Pen Making & Sales Ideas

[wildbill23c]

Yeah that would suck. Try and get your name out there

Yeah trying to do so. Thinking about making up a few business cards to set out at a few store locations in town. I think that may help a lot to advertise. Plus I think if I can get a few sold locally it would help as well to get the pens circulating in public. I made one that I carry with me, so anytime I have to sign a receipt or something at a store its a hand-made pen that I am signing with.

Any other ideas are greatly appreciated as well. I did speak with a local radio personality yesterday, who put me in touch with a gentleman that owns the local Woodcraft store, will be talking to him this coming Sunday for some business plan guidance as well.

 

[Cummins_Ranger]

I use a web hosting company for my business, they handle the site upkeep and along with the google/bing etc. ads/SEO crap. Not cheap, starts out at about $350/month and tracks all your leads, records messages left by customers, and shows you your ranking on the big search engines by search criteria

 

[wildbill23c]

I use a web hosting company for my business, they handle the site upkeep and along with the google/bing etc. ads/SEO crap. Not cheap, starts out at about $350/month and tracks all your leads, records messages left by customers, and shows you your ranking on the big search engines by search criteria

Yeah that's far from being profitable for me, I only make $700 a month as it is, and sure won't be handing half of it to some web guru. I could build the website myself, but its hosting it that gets expensive.

Right now I'm just going to stick with the Ebay and Craigslist and anyone local that wants to buy one. Websites are great if you are already on your feet and can afford it, otherwise its a huge amount of money that many don't have.

 

[swynx]

Make a deal with Jim to advertise the top of trs?

 

[wildbill23c]

Make a deal with Jim to advertise the top of trs?

Hmm, great idea...maybe someday when I can figure out how to put the TRS logo on a pen....

 

[swynx]

In school we did a Lewis and Clark unit. 4th grade. It was a semester long project. They made us make a binder from a piece of flat wood and leather strips. We had to burn he Idaho state and lewis and Clark into the front. They just had us use tracing paper then burn the lines..

Or...

Get some kind of stamp. Or one of those tattoo type stickers where you use water. Sure you could order an abundance of those for cheap.

 

[Redneckryder]

Ok....so I want a fountain pen. Your price range on them is a fairy large range....

I can do $25....not so much on the $50. What's the difference?

 

[simpler=better]

Looks good! If you're doing it as a hobby, price them however. If you're doing it as a business, if you're making less than a 100% profit (ex: materials+shipping is $20, price is under $40) you need to bump up your prices.

Best marketing advice I've ever heard was "don't sell on price, ever." Know your market. For a fancy product, your clientele will expect to pay X dollars, and if you're selling too far under that they will probably assume your product is junk.

If similar commercial pens go for $50, don't be afraid to charge $75-$100 for your handmade variant. Handmade carries weight-I could see some people showing off their $$$ pen during a meeting. Anyone can have a fine citizen or seiko watch, the latest smartphone, etc. but a handmade piece of work stands out.


As for getting your name out there, word of mouth is probably your best bet.

 

[wildbill23c]

Ok....so I want a fountain pen. Your price range on them is a fairy large range....

I can do $25....not so much on the $50. What's the difference?

The price range depends on the fountain pen kit that is ordered. The one that's in the picture is the $50 variant because a tenon has to be cut on the cap of the pen to hold that decorative ring. The $25 variant you are speaking of is just the standard pen with the decorative ring just being pressed into the end of the pen cap as the other styles of pens are.

I can do the latter for $25 shipped. The higher end $50 pen is $45+$5 shipping. However that kit is for some reason much higher priced due to the extra lathe turning maybe, not really sure how these stores come up with their prices sometimes either LOL. Some fountain pen kits are over $30 and that doesn't include the wood blanks, so you can see how these pens can go up in price. Take a look around the internet at fountain pens sold by brand name companies, some fountain pens are in the $1000+ price range. So I think $25-50 for a hand-made pen is pretty reasonable. However, this is exactly my issue everyone wants stuff for free, they don't understand the behind the scenes expenses, or the time to make these, yes, it can take as little as 15 minutes but you have to cut the wood blanks, glue in the brass tubes, trim the ends of the blanks, etc. To me all I'm trying to do is make the money back I spend on buying the pen kits and the materials for the most part, plus a little bit in profit or its not worth the trouble.

Here's your $25 pen.


Here's your $50 pen.


The price on the $50 pen kit is $32 alone, add in shipping, time, assembly, and lathe work and you got a $50 pen that can actually sell for a lot more than I am asking. However, you can see the troubles, doesn't matter what price you ask someone is always going to ask why xxx cost more than xx, etc.
So if you are interested please send me a PM and I'll send you my paypal info.

 

[wildbill23c]

Looks good! If you're doing it as a hobby, price them however. If you're doing it as a business, if you're making less than a 100% profit (ex: materials+shipping is $20, price is under $40) you need to bump up your prices.

Best marketing advice I've ever heard was "don't sell on price, ever." Know your market. For a fancy product, your clientele will expect to pay X dollars, and if you're selling too far under that they will probably assume your product is junk.

If similar commercial pens go for $50, don't be afraid to charge $75-$100 for your handmade variant. Handmade carries weight-I could see some people showing off their $$$ pen during a meeting. Anyone can have a fine citizen or seiko watch, the latest smartphone, etc. but a handmade piece of work stands out.


As for getting your name out there, word of mouth is probably your best bet.

