Have you ever thought of selling your handcrafted blades but either didn't know where to start or didn't want to try to compete in a market where you were consistently undercut? Facebook / Instagram can work well for some crafters and not so well with others. A large part of that has to do with your content creation, presentation, social presence, and marketing. Lets face it. Not all of us are cut out to be social butterflies and would prefer to stay off the camera for the safety of all involved.
Let me give you another option. Here at The Bevel we are committed to the knifemaking community already so we would like to take it a step further and give you an option of posting your works of art on our site where you will not have to try to compete with garbage Damascus blades from questionable sources. The process is pretty simple and straight to the point. There are no hidden fees, no hidden agenda, and no BS.
Unlike some popular competitors that add on additional fees and percentages and then shipping costs and and and and we charge a flat 7% fee for administration fees but we don't charge it unless we can sell your blade for you. That means that you don't have to worry about a reoccurring charge every month for something that wont be advertised and will lay in the dark corner of the internet.
If this sounds good to you please allow me to break down how the process works. Our store is based off an e-commerce model. What this essentially means is that we go out and source suppliers, do the advertising, do the customer service, write articles and post the product on our site. When a customer purchases from us, we contact the supplier, place the order and buy the product. The supplier then ships the product to the customer. You (the maker) would be the supplier.
On The Bevel we do our best to provide free shipping to our customers and encourage anyone that would like to post their works on our site to build a flat rate shipping fee into the price of the blade you wish to post as we currently advertise free shipping. We eat the cost of the shipping for our customers to provide as much value as we can to our customers but don't expect makers to do the same.
If you wish to post your work with us please be sure to price your works appropriately. We, as makers, often see all the flaws more than the completed value so there is a natural tendency to price your works lower than what actual market value is. There are a lot of different ways to calculate the retail price of your works but we recommend that you take into account the cost of materials, fuel, labor and then double the price. Your time is worth it. Time, after all, is the only true currency we have. Make sure you are charging for it.
Any blades posted through The Bevel must be hand made by you the maker that is listing the item. If you aren't comfortable doing the technical end of things and have a family member do the posting that is fine but you must have an immediate connection to the work you are requesting to be posted. No third party posting will be allowed as that opens the door to having our site flooded with people looking to arbitrage someone's hard work.
If you have read all this and agree then we can get onto the good stuff! What we will need from you is four high quality pictures of the work you are wishing to sell. Pictures actually have a pretty good impact on online selling so make sure you like them. Next we'll need to know what its made of, dimensions and anything unique or peculiar that you'd like to include about the blade. If you have any warranty that you provide limited or otherwise, please include it in the information.
Lastly. If you sell your work in person or through another avenue please let us know as soon as you are able. There is little worse than making a promise to a customer only to have to tell them we don't have it.
If all of this is feasible, agreeable, and you're ready to get your blades out there on our platform, send us an email at support@the-bevel.com today so we can get a look at your work and everyone else that comes to www.the-bevel.com can too!