pen and other kits

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Hoping some of you experts that sell these kits can give me some pointers, started making a few pens, perfume atomisers etc etc which I am going to put in an etsy shop & hopefully sell a few. Just wondering if those that do this stick to certain items that they know sell well, there are a lot of different pen kits available & I am guessing that some will be more popular than others. Other thing was to ask if you found that any particular shape sold better, if I am being honest I am not a big fan of bulbous pens but if that is what people want then I am happy to make them lol, have any of you done any market research to find out what sort of thing people want or is it simply a case of looking around at what others are selling & make the same thing?
Pricing is a huge issue but I won't ask about that here, I know prices vary enormously & I am not looking to give stuff away so will price at a level I am happy with & if I don't sell anything then so be it :)

I've done the sell cheaper than everyone else thing in the past & it just made me unhappy & feel worthless, that was working as a signmaker working with vinyl which I still do but I won't compete with others on price anymore, found out the hard way that it was never a like for like price in the first place anyway :type:
 
Hi Martin, I enjoy making pens myself. There are some VERY good pen turners here on this site and I'm sure will also chime in. First...the style of the pen really depends on who your target audience is. For instance....if you make pens to sell at a local flea market then I would suggest staying with the simple inexpensive kits. However if you plan to sell in a artist boutique then you can sell some higher end styles. If your buyers are outdoor enthusiasts then the bolt action type kits with deer antler bodies do well. Executive type pens I think look best in a rich burl type wood body. "Fun" style kits look great with the many different types and colors of acrylic blanks. I prefer "normal" shapes. I don't care for the "curvy" shapes as much.
As far as price....I've been told that 3 times your cost is just about right. These people that claim to sell pens for $500 or more are....well...I don't believe it.
I have made slimlines that sell for $10-$15. I've made nicer pens that have sold for $50-$75. I've "seen" very nice pens that should and do sell for much more.
My suggestion is to find a few styles that you enjoy making even if those three are at three different price points. A lower end, mid priced and a higher end kit. Have fun in the process or else it's just work......and where is the fun in that!

Oh and be sure to check out the IAP website....awesome pen turners on there.
 
I make and sell pens. Personally, I dislike using the cheaper kits. 24K plating wears off almost instantly, I hate selling those. My prices are mid to higher range but, admittedly I do not sell near as many as the guys who sell $10-$15 slimlines. My Euros with Ti plating are $35.00-$55.00 depending on the blank used. Highest price I have ever gotten was $300.00 for a fancy Gentleman made from faux ivory (and not the faux ivory the pen kits sellers have). It was sold from an art gallery and I only made and offered it to add some class to my display. OTOH, I do not care to pay high dollar for some of the kits on the market. e.g. bolt action
 
Martin,
I make a lot of pens and sell a few. I give away a lot or occasionally sell them at the "friends and family" price in small quantities. I did an inventory of my pen kits a few months ago and found out I had a bunch more kits in a bunch more styles than I wanted to make so I reduced my inventory. If you're just getting started, I recommend you pick 3-4 styles you can sell at different price points and focus on them. I wouldn't do any slim lines. but that's just me. I would pick one or two vendors and stick with them. My personal favorites are Beartooth Woods and Exotic Blanks. Send me a private message and I'll give you their web addresses. If I was just starting out and wanted 3 styles, I'd go with Sierra (or one of the other kits built on/from the Sierra style), Bolt Action (these sell well), and a rollerball pen like a Vertex or Vertex Supreme. I love to make and use fountain pens, but they are a niche market and don't well well. I sell 3 wood pens for every acrylic pen I sell. I prefer a friction polish to a CA glue polish and in my market the softer finish of friction polish sells better. I tend to price mine at 2x the cost of materials because my market wont buy at higher prices.

If you want more info, check out International Association of Penturners (IAP) like Tom recommended. Beware, though, if you ask 10 pen turners a question, you'll get 13 expert answers.

Steve
 
Sorry about the late reply, thanks for taking the time to reply all good info which helps.
I don't plan to make a lot of pens, I am limited time wise with my illness & have far to many other things to do but thought that having a few different types in an online shop might help sell other items that I can make.
I had already figured out that making slimline pens wasn't really a good option, at the price some people seem to be selling them for I simply couldn't make enough of them to make any sort of living lol. I'm not looking to get rich, gave up on that idea a long time ago but I do have to be able to make a living from what I am doing.
It may be that these kits are not the way to go but at the moment I am looking at lots of different options. Being quite new to woodworking my skills are still limited which is obviously going to restrict the sort of thing I can do.
 
Unfortunately, wood turning is a lot like farming. Know how to make a small fortune doing it? ..... Start with a large fortune.

Must have missed this earlier, think that is true of a lot of things Steve lol if get rich quick schemes do exist I have certainly never found one :)
I rent a small industrial unit so I need to be able to make enough to cover the cost of that if nothing else, actually looked at other options fairly recently & even if I could afford it my garden is simply not big enough for a shed/workshop big enough for the tools/equipment yhat I have at the moment & there are still a couple of things that I could really do with. So the workshop in the garden option would mean having to give up some of what I do & get rid of the equipment, problem is that I don't want to give any of it up even if it doesn't make me much if any money :)
I am in the UK Steve so your suppliers wouldn't work out for me, cost of shipping for one thing would be high. I bought a few roller ball kits recently with the view of adding something with a higher selling value, one of those was a vertex which I quite liked. I haven't actually made any acrylic pens & wasn't really planning to if possible, like to stick with just wood if possible.
The other thing I am not sure about just yet is what wood types to use. I would really like to stick to the same types of wood that I use for other things that I do which are all sourced locally. That rules out exotic woods which I know are popular, that may restrict what I am able to sell a bit to much. Guess the only way to know for sure is to try it & see how things go lol
 
I am in the UK Steve so your suppliers wouldn't work out for me, cost of shipping for one thing would be high.

Martin, that might not be as big a hinderance as you would think. I have bought and sold to/from UK in the past with no pain. Australia and Canada are the most difficult countries I have found to mail to and from.
Even though I prefer wood for most things, there are some synthetics that make unique pens. I bought some sticks from a fellow in UK at one time that were beautiful and reasonably priced and shippable. If I can find his name I'll pass on to you. What are the restrictions, if any, for importing exotic woods into UK?
 
Frank to be honest I don't know anything about import restrictions, will have to have a look. I do know that you can't get Rifle pen clips lol, guy I know from the Vectric forum sent me some as the supplier didn't do international shipping, got a forum message from him a couple of days ago to say they had been returned to him with a big stamp on the parcel saying DENIED.

Thanks Steve, have completed a registration application for IAP so just waiting for it to be accepted, I take it you use a different user name on there as your name wasn't accepted as someone who had recommended the forum to me.
 
Frank to be honest I don't know anything about import restrictions, will have to have a look. I do know that you can't get Rifle pen clips lol, guy I know from the Vectric forum sent me some as the supplier didn't do international shipping, got a forum message from him a couple of days ago to say they had been returned to him with a big stamp on the parcel saying DENIED.

Thanks Steve, have completed a registration application for IAP so just waiting for it to be accepted, I take it you use a different user name on there as your name wasn't accepted as someone who had recommended the forum to me.

I use Rifleman1776 as my handle at IAP. Interesting forum but has strange thinking moderators. Contrary opinions not welcome.
As for the woods, each country has it's own standards. I once did a fairly large trade with a fellow in Australia. I was delighted with what he sent me. But, I believe, he never go my shipment. :( He later told me one pen blank still had some bark on it and that is a big NO-NO for importing wood there. I think the authorities open every package mailed into the country for inspection.
 
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