Sporran question - first time post

[LKM]

I have looked over several posts on X marks for some time now and have finally joined. I do leather work, am looking into getting some real fur for making a new sporran, and I was wondering where would be the best place to sale sporrans that I make as I can make more then one sporran from each fur unless I use rabbit. I am mostly looking at skunk, fox, and goat. With the price skunk will most likely be the fur I go with for the now and I'm likely to keep making more. Would you recommend ebay, etsy, or listings on the form to start with?

Pictures of some of the leather sporrans I made should be attached. They were inspired by some vintage sporrans and hunting sporrans.

[Father Bill]

You'll get better recommendations from those who know more than I, but meantime, welcome to the "Great Rabble!"

[48HofC]

Etsy is a good place to sell handcrafted items like that, more personable. eBay has a massive viewership, but skepticism runs rampant as to the true origin and workmanship of sporrans and such on there and people tend to be pickier.

[cck]

from Austin, Texas

(If you meant to attach some photos, they did not make it to my computer.)

[LKM]

Thank you the information on the Etsy vs eBay. I will look into Etsy more and see if it is a good fit for me. I have ordered a skunk pelt and will be working on it once it gets in.

I will have to look over the picture posting instructions again and see if I can get pictures to show up. The pic by my name is one of my sporrans that I made.

[ratspike]

I sold kilts on Etsy for a number of years. It used to be a fabulous place to sell and buy handmade stuff, but now it's overrun by mass produced garbage, kilts and accessories included. It's overloaded with cheap junk from Pakistan and IMO isn't worth any more time than throwing a few items up in your storefront. Being successful with Etsy is very difficult and time consuming, so why not put that time and effort into a real web presence? If you don't speak Wordpress then you can use a service like Wix or Squarespace. Tie your website in with Instagram and Facebook and I think you'll have a solid jumping off point. Instagram in particular is huge in the world of handmade. There's a learning curve of course, but once you're over the hump it's well worth the effort.

[LKM]

It sounds like quite the change it Etsy from when one of my sisters had paintings on there. I have not heard much about the site in about 1or 2 years.

I have worked in HTML before and doing my own website has crossed my mind, especially if people like my work. I did not think about Instagram, thanks for the information.

[Manu]

You could always become an advertiser here. You'd be getting lots of exposure to a very specialized niche of customers. Good luck!

[Todd Bradshaw]

I've sold a few on eBay without any problems and for decent prices. It isn't always the most sophisticated market, but if something is good quality and being sold for a fair price in a well presented listing, it can work. There are people out there who do know what they're looking at, understand its value, and are potential customers.

You have to remember though, that you're trying to market something and make folks want to buy it. So many listings contain crappy, blurry photos taken with phones and little or poorly written copy. I'm sure a lot of those folks can't figure out why their items didn't sell, or didn't sell for a good price when the reason is that their presentation was lousy.

[RCAnderson]

I buy a lot of my sporrans on eBay as well. I am one of the picky ones that they mentioned, but I have bought about 50 or so from there. Almost all of my full masked sporrans were purchased on eBay, and they are outstanding quality. I wear a North American Badger sporran almost every day that I got off of eBay.