|
|
Post by suktexas on Sept 11, 2009 10:39:08 GMT -5
i am a newbie, i have tried to sell in quartzsite a few years ago for toys and scooters in 4 corner before it was sold to the rv but i do not have a good sale so i do not go these few year. i am going to try to go this year everywhere is slow.
i am selling handmade jewelry, any possible handbead belt, ....,semi precious stone beads, glass bead, basic finding, and other related and unrelated stuff.
i want to see if i can get a place in tyson wells for the mineral & gem show, sell-a-rama, and art & craft show. or i can find a place in a near by location and do a month or 7 week long show?
d
|
|
|
|
Post by susien on Sept 11, 2009 11:20:27 GMT -5
Sounds like you have a great variety of products. Good luck and keep posting!
Susie
|
|
|
|
Post by suktexas on Sept 12, 2009 10:47:37 GMT -5
i try a few show is texas, the same show, some days the business is good and some days the show are bad, i do very little just enough to pay the rent. even the same monthly show, the participants, the target customer. the time they come they have money to spend or not,..... i make jewelry for more mature ladies, not the funky style, movie star style. most of the time, the funky style jewely sell better than me. but 1 out of 5 times, i beat them. the people buy my jewelry appreciate the value, style, creativity. the people complain my price are expensive will never be my customers. every show, there are people do good, and there are people do no good. it depend what you sell, what your target customers are, whether a lot of your target customers have spendable money come to the show to buy,..... there are too many variable and it is hard to say one general rules. i was in wholesale, cash and carry business before. may be do a few before, not invest too much time and thinking on display, marketing,........
i do know the economy is not doing good at all.
any suggestion to prevent me fail down many times or get kill before i can find a way to make a living is welcome.
|
|
|
|
Post by susien on Sept 12, 2009 11:11:12 GMT -5
Don't you need some kind of RV for Quartsite? My advice is check the shows out as much as possible and get your app in early. I have a friend that does jewelry and she has been turned down from many shows because they already had the number of jewelry vendors they were accepting.
|
|
|
|
Post by suktexas on Sept 12, 2009 13:16:29 GMT -5
my friend has a trailer park in quartzsite, so sleeping part is not a problem for me. i have emailed the tyson wells for more details and i am still waiting for their answer. i do not know if they will reject me because there are too many vendor handmade beaded jewelry and beads?
|
|
|
|
Post by susien on Sept 12, 2009 14:05:33 GMT -5
Glad that you have a place to stay there. Dave has a wonderful site and he does have a review on Tyson Wells... You might want to check it out. www.starvingvendors.com/ |
|
|
|
Post by davejs on Sept 12, 2009 22:04:47 GMT -5
my friend has a trailer park in quartzsite, so sleeping part is not a problem for me. i have emailed the tyson wells for more details and i am still waiting for their answer. i do not know if they will reject me because there are too many vendor handmade beaded jewelry and beads? Hi. Been doing Tyson Wells Sellarama for several years now and I have a good location X-19. Did the Arts & Crafts Show after that this year and it wasn't good at all. Hard to make a lot of money over there, but I am satisfied with my sales the past couple years. We have some items that the snowbirds, etc., will buy. Read my reviews on Tyson and see what live is like there. We bring our RV and just have a regular 14x24 space for the Sell-a-rama. We commute back and forth from the BLM camping areas about 2 miles away. Pay $40 for 11 nights of dry camping. Spaces at the show run around $240. This year, I was in row R for the next show and had my RV parked in my space. The size of the space was 14x48 and I was able to fit our 29 foot motor home in there. It was really nice, but sales were very low for everybody. Seems like everybody left.....but I did find out that there were quite a number of people there two weeks after the show ended. We had some rain the last couple days there and it can get rainy and windy there at times. I will be back next year. If you emailed the show, chances are that you might not get an answer for awhile. They have departed there until possibly during the fall, but I don't know how they are on their emails. As for a space, I am 80 percent certain that if you ask for a space right now, you will have no problem. Don't worry about being rejected because you fear that there are too many vendors selling similar items. This is basically a gem and mineral show which includes anything and everything. What you sell goes along with the 'theme' of the event and you will get in if they have spaces available. |
