OWJones 1,981 Posted July 4, 2013 Tomorrow, Independence Day, I'll be setting up a booth at another outdoor event. This one is in a large park and is part of a city July 4th festival with a bounce house, food vendors, fireworks and other events that should bring in a bigger crowd <knock on wood>... I'm bringing a dozen new patriotic button designs I put together this week, and I used one of those designs in a variety of sizes to heat press several dye sub items to show off some more of what I can do. I'm hoping that it goes a little better than last time - hope you all have a great holiday! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jaybyrd 3,770 Posted July 4, 2013 Good luck and have fun. I'll be at the store tomorrow and hope to catch some people with the day off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHIT72 36 Posted July 4, 2013 Good luck. Happy fourth! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakotagrafx 7,297 Posted July 4, 2013 knock em dead Jones Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sleeveofwizzard 104 Posted July 4, 2013 Just curious how much do you sell your buttons for? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OWJones 1,981 Posted July 4, 2013 Lately I've been selling the buttons for $1 each. I got a good deal on the last batch of parts, so my total cost to manufacture a button is $0.13. I had been charging $1.50 to $2.00 each, but $1 seems to be the tipping point where people don't object to the price and are willing to hand their kids a buck to buy a button, plus I don't have to deal as much with change. I also have a pack of magnets that I can attach to the back and turn them into refrigerator magnets and I charge an extra $0.25 for that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Smokem 35 Posted July 4, 2013 OW Jones$13.00 cost of goods sold @ $1.00 = $130.00 Sales$13.00 cost of goods sold @ $2.00 = $260.00 Sales at Half the Labor.It would seem you would need to sell more than twice as many @ $1.00to make the effort worth while.... One of the items I sell at swap meets is $7.00.... when asked if I will sell one for $5,00.... I always agree....Given sales of this item at 20 per day... a three day event yields$140.00 additional event profits.Maybe keeping your button price @ $1.50 each OR 3 for $3.00OR..... $2.00 each...... OR 3 for $5.00 would provide you withmore profit per event.......AND... Less labormy two cents 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OWJones 1,981 Posted July 5, 2013 Got off to a bit of a slow start, but by the time we packed up, it was definitely worth making the trip... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MadHatterGraphix 1,258 Posted July 6, 2013 And that's 1.00 per post to the guys so umm that stack will be lower lol. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OWJones 1,981 Posted July 6, 2013 After tallying everything up, it was almost exactly a 2:1 ratio of "people making custom buttons" vs. pre-printed buttons. I usually see a distinct split of anyone over ~10 years old buys pre-printed and the younger people make their own. The last two outings have seen that age number shift a lot higher. There was another vendor at the far end of the line of vendors who had 4 teenage daughters, between the 4 of them they made 23 buttons - all custom. I had several young couples old enough that I would consider them "grown ups" who also did several custom buttons as well. I had been going to Dollar Tree and stocking up on glow bracelets for such an occasion. They originally had cardboard tubes with 15 asst. bracelets for $1 (I had bought 8 of those), and when I went back all they had were 7 packs of single colors, or 5 packs of multi colors, and yellow and green were only available in the 5 packs, so I ended up buying several of each - all told I invested $21 in glow bracelets and ended up with 201 glow bracelets for $21, so about $0.096 each. I got worried when a vendor showed up with light-up flashing necklaces and light up plastic swords - but the guy packed up and left before 6:00 PM! Who brings light-up devices and leaves before dark? Anyways, I ended up selling almost completely out of glow bracelets at $0.25 each and that was with practically no marketing - I cracked one of each color, strung them together into a huge necklace and wore it starting around 8:00 PM and at first a couple of kids came to check it out - then they came back with more friends and it pyramided from there - if everyone hadn't all left at 10:30 when the fireworks were over, I would have probably sold out - I had to go back to the truck 3x to pull the box of bracelets out even after the canopy and tables were stored - kids remembered where I was and kept coming back for more... I think I have 8 braclets left, so subtracting the 6 I used up in 'marketing', that means I sold... uh... hang on... 187 bracelets at $0.25 each was $46.75 - $21 invested, so an extra $25 just from glow bracelets... cha-ching! Next time I think I'm going to push it up to $0.50 each - the only other vendor with glow stuff was selling necklaces (basically 3 bracelets connected together) for $2 each...One other suggestion if you're doing outdoor festivals - bring along sun screen, insect repellent, sunburn relief gel, band aids, all the sorts of things that people with they had once they got there - every time someone asks "Do you by any chance have..." We add it to the list of items to bring next time. We have a plastic tote full of such items that we pick up at Dollar Tree and sell or loan out (we have one open container of each item that we allow other vendors to use - we're very neighborly). Between those items and my sister-in-laws coupon goods (body wash, soap, shampoo, disposable razors, feminine hygiene products) we're practically a convenience store... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sleeveofwizzard 104 Posted July 7, 2013 Good job man, I am tinkering with the idea of buying some buttons from you to sell myself. Have to come up with some great ideas though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
