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mercykatze · 2 months

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I have some more questions! What’s the most popular forms of merchandise you guys sell, what’s your favourite, what else have you seen around, and if you were to branch out into more stuff, what would you try? :-)

I know from my own observations that some common stuff is pins, stickers, prints, keychains- but I’ve seen some obscure things such as patterned fabrics, comics/zines, sculptures, figurines, sticker hoarder books (which seem to be on the rise) plushies, etc.

clove wrote another nice long piece that summarised all my thoughts too so i'll put all that below

TLDR

most popular by quantity - badges most popular by profits - keychain or prints favourite to sell - zines best starter merch - anything you can make at home! things I'd like to do next - sticker books, pens, embroidery dream merch - plushies

every piece of merch has their ups and downs, and I find that some forms that I never have luck with selling fly off other people's tables and vice versa. it's all about finding your niche and what flows well with your style and business model.

for context for others, this is a summary my experience selling at large weekend long pop culture cons in Australia. this is going to be different for online sales, or for stalls at smaller events aimed at different audiences. adjust your stock accordingly. any prices I mention are in AUD

here's my thoughts

prints

always have prints. even if you haven't made much proper print worthy art, get some finished art printed up to put on the wall. I don't understand people that don't do this! prints have THE biggest cost to profit ratio (costs about $0.50-$3 to print and $5-30 to sell) and it makes your display eye catching from a distance, showing people what you're all about. I honestly haven't worked out the exact science to what makes a print a good seller, and sometimes prints I think will be a hit get zero sales. however, when they are hits I've sold upwards of 30 copies of it! find a local print shop for best service. i get 4-8 copies for most prints to start off

keychains

always a hit but the problem with keychains is the market is very competitive and saturated, so you really have to keep up with the trends. when I started selling at cons I handmade keychains with inkjet shrink film in the oven. these days everything is holo and glow in the dark and has fancy clasps. I think how you go about this depends on your art style and business model. i prefer the simple ones! it matches my very simple cartoony style. for your basic keychains, production price is about $3-5 and standard sell price is $15-20. I sell mine for $10 as most of the fandoms I draw for have young teen audiences and I want them to be able to afford it. I always accidentally understock but I'd recc 5-15 pieces per design with vograces low moq

enamel pins

high risk high reward! the sucky thing about enamel pins is the high moq if you're starting out. this is an investment you might want to wait to get into when you've found your niche. shipping is expensive too cause of the weight. i avoid fandoms and current trends if I can help it so I'm not left with a ton of stock when the hype fades. usual minimum order quantity is 50, and after you factor shipping from the manu in each pins cost averages to $2-5 depending on complexity. my sell price is $10 which is honestly too low but I haven't been bothered to check what other ppl sell theirs for lmao.

stickers

I'm mad about this one cause officeworks stopped stocking the only brand of sticker paper I trust. I know there's more brands out there but they're very expensive and some smudge so I've been ordering stickers since. if you can, print and cut your own stickers. either way production cost is usually 10-50c a sticker and I still sell them for $1 each but will likely increase that to $2 soon. this is solely cause stickers are on the table for the main purpose of people getting rid of their loose change, or for people who want to support us in exchange for having a nice chat with them. it is perfectly respectable to price your stickers from $3-5 for basic ones, and higher if they're large or there is something special about them! I sell about 50-200 stickers total per con, but I couldn't tell you what that boils down to per design cause it varies greatly

badges

BUY A BADGE PRESS. they cost like $90 from ebay last i checked and you will make that back instantly. you can print designs on your printer at home quickly and on demand. you can put anything on badges. they're an awesome space filler. fandom art, personal art, funny catch phrases, goofy edits, pronouns… i also recently learnt about cold laminate holo vinyl plastic to put on top which has changed the game. idk the exacts but the cost per piece for at home badge production is maybe? 10c? I sell them $2 for a 32mm small and $3 for a 54mm large. I sell 200-300 badges a con. buy a badge maker.

