First, maybe I should lay out my “credentials.” I do not have a degree in marketing (mine is in English Literature for that matter) what I do have is over five years of experience managing a small Interior Design Shop and Gift Boutique. I have the “inside” track as the one you were trying to get to sell YOUR products (hypothetically). So here is what I’ve learned from being on both sides of the fence.

-How to wholesale. That means that someone who presumably owns a shop has more than likely approached you and asked if you sell your items wholesale. This is a personal choice here, you can choose to say yes or no. If you say yes, the retailer will expect that your wholesale price be approximately 50% of what your shop is listing, they have overhead to pay and are the ones doing the marketing and advertising for you so they need to be able to mark it up 50% in order to make it worth their time and investment. If you don’t already have that built into your listing price then you might want to consider whether this is a good deal for you as well.

The benefits of selling in retail shops are to get your name out there and grow your business. The more places you can get your product, the more chances you have selling it. One note, if you plan to wholesale, then the seller might ask you to remove your etsy web address from your tags. Why would a buyer purchase from the retailer if they can get it straight from you? The way to avoid having to re-do all of your labels, tags, etc. is to tell the retailer that you will list your items at the same retail price that they have. Again, you can make more money this way from the people who DO buy direct and still have the benefit of having your products in retail shops. You also have more wiggle room for when you want to have sales and promotions on etsy.

The retailer may also ask if you have order minimums, lead times, reorder minimums, etc. These are all up to you, but you need to know what they are and have answers prepared so that you aren’t caught off guard. Order / re-order minimums can be done in monetary value or quantity. Again, this depends upon the product, a $50 minimum when each item retails at $50 means you only get 2 sold to this retailer… be smart but don’t over shoot it either. Lead times are how long it will take to get the order together and ship it (the lead time does NOT usually include how long it takes in transit). Be sure that your shipping costs are fair for both parties, use the best way possible to get the items to your retailer in good condition and offer insurance for them to purchase if the items should get damaged in shipment. This is available through the PO as well as the major carriers like UPS and FedEx.