First of all I'd like to thank everyone again for their kind comments on my last post about the ribbon chokers I've been making (the post is here).
I am going to try making some more and set up an Etsy shop to sell them. Fortunately I applied for a credit card a few months ago so that I could do that (originally I was thinking of selling my sock animal creations; I'll probably still sell a few of those too).
I need 2 things from you my dear readers:
1. Would you pay £4 (plus p+p) for a ribbon choker, possibly up to £5-6 for some of the more complicated designs I'm picturing, like the cut-throat design in my post (more expensive materials and time to make)?
In USD that's roughly $6.50 or $8-9.50 for the more detailed ones.
Postage costs are likely to be low because they are so light (60p within the UK, £1.66 within europe, £2.38 anywhere else in the world) (plus about 15p for the padded envelop)
Unless people want their items tracked/insured? Opinions about this would be appreciated. It seems silly to make postage more than the cost of the item, but I do understand that it's horrible when things get lost in the post (although it rarely happens).
And here's the really important part:
2. Could you measure your necks for me?
I need to know what sort of size range would be good to make for chokers; they seem to vary anywhere from 12" to 17" on Etsy depending on the seller and that seems a tad impractical. I will of course put extention chains on my chokers (and offer custom sizing by request) but if I have an average neck measurement to work from that would really help me (I have a feeling my own neck is not a good average =P).
Please measure the base of your neck, where you'd want the choker to sit, either with a tape measure or a piece of string (then measure the length of the string with a ruler).
You'll be helping me out enormously and have my eternal gratitude (also I will put up a special discount code for my readers when the Etsy shop opens)! I will also make a custom size choker for anyone who provides a neck measurement and would like a choker (you choose the design of course).
I'm very excited about this! Tomorrow I'm going to go shopping for more ribbon and charms (although I also have some vintage/thrifted/rescued things set aside for one-off designs) =]
*UPDATE: Oh shit I just accidently brought 500 tiny padded envelopes instead of 50 and had to pay for them... I'm so dumb... I hope I sell a lot of chokers... Either that or I'll have to sell the extra envelopes off on ebay myself*
I like the idea of a discount code! As long as shipping is cheap, I like the idea, although I will have to see if I have funds. But I loved that blood drop one! I was also thinking I just needed a small choker that opened at the front so I could switch pendants, as I have a couple of pendants I want to use.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, padded envelopes will always be used eventually! How much were they?
I can't find my tape measure anywhere so I will have to get back to you on that. I know I find it most comfortable for it to sit at the base of my neck, although I quite like the look of the one in the middle of the neck.
If I start making them and you don't have funds at the time, let me know and I'll hold one for you at the discounted price =].
DeleteI hadn't considered that some people might want to wear the chokers higher (I like the look too, but I find it horribly uncomfortable myself). I guess that a slightly smaller size with a longer extension chain would give more versatility. I'll look into that so thank you.
My neck is between 12 and 13 inches.
ReplyDeleteI routinely pay that much and more for chokers from Canada, so I can totally see me buying one from you. ;)
Thank you for your neck measurement; maybe my neck is a better average than I thought =P.
DeleteYay! It's reassuring to know my price idea isn't too high. I look forward to making you a choker =]
My neck is a similar size, but I've been told it is pretty slim-looking. Perhaps it just appears that way because it is longer than average?
DeleteThat price doesn't seem at all unreasonable, and neither does the shipping (I'm in the US). I would opt against the insurance for these, since they aren't too expensive to begin with.
I'm looking forward to wearing one of the slit-throat chokers! Once you get started on Etsy, you may want to consider joining the Etsy Dark team - if you don't know about them already, they promote (surprisingly) darker, more off-beat items. It might help boost your sales. I will certainly promote your Etsy shop on my blog, but I don't get all much traffic, and I imagine there is a large overlap between your readers and mine.
I guess it is still fairly slim because no-one would be making chokers up to 17 inches if there was no demand for it I guess. I think I'll make mine so the standard size is 12 inches with a 3 inch extension chain.
DeleteThank you for telling me about Etsy Dark team, that definitely sounds like something to join =] Also thank you for offering to promote me on your blog; we probably do have a lot of overlap (which makes our followers doubly awesome =]) but if it helps me reach a few more people that would be wonderful.