zines

zines are a talkpiece and a way to connect with other artists. they're your way of spreading your passion to the world. make zines. sell zines. trade zines. I print them at home on printer paper and sell them $2-5 each. there are dedicated zine collectors who make the rounds at cons, and zines (like the stickers!) are often purchased by ppl who like you and want to support you but aren't into your pricier or fandomy stuff. I never bring leftover zines home from a con cause I've always sold / handed out them all. biggest downside is they are hard to display once you have a lot !!

bookmarks

okay seller. people like them and they're cheap. I just don't like displaying them or making them and i just dont think many people read books these days but if I have spare room on the table or wall I'll put them up. I sell for $2-4 each. they usually sell (even when I don't have any displayed. somehow). ive had some people tell me they consider them mini-prints cause they cant afford actual prints. good cheap merch option when starting out and a table filler. not my jam.

notebooks

the thing about notebooks is… my demographic doesn't want to buy notebooks. I think they would be a hit if you drew nature or animals or ghibli stuff etc. I ran a kickstarter a couple years back but was unable to fulfil the orders (bad planning, my fault. a friend is dealing with it now) so I have somewhere close to 300 notebooks in my house. I've tried selling the excess at cons but i only make sales if I severely underprice them. might be a good slow seller if you only buy 10 at a time, not 300

notepads

sell worse than notebooks! no clue why! I love them and they're cheap! I think maybe people overlook them and don't realise what they are. sad.

pillows

great seller for me !!! however this is one of the ones where, by observstion, I make more sales from than others who sell the same product do. theyre the custom printed pillows from vograce, for context. production cost is high, about $10 a pillow I think. I originally sold them for $25 but raised it to $30 when I realised how much stuffing cost. surely you can buy cheaper stuffing online but I always end up running to spotlight or lincraft the week before the con and spending $70 on it. I can sell 10-30 pillows a con but I think I'm an outlier there. start with low quantities when you don't know what your niche is yet

lanyards

I love them! mine sold moderately okay but it's one of the things I took joy in making, yknow :) cost was about $2 per and I sold them for $12. sold about 10

tote bags

not a great seller at all, unfortunately!! perhaps it's cause the only ones I've made so far have had my ocs on them. they are another merch item I adore though so I don't mind having them as a slow seller. I also give them out to people who spend over a certain amount. costs are very variable

lanyard keychains

technically a keychain but different in my head. it has a mini lanyard and also acrylic keychains on it. I sell these at rat shows for $20 each and they sell fast. slower mover at cons tho

pencil cases

they sell okay. they cost about $2-4 to make each and I sell them for about $8-12. slow seller for me

temporary tattoos

I've only sold these at one con so far so I haven't gotten a good read on the vibes. they are so cool though :) please take into account skin colours because I didn't (fsr I thought they'd be opaque) and even on my pale skin you can see discolouration. next time I make designs they will be lineart only, cause I really don't want to have to explain to someone they shouldn't buy it cause their skin is too dark and it will come out shit. think I sold them for $4 each

commissions

hugely variable by con, and hugely variable by artist. I do "sketch page" commissions which is an a5 page of me just drawing mini doodles with a ballpoint pen and poscas whatever stuff comes into my head based on the prompt / character until the page is full. this sets me apart from other artists (though please don't worry about overstepping if you also want to try this) and harnesses the elements of my style that people like the most. it also means I can do little bits and pieces between serving people. other artists will do one large sketch, or a full inked drawing, or ipad comms, or just take commission requests for after the cons. I can't really speak to the success of those methods because I've never really asked. I charge $20 for a page of doodles and can get anywhere from 3 to 25 requests over a weekend. I originally charged $10 a page (i thought after are all, they're just silly doodles) but was so overbooked I spent the entire con with my head down and had a queue so long I was turning people away. don't undercut yourself here!! usual issues with undervaluing your comms aside, you want some time to enjoy the con too :) if you're overrun, raise the price point next time to cut down the demand.

