 Jamie Lee Costello |
Selling Photos in a Gift Shop I would like to place my photos on different gift items like pillows, cards, calendars, etc., and have them in gift shops around town. How would I go about doing that??
|
|
|
|
||
|
BetterPhoto Member |
First, you'll need the programs and a printer that prints on fabric. Second comes the demographics. You need to know your area and the common pricing for this type of product. The demographics are very important. If you overprice your product, you will not sell. If you underprice, you can slit your own throat financially. The programs for cards and calendars are easy to find. Fabric, not so much. Have fun and keep shooting, Mark H.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Jean B. Hall |
Stores like the national chain Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts carry fabric sheets that can be run through an ink jet printer. I believe they now also have sheets for laser printers. There are two types -- ones that can be washed without losing the image and ones that cannot. Unfortunately the sheets are only 8-1/2" X 11 -- which would make a very small pillow. You can cut out images and attach them to other fabric or things like mouse pads with fusible web. Remember when pricing that shops generally take a 100% mark-up, sometimes more. They have to do this to cover the cost of rent, employees, utilities, etc. and still stay in busienss.
|
|
|
|
||
- Jill Odice Contact Jill Odice Jill Odice's Gallery |
It's important to really think about what kind of area you are in. When I lived on Cape Cod which is a big tourist destination, I sold enough photo cards and posters of my images to make a living at it. I then moved to a small town in the Mojave desert and am lucky if I sell a Dz cards a month! On Cape Cod, folks wanted pictures of where they had visited and would buy a dozen cards at a time at $3.50 each and then frame them. I made up business cards, order forms, and brochures with all the ordering info, website address, etc.on it to leave. I also made appointments with the buyers at every gallery, gift shop, book store, and card shop around. I would stop by at least once a month to see what they needed or what was not selling and most places let me make my own orders to fill in what was sold or to add new images. Ck around and see what other folks are getting for their products and remember to get a tax resale number if they have them in your state. If you have one you will not have to pay tax on your supplies for anything you make to sell. You will also be eligible to buy your supplies wholesale.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Jessica A. Eik |
Quilters and other fabric artists have been printing on fabric for years with just about any inkjet printer. In fact, taking family photographs, scanning them, printing onto 100% cotton fabric sheets, & then sewing them into a quilt is very popular & not hard at all. Just google " quilting printing on fabric" or use this link for HP's advice on how to do this. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/acHowto?lc=en&cc=us&extcat=quilting&projid=c00696946&dlc=
|
|
|
|
||
|
Carla Freitas |
Something else you might concider is cafepress. (Google it for the URL) You don't have to print anything ahead of time and hope it sells, they print it WHEN it sells. Then you may make up business cards (or some other form of advertising) to promote your store on the site.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Carla Freitas |
Oops, submitted before I finished the thought, you may also ORDER your own things to supply local shops. They are professionally printed so you can get the quality you want as well
|
|
|
|
||
|
Jamie Lee Costello |
Thank you all so much for your responses!
|
|
|
|
||
|
Luca Diana |
Try Cafepress.com, I print all sort of stuff through them and resell it locally. They give you a bulk price if your order 15 or more of the same item.
|
|
|
|
||
|
This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here
Report this Thread |
||