Ethically making money from a hobby that's other people's full time job
October 21, 2018 10:08 PM Subscribe
I'm a potter. It's a hobby, but I'm good enough at it to sell my work for non-negligible money. How do I do this without stepping on the toes of the many people I know who do it for a living?
I'd love to hear from people who sell things they make professionally and otherwise!
I make functional pottery. I'm very good at it. A few years ago people I gave pottery to as gifts started asking if they could buy things from me. This evolved into having an Etsy store and now (tentatively, anxiously) selling things to strangers in person. This isn't my job - I do something else full time - and I realistically don't want it to be. I do appreciate making a little money from this and also love doing it.
I take classes at a community studio with a solid residency program and have a wheel at home. I fire things at the studio and make them in both places. For specialized firings, I don't sell things I made unless I participated in the firing, and I try to support the resident artists there by doing things like buying their work and encouraging other people to.
As I start selling my work more, I want to be more mindful of the needs of the many people I know whose whole income is from this kind of work. What do I need to be thinking about in terms of pricing, marketing, etc. so I don't interfere with people's livelihood or sabotage my own practice? How do others navigate this? Am I overthinking this (yes)?
I'd love to hear from people who sell things they make professionally and otherwise!
I make functional pottery. I'm very good at it. A few years ago people I gave pottery to as gifts started asking if they could buy things from me. This evolved into having an Etsy store and now (tentatively, anxiously) selling things to strangers in person. This isn't my job - I do something else full time - and I realistically don't want it to be. I do appreciate making a little money from this and also love doing it.
I take classes at a community studio with a solid residency program and have a wheel at home. I fire things at the studio and make them in both places. For specialized firings, I don't sell things I made unless I participated in the firing, and I try to support the resident artists there by doing things like buying their work and encouraging other people to.
As I start selling my work more, I want to be more mindful of the needs of the many people I know whose whole income is from this kind of work. What do I need to be thinking about in terms of pricing, marketing, etc. so I don't interfere with people's livelihood or sabotage my own practice? How do others navigate this? Am I overthinking this (yes)?
I'd say the biggest way you can make sure not to undermine those who do this work for a living is to ensure you are charging at least as much as they are.
In other words, just because you don't rely on the income from your pottery to survive, it doesn't mean you can just charge a token amount for your pieces, because that will cause people to undervalue the work of others.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:17 PM on October 21, 2018 [158 favorites]
In other words, just because you don't rely on the income from your pottery to survive, it doesn't mean you can just charge a token amount for your pieces, because that will cause people to undervalue the work of others.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:17 PM on October 21, 2018 [158 favorites]
The most important thing is that you price fairly so that you do not undercut professionals who do this for a living. Do not charge less because you're doing this as a hobby and only need to recoup the cost of materials and make a bit on the side. This makes life very difficult for professionals who need sales to pay their bills and support their families because customers would just zero in the lowest prices assuming the quality of the products is of an equivalent level.
If you spend any time around craft forums, amateurs who undercut everyone by selling labor-intensive pieces using premium materials because they don't need to make a living since they have a job or is supported by a spouse is a common cause of complaints.
Otherwise fair's fair market-wise. Let the market decide if your products are worth buying.
posted by whitelotus at 10:17 PM on October 21, 2018 [34 favorites]
If you spend any time around craft forums, amateurs who undercut everyone by selling labor-intensive pieces using premium materials because they don't need to make a living since they have a job or is supported by a spouse is a common cause of complaints.
Otherwise fair's fair market-wise. Let the market decide if your products are worth buying.
posted by whitelotus at 10:17 PM on October 21, 2018 [34 favorites]
Edit: Urghh. Sorry I meant selling labor-intensive pieces using premium materials at absurdly low prices that ensure little profit. People who need to pay their bills as a crafter just cannot afford to sell a thingamajig that takes weeks to make and uses pure gold for say, fifty bucks when they should be charging hundreds.
posted by whitelotus at 10:32 PM on October 21, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by whitelotus at 10:32 PM on October 21, 2018 [8 favorites]
I know people who are doing exactly what you're doing. Namely, they are full-time professionals who devote a lot of their free time to making beautiful functional pottery. They are very successful. They also are thoughtful and spread the word about community art spaces and other artists. Maybe some of the artists they know secretly harbor a professional envy (I doubt it), but there's no real way to consider a part-time hobbiest is competition to a full-time professional. On volume alone, it's a non-starter. A leisure-time potter can't make enough volume to truly compete with someone who has made this a career. Being able to sell your work at market rate (critically important in order to not damage the professional market) is a bonus, but it shouldn't define this part of your life. If you're not undercutting other artists with discount pricing, there's no issue at all. It's great you've found a fulfilling artistic outlet within a community you care deeply about and support.
posted by quince at 10:56 PM on October 21, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by quince at 10:56 PM on October 21, 2018 [6 favorites]
I work in a field that people sometimes do as a hobby, and sometimes for free, either because it is a hobby of theirs or because people trying to make it a career think doing it for free will help them break their way into the business. It's not people doing it as a hobby that bugs me - it's the people who do it for free and cheapen my labor. So, like others said, just charge the fair going rate for these pieces so the market stays competitive and these professional potters can still earn a living from their work. Otherwise, it doesn't matter what your particular motivation or financial situation is. If people like your work and are willing to pay for it, go for it.
posted by AppleTurnover at 1:11 AM on October 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by AppleTurnover at 1:11 AM on October 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
You need to not underprice, and after that it's all good.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:29 AM on October 22, 2018
posted by DarlingBri at 2:29 AM on October 22, 2018
Don't worry about it.