lucky dips

people love lucky dips! it's psychology! these are especially successful for ppl with higher priced merch to make a good multi-buy bargain, or mainstream fandoms where every option is a good choice (pokemon, ghibli, animal crossing). I don't see a big point in us in particular making lucky dips, especially since the content of our table is Highly varied. I would recommend it if all of your stuff was in a similar category. the times we have made lucky dips before was to get rid of excess discontinued stock cheap, and once we had a "gender lucky dip" which included a set of random pronoun badges and pride stickers. it was silly and people had a laugh :)

and I'm so sorry that this is so long as is, but I'm trusting that you're still reading because this is valuable insight and well you asked. (honestly I'm considering I should write up an official guide thanks to you. I enjoy writing about my experiences, insights and and you're right that this info is hard to find!)

but since you asked and since I want to answer, here's my thoughts on stuff we don't sell

washi tape - don't like the idea for my own business model. I love the concept but for a small quantity the cost per production is higher than I would like it to be for what I'd want to sell it for. as I've said, my audience is mostly teens who usually have low funds. I would feel awful pricing such a small item at such a high price!! I personally would like to charge $5 for it, but they are usually sold for about $10-15 (rightfully so!)

standees - not for me, I don't believe my style would suit it. leave that to the anime artists.

patterned fabrics - this costs a lot more than you'd think, tbh. would be best to buy in bulk or if your niche was craft based. if I ever had a plan for how to execute this, I would. but as of now I don't.

comics - this is the dreaaammm. biggest problem is the time for creation. people do go around cons though just to collect original works. do this for yourself if anything, not to sell at a con

sticker hoarder books - at the most recent con I've sold at, many people were disappointed to find my notebooks weren't sticker books. big market for it right now.

sculptures/figurines/handmade plushies - this isnt something i would personally make (skill issue, literally), but its high risk high reward to me. you really need to value your own time and work, so these would r often priced high. means you only have to sell a couple to profit, but if they don't sell. ouch.

manufactured plushies - would LOVE to do this. would require lots of research but it's the dream to me. I'm not in the stage of life to work on this, too much on my plate elsewhere

ceramics- jay bought me a hand painted ceramic dish with tamagotchi characters on it :) I think it cost a lot of money. it was so cool.

embroidered stuff - another thing I would love to get into when I have less going on. oh to have an embroidery machine and time to make things with it

rugs - people love rugs right now theyre all the rage. I love them at least. I would love to make some :)

mouse pads - would try these one day. sounds fun

wooden pins / charms - inevitably will do one day. they personally have less appeal to me than enamel pins and acrylic charms tho. less versatile

fake video game boxes - ok this is just a personal idea / project but I had started editing the box art for a fake total drama ds game then skinned all my wife's ds game boxes to make and sell them. I gotta look more into the logistics and also this isn't a thing yet lol

earrings - pretty popular right now! I wouldn't make them bc my ears are hyper sensitive and it'd make me too sad

jewellery in general - more risky than earrings. I've seen this go badly for ppl before lol

pens / pencils - I would love to make and sell these!!

socks - I like to consider what stuff I personally like buying, and I love fun sock designs !!

fridge magnets - you can get printer magnet paper to print from home. good beginner merch

greeting cards - I think this is a good idea. depends on audience. probs not the best for me personally

I could probably go on forever about other various small ideas and niche things so I'll stop here. hope you enjoyed my ramblings :)

#this is almost novel length but we hope you find it helpful!#or at least enjoyable to read #merch ref

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mercykatze · 2 months

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Hey there, I have some questions about selling zines in Australia? I apologise if it’s rude to ask about stuff like business, but I simply can’t find this info anywhere, so please forgive me.

How much do you stock per convention? Does it depend on where you’re selling? Do people buy original works? How did you start, how was that experience? How hard is it, as a beginner seller in Brisbane, to find venues to sell? How do you print your zines, at home or with a service?

Many thanks if you do answer, if not no worries. :-)

Not rude at all, I'm happy to answer!! Clove and I are big advocates of Zines For Everyone so the more people who have this info, the better!!

Clove and I both wrote out our answers so I'll put them under the cut here because they got pretty long! We are Passionate abt zines <3

For new zines at cons, it depends a lot on the content of that particular zine as to how much we print. Like with our old art compilation zines for example, that's a popular 'genre' right now so we printed about 12 of each. For something more obscure/niche like cloves MediZine, we printed about 5 from memory. If the zine sells well or even if people just seem to like it (even if they don't buy) we try to up the number a little or keep it steady at 12-15. Even if it doesn't sell super well, we still try to keep 3 or 4 in stock because you never know when you'll find the right person for it.

