Description of graphical content is included between Description Start and Description End. Transcript Start Fade up from black. Holly Cooper: Good Morning. I'm Holly Cooper and I'm here to talk to you a little bit about customized employment and individuals with disabilities making items to sell. And there's two good ways to sell, and that is selling online through a craft website, like Etsy, or selling in person at a farmer's market or craft fair. Some of the things that you need to know about, before you start selling, and when you're starting to think about it, and getting ready to do it, is to get al tax ID number. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: The Business Side of Making Content: Quick Check List • Get a Tax I.D. number, pay sales tax quarterly • Report earnings on income taxes • Equipment and supplies are exempt from sales tax • Keep good records so you know what you’ve spent, what you’ve earned • Don’t do it if you don’t enjoy it, it’s a lot of work! Description End: It's one thing, if you are just doing a one-time sale at a church bazaar or something like that. That might be something you can skip, but if you are really going to think about this as a customized employment opportunity for the individual with disabilities that you're supporting, you really need to get a tax ID number, and it's very easy to do that. [ Slide end: ] In Texas you go to the tax assessor collector's website and fill out an online form with your name and address. And then, you need to keep good records of what you sell, and they will either send you a form, on paper, that you fill out and mail in; and you do this quarterly. Or if you do it online, you can fill it out online, and that is also quarterly. [ Slide start: ] Repeat previous slide You need to report your earnings on income tax, and that is something that having the quarterly tax payment, keeping a copy of that for your records, that will give you a total at the end of the year of how much your expenses were, and how much your sales were, as well. You can write off sales tax on your income tax. And if there's any equipment and supplies that you buy, you can write that off on your income tax. [ Slide end: ] If you're buying supplies to make things with, such as clay, or paint, or candle wax, or beads, you don't have to pay sales tax on that, because you, the seller, will collect sales tax from the buyer. So when you're buying online, if you're buying supplies online, you can indicate that you're a maker, and that you don't have to pay sales tax. But you do need to keep good records, so that you know what your profits are, and know what your expenses are, and make sure that you are earning more than you spend. But I would say, also, that for the individual with disabilities who's making items, as well, as you, the people supporting them, if you don't enjoy it, it's probably not worth doing it. So, be sure that you're picking something to do that you enjoy, and that the individual with disabilities enjoys making, and using, and showing to people, and talking about. Because it's a lot of work to do, it can be a lot of work, but it can be very rewarding, if it's something that you enjoy. I'll show you a couple of things that I bought at various fairs. One of them is this little key ring that's made to look like a softball player and it's made out of beads. And I bought this at the Texas Chargers conference. Little conferences are a good place to display wares. Here at the school for the blind we have some art classes, and once a year, and sometimes more often, they'll do a sale of wares at the-- in the art building. And so they'll sell items that the students have made, and then the students get to keep the money that is earned from that. So here is an item that I purchased that was made. And it's a wall plaque and it's wooden with a ceramic- with ceramic embellishments and decorations and tiles all over it. And it's something that we see a lot of around here, because it's very textural. They do a lot of these kinds of things for art projects in our art class. And they're- they're pretty sellable. One of the easy ways of selling your items is to list them online, and there's a couple of different online websites that you can use. And probably the best known one is Etsy. [Screen start:] Esty website To go to Etsy, it's just e-t-s-y dot com, and this is your home page. And you can look at all kinds of items on Etsy, without having to have a username and sign in. It's not like Facebook where you really can't see anything until you create an account. You can look at all the items on Etsy, but to purchase something you need to create a username and a password, and then you need to link it to a bank account or a PayPal, a debit card, or something like that to purchase. And so that's the way you get started. And then to sell, you create something called a shop-- an Etsy shop. But for now let me just show you some examples, and this is one of my favorites. If you search in the website for, in the search window, you can ask it, you can put the word disabilities in, and it will show you some of the websites that have items that are made by people with disabilities, but you won't necessarily find all of them. But I think this is a really good example, and it's a shop that's set up really nicely. And this is UCPRI, which is United Cerebral Palsy of Rhode Island. And this is their Etsy shop, and so, it's a