Craft Business Ideas - Profits & Potential
Craft Businesses seldom make money!! Harsh, but true. When you have lots of people doing crafts they love, there tends to be to much product for the market. It's great to do work you love, but you need to have a firm grip on some business realities too.
Ebay is a really cutthroat marketplace. I would only plan to sell enough there to keep your products in front of the Ebay audience and not worry about making a profit from what you sell there. Your profit will come from adding buyers to your email list so you can sell to them again directly. I had a friend who was making some money selling her handmade cards in local shops but was never able to sell anything on Ebay.
Profit Potential of your craft. Search Ebay's completed sales for items like those you are considering. Check what percentage sell and if there is any way you can make yours better, cheaper, etc. Ask yourself if you can see a niche where there is some margin for profit.
One way to keep your costs down is to make crafts where the bulk of the materials are free. For example, in some parts of the country hickory sticks are free for the cutting. We have actually purchased pine needes from Florida because we have none that long in New Mexico. I saw a guy make a lovely $20 ballpoint pen from cedar (Juniper) scrap that is used for kindling here. In other words, if you can take something that is free and common for you as the material basis for your craft products you are way ahead of someone who has to buy their materials.
Business and taxes. If you always do things you have a profit motive you are allowed to deduct legitimate business costs from your income. Obviously, the IRS is very aware of people trying to deduct hobby expenses and have published rules and guidelines you must observe. However, they are not unreasonable. The best way is to actually make some profit. Then the deductions are very helpful. Following is a link to some Amazon books on the subject, followed by some Ebay links to related auctions.
I will be writing more about Craft Business ideas as I have time. In the meantime, I have programmed this page to show current auctions for craft ideas on Ebay below. If you click on one of those links you will go directly to that auction on Ebay. In reality, ideas are cheap, it's profitable implimentation that is hard.