Questions about my quilting website
 

HI everyone,

I have some questions about a website I am doing for my quilting. I have some dishtowels on there as well as hotpads and dishtowels, and I have their prices listed. I am working on some quilts to get on there and I am planning on putting the prices on there as well. My question is when it comes to custom made quilts, do I put a disclaimer on there that price may be different or do I price them all the same. I know a lot of it depends on the fabrics that are wanted and the quilting, as some may want more simple quilting and some may want more complex. Right now, there are some quilts on there that do not have the pricing, but when you click on them it takes you to a custom quilt form. I am just trying to decide. My son in law is working on this site for me, and he still has some bugs to work out. I won't share the site yet, as we are still trying to get it ready.

Thanks

Please keep in mind this is just my personal opinion. This is what I find very discouraging about internet shopping:
No price listed; kind of gives me the feeling of "If you have to ask you can not afford it"
No state of origin listed; I like to know where the item is at when I am looking
No complete contact information; I hate the fill out a form method. Sometimes I want to be able to have direct contact because I might forget to ask certain questions when I type out the email. I am at the stage of life that I can only remember how nice it was to have a good memory.
Now that I have given you negative, I would like to give you some positive points.
Clear and complete information about the product. As for a quilt type of fabrics used, type of batting used, machine or hand quilted and color of thread used, size of quilt and care information.
Good color descriptions. Not just brown, red, green, blue because if you think to basic colors those don't work and we all know color on computer monitors is not the best. Descriptions like dark warm or dark golden brown...true red or warm red, cool red. The better the description the better the customer can picture the actual product.

I hope this will help you and your son get your website up and running with great success.

My thoughts...I would never even bother to fill out a website form if I wanted a custom quilt done. I'd go somewhere else no matter how good the work looked. I'd much prefer to contact the quiltmaker by email, phone, or in person to discuss all the options available and work out the details. Email is great because both parties then have a record of what was said.

On your website you could just say something like 'if you'd like a custom quilt, contact me at xxxxx and we can work out the details'. I don't think there's any need at all for a disclaimer on the website about the pricing on custom quilts.

If you've done custom work in the past, you can show pictures of them in a gallery as examples in order to give potential customers an idea of what your custom work is like, but there's no need to give prices on past work that's not for sale. Just show them the quality of your work.

I disagree with ghostrider in one aspect. I would post a price for past work, along with a photo, the size, and other pertinent details, saying "sold for." It could help keep some people from contacting you if they know in advance that your custom quilts are more than they are willing to pay.

I also want to know who I'm dealing with - name of company or person, street address, phone number (the real one even if there's an 800 number) in addition to email address.

Excellent point! I totally agree. :)

It might be more useful to give a range for custom work using your past projects as your starting point. Such as: "custom crib size quilts start at xxxx", etc.

I would post a price and just say that this is an approximation for a custom quilt call XXX for details. As a customer I would like to know how much something cost up front even if its just an estimate

I like the ideas. Thanks. I have not put my phone number on there as of yet, because I was trying to decide if I should. It would be my home number, and on top of this, I am working full time, but do have an answering machine. I will think about adding the phone number. Also, my original thought with filling out the form, was that it asked the questions that I would ask in an e-mail or phone conversation. With this form, then I would do the estimate, and e-mail a quote to the customer telling them the price. The intention with the form, is that it would save maybe a bit of time. I may need to rethink some of this through a bit more.

I also like the idea of doing a sold for price. I do have a question on that though. On one of the quilts that I did, I gave the guy a price, and he rounded it up to the nearest 100.00 dollars. It was $11.00 more than I had told him. Do I put the price he was willing to pay, or the one that I quoted?

Personally, I wouldn't put my phone number on a website. It just opens yourself up to all sorts of calls you don't want to deal with - I promise you, little good will come out of posting your home number on a website. I do agree with setting up an email address for people to contact you instead of using a form, though you COULD do both.

I would put the price you actually received on your quilts as the "sold for" price. Also, please be sure to very clearly state how big the quilt was and the use. I have found that some people cannot envision that a 58" square quilt is not big enough for a bed. I always tell people, "This quilt is about 58" square, which makes a really nice throw quilt you can use for cuddling while watching tv, or even at the foot of your bed." Most people I have dealt with don't really have a sense for size. Being really specific eliminates the possibility of misunderstandings.

Good luck!


ETA: I would not put my phone number on a website, but if you email a person once or twice and feel they are serious about their inquiry, you can certainly arrange phone contact, either by you calling them, or letting them call you. But my experience of putting my phone number on a website was that I saw a dramatic increase in spam calls, and more than a few crazies who wanted to call and harass me. I would be VERY selective about who I give my number to; you just never know these days. Oh, and remember, someone can use your phone number to find your home address. That would be very VERY bad.

As far as a form you could just say this information is what is needed from you. I would just have an email address to respond to inquiries but you could have a business phone. It would be a business expense to right off on your taxes.

I was concerned about the phone number. As of yet, I have not discussed a business line with my hubby. We gave up our land line to go with a wireless home phone. I do have an email address set up, so maybe I will give the option of filling out the form or sending an e-mail. Most people I have done work for have contacted me through email or from our facebook or etsy page and that has gone well. I already get enough telemarketing calls and I don't want more. I really like to have the email to fall back on and make sure we all agree on what is wanted.

I most definitely would not post my phone number. I like the ".. prices starting at." Then depending on what they want you can decide what you can do it for and how much profit you can make. As for the fellow who rounded up to the next amount I'd stay with the price you quoted, honesty goes a long way in being successful. Much success to you as you launch your new endeavor.