Hey guys.

I need some advise.

Firstly let me give you a little background. I have a blended family, 2 step children, 10 and 8, and now one of my own (1 year old girl- Braxton. I am trying to survive and do something I really enjoy and make some extra cash, to pay for all those never ending expenses, such as dental bills, school supplies and you know those additions 20 bucks here and there for their school field trips, hair cuts, blah blah blah. Well I try to make extra cash building toy boxes.

The problem is that they are very work intensive. I believe in doing an excellent job at what ever you do the problem is that I haven't sold any. I just started trying to sell them on the web about 1 and 1/2 months ago. I have had about 140 people visit my site. But no one is interested in buying. I am wondering if I am wasting my time with it. I spent 7K on the equipment and now I feel more set back financially then when I started. Concretin Nik make a comment that he would never pay $400 for a toy box, and now I'm thinking that maybe everyone is thinking the same thing.

Now I don't want to cater just to the rich, I mean why should they have all the good stuff right...I think the average middle class person should be able to have a decent product too and not have to spend a ton of money.

My questions is this. Do you think I should give this thing up? Am I crazy to think people are willing to pay 365.00 for a toy box? Or perhaps you have a suggestion or idea.

Please help! my website is www.frogbogz.com don't worry this is not for advertising...I mean I haven't sold any to date anyway and that's with 140 unique visitors. My wife thinks it will take time. hear from you later.
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Hang in there.

I have a couple suggestions for you. First of all, I do think there is a market for hand crafted specialty items like this one.

Have you heard of etsy.com? It's a marketplace for just this kind of item. You should definitely post this up there.

I would also suggest that you start a little blog on your site. Just short posts on the process, the tools and the materials. Your challenges starting the biz. This will help bring critical traffic to the site.

Keep us posted.

Oh. You're already on Etsy, I see. Hm.

Your pricing is reasonable for the amount of time and materials you put into it... but as a toy box, it's simply expensive. Certainly out of my price range. It is definitely a piece of furniture for the higher end designer shopper that DaddyClay mentioned.

Forget about those shopping at Toys-R-Us, they are not your target market. You will need to aim for those designer parents. Where do they shop? Specialty boutiques. You will likely need more face to face selling to those shops, which depending on where you are located, can mean a bit of travel. But I think that is where you could start really making a name for FrogBogs.

Some shops may even take them "on consignment." You give them a couple for display, if they sell, then the store gets paid. If they get a really good reception, the store may start stocking them normally. Or perhaps work with stores with a 'drop ship' program. They have displays, take orders and then you ship direct to the customer for them. The store takes a commission. You will need a wholesale pricing/commission structure. But with a few established stores, you could then focus on the fun part (building) and not the sales.

Marketing is the one of the hardest parts of any business. Good luck! (And yes, your wife is right, it will take a bit of time.)

I have a friend who is an interior designer who referred me to a specialty modern boutique shop. They specialize in modern furnishings. They advised me that their mark up is approx 50% on all of their products. this would mean three things:

1. Either i would have to drop my prices in half so they could still sell it at my suggested retail price

2. I could sell it to them for my cost, and then they could mark it up from there. This would mean they would have to sell it for $600 bucks...i doubt any one would ever buy it for that much

3. I could drop my price by 1/3 and they could raise their price by 1/3 in order to get the 40% mark up they require. This would mean they would still have to sell it for close to $500. again I'm not going to sell to many at that price.

In the end the store declined on my offer to do business with me and suggested that I would do better selling it direct to the customer via internet.

Of course i still haven't sold anything.

I was thinking last night that perhaps i should try dropping my prices a bit and see what happens. I also thought that maybe I could try creating a lower cost version using the same wood but different hardware. honestly the hardware is more expensive than the wood. In addition i could perhaps create a design that is less work intensive so i can drop my prices significantly. perhaps $150-200. Thoughts?

Very simply, we bought two toy boxes about a year ago. $14 each. We'd have paid more if they converted into something else later on. I can't fathom paying more than $50 for something to put the kids' toys in. It's useful probably up to age 8 (for us, at least) so it doesn't get the budget that furniture does.

As for business thoughts, DadLabs could probably write another book just on failed companies that market products for kids and their parents. A lot of people think they have a hugely profitable product and they take it to market at something like the ABC Kids Expo. They end up throwing their retirement at it and either just drop it or let it take over their lives. Some, but very few, end up becoming a big product.

If I had a design I thought people would buy, I'd seriously look at having it manufactured. There are places that will take your drawings and turn out finished products for much less than you can. Then your effort goes toward making the sales.

But that's probably not why you got into this venture to begin with. You might do better to find someone who wants a whole motif to run through their nursery or kid's room and make things custom. If you do good work, you may get connected with a designer and build a portfolio. This would keep you doing what you seem to want to do. Plus, it pays much better. You get your costs paid and a margin on top of it.

Good luck.

I have to agree that the price is a bit up there. Right now price is a primary sticking point. I wouldn't spend that much for my kids bed, mattress, and sheets combined. Granted that we eat beans and rice or ramen noodles.

If the hardware is so expensive, I'd definitely start there. You are selling a unique box, not fancy wheels and legs.

And that was just ONE store. You'll likely have to go through several no's before you get a yes. Don't let it discourage you. Think of each meeting/phone call as practice for the next one.

Yes, I am. The only thing with Etsy is that it takes some time to really draw interest. I appreciate the advise though.

Thank you for the support. I think I'm going to have to make some adjustments to my product.