At least at the locations we sell at, there isn't a huge difference that I've noticed when it comes to zine sales. At cons there are zine hunters who hit up anyone who sells zines and we end up trading almost as many as we sell! Same goes for the nonbinary festivals that we've attended.

Original stuff absolutely sells and in my experience often sells better than fandom. People who are into zines are usually into supporting original works from artists too. Honestly as long as the zine is something you're passionate about, no matter the subject, someone will love it.

We make and print all of our zines at home. A lot of the time we use Electric Zine Maker which is a really helpful and easy to use tool and it prints guidelines on how to cut and fold which makes it super simple. And once you know the basics of zine making, it's also super easy to make one in your preferred art program and convert it to the right dimensions.

I skipped the venues question because clove is writing up an answer too and has more experience in that particular place than I (Jay) do. (I kinda just stole a seat at their goldnova table one year and never left haha) I'll post eir response down here vv

sorry I have A LOT TO SAY because I love zines and I love talking about what goes into selling merch !! there really isn't a lot of info out there about it, so this is basically a general summary of all of my thoughts on the matter. I tried to hit all of the points in your question, but this can act as a general guide as well for anyone who wants to get into making and selling zines.

first off I want to say YES people buy original works !! people will buy Any merch you have if they can see that you have passion into it, and zines are one of the most passion filled things out there. zines also help boost the sales of everything you're selling, as when you explain the zine and your passion to them, they will want to buy more things to support you. zines and original works are also a good option to have for people who want to support you, but aren't into any of your fandoms.

location and event are really big factors yes and there's no one size fits all. I usually print around 6-12 of each zine, but this is with the expectation of giving out a lot of them for free or in trades. zines also aren't our biggest item so it might be different if that's all you're selling.

for selling in general, I jumped straight into the deep end and started selling at the biggest con in the city when I had just turned 17. I did not make all my money back but it was a blast. I wouldn't recommend this as a business tactic but it sure was a fun experience!!

as for selling zines in particular, I started off by overthinking it all which I do NOT recommend and is the antithesis of zines. a lot of fandom zines these days are high production which is brilliant but puts a lot of pressure on a medium that started off being low budget and fun. the most important thing about zines is to have fun and make stupid shit. of course you will also want to make gems and you will, but don't let that stop you from making a zine that's just a list of things you saw on a walk once. people will buy it and they will love it.

we print at home for most of our zines. they will come out janky, that is okay!! I've looked into some professional printing services for some larger projects, and I have been recommended the site mixam for that, but I never went through with it for whatever reason. if your home printer isn't that good, officeworks has cheap self served printing. but honestly a simple Canon ink jet printer is under $100 and if you buy ink refill packs online (check out inkstation) it pays for itself. I would also recommend downloading the program electric zine maker as another tool in your pocket for making some quick and easy and super fun zines, especially for 8-folds.

honestly we only have experience selling at the larger and harder to get into venues, since we both work full time so can only afford to do 2 or 3 big weekends a year rather than lots of little ones. I would recommend joining a Facebook group for local merch artists as people often share events and their application dates there. the community is very kind in general in Brisbane so don't be afraid to reach out and ask the hosts of smaller venues. even if you don't get in you will learn something for next time

zines are also special in the way that they're often used for sharing ideas on top of just selling. I would recommend next time you go to a con or art event to bring some of your own zines and offer trades to anyone whose zine you like. I always make it clear that I'm equally happy to pay to purchase one of their zines so they don't feel pressured, but I find that about 70% of artists are happy to trade. this helps get your name out there and to build strong connections in the community

I hope some of this helped. I hope to see you at the next event we sell at with some zines to trade :) whether or not you're officially selling there!!

#not art #zines #merch ref #definitely hit us up at our next event to say hi!!#we are unfortunately missing goldnova this year but we're looking into other options!

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