That's the problem, if I price them where I feel they will sell even then someone is going to complain that the price is too high. Makes me think they live in the same town I do where people want everything for free. This is why I had to venture to the internet for sales, I'm not making much of a profit out of a pen sale, since the pens I have right now aren't even selling at $18, if I go much lower I'm going to be losing money. Ugg.

 

[simpler=better]

The price range depends on the fountain pen kit that is ordered. The one that's in the picture is the $50 variant because a tenon has to be cut on the cap of the pen to hold that decorative ring. The $25 variant you are speaking of is just the standard pen with the decorative ring just being pressed into the end of the pen cap as the other styles of pens are.

I can do the latter for $25 shipped. The higher end $50 pen is $45+$5 shipping. However that kit is for some reason much higher priced due to the extra lathe turning maybe, not really sure how these stores come up with their prices sometimes either LOL. Some fountain pen kits are over $30 and that doesn't include the wood blanks, so you can see how these pens can go up in price. Take a look around the internet at fountain pens sold by brand name companies, some fountain pens are in the $1000+ price range. So I think $25-50 for a hand-made pen is pretty reasonable. However, this is exactly my issue everyone wants stuff for free, they don't understand the behind the scenes expenses, or the time to make these, yes, it can take as little as 15 minutes but you have to cut the wood blanks, glue in the brass tubes, trim the ends of the blanks, etc. To me all I'm trying to do is make the money back I spend on buying the pen kits and the materials for the most part, plus a little bit in profit or its not worth the trouble.

Here's your $25 pen.


Here's your $50 pen.


The price on the $50 pen kit is $32 alone, add in shipping, time, assembly, and lathe work and you got a $50 pen that can actually sell for a lot more than I am asking. However, you can see the troubles, doesn't matter what price you ask someone is always going to ask why xxx cost more than xx, etc.
So if you are interested please send me a PM and I'll send you my paypal info.

I would at least double the prices you have listed here, assuming your product comes out like the ones pictures. A lawyer who charges $250/hr, or a real estate agent pulling 2% on 200k homes, or a salesman getting a similar commission won't balk at $50/$100 for one of those.

 

[wildbill23c]

I would at least double the prices you have listed here, assuming your product comes out like the ones pictures. A lawyer who charges $250/hr, or a real estate agent pulling 2% on 200k homes, or a salesman getting a similar commission won't balk at $50/$100 for one of those.

Those are stock photos from the pen supplier, however my pens turn out pretty much the same, with the exception of different colors due to different spieces of wood.

If I raise my prices how does that help when I can't sell them as it is? I don't see raising the price is going to get anyone to buy them is the problem I face.

Right now the first pen in the picture is the cheaper one. By the time I figure out the cost of materials, shipping, and $5 for turning and assembling the pen that leaves me with $1.05 in my pocket.

The bottom pen as priced right now leaves me $0.21 in my pocket at the end of the day. Certainly not in it to get rich at that rate.

I just don't understand why people always say raise your prices, but yet there aren't any sells taking place, and no business coming in on the current prices.

Ugg, someone with some better business knowledge please shed light on this for me, as I am lost.

I have the pen that's on the top right now, and I can say that $25 is its maximum due to the materials used, its a lot more plastic. The pen on the bottom is all metal components, so I can see the higher price on it. While the top pen kit costs about $11-12 that's a lot of plastic to ask too much money for. The bottom pen I feel as though $50 is its limit, its not the greatest, well none of these are, but I seem them listed all over the place for $75-100+. Course I am the one making the pens from start to finish so I know what really is going into them, and I can say its not that much. Most of the work involved is in the turning of the wood blanks, and pressing the parts together once you have the blanks completed.

Like I said I'm giving myself about $5 for my time, maybe that's too much, but it sure increases the pen prices that I have. If I remove paying myself, that lowers the cost to $20/45. For the fountain pens, and to about $14 for the slim-line pens.

 

[Cummins_Ranger]

Take a trip to your local Dr, Lawyers, higher end businesses in your area with samples. (call in advance to set up a meeting). Doubt you'll find a high end client on ebay or CL.

 

[wildbill23c]

Take a trip to your local Dr, Lawyers, higher end businesses in your area with samples. (call in advance to set up a meeting). Doubt you'll find a high end client on ebay or CL.

Doubt I'll find any buyers locally either, this state of Idaho I swear people want everything for nothing, its like a hand out state it seems like, that's why I chose an online sales method.

However, the online sales isn't working very fast either, course its just past the holidays when everyone is broke from Christmas. I don't expect much in the way of results for a month or maybe more.

I'll try and ask around town though, trying to think of ideas on making a display box right now so I can have them setting in a display rather than packing them around in a sandwich bag, that don't look very professional LOL. Come by my $50 pen, out of a sandwich bag...hmm yep not a good sales tactic .

 

[simpler=better]

If you're going to drop any reasonable amount of money on something of quality, then you expect to pay for it. If someone tries to sell you a "fresh rebuilt" motor for $200 you're going to gloss over it. If you see the same listing for $1200 then it sounds legitimate. It isn't always about the lowest price, and if people are gawking and walking away then it's the wrong market.

In school I knew a kid who would turn brass cigarette holders and sew leather wraps for them. Just like in the old B&W movies. He spent MAYBE $10 per holder, and would sell them back home in NY over summer break for around $100 each. You've got to identify your market and sell to it. Cummins_Ranger is spot on, none of us are going to buy one but there are people who would totally take them for $100.