|
|
|
Post by davejs on Sept 12, 2009 22:10:14 GMT -5
Don't you need some kind of RV for Quartsite? My advice is check the shows out as much as possible and get your app in early. I have a friend that does jewelry and she has been turned down from many shows because they already had the number of jewelry vendors they were accepting. Tyson Wells is unlike any show you have ever done. There is absolutely no jury process. Fill in the application and send it in. Matter of fact, you can go to their website and download the application and send it in. You do not necessarily need an RV. I would not do it without an RV. I know a lot of vendors who do shows there (and many other places) and they sleep in the vans and trucks at night. There are local restaurants and eateries, but not ones of quality. They have showers there also. However, no life for a lady. Usually single guys who do the show, sleep in their vehicles. They are used to it. My wife have slept in our van twice...once in Lake Tahoe (it was beautiful and serene) and the other time in Clovis (it was awful and noisy). |
|
|
|
Post by suktexas on Sept 13, 2009 10:09:33 GMT -5
i have a friend with rv park there. so i can find a place to stay. worse come to worst i sleep in my car which i do not like.
there are 3 shows
mineral & gem show
sell-a-rama
art & craft
the sell-a-rama is expensive? is it a good show.
i have heard that the snow birds buy only rv staff and a lot of daily items and some items for their pet.
anyone has any comment on tyson wells show?
|
|
|
|
Post by suktexas on Sept 13, 2009 10:22:13 GMT -5
dave,
i guess you have been in quartzsite show for a few years. do it matter where your booth are? i read one of your member say that some row are really bad, a lot less walking traffic than the rest of the show. i think the show is in a straight row, so if the snow bird walk all over, then they should suppose have seen everyone?
|
|
|
|
Post by suktexas on Sept 13, 2009 10:25:21 GMT -5
have anyone done the mineral & rock show? any comment?
|
|
|
|
Post by suktexas on Sept 13, 2009 10:38:37 GMT -5
i heard quartzsite is very dusty and windy and sometime it rain and flood. how do you protect your merchandises so that the dust do not damage it. what do you use. the similar to ez up canopy or the flea market pipe and L with tarp and bungee cord? the show is 14ft X24ft , so you use 2pcs similar ez up only cover 10ft X 20ft.
|
|
|
|
Post by davejs on Sept 13, 2009 22:47:40 GMT -5
dave, i guess you have been in quartzsite show for a few years. do it matter where your booth are? i read one of your member say that some row are really bad, a lot less walking traffic than the rest of the show. i think the show is in a straight row, so if the snow bird walk all over, then they should suppose have seen everyone? I could tell you so many things about Tyson Wells. My first year I was in Space A-4, which is the first row. Have you ever visited the Sell-a-rama? There are 26 rows and 30 spaces in each row. I believe that the first 8 rows (A-H) are mostly 'rock hounds.' These are people selling mainly gems and minerals. There are some jewelry businesses located there. There are a lot of people who visit the show looking for the minerals, etc., and THEY ONLY go to the first 8-10 rows while buying their rocks, etc. There are three large businesses in those rows.....Western Woods, Village Originals and Driftstone Pueblo and these places sell a lot of everything related to gems, minerals and jewelry...beads, etc. People shopping for those items usually go to those Big 3 for what they are looking for, but people do shop and buy at many of the other vendors located in that area. People selling general merchandise (including hand-made jewelry and everything else are located between Rows H-Z. The main people that visit Tyson (Quartzsite, etc) are RVers but you do get people driving over from LA, Phoenix, etc. A large amount of these people shop in those rows and since they are NOT INTERESTED in rocks, gems, etc. they do not walk the entire show and, so if you are located in those rows, you might not necessarily see a lot of the visitors. Actually, since you are selling jewelry, it might be best for you to be located between rows M and Z. Like I said, my first year we were in the first row and that was no good for us. The next year, we move over to Rows UV, where we had out motor home parked and the space was too expensive. Sales were so-so. Third year we were in space