group of lots of different kinds of people with different things. You can see much of it is paintings, and some of it is wall hangings and other items. Let me click on this one. It looks like a necklace. So I'm going to scroll down, so you can, oops, see the picture. And here's a handmade Lucite bead necklace. A 100% of the profits go directly to artists with disabilities. And then it has an item number, and it says it's made by Julia S., and it's $20. So, just like if you were buying anything online, you would click 'Buy It Now,' and you would proceed to checkout, and put your credit card information in. There's a good description. There's a photograph with a description of what the item is. And sometimes they'll be more than one photograph. So, here is this necklace on a display model. And here's a close up of what each of the beads look like. Even more close up and even more close up. There you can see the tag with the person's signature who made it. And the first photograph is kind of a nice display of it hanging on a wall, and it's a little bit more like what it would look like in a store or craft show. So... photographs are important and having a good description is an important part of what you decide for your Etsy shop. [Screen end:] Let me talk a little bit about some of the things you need to know, if you're going to sell online. I'm going to talk about the pros and the cons. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Selling Online Content: Pros of on line selling of your products through a craft selling site • Low outlay of money for initial expenses • Easy to keep up with sales, leaves a digital trail of records • Less manual labor • You don’t have to set up a whole website yourself, but you will get a web address you can put on a business card or label for follow –up sales Description End: So, let me tell you the pros of selling online. First of all, it doesn't cost very much. It costs something, but it doesn't cost very much for your initial setting up of the website, or the Etsy shop. It's easy to keep up with sales, because they send an email to the shop owner. That would be the artist, or you, the person who's supporting the artist. They send an email to you when somebody has clicked that they want to buy the item. And then you pack it up and send it to them. There's as much manual labor as if you were going to a craft show, and setting up a booth, and so it's much easier than doing that. The nice thing about craft selling sites like Etsy is that you don't have to build a whole website yourself. But it will give you a web address that you can use, and put on a business card, or a tag that hangs on your item, so that if somebody purchases something from you, whether it's live at a craft show, or online, you can give them your shop website, and it will go directly to your website. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Selling Online Content: Pros of on line selling of your products through a craft selling site • the website has an integrated shopping cart to accept credit, debit or paypal payments • the site may drive traffic to your on line shop with browsers • the site sends an email notice when you have a sale, and lets you correspond with buyers through their site • Etsy has lots of good instructions, tutorials, blogs and information to help with starting a small business. Description End: The websites like Etsy have an integrated shopping cart, and so you don't have to set all that stuff up yourself. It has debit card payments and PayPal payments, and that is all taken care of by Etsy, and that's part of the service that you're paying for. They have a template of a page that you fill out and it prompts you, with windows, of what you should put in the website. You can do things through Etsy, and the other craft selling sites that will help drive traffic to your site, like purchase ads, or get your shop displayed at the top of the page, a certain number of times a day, when people go to Etsy. Etsy, also, has a lot of really good instructions. There's a lot of literature and tutorials on Etsy. They're both related to using Etsy itself, as well as, related to selling online, and doing business practices, looking out for your profits and promoting yourself. [ Slide end: ] So there's lots of really good information on Etsy, in particular. And I'm sure there is on the others, but it's Etsy that I'm familiar with, because that's the one that I've used. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Selling Online continued Content: • Hard to get noticed in a busy web environment. Etsy has millions of listings • Etsy is now letting re-sellers and mass manufacturers list items so it’s not all hand made. It’s less trendy and fewer new people are coming to the site to shop Description End: Now the cons of selling online, the things that aren't so good about it, Etsy is the first craft selling website that I knew about and I will say that it's, can be hard to get yourself noticed because there's such a huge volume of items on Etsy. It's easy to get lost in the shuffle. It has millions of listings. Etsy in particular has evolved over time. It used to be that you had to make your own items to sell them, or you could sell vintage items or supplies. So if you found old jars, for instance-- like I might go to thrift stores to find jars for my candles or candleholders-- I could sell those vintage items that I bought at thrift stores, through Etsy, even though I didn't make the candleholder myself. And I could also sell supplies, like fragrances, or wax, myself, if I wanted to. But now, Etsy allows manufacturers to list items and there's not a lot of them. But sometimes it's a little hard to tell what's handmade and what's not. [ Slide end: ] And some of the Etsy users who are crafts people really feel like this has, is a detriment to using the Etsy site, that it's not what it used to be. Okay now let me talk a little bit about craft shows; the pros and cons of selling at craft shows. