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Some crafters don’t like to ship their handmade Silhouette or Cricut crafts to their customers and offer local pickups instead.
The most important thing to remember if you are doing customer meet and greets to sell your crafts is SAFETY.
7 Local Pick Up Tips for Craft Business Owners
1) Offer a set day and time. Consider offering a set pickup day, time, and location where you can meet with everyone whose orders are complete. For example, if your Thursday evenings are generally free offer pickup at 6:00pm in the police station parking lot. This saves time to have everyone meet with you at one time, plus it can be advertised when the order is placed. Anyone that misses the pickup can choose to have the item shipped or wait until the next pickup day.
2) Always meet in a public place. Many police stations offer local pickup meet and greets in their parking lot or inside their lobby. You do not need to make special arrangements with the police department.
3) Always have your customers prepay for their items. No one wants to create an item and then have a customer disappear without paying!
4) Use your porch. If your customers are family or friends, consider placing a decorative box on your front porch or step. Once their item is completed, drop it in the box and let them know they can pick it up at their leisure from your porch.
5) Don’t get discouraged! Customers will not always follow through, even if they have paid for an item. There is no need to arrange special pickup times, dates, or places. If a customer keeps “forgetting” to pick up their items, simply contact them and tell them the items will be shipped after payment is received due to multiple no shows.
6) Deliver for a fee. If you have an extra large item and the customer needs it delivered, charge them a fee for delivery, which can be either flat rate or flat rate plus millage ($10 for the first 10 miles and $1 for each additional).
7) Set rules and follow them. Last, create a list of ground rules and stick to them. I don’t sell many of my craft items anymore, but my personal list is: 1) I only meet customers that I know, meaning friends and family. 2) All items are left on my porch on the day of pickup. I would have already collected payment for the items, so no payment would be needed. 3) After 2 no show days, items are mailed at the expense of the customer.
Oh! Before you go – skip using your mailbox for pickups at home. It’s actually against Federal laws in the US to use your mailbox for any deliveries or pickups not done by the USPS.
If you’d prefer to ship your items instead, head to this section of the blog.
Since 2015, Christine Schinagl has been helping crafters start and run craft businesses through her blog, Cutting for Business. As a Silhouette and Cricut crafter herself, she has a unique take on what works and what doesn’t work in the craft business world. She also teaches a course on creating digital SVG designs, available at How to Design SVGs.