Yesterday's market day

Chuck Ellis

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6,997
Location
Tellico Plains, Tennessee
Had another go at my Farmer's market... had a pretty good day, didn't set the world on fire, but may have got it to smoldering a bit... I use the ETSY card ready because it interacts with my ETSY store and removes items as I sell....I was having a little trouble with it in the beginning, until I turned off the wi-fi and started using the data format on the phone... think the local wi-fi I normally connect to was overloaded on it's bandwith..

These are a few of the things that sold...
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Hey Chuck sounds like a pretty good day!

That second bowl is walnut? It has some pretty spiffy grain texture in it.

I have several pieces that has that grain pattern... as I remember this is wood I got from a lady up in North Knoxville area... it grew next to her neighbor's horse lot.... some pieces I turn, I can smell the horses in the wood... evidently the tree picked up some of the nutrients from the horse apples dropped in the lot.
 
There just ain't nothing like selling several pieces to make your heart soar with the eagles, is there? Looks like a nice day you had there. Good going!!! :thumb:

It was a fun day, not all that many sales, but they were all good sales... two of the people stopped in after closing time and were shopping while I was trying to pack up... our market ends at 2 pm and the organizers want everyone out and gone by 3 pm so they can open the street again... I'm usually ready by about 3:10... yesterday it was almost 3:30 before I got everything packed and loaded because of the extra sales.... oh well!
 
Congrats on the successful day. I've heard comments from other turners that Etsy was not all that good for them. Like most things, I imagine what you get out of it has a lot to do with what you put into it. Would you say it is worthwhile for you? Any comments, and don't give away any tricks you don't want to, would be of interest.
 
Congrats on the successful day. I've heard comments from other turners that Etsy was not all that good for them. Like most things, I imagine what you get out of it has a lot to do with what you put into it. Would you say it is worthwhile for you? Any comments, and don't give away any tricks you don't want to, would be of interest.

Hi Ken,
I suspect I don't do anything special with my ETSY store... I get one or two sales a month, then may not get any for a couple of months... I'm sure there are other things I could be doing to maybe ramp up sales a little.... the sales above are at a local Farmer's Market in downtown Knoxville that I do most Saturdays. It's fun to get out and meet people and sell a piece or two now and then... since I'm retired and this is just for something to do, I would say it's worth it... I do well enough to be able to buy what supplies I need without using household monies and make a little extra on the side to contribute to household.
 
Nice, good to hear things are selling. :thumb:

So do you do some cross promotion of listing your etsy page on the price tags and some business cards? Maybe get some sales from previous customers online or ones that aren't ready to commit? Another note, a friend that does jewelry on etsy had a boost in sales when she started showing earrings and such on an ear as folks could get a better idea of the scale. I suspect the same may hold true with some items you sale as far as seeing them in a setting or use, where in a photo box only they may not trigger what one may want the item for or how they may fit in with what they have.
 
Darren,
I haven't done any cross promotion, I pretty much list my items on ETSY at the same price that I sell in person... I do show my listings a free shipping, so I actually do better in person as I don't have the shipping costs I have with ETSY sales... but I've also figured the shipping into my prices.

I haven't really thought about the setting/perspective thing with the pictures and that is a good idea to think about... .
A quick look at my pictures show that a 6" bowl looks pretty much like a 12" ... thanks for the suggestion
 
For what it's worth. I have a few artist friends (painters) who always open there website with a painting in a nice setting over a fireplace or something that looks like it's in a home (or office if appropriate), before going on to the image on white background. They all seem to think it's important to show it in a setting people can relate to. I never thought about it for woodturning but it makes some sense.
 
For what it's worth. I have a few artist friends (painters) who always open there website with a painting in a nice setting over a fireplace or something that looks like it's in a home (or office if appropriate), before going on to the image on white background. They all seem to think it's important to show it in a setting people can relate to. I never thought about it for woodturning but it makes some sense.

Great idea... but now i'm going to have to re-photograph some pieces.... my step-son, the truck driver, is coming in this weekend and he a near professional quality photographer... maybe I can con//ask him to shoot a few pictures for me. I am at best a lousy photographer.
 
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Yesterday was another market day... it was hot - about 95 degrees by 2 pm. The crowd was down, not as many people and mostly just lookers.
I had one sale all day and had to discount it a little because the guy was really interested, but was talking himself out of making the purchase. Fortunately, these were a pair of crank style peppermills that I had done a glue up on for the blank, so had jacked the price up just a bit... just dropped back down to my regular price and he was happy -- and I was happy.
The mills were made up of a couple of ash boards on the outside with strips of purple heart, bubinga and maple on the inside.

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I have several pieces that has that grain pattern... as I remember this is wood I got from a lady up in North Knoxville area... it grew next to her neighbor's horse lot.... some pieces I turn, I can smell the horses in the wood... evidently the tree picked up some of the nutrients from the horse apples dropped in the lot.

So Chuck, are you saying that it's apple wood? :D

Congrats on the good day.
 
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