Really, as a hobbyist on a shared kiln, you're not likely going to finish and sell enough pieces to put a full-timer out of work.
posted by mdrew at 4:12 AM on October 22, 2018 [6 favorites]
Really, as a hobbyist on a shared kiln, you're not likely going to finish and sell enough pieces to put a full-timer out of work.
posted by mdrew at 4:12 AM on October 22, 2018 [6 favorites]
Don't underprice. If anything, price a little higher. If you want to go the extra mile, build community with other potters when you can, and promote their work when you have the opportunity.
posted by bile and syntax at 5:41 AM on October 22, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by bile and syntax at 5:41 AM on October 22, 2018 [5 favorites]
Take some of your profit and donate cash to your local food bank. If you want to get more specific, look around you for resources for local artists and give cash there.
posted by disconnect at 7:33 AM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by disconnect at 7:33 AM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Thank you for being thoughtful about this!
As others have said, don't underprice. I ran a handmade business for almost a decade and it was painful to watch someone sell an item similar to mine for $10 when I needed to charge $80 to cover my time and materials. Hobbyists who do this perpetuate the idea that artisans' time isn't worth paying for. Fulltime artisans are already competing with mass-market stuff from places like Walmart, so hobbyists who insist on underpricing because they personally don't need the money just add another layer of frustration.
And to add to disconnect's great idea, you might find some solid leads if you connect with your local arts community. When I lived in a city with an active arts scene, there was always at least one arts-related nonprofit looking for donations of money or artisan items (to be auctioned, etc.). Since you're not depending on income from your pottery, donating a piece here and there might be a way to support the community.
posted by QuickedWeen at 8:15 AM on October 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
As others have said, don't underprice. I ran a handmade business for almost a decade and it was painful to watch someone sell an item similar to mine for $10 when I needed to charge $80 to cover my time and materials. Hobbyists who do this perpetuate the idea that artisans' time isn't worth paying for. Fulltime artisans are already competing with mass-market stuff from places like Walmart, so hobbyists who insist on underpricing because they personally don't need the money just add another layer of frustration.
And to add to disconnect's great idea, you might find some solid leads if you connect with your local arts community. When I lived in a city with an active arts scene, there was always at least one arts-related nonprofit looking for donations of money or artisan items (to be auctioned, etc.). Since you're not depending on income from your pottery, donating a piece here and there might be a way to support the community.
posted by QuickedWeen at 8:15 AM on October 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
As a hobby-potter in a situation VERY similar to yours, who is trying to pivot to making it a more professional gig, I'd like to nᵗʰ the sentiment not to underprice your work. I've seen other hobby-potters at the studio I often work in sell large pieces that took many hours to make for ridiculously low prices like $20 just because they want to get rid of it. Don't do this, it creates the expectation that nice hand-made pottery is CHEAP. Either give it away for free as a gift, or sell it at a fair market price. If you need to mark-down an item, make sure it's marked "ON SALE" or "CLEARANCE" or "SECONDS" or something so people know they're getting a deal and this isn't what they should expect full-price pottery to cost.
The easiest thing to do would be to look up what other professional potters are selling pieces similar to yours for. Try to gauge how much time it took to make your pieces and find other pieces that look like they took a similar amount of time. A simple mug with a single glaze is going to be priced quite a bit differently from a mug with 2 hours of sgraffito work and multiple under/over glazes. I've often used Etsy to gauge fair market prices. If your work is objectively really nice, skew toward the higher end of market prices, if your stuff is a little rougher skill-wise, skew a bit lower.
posted by Calyx Valerian at 11:20 AM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
The easiest thing to do would be to look up what other professional potters are selling pieces similar to yours for. Try to gauge how much time it took to make your pieces and find other pieces that look like they took a similar amount of time. A simple mug with a single glaze is going to be priced quite a bit differently from a mug with 2 hours of sgraffito work and multiple under/over glazes. I've often used Etsy to gauge fair market prices. If your work is objectively really nice, skew toward the higher end of market prices, if your stuff is a little rougher skill-wise, skew a bit lower.
posted by Calyx Valerian at 11:20 AM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Maybe not the answer you're looking for but a friend of mine is in your situation - she's very serious about the craft and her work is very popular. She feels it's unethical to sell her work anywhere but club sales events; reasoning that as long as she's using the club facilities to fire, she owes something back to them.
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:20 PM on October 22, 2018
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:20 PM on October 22, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
Honestly - and I have several friends who are potters - do your thing. By that, I mean, YOUR thing. Not anyone else's. Don't worry about what others are doing or not. Plate. Beans. Turn, turn turn.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 10:13 PM on October 21, 2018 [41 favorites]