Should you wholesale your work (and do you really want to!)?
I landed 5 wholesale accounts in under a month of trying without a sales rep, fancy trade show or help of an expert. That being said, there are a few things you should ask yourself.
1- Do you really want to craft full time?
If you find certain parts of crafting tedious or not something your body could handle in the long run, you might be better off doing this as a hobby. With wholesale, you will be making items furiously and for longer hours so if you truly don’t love it, don’t wholesale.
2- Can you afford buying supplies in bulk?
When you sell online it’s easy to order supplies in small batches to make a few specific products but when you wholesale, you will need to have enough supplies on hand to make an army of items. Chances are high you get most of your supplies from online sellers so you will have to spend a decent amount ahead of time to ensure you have all materials and components needed for your entire collection. I always tried to have enough supplies in stock to make four of every item in my collection.
3 – Are you ready to feel stressed?
Wholesaling is completely different than selling to a single customer. What you do can make or break your business. Take it from someone who has screwed up almost as much as I got things right, you will feel stressed, scared and you may even cry. It’s normal and guess what, the good WILL outweigh the bad on your road to wholesale success.
4 – Are you willing to raise your prices?
I was lucky enough to be allowed a 30% discount for my first wholesale order but this is NOT the norm. If you want to wholesale beyond a few accounts, you will need to raise prices enough to offer 50% off your prices. You have two options, make a new collection to wholesale where you can offer the half off discount OR raise the prices on your current items (the latter being much easier).
Don’t get me wrong, I want you to wholesale but just remember it’s a long term commitment so just make sure you are willing to do what it takes!
I'm Justine Smith, a Toronto Social Media Consultant, Problogger & Sales Strategist. I can help you dominate your creative business and build the success you've always dreamed of. To learn more, click 
Thank you Justine for sharing your expertise! This is honest and useful information that we all can use to get our wholesale business’s off the ground. I want to do whatever it takes to make this happen and am looking forward to learning more!
No problem Christa! I am furiously working on that class we discussed so I will send you an email as soon as it’s ready
I am confused what you mean by taking 50% discount. is that 50% off what you sell to individuals for? I am working on setting up my own wholesale pricing and was not even going to mention my personal retail amounts, strictly what I can offer it to them for (which I was settling on 25% above my material costs, and an additional 15% on that if they want consignment vs outright purchase). This is my next step, going to retails to sell products and its terrifying.
I’ve seen a debate in the Etsy forums regarding whether or not your items are branded when you sell wholesale – for example, I plan to open a new shop soon that has items that will have sewn-in labels, directing people back to my brand (so they can at least google it, I was also thinking of adding the .com) What do you do in your wholesaling? Do your items have your brand?
Hey!
Kittybeans – It can be terrifying but if you have yourself set up you will be just fine. I suggest emailing as in person drop ins can be annoying for the store owner.
- as for pricing – 50% off what you would charge a retail client. So if you sell it on Etsy for $20, you sell it to the store for $10. Stores want to know your retail pricing and will google you. They don’t want someone looking you up and then finding they can get it cheaper than what the store charges. They will not buy from you in this case.
Kristin – I like branding. For me with jewelry it was little tags and stickers that came home with the item so they could google/look me up. For you, yes the labels are great! You want to build a brand too so having your name is important (in my opinion!).
Jastine,
thank you very much for your helpful articles!
Tasi
.-= Tasi Fashion´s last blog ..NEW Ruffled Long Sleeved Top =-.
Wow, this post is so helpful! I’m working on getting into wholesale at the moment (still developing my catalog, line sheet, press kit, etc.), but it’s so hard to know what to expect. I’m excited, but nervous. No one likes the unknown!
Thanks for the helpful advice.
Good comments, too — i’ve been wondering about branding.
Justine, how do you brand your jewelry items? is the tag just something small tied onto the chain? I was thinking about presenting my items attached to a MOO card (since so many jewelery items come with a card backing anyway, and MOO cards are both pretty and promotional), but there’s no guarantee the shop owner wouldn’t just discard them.
What program was this line sheet developed for? I contacted the wonderful Etsy seller that designed my logo/banner/etc and asked about line sheets – she’s never done one and was wondering what program it is designed for. She thought maybe Photoshop?
.-= Alyssa´s last blog ..Tinkerbell hair bow =-.
I would love to wholesale my dragonflies. I would love more any or any tips you might have.
.-= Melanie´s last blog ..Amethyst and Crysoprase Sterling Dragonfly Bug Brooch =-.
Another option would be to wholesale to a boutique or salon shop where you don’t have to mass produce because uniqueness is something they want. The one I sold to a gallery, I did not have prices on my items. I just went with a selection of my work and had a price list with me. Anthing I sold I don’t plan to make again so they don’t have to worry about competition. I don’t repeat the exact design anyway -something is usually different in each design.
.-= Terri W´s last blog ..Romance Earrings – shell pearl dangles =-.
[...] was definitely part of it! I outline a few things to consider before wholesaling here but my take [...]
Having wholesaled – and retailed for many years (production studio), I find it curious that some of your readers are thinking of wholesale as “dropping” prices. How about looking at it from the bottom up? Create a line that is meant to be priced at wholesale,considering all expenses involved and meant to be doubled for retail. This is the standard markup in the retail environment.
Both wholesaling and retailing have their good points, and negative points. Choose what works best for you – you always have the option to include the other or go exclusively in that direction.
Hey Carolyn,
Thank you for your comment. It’s funny that you just left this comment because I was working on a short post about wholesale pricing. When I first started, i thought it was a 50% off type thing and I quickly realized that if I wanted to make a real go of earning enough income (not only to cover costs but to pay the bills AND put money back in the business) I would have to bring my prices up to that of almost retail, even more in some cases.
I’d love to get a quote from you for the post, let me know if you are available.
Very helpful things to think about. Thanks for this article!
.-= Jill ´s last blog ..Sucree Jewelry: Gallery =-.
For those of you scared to wholesale, just start off small and local. I landed my first couple whole sale orders just by someone seeing me on Etsy. But after that it gave me the confidence I needed to start contacting some local shops and they are always very nice and often welcoming. You don’t have to think you need 100 items, my minimum for prints is just 10. I love wholesaling, once you figure it out, it’s a nice big chunk of change!
thank you Maggy, I absolutely agree with you. Local is always the best because you can meet buyers in person, go at your own pace and just slowly build up a wholesale customer base. And yes, when I first started, I offered so many pieces that it quickly became overwhelming.