Comprehensive Guide To Selling Your Crochet For Income

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Many people are always looking for ways to make extra income, and turning your favorite hobby into a side business is a great idea. Crocheting is a skill that can create products that others will want and be willing to buy.

Depending on how you choose to sell your crochet and how fast you’re able to product your products, you could create a great side business or even a full-time income. Let’s dig further into how this is possible and give you some great tips and tricks on how to get started.

**Selling Baby Items Can Be A Great Way To Make Money**

What Are The Best Crochet Items To Sell?

The first step to beginning a crochet business is deciding what you will make. Your product will be the heart of your business, so you should consider it carefully. One good way to see what sells is to visit local craft fairs and see what is popular. You can also visit some Etsy stores online and see what people are buying (just look at the number of reviews for each product).

Based on our research, the following crochet items are the most popular:

Home Decor (pillows, throw blankets)
Baby items (blankets, hats, clothes)
Scarves
Hats
Purses
Toys (primarily for children such as teddy bears and other animals)

Should You Diversify Your Crochet Line?

Many people who crochet are really good at one particular item (such as a blanket) and that’s what they may choose to sell at first. However, specializing in just one type of crochet product can severly hamper your ability to sell.

By branching out into different products to crochet, you are giving yourself the chance to attract different customers. However, you don’t have to go crazy and crochet things that you don’t enjoy or aren’t good at.

Here’s an example. You love crocheting baby hats and find it easy and fast to do. One way to diversify could be that you vary the colors, patterns, and type of yarn that you use.

Going further with diversification would be to add booties and small receiving blankets. You could make them in the same color and sell them as a package or sell them individually.

Keep Seasonality In Mind With Your Crochet Business

Some items are seasonal. Selling crochet scarves is easy in the winter, but you won’t sell many in the summer. Home decor items are often seasonal as well. Crocheted bunnies and pumpkins can be adorable pieces to brighten up a home in the correct season.

If you plan on selling year-round, you’ll need to take this into consideration when you are diversifying. You may consider having a few seasonal items and a few that are desired year-round in your inventory.

What isn’t recommended is offering items that seem to be randomly thrown together. Selling baby hats, throw rugs, and scarfs for example. Select a theme for your business based on something you enjoy making. Decide how to diversify, but stick to items that make sense for your theme.

Premade vs Made to Order Crochet

You’ll also need to decide if you want to sell premade or made to order items when selling crochet. You can also choose to do both, offering premade items and the ability for customers to place a custom order if they wish.

Premade Items

Premade items are made ahead of time. This means you are investing your time and money into making a product that you hope you will be able to sell. You’ll recoup your investment and make a profit when the item sells. If it doesn’t sell, then you lose the investment you put into the item.

Check Out This Adorable Group Of Easy Crochet Patterns That You Could Both Make And Sell Quickly

However, premade items can be made at your leisure. If you are making several of the same things, time and materials may be less per item. Many people are impulse buyers, and they may be more likely to purchase your product if it’s available right then as opposed to having to wait.

Made to Order

Made to order items can sell for more than premade items, because you are designing it to someone’s exact preferences. The materials can be a little more costly, because you may not always be able to buy in bulk. It can be more time consuming, since each piece will be different.

Most businesses will promise made to order items by a certain date. This can put pressure on you to get the item made before the deadline. It may take longer than expected or life issues may arise that limit your time. Most custom orders will go smoothly, but be aware of Murphy’s Law. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong sooner or later.

How To Crochet Faster – A Guide To Finishing Projects Quickly

Which is Better?

Which one is best for your business will be the one that works the best for you and makes the most sense. Some situations require premade items. If you plan to sell at craft fairs, then the majority if not all of your items will need to be premade. If you choose to sell on Etsy, you have more flexibility.

You should also consider how much time and money you are investing in making an item. If you wish to make high-end items that require a larger investment, custom orders can be a good fit because you know it will sell before you invest in making it.

On the other hand, if you can afford the risk of pre-made, it can be more convenient.

To decide whether you should sell premade or custom made, ask yourself these questions:

Does custom making the product add to its attractiveness or value?
Do I have the space for premade inventory?
Do I prefer to work on my schedule or have deadlines for custom orders?
Can I afford premade items that may not sell?
Do custom orders make sense where I am choosing to sell my items?

Where Can You Sell Your Crochet?

What you choose to make is the most important business decision you’ll make. The next is how you choose to sell your items. The two most popular ways to sell handmade items are online shops and craft fairs.

Selling Online

Etsy is essentially Amazon for handmade goods. You can find nearly any handmade item you can think of, from jewelry to candles to crochet.

It puts you in front of people from around the world. This can help kick-start your business and help customers find you. There are some fees associated with selling on Etsy.

The basic fees you need to know are:

$.20 listing fee per item
5% transaction fee when the item is sold
3%+$.25 for payments processed

When considering marketing, you should start with the basics, your shop name and profile. You’ve already chosen a theme for your products. You should keep this in mind when creating your store.

You’ll also need to consider the demographic you are targetting. If you are selling baby items, you will be targetting moms. If you are selling Anime themed beanies, you will be targetting teens and young adults. Choose a name that will be attractive to your demographics, and try to relate to them in your profile.

Be sure that your photos of products are of high quality and attractive. Use appropriate lighting, and offer photos at different angles.

Craft Fairs

Craft fairs can be an excellent way to sell your crocheted items. However, there are some things you should consider. First, will it be profitable for you? A booth at a craft fair can cost from $50-500, with the average being around $200. You’ll need to figure in travel expenses and your time as well.

