Greeting card maker in need of help!

[Handmadebylorraine]

Hi!! I’m looking for some help. A little background in myself first. I was diagnosed with mild to sever depression and anxiety during the middle of last year and found a way to help me on my bad days was to make greeting cards. After spending a lot of time and even more money (mainly in hobbycraft!) a friend suggested I start selling them.

Are there any other greeting card makers on here who could offer some advise on where they get there card and other supplies from and how they work out their costing and how much to sell them for. Hobbycraft is becoming very expensive to use for card and other supplies!

I am also looking at buying a printer so I can print directly onto card and was wondering if anyone can recommend the best printer to use. Obviously at the moment I don’t want to spend too much.

Thank your you in advance for your help and I hope to here back from you

Lorraine

 

[Mr D]

Not into making cards at all. However worth looking at this trade show.
Buying in bulk tends to be lower price per item. And its in a couple of weeks.


https://www.chsi.co.uk/

My wife suggested a company she used to use for card making.


https://www.cc-craft.co.uk

 

[alan1302]

Are you selling to cover your costs or to make a profit? Cards won't generally sell for more than £3-£4 so with all the material costs and your own time you would need to sell quite a few to make a profit on it.

 

[Mr D]

Are you selling to cover your costs or to make a profit? Cards won't generally sell for more than £3-£4 so with all the material costs and your own time you would need to sell quite a few to make a profit on it.

Depends on quality and whats involved.
Cheap ones can be under £2, great ones can be £6 with suitable enhancements such as a presentation box. The better ones do tend to take more time and effort though so not always cost effective in time.
A card maker doing handmade cards can earn in excess of £10 an hour for labour but does take some time and effort.

 

[alan1302]

Looking at the sales on Etsy for even the larger hand made card sellers then they are not selling enough to turn much of a profit. And from experience I know it is a crowded market and you really need to be selling bespoke made high end cards to make a profit. On the other hand if you can get a few sales in then it can pay for stock and help you enjoy your hobby. Depends what the op wants out of it.

eBay/Amazon are good places for stock as we as websites like EveryCraftsAPound where you can get a lot of decent quality materials.

 

[Mr D]

Looking at the sales on Etsy for even the larger hand made card sellers then they are not selling enough to turn much of a profit. And from experience I know it is a crowded market and you really need to be selling bespoke made high end cards to make a profit. On the other hand if you can get a few sales in then it can pay for stock and help you enjoy your hobby. Depends what the op wants out of it.

eBay/Amazon are good places for stock as we as websites like EveryCraftsAPound where you can get a lot of decent quality materials.

My wife had a business making and selling cards. Plenty of times I heard her moaning about the 'hobby sellers' who aren't even covering costs of materials and postage.

 

[alan1302]

My wife had a business making and selling cards. Plenty of times I heard her moaning about the 'hobby sellers' who aren't even covering costs of materials and postage.

Certainly does make it difficult to compete .

 

[Nochexman]

Hi!! I’m looking for some help. A little background in myself first. I was diagnosed with mild to sever depression and anxiety during the middle of last year and found a way to help me on my bad days was to make greeting cards. After spending a lot of time and even more money (mainly in hobbycraft!) a friend suggested I start selling them.

Lorraine

Hello Lorraine, and welcome to the forum.

I hope you won't mind me saying this but while making greeting cards might help with your condition, might trying to sell them also have an adverse effect on your state of mind?

I'm not trying to put you off - entirely - selling and trying to recover your outlay can be a tough game, and I just want to check that you have thought through what you are trying to achieve.

Whatever, best wishes to you!

 

[makeyourbusinessbetter]

Hi Lorraine,

hope you are now feeling much better.

You could offer two ranges;

1. Handmade by Lorraine - normal handmade cards
2. Personalised and handmade by Lorraine - tailored with the name of the person and perhaps a theme, colour, design of the customers choice

Prices - research the prices of handmade cards, see what other people are charging, both online and in shops locally. You can charge a pound or two extra for the personalised cards.

Supplies - shop around and you will definitely find less expensive places to buy your supplies, like the ones already mentioned above in previous replies. Also try local business stationers, we have one near us that has a good range of card and it is not as expensive as the likes of the high street shops. You can likely buy materials cheaper online at the likes of Ebay but then you don't have the advantage of seeing the quality up close before you buy.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Gordon

 

[Mr D]

Hi Lorraine,

hope you are now feeling much better.

You could offer two ranges;

1. Handmade by Lorraine - normal handmade cards
2. Personalised and handmade by Lorraine - tailored with the name of the person and perhaps a theme, colour, design of the customers choice

Prices - research the prices of handmade cards, see what other people are charging, both online and in shops locally. You can charge a pound or two extra for the personalised cards.

Supplies - shop around and you will definitely find less expensive places to buy your supplies, like the ones already mentioned above in previous replies. Also try local business stationers, we have one near us that has a good range of card and it is not as expensive as the likes of the high street shops. You can likely buy materials cheaper online at the likes of Ebay but then you don't have the advantage of seeing the quality up close before you buy.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Gordon

Was looking at some handmade stuff the other day on ebay.
£2.40 for a card. So if can make for say 50p per card or less including time then could compete.

 

[alan1302]

Was looking at some handmade stuff the other day on ebay.
£2.40 for a card. So if can make for say 50p per card or less including time then could compete.

Or don't compete on price