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Selling Live at Booths, Farmer’s Markets, Craft Shows Content: Pros for Selling at a Farmer’s Market or Show: • Booth space may be fairly cheap at outdoor markets • Customers and browsers will see your products and you will have exposure to impulse buyers and repeat customers • You may sell a lot of products in a short time Description End: The pros are that the booth space may be very cheap, but you do have to pay for booth space. If it's outdoors, more than likely, it's going to be even cheaper. Usually you get what you pay for, so, if the cost is very low, it might mean that they are really not expecting very many people to come, very much traffic, in terms of shoppers. The-- another good thing about selling at a craft show is there's a lot of traffic of people just walking around and browsing. So, you'll have exposure to a lot of people that are just impulse buyers. [ Slide end: ] It's a much smaller group of sellers than the people on Etsy, so you're more likely to get noticed. And people just walk around, and browse at items, and they don't always look for specific things. So, it can be a nice way to take advantage of the impulse buyers. You can sell a lot of products in a short time. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Selling Live at Booths, Farmer’s Markets, Craft Shows Content: Pros for Selling at a Farmer’s Market or Show: • If you have a seasonal product, for instance something that appeals to people for Christmas, you can prepare and sell a lot in a targeted sale • Small sales such as church Christmas bazaars may not attract a large crowd, but if it is your family’s own church it is a way to be visible both socially and as a business, you may sell a lot for the effort, and it is usually low cost for the space. • It can be an enjoyable social experience Description End: And also, if you have a seasonal product, like I do with candles, I might be able to do a lot of work in the fall, like selling for Halloween, maybe a little bit of Thanksgiving for centerpieces. And at Christmastime there's lots of traffic in candle purchases and candleholders and a little bit at Valentine's Day for gifts and a little bit maybe at Mother's Day. But the rest of the year there's not necessarily as much of an interest in people buying candles. [ Slide end: ] So, my items are somewhat seasonal, and I can take advantage of that, by using the summertime to make candles, and using the fall and winter to sell candles. Small sales can be a really good thing. If you think of something like your church's Christmas bazaar it might not attract a very large crowd. But if it is your own church, or the church of somebody that you know well, it can help you be visible socially, as well as, visible at a business and you may sell a lot for not very much effort. And usually the cost of the space is very low, very minimal. It can be a really good, enjoyable social experience. So if the person with disabilities that you're supporting, needs or wants to get out in public and interact with people, it's a really good opportunity to do that, and small sales are really nice for that. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Selling Live at Booths, Farmer’s Markets, Craft Shows Content: Cons for a Farmer’s Market or Show: • May be outdoors • Will charge a fee for space or a commission • You will have to supply all your own materials and equipment, so there may be a considerable outlay of money • Some are managed by volunteers, so you have to be patient with the management, and the quality of management varies widely Description End: The cons for selling at a farmer's market, or a craft show; first of all, it very well may be outdoors, and you know all the things that go with being outdoors. You have to really be prepared. They will charge you space, charge you a fee for the space, or they'll charge you a commission. But usually it's more common that they charge you a fee. If it's, the last indoor show I did, which was the local market, which is a once a year show, that's fairly well publicized and advertised-- [ Slide end: ] I spent a $125, I believe, for a small booth area, and it was half of a booth. So you need to know what the booth size is, and the standard size is about ten by ten. And in some cases you can get half of a booth, which would be five by ten, or you could share with another seller, somebody that you know, or somebody that's assigned to you randomly. It just depends, and these are all things to check on when you're investigating the possibility of selling. You will have to supply, more than likely, you will have to supply all your own equipment and materials. So you might have to purchase a lot of items. You might have to buy tables and tablecloths. You'll have to buy a cash box and labels and signs. If you're going to have a computer, you