I have an idea and need your suggestions (credit, wholesale, collection)

[Art Lover]

I hope this is the right forum to ask this question. I made a unique handbag and mailed it to my friend. She loved it and many people have commented on how much they like her bag. They want to know where she bought it. I have some questions if someone can help answer them, and the first question is where do I start? I've watched the Donny Deutsch "The Big Idea" a few times and I think I'm on the right tract. I listed what I think I would have to do if I wanted to sell my handbags in stores. Also, are the steps below in the right order?

1. Bring a collection of my handbags to stores that might be intersted in selling them. Who would I approach, the manager of the handbag dept? Do my very best with "lots of enthusiasm" to convince them that women of all ages will want to have one of these bags.

2. Get a patent. I can do this myself so I've been told. Would a patent be necessary. Almost identical hangbags of Vera Bradley's sell in stores for much, much less. My guess is she does not have a patent. How else could they duplicate your handbags.

3. Find a manufacture. Would I have to pay $$ up front, or do I find a manufacturer willing to take the risk? Not sure how any of this works.

There is also a website called ETSY.com (mentioned once on The Big Idea) for people who make create items and sell them on ETSY.com. This might be a good place for me to start, but would I need a patent first? Patents cost money even if you do it yourself, and I think it is probably very time consuming.

If someone knows how this any of this works I would like to hear from you.
Thank you.

[canyontothesky]

I highly reccomend Etsy, and no you don't need a patent. Etsy is hit or miss, though. It's a lot more than product, it's about advertising and marketing and branding, too, so if you do go there, you don't need to quit if it doesn't take off, per se. I also recommend trying to get stores to sell your bags, that is a lot easier as far as, you only have to deal with the wholesale aspect of it, and not the promotion.

But the reality is, have a look at Etsy. There are SO many people in the same boat as you. Some of them make money! Some of them don't.

[Art Lover]

Thank you for your thoughts on this subject. I am going to start with ETSY.com. I checked it out and there appears to be hundreds of handbags so I hope mine won't get lost in the shuffle. I never had a digital camera, but I guess I'll have to breakdown and buy one. Not a good time for me to do this since I'm unemployed and no unemployment benefits.

[Humanoid]

Patents are easy to apply for, but the process does not end there and it is here where legal help is likely to be required. There are design patents, but I'm not really sure if people use them for handbags. I think usually companies rely on their trademark and/or trade dress. So you can pretty much copy the bag so long as you don't put the other companies brand name on it.

You are very unlikely to get a manufacture to make bags for you. What benefit do they get for taking on the risk? None. You can always have your bags made by a different company next time around. Even getting credit from them is very unlikely as you aren't an established business.

Also, bags are a dime and dozen. Its all great that your friends like the bag, but how will it sell when its displayed with other bags with more cognizable brand names? Brand names are key in clothing and accessories, without building a brand your bags are unlikely to sell even if they look nice. You will have to fork out a lot of money to get the bags made so doing market research is key. Etsy is certainly a place where you can test your ideas at, but the things on etsy are usually fairly reasonable priced. So it wouldn't be a place to try and sell products that you intend to be premium products.

With that said, if you have no money to the point where buying a digital camera is a big deal than this isn't the time to try and start a serious business.

[canyontothesky]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

With that said, if you have no money to the point where buying a digital camera is a big deal than this isn't the time to try and start a serious business.

Going along with that, I know for a fact that you won't succeed on Etsy without good photographs, so if it is not your forte, you may not want to sell online at all because that is the only thing customers have to go off of, and the biggest complaint over there (I've been in the Etsy community now for a few years) is poor photography. You have to have very good marketing skills there, too, not to get lost in the shuffle, as you say. It is not like eBay where you post, sit back and wait for bids. You will get no sales on Etsy that way. And then there are also important things like graphics (for your shop banner) and text to describe your bags. Overall, I suggest you spend a lot of time looking around on Etsy before you consider opening a shop, and like I said, finding people to buy them in person may indeed be easier for you! It surely eliminates all those things I just talked about. You might even want to make a couple dozen bags and go the craft show route. Again, eliminates all the technological aspects of it.

[maf763]

How long does it take you to make the bags? If you can make some of them, rent a table at a Christmas craft fair or something and see what kind of interest people who aren't your friends show. Tis the season.

[Humanoid]

Originally Posted by canyontothesky

You have to have very good marketing skills there, too, not to get lost in the shuffle, as you say. It is not like eBay where you post, sit back and wait for bids. You will get no sales on Etsy that way.

I don't agree with this. I've sold on etsy and ebay and I haven't found a big difference in regard to how much you have to market your items. I do just fine on etsy without any marketing, in fact one of the stores we don't even do basic free sorts of marketing.

[Art Lover]

Humanoid,

Thank you for the information. I may have to wait before I'm able to actually able to sell on Etsy because like you said I will need a digital camera, but I can sell to friends (have 2 orders as of today.) Some handbags on Etsy are selling for close to $1,000.00. Mine would be priced much more modesty, anywhere from $40 to 70 dollars. So I plan to make many as soon as possible. One lady who was on The Big Idea went to a manufacturer in China and they are now manufacturing her handbags. I heard she is doing very well. The way I look at it even though handbags are a dime a dozen others are making big money doing this. If I sit at home doing nothing with my time I'll go crazy so why not at least try to make some $ and maybe someday I'll be able to have a brighter future doing what I enjoy. If I don't try it wll never happen. I also paint animal portraits, but decided to concentrate on something different for now.

canyontothesky,

I will also take your advice and try craft shows. Everything you and the others said is very important and I have learned more than I knew a short time ago. For now I'll take time looking at Etsy and hopfully sell them to friends. Right now as I speak I have 2 orders for a couple of people living in different states (CA & NJ.) That will be approximately $150.00 in total. Hey, I can buy a camera with that money. I buy everything I need when it's on sale and stock up. Today I saved a bundle of $$ since the items I needed where on sale plus the store coupon.

[greggd]

First, be sure to get yourself a "good name/trademark" to add to the bag and patent that name/trademark.

I would suggest you make several bags yourself in various colors, styles and approach smaller owner operated boutiques.

You can even leave them on consignment.

If you start to get orders for more bags, keep making them until that's all you have time to do. Right at that point, get a good part time/possible full time assistant to help you make them and devote some of your time to marketing more boutiques in other areas.

Set up a simple web site if you want to do on-line sales or a site to show potential retailers what you have to offer.

My girlfriend bought a purse in Europe a few years ago, that is by far the best purse/small travel bag I have ever seen. She has searched for it over the computer, in Europe many times since, and cannot find it. If you have a good bag, people will buy it.

[sunsprit]

Are we conflating "patents" and "copyright" on design and intellectual property here?

I don't understand how a bag would be "patentable" as a design/art item.