EagarBeez

do you have a small shop near you that sells things like candy, small items hand made. I know we have one and you can ask if they would display the items you made and they would sell and you give them a portion. Sort of like consignment. Also some furniture stores, (not large companies) display some items that other people have made for sale.
Otherwise, when there are craft shows, a county fair, anything such as this.
I think etsy is not such a good place.
The problem mostly is that people don't quite understand how much work and hours into what we do

Jingle

I would find it more trouble than it's worth. I give mine away to my kids, grands, great grands, friend and family.

HollyInfinite

For quilts I wouldn't recommend Ebay. I don't think a lot of quilts sell well on ebay and if you are trying to make a profit you probably won't get it from Ebay. Etsy is a good option but you really need to know how to market yourself to get your shop seen on Etsy. You may want to see if there are other quilting boards, craft boards, etc. where you can market and post your etsy shop so you can more eyes on your shop and gain some popularity.

Selling hand made items takes time, so don't give up to quickly :) Once you get yourself out there it will be easier. Also it really depends on your style of quilting on whether it will sell.

Search around for other people selling quilts and if you find a place where people have similar styles and are selling well look into those options.

The internet is a big place and its easy to get looked over so you have to make sure you have something that is going to stand out.

I'd also suggest becoming a regular member here (if you aren't already) and posting them for sale here at the very least.

ptquilts

If you post them for sale here you are pretty much limited to the cost of materials.

I second what everyone said about ebay being not so good, etsy might be a better choice.

Are there any farmers markets in your area? They usually allow crafts.

Barb44

We have a couple of second-hand stores that will take hand made items on consignment. An antique shop may also be interested, especially if your quilts look 'vintage.'

cjtinkle

Make nice quilts for a local cause in exchange for free advertising. Hang your quilts in a local furniture store (they'll want a cut of course). Do a local raffle quilt for a local cause... all these will get your name and your work known locally.

If you want to sell online, setup a professional website and learn to market it.

MIJul

Amish auctions will sell quilts from from the public as long as they are quilted by hand (no machine quilting allowed). There is one near Clare, Michigan. They keep a small commission of the selling price. However, the down side is that you have no control of what it sells for. If no one bids on it, it can go for a low price. Sometimes I sit there and think "that didn't even sell for the cost of the fabric." And others sell for $1,000 to $1,500 or more. You are at the mercy of the crowd that is bidding.

MsEithne

I know someone who is a stay-at-home dad, whose home based business is selling stuff on ebay. His take-home is around $40K a year, after overhead and taxes. Not a lot of money but it lets him stay home while his wife works, which is what they both want. He had a few tips.

First, you have to build your reputation on ebay via their feedback system. Start by selling a lot of low cost items. Make sure that your response times are lightning fast, your packaging is more than adequate to protect the item and that you leave each buyer with a good impression.

Second, he said that higher quality stuff often doesn't sell well because the seller sets the minimum bid too *low*. It's counter-intuitive but his theory is that when the opening bid is low, potential buyers assume the item is of low quality. Set that minimum bid at the point where you are being fairly compensated for the materials and your time; if it doesn't sell the first time, wait a few weeks and re-list it for a higher price.

Third, make sure your photos are high quality and show the item from different angles and distances (close ups and distance shots). Check the background! Anything junky or messy in the background gives a bad impression. He said plan on taking 50+ photos of each item in the beginning in order to get 5 that are worth putting in your ad. As your photography skills improve, you will be able to take fewer shots but you will always need to take more shots than you actually show.

Fourth, make sure that your description tells the seller why the item is worth more than the minimum bid. He sells a lot of vintage postcards from the 1920s through the 1960s. He always includes a little history relevant to the time or place of the postcard so that potential bidders can place that vintage item in context (and we both felt old when he mentioned that for a lot of bidders, 1960 and 1970 and even 1980 are before they were born! LOL).

He said it is important to show potential bidders how your item is different from something they could buy at Wal-Mart. If you try to attract Wal-Mart customers, then you won't make a profit unless you operate at high volume with low to mediocre quality and low prices (which is not exactly feasible characteristics of a home based business!). You need to have a boutique mentality rather than a big-box store mentality.

I think for a quilt, a good description would include an estimate of the number of hours that went into cutting, piecing and quilting it. Along with the quality of the fabrics and how some of the design decisions were made (closely quilted for extra strength, cotton batting so that it can be machine washed, etc).

Hope this helps!

#1piecemaker

I've sold some of mine at a quilt show before. That might be an option.

PamB8s

I have a huge family and all of my quilts are sold to them for them to give as gifts to others. especially baby quilts, i always have some extra on hand for that last minute baby shower.