need to make sure that's there. You need to know about all of the things in advance, and it might be a good thing for you, and the person you're supporting to go to one of these shows, before you commit to it, and see what other people have. And usually, the sellers are pretty friendly, and will talk to you about what they have to have to sell. Many of these sales are managed by volunteers, or people that are just working part-time. So you have to be patient with the managers, because sometimes they're really overloaded with lots of different tasks, and lots of different demands. And so the quality of management varies widely. Some of them-- some of the shows or markets may be managed very well, and be very organized, and others may be very hands-off, and you pretty much have to take care of things yourself. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Selling Live at Booths, Farmer’s Markets, Craft Shows Content: Cons for a Farmer’s Market or Show: • Most are outdoors, you will have to cope with the weather. Usually you will need a shade tent with weights to keep it from blowing away and to help define your space. • You will usually need 2 able-bodied adults or willing teenagers to haul your products from the car to your selling space. If outdoors, they will have to help you set up the tent. You will also need help to take down. • Someone must be at the booth at all times to be ready for sales. Think ahead about bathroom breaks. It’s best to bring your own lunch and cold drinks. Watch the money and the products for theft! Description End: If your sale is outdoors, you have to think about the weather. Usually you'll need a shade tent, for instance, a ten-by-ten tent and you'll need weights to hold the tent down, to keep it from blowing away. And the tent will also help define your space. Now there's a good-- there are good things about having a tent, and there are not so good things about having a tent. They're big and heavy, so they take more than one person to set up, more than one very strong capable able-bodied person. [ Slide end: ] I certainly can't set one up by myself, because generally the shade tents are collapsible. The cloth is attached to the armature, and so pulling the tent out, to unfold the armature, is something you have to take two people-- kind of on opposite corners to do. So, it's not like pitching a tent in a campsite. So they are portable. Two people is enough, but it is something you have to keep in mind. And most places will say that you have to have weights to tie them down. And so that's another expense. You might have items around the house that you can use, or you might be able to make homemade weights with PVC pipe and concrete. You might be able to use dumbbell weights, like exercise weights, and tie them to the tent. Sometimes there's standards about what color of tent to use so, that they may require you to have a white tent. But the good thing about having a tent, is that you can hang signs from it, so you can have your brand up, so that people can see it. Also, you have to know that if you're at any kind of craft show or market there needs to be someone there, in your booth, at all times to make sales. And you need to think ahead about bathroom breaks, and lunch breaks, and things like that. And you need to watch your money, so that somebody doesn't walk off with it, or when your back is turned, take some of your items. So you need to be there to make sure that things are looked out for. Just in terms of object-- equipment and things like that. Here's my cashbox that I use when I go to sales. You could get these at office supply stores, and they'll be a tray for the cash, in the top, and in the bottom, you have to have your sales tax- your tax form, to make sure that you-- that you're supposed to display that at your booth. I always carry a calculator, and I always have a receipt book; and I write out a handwritten receipt for the items that I sell. And these are copy receipts. They're NCR paper, so that at the end of the show, I can add up all the sales that I've made, and know what I have to pay sales tax on, and know that what I'm running out of, for instance, if I need to buy more. This is an item called the 'Square,' and it allows a user like you, to not have to open a business account. But you can use this to take credit cards, and debit cards, and you just plug it into a phone. You have the app that uses it downloaded. And then you plug it into a phone, and when people make purchases, you can just swipe the card, and have it deposit either directly into your checking account, or you can have it deposit into a PayPal account. