# Anyone know how boutiques work?



## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

I sell my goat milk soap at the local farmer's market and do ok with it. About a month ago I did a craft show in a different town and another seller there approached me about some dog treats my daughter was selling. They were selling really well and actually she sold out at the show. This lady said she had a craft store in a nearby town and would be interested in having our dog treats there. I'm not 100% sure but I'm pretty sure she meant buy them to resale. My whole impression of this discussion was that it was a wholesale type deal.

I told her thank you so much as my daughter is 15, has high functioning Autism, and is really motivated to make some money. I told her we would need to work on it though as we needed to perfect packaging (we were just selling in baggies with a label) and fine tune which treats we would offer etc.
So, I have put a lot of time into researching the best price for different bags, ordering samples (thankfully they were free) and trying out different recipes for longest shelf life, appeal, etc.
I've emailed her back in forth during this time. Finally had it all narrowed down this week as to the treat types, packaging, prices and emailed it to her. Of course I am doing a wholesale price on this b/c that is what i think it is.
She emails me back that she would like 50 bags and "We have a contract that is month-to-month, and a small fee of $20 per month. I can email you a contract"

So, I already know she is going to mark the treats up so she gets that PLUS $20 more a month from me? I emailed her back that I was confused and my understanding was that we were selling wholesale to her. She emails me back that she is sorry and acknoweledged that she did not mention that fee before.

Am I wrong that this ticks me off? Number 1 I would have set the price higher to her so she would not make such a profit. I feel like she was just waiting to see what my wholesale price was and then letting me know the real story. Additionally I don't believe I would be getting paid up front and she still hasn't emailed me the contract as I asked her to.
The second thing that ticks me off and may just be the overprotective mom in me is that I expressed my gratitude to her on behalf of my daughter and that doing this was to benefit her. I may just be overly sensitive on that part I'm not sure! I feel badly that I'm probably not going to go through with this and thus feel like I'm letting Erin down.

On the other hand, I would like to get in this shop, it's in a nice location and she does have really nice items. However, I have a bad taste in my mouth now about it and feeling kind of like I don't want to deal with her. I would not be selling them to her for the price I quoted her and don't know if I want to discuss it further with her.

If anyone here sells to boutiques can you tell me if it's a pretty common practice to get a percentage of the selling price PLUS a monthly fee? Do you get paid up front or only if your item sells. With jewelry that might be fine but dog treats only have a certain shelf life and I can't see bringing in 50 bags just because she "feels" she might sell them and then me having to discard them if they don't
thanks!
Cara


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

IDK anything about boutiques, BUT if I were in your shoes I'd tell her that your original pricing quote did not take the $20 fee in account. Say of course you know she understands that your pricing covers cost of materials, labor, and any fees assessed, while still leaving enough profit to make the whole endeavor worth your time, and as such your new wholesale pricing is now $X.

You shouldn't have to take a hit to your bottom line here. She didn't disclose all the fees up front, and now that she has you have every right to adjust your prices.

Think of it this way: If you didn't realize that you had to give a percentage of your sales to both eBay and PayPal, and you set a buy-it-now price designed to cover your expenses and make the profit that makes that item worth your time to make....THEN you got hit with the fees, I guarantee the next time you listed that item you'd have adjusted your price to include those fees and still make enough money for it to be worth your while.

No difference here IMO.


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## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

Thanks, that's a very good way of looking at it and you're right. I will have to go up .50/bag to cover her fee. That cuts into her profit but if she wants to buy from me thats the price I have to set.


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## hiddensprings (Aug 6, 2009)

I sell wholesale to small shops and also do some consignment. I prefer if they just buy wholesale outright. I set the price, have a minimum, and they have to pay when they order until we have built a nice relationship and then I will do net 30. The consignment shops that I work with, I tell them what I want for each item and then they mark it up to get their percentage. I've never paid anyone a fee for the priviledge of them selling my items. It sounds more like she is renting you space to put your doggie treats. (a small space, but that is what it sounds like)


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## mtnviewfarms (Apr 18, 2011)

I have a in-home 'hobby' business ( i.e., probably spend more $$ on top quality ingredients to make my products, pkging, labeling, and don't even count my time, etc. than I ever will make selling my products ) but I am disabled and it keeps me busy and I love it.

I also sell at local farmers markets and - over the last decade - have built up quite a good client and repeating customer base for my hand made totally natural high end skin care products formulated specifically to meet the particular needs of maturing skin and
do quite well selling 'face to face' to my 'market' of older women like me.

My products are packaged and labeled very professionally and I am consistently 'approached' by people who own and or mange 'boutiques', retail stores, spas, etc. who are 'interested' in selling my products.

I've 'been there and done that' several times and only had one instance where it turned
out quite well. A friend had a high end retail store on our quaint downtown small town
square ( we live in a very touristy area of the north GA mountains near Atlanta ). She
owned the store and set me up a very nice sales area complete with nice shelves in a
very high traffic part of her store and I put in my products and marked them up so she
could get 33 percent of the sale. Since I had marked them up we all did well but with the economic downturn several years ago her store closed.

All others who have 'approached' me about it wanted me to take all the risk - i.e., tie
up my merchandise in their store while customers pawed them and messed up the labels and opened containers that were not the designated 'samples' that were clearly
marked - thus ruining the products and making them useless garbage I had to throw
away along with any profit. Meanwhile, the retailer gets to have his/her store look very
well stocked with great 'locally handcrafted natural' items while taking no risk - other than providing some space. If they sell then they make $$ if not then we have to take
them back and make nothing. I have NEVER had the experience of a retailer who was willing to purchase my
products labeled and packaged for a wholesale bulk price - pay me up front and wait to get their $$ back when
the items/products sold.

I now only sell at my local farmers markets and through my own website that I created using Publisher 97 software I purchased 10 years ago at a flea market for $1 and I use
free webspace that my phone/web provider used to offer but no longer does and forgot
that they ever did so I have no web fees or anything. 

I get my business cards printed by Vistaprint for next to nothing and was able to design
it all myself on their site for free as well as order gorgeous matching banner that I use
on my sales tables at the markets.

Sorry you are having to deal with this, especially since you are trying to help your
daughter but, sadly, your experience is not that uncommon.


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## tentance (Aug 16, 2012)

in florida the cottage industry laws would not let you sell dog treats to stores. do be sure to check and make sure it's ok.


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## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

Sorry so slow getting back to this. Thank you all so much for the replies! She actually said I should go up another $1/bag so all that's covered. I'll give it through the holidays and see how it goes. I do have a store that buys my soap wholesale, took her some bags left over from my craft show last weekend and she jumped right on to order some. 
Tentance, thanks I will double check on putting them in her shop. I know people that sell them already in the same situations but will double check to be sure.


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