[GeorgiaFred]

I have a truck load of chainsaw carvings and some craft stuff that i want to sell.

I have put it all on a utility trailer and on weekends I drag it all down to the front yard next to the road.



I had a couple of signs made to 'advertise' them for sale. So, far no luck ![IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/HP_Owner/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]

Anybody got any ideas that would get some sales out of this ?

GaFred

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Try a busier corner lol...most look to big for ebay. How about that multiple state garage sale they show on tv? doesn't it go through
Georgia......Wife suggested a lumber yard.

[Colin_Partridge]

Fred,
You need a busy road try to find a place on a busy highway where the property owner would let you set up. Maybe offer him a carving or a commission for letting you set up. If possible carve while you are doing it I find when ever I am carving the people flock to see how it is done.
Colin

[brianh]

Live carving will draw people in, I also have my work in several stores they get 25% I sell some out of antique stores and also a garden center.

My best was the fair, I live carved and my wife handled the sales I did way better than expected, I had a crowd of people all day as long as the saw was running.

[Just Carving]

How about live carving, selling your carvings in between demonstrations, and have someone pay you to do your live demo? So, this way, at least you make enough to cover your fuel costs, and I imagine insurance if needed. A condition of doing the demo is to let you sell your carvings in between. Then you make more contacts, too. County fairs, local, recreation events, carnivls, etc. would be a good way to get started. I bet a local car dealer having a clearout sale would pay a few bucks to get people in to the car lot and live carving would probably do the trick.

[GeorgiaFred]

Thanks Guys !

I'm gonna try out some of these ideas and maybe I can sell sumthin !

My wife says I gotta clean out the carving shed !



ya'll take care ! GaFred

[Eddy Smiles]

Fred... You're in northeast Georgia, prime territory for all sorts of Fall festivals. Just a little northwest of you you've got Blue Ridge, Elijay, Jasper, and over in North Carolina, Franklin and Murphy, just to name a few, places that in the next couple of months will have all kinds of pumpkin ,apple...etc...etc... festivals. It would mean camping out in your truck a couple of nights but at least in those areas you're going to get a lot of exposure to the tourist trade. Them's the folks that got the bucks. The locals may have the bucks but they've all got kin folk who they can take your idea to and get it done without paying for it.

[Big Dog]

Don't know why it's not selling, it all looks great to me

[Lightningbolt]

Your trailer set-up looks really nice so there's sure no problem there. I can only speak from personal experience in marketing my work, some of which may or may not apply to what will work for you.

In a nutshell I just have absolutely no motivation to marketing. I hate it. I've worked one big festival which was a long (12 hour days) weekend. Granted, I did sell a $1,000.00 worth of walking sticks, BUT I also spent more than thirty something hours in the booth including Friday. Man, was that some kind of hard work because as the artist I felt 100% devoted to speaking fully to everyone who walked up and 500,000 folks show up every year. Yeah, I can sell sticks but I hate it! Never been to a show since! I'd rather dig ditches all day for a week way back in the woods all by myself that to spend a single day at a festival!

Of course I also had to figure in the booth rental fee, all the hours spent gathering, carving, and transporting the sticks... just not worth it to me. A few years ago I also sold a lot of my work to a local interstate junction tourist shop and this lady just kept on placing orders and she paid CASH... not consignment. Ended up not liking that experience either probably because I already had a full time job that I loved so I put a stop to that too and began enjoying my weekends again.

I guess that each of us just has to decide what price that we're willing to pay to "push" our crafts. Personally, I've evolved into a "word of mouth" seller which is plenty enough for me at this point in my life. I make some pretty good extra pocket money throughout the year and the most around Christmas.

Your work looks plenty good enough for selling and can't imagine a problem there. Just be patient and keep experimenting with locating new markets and creative methods for marketing. Eventually, you will find what works for you including the customer's to keep you going. I think that everyone's path is a little different when it comes to marketing.

[Eddy Smiles]

Dave voiced my sediments exactly. I was involved in festivals for years and although I sold what I made it got to the point where it was more like a job than a hobby and a fun experience. The first couple of festivals were fun, sitting there out in the fresh air, sitting and people watching while putting down a cup of hot coffee. But after a while, especially when the weather turns crappy and you're hanging on to your tent and merchandise for dear life it gets old fast. Unless you invest in a motorhome so that when not selling or when the weather turns rotten you can retreat to a dry place, it can be a bad experience. In other words, the old axiom that it takes money to make money probably applies here as much as anywhere else. That's why I've got a collection of eight sticks sitting in the corner of my den right now just waiting for something to mystically materialize. If the oppourtunity doesn't present itself soon I'll just give them away like the last bunch that I carved.