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Equipment and Supplies Needed Content: Depending if you are outdoors or indoors, your needs may differ • Know about how sales are handled: do you take cash only? Checks? Card purchases can be handled with phone apps and a small scanner like the Square • Shade tent, weights • Stool/chair for the seller(s) • Table(s), table covering Description End: The nice-- there are a couple of brands of these out. PayPal makes one, as well, which has a different name, and they do charge you a fee. I believe it's two percent for the Square, and it may be a little bit less for the PayPal one, since it's tied to your PayPal account. [ Slide end: ] But they're very convenient. I know that with the Square you can enter your inventory, in advance, so that instead of having to punch in the numbers of the price, you can open your app and it says 10-inch taper candle. The price is $12 for a pair, and so I can just hit that button that this is what was purchased, and it- it will show up in your window. You can also have it add the sales tax, and then you can scan the card. When I'm at fairs, I tell people, and I put a sign up to display this. I tell people that the price includes the sales tax, because that's just easier for me to do. I add up all my sales at the end, and I pay sales tax out of what I earned. And so, if you think that you're not charging enough, you might need to add to the price of your product by 25 cents, or 50 cents, or something like that. And I do make my prices all be at either, at a dollar, or 50 cent. And so, I don't have any things that are like a $1.39. My items are either $1.50, or 2.50 or $3.50, or you know, they're all $5.00 or $10.00, just to make it easier to keep track of. Now, I'm going to talk a little bit more about the equipment and supplies that you'll need if you're selling at a sale. And some of these are mentioned already, but you need to know about how sales are handled, and if you are expected to take cash, checks, and plastic, or if it's optional, and be prepared. The more prepared you are, for instance, to take credit cards the more likely you are to complete sales, because often people don't bring cash, or checkbooks with them or have enough for them. So you'll need to know about that. I mentioned the tent and the weights. You're also going to need a table and tablecloth. And you'll want to have a stool, or chair to sit on, for each person who's helping you in the booth. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Equipment and Supplies Needed Content: Depending if you are outdoors or indoors, your needs may differ • Display racks, shelves or trays • Labels, price tags, signs • Lighting if indoors • A power source, or pay an additional fee for power if needed • Cash box, paper receipts, business cards • Packaging, shopping bags Description End: You'll need display racks, and shelves, if that's something that you need to show your items. You'll need to have labels on your items, price tags, or signs. If you're indoors selling, you might need to have some extra lighting to light up your booth and to shine on your products. You need to-- if that's the case, you need to check and see if they provide power for you, or do you have to pay extra for power. And if you're outdoors and you need power, you might have to bring your own. And there are some setups that are like car batteries that you can get that will allow you to plug in, for instance, a computer, or an item like that, if you need to do that. [ Slide end: ] You also need to know about having packaging. You're going to want to be able to give people a bag. And in Austin-- of course, there are exceptions for craft shows, I believe, but in Austin they want us to use bags that are not plastic. So it is another good way to advertise your product. You can put your business card in the bag with your items when you make a sale. I have a rubber stamp that I use on mine that has my brand name and the Etsy shop on it. So be prepared with packaging and packing materials. I usually don't put price tags on my items, but I put a sign up that lists the prices of each item that I'm selling. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Selling Through a Store or Antique or Craft Mall Content: Antique/Craft malls or shops sell on commission, will take a larger cut, as much as 40 to 50% but you don’t have to be there in person or worry about credit card purchases and you will have browsing customers who will buy on impulse. Description End: You can also sell through craft malls, or antique malls, or stores. And that is something that I haven't done, so, I don't have first-hand experience with that. But that's kind of a whole other way to investigate. [ Slide end: ] In some ways, it's easier, because you don't have to set up and take down your booth every day, but they do charge for the space or they charge a commission. So that's another thing to investigate, if you're supporting an individual with disabilities doing sales. I'm going to show a couple of different websites now. [Screen start:] https://www.etsy.com/ I've made a little handout that kind of says the advantages and disadvantages, of each one, or some pertinent information about each one. So Etsy, they give you lots of customer support. It's really good for that. It's a huge website, not always so easy to find something in Etsy, even if you type-- even if you know the name of the shop, or the name of the maker. You can do a search, and sometimes, it seems like people are able to find my shop, and other times, it seems like they're not. But Etsy is definitely well known, and it's a good place to start. [Screen start:] https://www.zibbet.com/ Another one, that's fairly new, is called Zibbet. It's Z-I-B-B-E-T dot com. And here is what Zibbet looks like. This one, is only people who are makers can see on Zibbet. People who are selling products that other people have made. They can do that on Etsy but they can't do it on Zibbet. A small company or factory that makes things overseas or something like that, they can't sell on Zibbet. It's makers only. The Zibbet can copy listings from your Etsy store, so that's a nice thing about them. The first-- the cost for