Thought I’d post on here since these little gems are all about attention to detail. Something I’ve been making for a bit of fun and perfect for when you just can’t think about anything for a present… The base models are £75 plus postage which consist of inside fire brick, steel door handle and tee light in any single colour. The others are more of an individual build and as time goes on I’ll get fire grates, hoods and other bits laser cut to lower costs as the whole lot are a labour of love.
If I may offer some constructive criticism? Unless you have access to somewhere like Camden market & its plethora of Muppet customers. With more money than sense. I'd say the mini wood burners need to be £30 plus p+p not £75. They are cute & I can appreciate the effort that goes into their construction. But I'm guessing you haven't sold many at £75?
Your right regarding price, it’s a bit like Tailor made suits, they ain’t £30 but in this example suits are ten a penny and millions to choose from. They are slow sellers correct, pics don’t do them justice as a few people can’t get their heads round the size of them. Your right with Camden unfortunately there isn’t one nr me, eBay doesn’t have a category for them either so to stumble on something that’s cute and cheap is fine to take a chance on but the people who have bought them really wanted one for their uniqueness
I'm glad my post was taken in the spirit in which it was intended. I'd suggest craft fairs which must be more local to you than the likes of Camden market. Or try what a friend of mines wife does. She sells her paintings via pubs, farm shops & craft fairs etc. Each venue takes a predetermined commission on each sale but she's still very happy with the end result. And to be honest, I'd still try eBay. You say they don't have a matching category & your right. But when was the last time you used the step by step category search method? Rather than just typing in key words.
The strange thing is with eBay I put a few on and I put one in every different category to the others. Not one category covered what they were and over the period of a few weeks i possibly had 3-5 views. If that was a motorcycle I would have 150-500 views in the first day. I also put them on Facebook and got over 100,000 views and not sold a single one!! Weird how things work!!
Nothing weird about that Tigcraft. 100,000 views & not a single sale can only mean one of two things buddy. Either people think the burners are crap, which I very much doubt. Or you need to drastically reduce the asking price.
These are definitely niche market but I think you've shot yourself in the foot with the listing. The spec of hand made with thick steel and lined with firebrick reads well and suggests they are actually miniature working stoves but the added, "IMPORTANT--- It is not meant to burn coal or wood" devalues them a bit. Having done a lot of metal fabrication/welding in the past I can appreciate the time and effort that goes into these and in that respect I don't think they're overpriced but we're in an age when people want a lot for next to nowt. Good luck with the sales.
It’s a hard one, the price is the price. When you add everything up time wise you aren’t left with virtually no profit even at the sale price. I look at it this way any less and I’ll swap my making time for riding time as that’s just as satisfying and maybe more important