair will get on there, though. And I desperately need to rephotograph everything but I have no idea when that's happening either.

I added you to my favorites. I think I could get most of my 'girl relative' Christmas shopping done...

Awesome!

And my labor and creativity are damn well worth something.

Sadly, with craft fairs you're going to get a lot of prospective buyers who don't agree with that. It's something of a continuing problem with in the crafting community -- I hear it at guild meetings all the time.

Occupy Somewhere got a bunch of paper dumped on them, which pissed the occupiers off,

Chicago, was what I heard. It was completely infuriating.

And I can't go through with my original plan of going square dancing tonight and attempting to sell more jewelry while I'm there, because it's going to take everything I've got to finish cooking fucking dinner without letting them see me cry.

{hug}

and seriously, if you want to run away to the DC metro area, you're welcome to sleep on my couch until you get your feet.

Yeah, there was one person who said in my hearing how expensive my jewelry was. She didn't even look at the Supernatural charm bracelets, which are expensive (I blame the price of silver). Thirty dollars for a necklace and earring set is not unreasonable.

Chicago sounds right.

I have much too much debt and not nearly enough in savings to run away to anywhere, and also I'm in the process of Bank Transfer Month to a local credit union. (Can't transfer my direct deposit till I have a voided check for my new checking account, which means waiting the seven to ten business days for the new checks to arrive.) The offer is very much appreciated, though.

$30 for a necklace and earrings sett is damned reasonable, but I know what it takes to actually make a necklace from pieces. Most people look at the cheap stuff that is assembled somewhere out of the country by people who are paid pennies for their labor, and sniff at you for wanting to paid minimum wage for your labor...

I'm looking at transferring my money, but I have to have access to a bank that I can get rolls of quarters, since the laundry room has no change machine. This is a surprisingly difficult thing, if the bank and/or credit union doesn't have a branch near my home or work.

Edited 2011-11-12 22:10 (UTC)

$30 is dramatically under what I'd charge for a fair trade necklace and earrings set. I have yet to get anything from Fire Mountain Gems that is fair trade or USA-made, I don't think they even carry anything in either category, and they're my main supplier because I am not moneyed gentry and they have most everything I want.

I asked my family to get me fair trade beads for Christmas. Outsource the expense.

ETA, because I replied before seeing your ETA: To be fair, I'm paying myself $10 per hour, not $7.15. When I can pay myself at all. I'm making $12.77/hr at the day job, which I'm fairly certain isn't a living wage even for someone without mountains of debt. Only thing that's keeping me afloat is the fact that my room and board at my parents' is pretty much what it costs to feed me and barely a penny more. I don't want to think about after my birthday, when I have the choice of forking over a couple hundred a month to stay on Dad's health insurance or having no health insurance, until after my birthday. If I'm real lucky I'll get the permanent job that's about to open up in the division, because that comes with health insurance.

I should actually apply to that job. I haven't had time till just now, and I'm not sure I can face it just now.

Edited 2011-11-12 22:49 (UTC)

I think my best bet is to stick it out another six months, get my paralegal degree, then run away to...somewhere. Universityville an hour north of here, where I can hopefully work on my four-year degree. Maybe even DC, see if I can go paralegal for somebody working on making the country more progressive, and there are colleges in the DC area that offer women's studies programs, right?

Six months. I can make it six months.

Oh, honey. *hugs you tightly*

*hugs*

I wish I had something uplifting or inspiring to say. Sorry that I don't, but I come bearing hugs.

I hope things get better for you. I hope they get better for you at an unreasonably fast pace.

-chris the cynic.

*hugs* Thanks.

♥

*hugs*

*hugs some more*

*hugs*

*hugs* Thanks

I really love the circuit board earrings, but I don't wear many earrings. I would totally buy it as a necklace though!

Are there any higher-end craft fairs around you? I go to Crafty Bastards in D.C. every year, and the prices are much higher. Nonetheless, I'm willing to pay $60+ for a skirt or dress because I know I'm directly paying the salary of the person who made it, and I think other people there have the same opinion. Being around higher-end crafters will make your prices seem more reasonable.

Do I not have the circuit board pendant on Etsy? If I don't, I should. Because I've got a circuit board pendant, just needs the buyer to tell me how long a chain should come with it.

I don't think there's a high enough population density around here to support a high-end craft fair.

*hugs*

((((hugs)))) ((cookies?))

I'm sorry it didn't go well... all my craft fairs bombed this year, too. D:

*hugs* Ooh, cookies, cookies sound good. Of course to bake cookies I must first clean kitchen, and I don't wanna clean kitchen.

I have only virtual cookies for now, but here they are:
(.')(:')(:,)(#)(#)(#)

Chocolate chip and peanut butter! :D

*noms*

*HUGS*

I'm sorry about the terrible sales. I really DO blame the economy, every sector spending is down.

That said, have you tried repricing in the opposite direction? Pricing UP? As in, doubling? Sometimes the value perception is skewed; that is, a cheap item is view as too cheap to buy, and and a really expensive item is viewed as too valuable NOT to buy. Especially in luxury goods (or, bridal wares! LOL). I'm not saying reprice everything, but maybe next time put an outrageous price on one or two of your nicest items and see what happens. You never know.

Hope things turn around for you. <3

And spending being down is why the economy sucks. That and the richest percentage point sucking up all the money. *sigh*

I have not tried it. And there already is an outrageous price on my Mary Campbell bracelets, for which I blame the price of silver because most of that $100 goes to materials. And yet I've sold more Mary Campbell bracelets than anything else. You may have a point here.

Mom suggested giving the craft fairs a couple dollars off on account of I don't have to give Etsy or Paypal a cut and I don't have to spend anything on shipping. I think I shall try a combination of these for the craft fair on the eighth. Have a sign what says "$2 OFF LIST PRICE FOR EARRINGS, $3 OFF LIST PRICE FOR BRACELETS, $5 OFF LIST PRICE FOR NECKLACES", and price the shiny new things I made today absurdly high. It was actually quite a productive day. Twenty-five new items in inventory.

HUGS

*hugs*

I'm sorry to hear that that sale didn't go well :( I'll be signal-boosting this on my networks, and I hope you get good custom! *good wishes*

Thank you!

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