it, or the first ten listings are free, but then there's $10 a month subscription, if you have more than ten listings. Okay, and then everything must be handmade, but there's no fee for each individual listing. With Etsy, each time you list something you pay a small fee for that, and I believe currently it's 20 cents. Another one is called 'Uncommon Goods,' and with Uncommon Goods-- it sells some handmade items, but not all of the items are handmade. You don't have to set up your own store, but you submit items to Uncommon Goods, and they decide whether they're going to list them, or not. So it's kind of a different setup. It's more of a juried, or curated site. So it's not something that I've used at all, because it works differently. It's like entering a juried show. There's another one called 'Aftcra,' A-F-T-C-R-A and generally these are consi-- rated as a really nice website. There's about a seven percent fee for everything you sell, and they charge by the sale. [Screen start:] http://hyenacart.com/ Another one that people like a lot is called 'hyenacart.' And here's what hyenacart looks like. One of the things that they really promote is that these products are eco-friendly. So if you're making items that are made out of used materials that you're recycling, or for me, my candles are made out of soy wax, and they're not made out of petroleum products, [Screen end:] so I- I could list on hyenacart, and say that my items are eco-friendly, because I use many recycled materials and the raw materials are renewable resources. Let me talk a little bit, right now, about setting up a listing on a website. And that is both a little bit about the photos, and a little bit about the descriptions. With the photos, you need to be sure that you're using high quality photos. [Screen start:] hyenacart website You can really tell the difference in a website, between the ones where they've really taken some time to take photos of the work, and others where maybe somebody's kind of new, and they just, really, try to put something and maybe the pictures aren't so good. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Photos Content: Take good quality, high resolution photos. Using a good smartphone is OK. Be aware of lighting, shadows, background, and overall quality. • Background: neutral, good contrast with the product, plain • Setting and accessories can add atmosphere or a theme • Props can create a theme and convey a message Description End: So really look at how your pictures work. I use my smartphone to take pictures and it takes pretty good high resolution pictures. [ Slide end: ] And then I email them to myself or I have them automatically uploaded to Google Docs and I'm able to look at them there, and transfer them over to Etsy. So, you do want them in a digital format so that you can list them. You need to really be aware of the lighting and shadows when you take a photograph. You want to have the background not be too distracting. And you might want to add some setting, some accessories or put it in an interesting setting. [Screen start:] https://www.etsy.com/ So let me show you a few things here on Etsy. And I'm going to just go on Home, and show you some examples. Fashion accessories, let's say you're making some clothing items. And here's a person with a purse, or, I'm sorry, she has a shawl. And you can see that her shawl is wrapped around a live model. So, do you want to use a live person to display your items, or do you have a mannequin or a dress form. That's a way to display. You can see the background here is blurred out, so it's not distracting, and there are four different shots of this young woman with a shawl or scarf. And then the last one is just with the scarf by itself. But it's on a very plain, neutral background, and that's a very good thing. Let's say I'm making figurines, and here's lots of different little items. And I'm going to click on this picture of a dinosaur. This is a nice little photo, but the background, I would think you might want a little bit plainer background with this little image of this dinosaur. He's on a windowsill and you can see the window. And, you know, you don't have to guess which item it is they're selling, but you, you can see on this example, that the little dinosaur is very small. So, here he is by himself on the windowsill. And here he is in somebody's hand and he's a very tiny little dinosaur that fits in the palm of a person's hand. And here's another photo and shows the little dinosaur doing lots of different things, holding up a dumbbell made of marshmallows. And then here he is with a little saddle on. So some of the good things they've done in this photo, is that some of the backgrounds are very neutral. They've added some little props, like other little dinosaurs. It's clear what they're selling. There's not other items, like a flower vase, or a coaster or something like that in the picture. So it's pretty clear. And they also have used the person's hand to, as a way to indicate the size of the item. So that's really good. When you look at the description, let's see how they describe him. 