H-25 and that was across from Driftstone Pueblo and traffic flow was bad. The next year we were able to get space X19. We are in row X, where a of people go and is close to the end of the show. Between spaces 19 and 20 in each row is an aisle that runs from one of the parking lots (and porta-potties) down through the food area and many people walk that way. So, we have a corner space there with two sides open and it works out fine. Our sales are good and we have been there 3-4 years now. It's a premium space and costs extra. If you want to sign up for Tyson, you'd better do it soon. Try to get a space between rows M and Z, where the traffic is the best. In that area, it doesn't matter where you are located. The best space numbers are 1,19,20 and 30. Other than that, I think that all the spaces are pretty much equal in terms of foot traffic and visibility. When you are there doing the event, it is important that you sign up for the space lottery which is held on the last Saturday of the event. You sign up on Tuesday for it. You need to sign up as early as possible for the lottery so you get a low lottery pick. The vendors have until Saturday morning to renew their spaces and if they don't renew, then they have the lottery for their spaces. That is how I got this one. You could wind up with a great space the second year you are there and your chances of that happening are good because a lot of people are not signing up. Yes, there can be a lot of wind and dust, but since you are selling jewelry, these weather conditions will ruin your products. If you sold hats, bags, clothing, then your things could get dirt. Not a major problem though. You could get a few days of rain and very strong winds. Or temps could be in the 70s every day and you could have beautiful weather. My booth flooded on the last day a couple years ago. I think that one of the secrets to success there is to reduce your overhead. You can stay in a friend's RV and you can cook your own food. You have it made and you have a nice situation. There are a lot of things you need to understand about selling there. Most importantly, items should usually be cheap because these RV people, etc., are not intending on spending a lot of money. A lot of these people have $150,000-$275,000 motor homes and they are cheap as hell. That will be a huge percentage of your clientele. There are several businesses there that sell household items for $1 on up to $15 to $20 and they totally kick but. They love those low-priced items that serve a purpose. I have a number of items that sell quite well there and that is how we survive there. I haven't seen your jewelry and I can't give you an opinion on whether or not it would sell. But your secret to your success will be your ability to keep your overhead down. Minimize expenses. Try it and see what happens. |
|
|
|
Post by suktexas on Sept 14, 2009 15:06:47 GMT -5
dave, thank you very much for your information. i have only learned and made beaded jewelry for 2 - 3 month. i do have a unfinished website diyjewelrycomponents.com , and it is still not yet finished and it is not open to public for ordering yet. i am just break even with my show rental space with my sales now, so it is not exciting at all. i try to make my jewelry to fit all kind of snowbirds but mostly close to a lower price range which is walmart price for handmade jewelry. this year, i hope to try to let them pick up their beads, finding, clasp,... and then either they make their own jewelry or i make it for them. you said, you have a premium site, is the cost higher than the rest of the booth. i do email tyson wells, she or he email me back and they will be back to work oct 1, 2009 and i ask him or her (kym) if they have space. i do know the sell-a-rama is expensive than the arts & crafts so there must be a lot of more people. how about arts & crafts show? in your experience are they good show for you? i understand you are going to do the sell-a-rama, but not sure if you are going to do the arts & crafts show? i will try to lower my expenses and tighten my belt, usually first year is not a profitable show anywhere and especially this year the economy is bad enough. |
|
|
|
Post by weesewcute on Sept 14, 2009 23:23:13 GMT -5
I used to do the mineral and gem show every year for about 4 years. It has been some time since I have been there. It is huge. Lots a people. We did it mostly for the wholesale hookups. I remember one year it rained and it knocked a huge tent over. The middle just fell in. Part of it used to be in this huge field with tents. I remember a friend of ours had stuff damaged in the whole mess. We stayed in the van and then in town a few nights. .
|
|
