For Sale: Woodworking Kits

[SonomaProducts.com]

Thx, super good input. I will adjust my approach in the future.

[Lobby Dosser]

Well... I meant to add pictures of finished pieces to the ebay listing but somehow forgot. I'll probaby update that tonight.

If the ebay visitor goes into my website to see the pdf's of assembly docs, the additional pics are there and I can see that the ebay postings are generating traffic to my product pages with the pine kits.

I really appreciate the input. I'm not saying I won't adjust my methods, I was just describing my current approach.

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Here's what you are up against:

This stuff is USA made and the unfinished, alder, three drawer, shaker nightstand gets loaded into my truck for $110.00. I imagine every metro area in the country has at least one of these outfits..

Best of luck, but e-bay does not seem a good place to sell furniture.

[krw]

I guess I'm really going to be waiting a long time then. I prefer cherry. ;-)

[SonomaProducts.com]

The Jack London and some of the Vintners Estate line will come in Cherry. The coffee and end tables for sure. Maybe by summer.

[krw]

I know your site said they came in the various woods, but if you were waiting until you could get a carload of white oak I figured I wouldn't live long enough for the cherry. ;-) Please post here if you do start selling them.

[Rod & BJ Jacobson]

My son works occaisionally for a contractor that in his off time builds planter benches, picnic tables etc. and seems to move quite a few of them via Craigslist.....if your halfway near a urban area (busy local list) it could help with sales....Rod

[Kevin(Bluey)]

Im in Australia ,so the shipping would be deadly , plus the quarantine delays and possibly costs because of the timber content of the shipment.

[tommyboy]

Make a short video of yourself putting the table together from the kit parts. Better yet, have your wife putting the kit together in the video. Enclose a cd of the video with each kit sold as a supplement to the printed instructions. Link the video in your ebay listing to your website. Include the video on your website. Video instructions are much more palatable than written instructions. Lose the pine and use oak as the display photo on ebay.

[Gerald Ross]

I think the pine looks great for a rustic style piece.

I agree with the video idea.

[Josepi]

At least a picture of what the kits come with should be shown. People want to look at the parts and think, "I could do that"

eg. Do I need a panel raising bit and a shaper table to make the raised panel?

Lose the pine. I wouldn't give you a nickle to have this in my house. I have built furniture from pine and oak is cheaper in the end and it looks better after you set something down on it, once.

I agree with the video idea.

[bwx100]

Yep, video is in the plans but everything takes time and just haven't gotten to that part yet.

[bwx100]

I guess I'll have to find my success without your nickle for now.

Fine furniture kits are on their way but I don't have the capital to invest in the more expensive wood yet and don't want to take on the risk of that debt until I can find a good channel to sell kits, if they will sell at all. I am just now starting some advertising to drive interest, we'll see how that works.

[Larry Jaques]

Yeah, with the 4-hour video pared down to fifteen minutes after the cussing is edited out.

-- A smile is the shortest distance between two people. -- Victor Borge

[SonomaProducts.com]

Oh, I see you have built some of my kits. ;^)

Actually, I could probably build one of the cabinets in 15 minutes, except for the time it takes the door to rest in the clamps after glue up. Of course I could use the Namh method and drop a few brads into the joints and get out of the clamps right away.

I cut shallow dados and rabbets to make all the parts lock into position, pocket screws and any other quick, easy, foolproof methods and they usually go together real easy, excepting for the Pine needing a liitle elbow grease now and then when it decides it wants to cup, etc.

[RP]

Skip the brads and glue. Just smash some framing nails in 'er. It'll be fine....

RP

[allen476]

After doing some thinking, How about.......

1) Assembling the door. Most people wont have clamps to do this and would shy away from doing it. 2) Combo head pocket screws. That way you could advertise as needing a Phillips head screwdriver which most people will have. 3) Screws instead of nails for the back and the latch block. I know pre-drilling the holes would be a pain but the less tools needed for assembly, the more attractive it will look for the potential customer. 4) Make any aligning marks on the pieces for assembly. Or maybe including 5" gauge blocks with the kit. That would be one way to get rid of your scrap as well.

Allen

[SonomaProducts.com]

Interesting input. Looks like you reviewed the assembkt docs. That's cool.

I was actually thinking my target audience is guys who are starting out and buying a kit and a few clamps, etc. is a good starting point. I'll have to think about that.

From my experience of pocket screws you really want the square driver. It is really easy to cam out down inside that little hole and you want a really good grab. I considered just including the square bit. For my craftsman kits I should easily have enough margin to feel ok about adding them in for free.

[Larry Jaques]

No, I'm just savvy to the process. The sign in my shop says, of course:

"Measure once, Curse Twice"

Y'know, with a mere $1,500 worth of Kreg jigs and special screws and special billdrits, you could do just that.

Is elbow grease included in the kit or sold separately, as an expensive option?

-- A smile is the shortest distance between two people. -- Victor Borge

[Larry Jaques]

He could add an optional clamp kit. Buying cases of HF clamps on sale would be cheap and easy.

-- A smile is the shortest distance between two people. -- Victor Borge

[SonomaProducts.com]

I like how you think. Great idea. Sell more to your existing customers, the first plcae to exapnd your business. Thanks for the idea.