'Sheldon is a tiny dinosaur that thinks he's a turtle. His shell is an acorn.' Then they tell the dimensions, approximately one inch long and one inch tall depending on the size of the acorn. And then, they give a website, and then they talk about shipping. So, some of the things they've done here are, they've kind of given him a little bit of personality to engage the viewer, and make you more interested. They don't tell what he's made out of. I bet he's made out of Sculpey or Fimo clay, but he might not be. He might be made out of homemade playdough, or something like that. It does say that his shell is an acorn. So, that's good information, and then they talk about shipping information. So, if you list your items on Etsy, you are going to have a- have to enter information about how much additional you're going to charge for shipping. So, if I was going to buy this it says that Sheldon is $12.50. Okay, let me select an option. I'm going to do Standard Sheldon. I'm going to click 'Buy It Now.' Then I'm going to proceed to checkout, and then it asks me to fill in my address and phone number, which I'm not going to do, because I don't really want to accidentally buy this item. [Screen end:] But I will say, on my items for instance, my candles, you know, I have to have packaging that keeps items from breaking. So, that's going to weigh a little bit more. I have to purchase boxes and packing material, and I want to be sure that I put a receipt in the box, and a little business card, so people can remember who they bought it from, and go back to my Etsy shop, if they want to buy more. And you kind of have to do some experimenting with this. A small candle, like this, I might be tempted to say, 'Well, the candle is $12, but the shipping is, maybe, five dollars. Then I would try taking all this, packing it up, and taking it to the post office, and using the automated kiosk, and weighing it, and seeing how much it would actually cost to ship. Because, sometimes it's more expensive than you think. Also, you know there are the instant mailing boxes that you can get at the post office, that's, like, a one size, anything you put in it no matter how much it weighs, it's always going to cost the same amount. For some items, those are a good deal, if your items are heavy. And for other items they're not such a good deal. Because, if you paid by the pound, it might be less expensive. So, I have been surprised when I was a new user of Etsy how much I needed to charge for shipping, to include the cost of the box, and the packing materials, and the postage; and most of my items charge over five dollars for the shipping. One thing that you can do, is that there can be two options on the page. One, is if you're just buying that one item, or it can be slightly less expensive, if you're buying it with other items. So if I was-- if somebody was buying a package of four votive candles I might have a price, but then, if they bought two packages, the shipping on both packages might be less expensive than if they were shipped separately. So, that's a good thing. That's about it, for what I wanted to say about selling your items. I will say that there's a lot of advantages to selling online. It's generally less work, and less cost, and easier. Selling live, and in person, you generally sell more, in a shorter period of time, but it is a lot of work. You also need to think about the weight and the labor involved with moving your items around. Whether you're shipping it, or whether you're carrying it, or putting it up on display at a farmer's market. If your items are lightweight and not breakable, like this little keychain made out of plastic beads, these would be very easy to sell. It doesn't break. It's plastic, so it doesn't weigh very much. If I were selling my candles, I have a glass jar and it's pretty heavy. So the postage is something to consider, and the break-ability, if I'm hauling it around and setting up a booth. And sometimes, you may just want to think about what to sell, based on how easy it is to transport and how easy it is to mail. So, for instance, if I had a young person who was selling-- who made these wall plaques out of ceramic-- instead of selling the plaque, I might want to take a photograph of it, and make greeting cards with the plaque on the greeting card; instead of hauling all the plaques around, and having to set them up. It really can be a lot of work, but you also have to experiment with what people want to buy, and you don't always know. And fads in sales come and go. So this year candles might be really big, and then, in a few years they might not be as big. So, think about that when you're determining items to sell. Some of the things that I have seen people sell, when they're creating vocational and customized employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities, are things like jewelry, beaded necklaces, two dimensional art that maybe is painted. Also, I worked with a classroom one year, where the teacher was very innovative, and she had each student in the class-- and this was in high school-- creating items to sell. And one person made greeting cards on the computer, one person was making dog biscuits. And I think that's a real nice thing to make, because people will spend money on their dogs, and the dog biscuits usually have a pretty long shelf life. Another person was making potpourri, and she would collect flowers, and dry the petals, and then add fragrance to them. So, there's lots of good ideas, and there's lots of things that people will buy. And it helps to know that the maker is somebody who has disabilities, and this is an employment opportunity for them. So, choose some items, try them out, and have fun making and selling. Fade to black.