Add it all together and you have your overhead expenses. This is what you need to make back before you begin making a profit. Do you have enough inventory to sell to clear a worthwhile profit?

Craft fairs put you face to face with your customers, and allow them to physically inspect your products. This can be a great experience. You can share your passion with your customers, and see how they react when they look at your work. This is a good way to build relationships with customers that would be willing to buy more products from you in the future.

You should also consider the demographics where you intend to sell. Is the demographic that attends the craft show the demographic you are targetting with your products? Is it more likely to attract bargain hunters or those looking for high-end items?

If you can, visit the fair while you are in the planning stage, or speak to some vendors that sell there. Learn what you can about the type of customers that will be likely to visit your booth before you decide what products you will offer.

Lastly, presentation is your main method of advertising at craft fairs. Display your products in a way that is attractive and eye-catching. If you have a particularly unique piece, let it take center stage.

Sell In Local Stores

Many communities have small businesses that specialize in local products. There may be a local craft store or yarn store that would be willing to sell your products. In my community there is an actual brick and mortar store that only sells local handmade or homegrown products.

Also consider smaller boutique stores that sell home decor or baby items. These stores would love to be able to sell high-quality, locally-made items. It’s a great way to promote their role in the community.

Talk to your local hospital about potentially selling crochet items (especially baby blankets and toys) in their gift shop. This is an excellent location to sell these types of products.

Setting Prices For Your Crochet

This is often one of the most difficult aspects of selling crochet. Many beginning business owners set the price for their items too low, which makes it difficult to make a profit.

Keep in mind that your products are no less valuable because you have created them by hand. In fact, this should add value. Look at some comparable items on Etsy for some ideas on the price range of items that you’re likely to make.

What Goes Into The Pricing Formula?

There are 3 main factors to your business that you need to take into account when setting prices:

Supplies
Time spent
Business expenses (marketing, site fees, etc)

Supplies are easily the make or break part of how you price your items. Choose an expensive yarn and you’ll need to charge enough to cover that expense. Choose a cheap yarn and you might not sell many items because they feel cheap.

Nevertheless, figure out how much of the skein of yarn you will use for your project. Let’s say you buy a skein of yarn for $6 and you will use half of that skein for your project. Your supply cost would be $3

Your time spent will depend on how fast you can crochet a project and how you value your service. Keep in mind where you live and the kind of wages are typical in your area.

For the ease of this calculation, let’s just assume that you’ll charge $10/hour for your crochet and your project takes you one hour of your time to make. That total cost for time spent is now $10.

Business expenses will include booth rental for craft fairs, transaction fees, or selling fees online. It could also include any marketing or business startup fees that include generating a logo and business cards. From what I can tell, it’s fairly standard to charge a flat $3 for these expenses but you will want to keep an eye on this as it’s quite easy to overspend on your business when first setting it up.

The Pricing Formula To Ensure Profit

(Supplies + Time Spent + Business Expenses) x 1.3 (30% Markup) = Wholesale Price x 1.54 (54% Markup) = Retail Price

Okay, let’s break this down to better understand it. If you simply charge for your supplies and time you will never make a profit. At the most, your profit will be so low that you won’t find it worth your time.

Let’s break it down:

Supplies – $3
Time Spent (this is the hourly rate you have set multipled by the amount of time you spent doing the crochet; for this example let’s say you spent an hour on this project at $10/hour) – $10
Business Cost – $3

The total of the above figures is then multiplied by 1.3 (30% markup) to get the wholesale price. The wholesale price is the minimum amount you should ever charge to ensure the profitability price point of that project.

Now – you want to make money, right? This is the crucial part. You must markup your product in order to make money!! This is the retail price and what you should charge when selling your products to consumers.

In many businesses, the markup price is consistent across the board. No matter what the product is, the markup is the same. This allows for simplicity in setting your prices as well as just a good business practice.

You should shoot for a minimum of 50% markup. If you live in an area where crochet items are in high demand then you could potentially charge more. You could also increase your markup if your products are in high demand.

So…let’s put it all together!!

(Supplies – $3 + Time Spent – $10 + Business Expenses – $3) = $16 x 1.3 (30% Markup) = Wholesale Price ($20.80) x 1.5 (50% Markup) = Your Retail Price of $31.20.

Can You Sell Your Products With These Prices?

Let’s say the above product is a baby hat. Can you reasonably charge $31.20 for a baby hat in your area or online? First of all…don’t shortchange yourself and your skills. If you’re going to make this a business, you need to value what you make and believe it’s worth what you charge.

However, if you’re not selling your products and the primary reason is that you’re overpriced based on the local market then you need to look at your product and consider a few things:

Can you cut your expenses? Can you crochet faster or use a cheaper yarn to get your base costs reduced?
Should you even sell this product? If you can’t cut costs and your product is overpriced to the point where it doesn’t sell then just don’t make that product. Crochet something you can do well and quickly.

Additional Ways To Make Money With Crochet

Sell Your Own Patterns

Are you creative enough to actually create your own crochet patterns? There’s a market for this as well! You can sell those patterns on your own blog or Etsy store.

Start A Blog/YouTube Channel

Just like this blog here (which was started because of a love of cross stitch), you can start your own Crochet blog where you highlight your products. A YouTube channel is also recommended and may be easier to start. Both of these avenues can generate revenue by the use of Google Adsense.

If you’re looking for ideas, check out our list of Crochet YouTube channels.

In Conclusion

Selling crochet can be a very rewarding experience. In addition to extra money, it allows you to share something you love with others and meet new people. Decide what to make, price your items correctly, and enjoy the fruits of your labor.