I am a stay at home mother of three little girls, and to make a little extra spending money I decided to sell some things on Etsy and possibly at craft shows too. I understand this can be difficult as people like to compare crafts to items mass produced and found at Walmart which only cost pennies to make. I am testing the water a bit here as far as pricing and what to make, but I was wondering if anyone here has had success with this and what kind of prices they ask? I have a crib/toddler bed quilt 51" x 31.5" listed for $92. I have researched similar quilts on Etsy and my prices seem to be comparable, but I think the quilting on some of mine make the items unique, and I use very good materials for all of my quilts - which does add to the price a bit.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips, suggestions, experiences they could share? You can visit my shop, the link is in my signature. I don't have much up yet. Do my prices sound right? Experiences with Etsy?

Etsy is great but you need to know how to market yourself and get your shop and name out there or you won't get a lot of hits. You also need to know how to tag and name your items appropriately so they get caught into search engines and searches on Etsy.

Price generally isn't a big issue, if other people are selling comparable items as similar prices then I wouldn't be concerned with the price. People will pay for quality items when they know they are quality. When people go to big box stores they aren't expecting a quality product, they are expecting to purchase something they'll use a few times and probably throw out because the seams will come up, etc.

How much does Etsy charge you now? I don't think you should charge to much more than what you would charge at a craft show because don't you have to pay a fee at a craft show to have a booth? It's pretty much the same concept and I've never heard of a lot of people doing great at craft shows...maybe its different for you though.

It may be beneficial for you if you go to craft/quilt shows and find that people are really interested in your quilts and you give them a business card with your shop info on it so they know how to find out and then word of mouth happens and can help get more people to your shop too.

Don't forget to cover your expenses when pricing

You can try QuiltBroker also.

That is a good point about having to pay for a booth fee at a craft show. I didn't think of it that way. I will use the same pricing across the board. Thanks!

Craft shows depending on the size of the show can cost up to $200.00 or more because of the liabilty insurance that the show has to cover so prices do run higher and hope to make some money from your items that you are selling.

Try QuiltsforSale.ca - it costs $10 per quilt, one time fee, and a closing fee as well, I think. They seem to sell a lot (you can look at the sold quilts on the website). I have one on there but it has not sold. I am a bit surprised, as it is super low priced ($350 for handquilted full size bed quilt).

That is interesting, never did either one before.

at craft shows you need a variety of items and i found that if you are priced under $15 that is what sells, examples would be table runners, placemat, Thanksgiving and Christmas quilted items, hope this helps

I think another important thing to think about when doing craft shows is your demographic. I live in an area with a lot of unemployment. Went to a large, well-attended craft show a few weeks back and nothing was selling. Like Earlylace said, usually the $15 items sell--not this year. There were table runners, potholders, etc, for under $30 and late in the day the lady said she'd only sold one tablerunner (don't know what they charge for a booth) but she said she wouldn't return; she'd been coming there for about 10 yrs. I hope things are different in your area and you do really well--good luck. Just thought I'd share my recent experience.