Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Kim-Bee BearsI just signed up at Bear Pile and already one of my bears has more hits than all of them combined on ebay! Maybe I will have some luck this way!!!! thank you gals for this suggestion!
Hi Shari,
I think it was Joan- Bears of the Glen ?? I had just found out about the shop and went to visit , only to find out it had just closed down. I don't know much about the guild, just what I've heard from another bearlady.
We will have to get together sometime and talk bears in person !!!! 
:D
Posts: 8,574I don't know what you all are paying for gas but we are already paying $3.00 reg a gal. Go figure.
And we don't have a public transit to fall back on.....no such thing!
Dilu
Nova Scotia,CanadaYes Tammy it was Bears of the Glen.We should definitely try to get together.Power in numbers You are right Dilu,gas is very expensive and no public transit.Tammy and I live an hour and a half apart.
Tammy,I have relatives in Halifax and Dartmouth.My vacation is just ending though so I won't get up there again for a while. I'm thinking of going up maybe early Sept.for shopping but I have to beg my driver as I don't know where I'm going up there and he does.Maybe we could meet.Let's talk
Hugs,Shari.
Sounds great Shari, I'll email you later tonight.
Dilu...........gas here today is $1.10/Litre = $4.12/ gallon. It has gone up from $.98/litre in the past week. But, what can you do ???
Haus of Bears, Inc.I was just reading this post about the Canadians beeing "Cheap",
Well, I tell you, you never been, or heard about the Cheapskates in South Carolina!!
These Folks are cheaper than cheap, they are Walmart, Fleamarkt, yardsale or consignement Store Shoppers.
I had once a Yardsale and try to sell a WHOLE Set of German Stainless Steel Knifes with Cutting Board and Knife Sharpener, the set was still in its original packaging, the original price was $59.00, (price tag still on it), I wanted only $ 20.00 for it.
Well, there came a complete Nut and had the Nerv to say: I give you $ 1.00, BUT I want to test them first if they are sharp!!!!
He got me soo ticked off, that I told him to go where the moon shines and I drive over the set with my truck first before I sell it to YOU for a lousy buck, you @@@#@@
The same thing happened to Original packed, brandnew Adora Outfits.
A Lady came, offered me $ 0.50 a piece, AND she wanted a discount when she bought more than one!! ( I paid $ 13.00 each )
This is the majority of how the people are here in South Carolina, they want it free, and possible delivered too.
A Bear Show in the South is unthinkable, they would not dream of paying a fair price.
I talked to Show Promoters, and NONE even spend a minute to think about doing a Show here, they all tried years ago, and they never came back
Rita
Baird'sBears
I know what you mean, Rita!
I held one garage sale, and will never, never do another . . . though I can't help checking out other people's garage sales! These days, of course, we already have most of the same stuff the neighbors are trying to get rid of! :lol:
I think it's probably true that selling bears (or anything else of value) locally is very difficult unless you live in a big city and manage to connect with the right market.
Even though bears are slow right now, thank heaven for the internet!
Eileen
DoodlebearsHiya folks!
Just to let you know that the price of petrol(gas) here in the UK is on average $1.71 per litre.
Now that's getting stupid but as you know we all need to get from A to B so what are we to do!
I don't know how much it costs to travel by train in the USA or anywhere else but here in the Uk it is really far too much. My son and daughter took a 16 minute train ride last week and paid £10 around $18 USD each. In the Uk we are penalized for using the trains before 10am. This means the people who use the trains to get to work,uni or college ect. pay a higher charge than the people who travel on the odd occasion. Without the early riders the train network would collapse so why on earth do they charge the folks, that keep them alive, the highest fares! Greed that's why....they know they people have to get to work etc. so they slap on the higher charges. It really annoys me.
:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
Right I'm now jumping down off of my soap box and calm Jane is back.
Jane
Upstate New YorkRita,
What about Columbia? How far is that from you. Also, Atlanta and outskirts isn't very far is it? They must have some pretty good craft shows/fairs. My sister used to live in Anderson, and then in Greenville. She's since moved to Charlotte, NC.
Deb
Hi Shari....
I am relatively new to bear -making and have found that it does pay to go down every avenue to get your work into the public domain. I have had a couple of bears not do so well on Ebay...and afterwards ..when you analyse it...after you've realised that maybe it's just wrong bear...wrong time...and not jumping to the wrong conclusions..then you use that information to check out other ways of selling them.
I send pictures regularly to magazines for their editorials and often they get printed...and collectors then contact me..and so on.
I do advertise ..well as much as I can afford...I put my biggest ad in the Hugglets Teddy Bear Guide..which comes out here in the UK..as it's a handbook that lasts the entire year..and most serious collectors here will have one....here at any rate I advertise in magazines...but never bother in the summer because I don't think collectors are that focused then.
I use Bear-pile..and have used the Teddy -Talk board. I just work as hard as I can on getting good clear pictures of my bears to send around...they aren't perfect but I'm trying.
Jenny
Nova Scotia,CanadaThanks Jenny.I think I will start sending out pictures to the magazines , I ca definitely see how that could benefit.You bears are adorable Jenny and I think you do a great job on your pictures.
Yes Jane the price of gas is horrible and no choice but to use it.That's outrages that they charge more for early morning train fare.Makes no sense.We can only hope things omprove.
Hugs,Shari.
Always something fascinating here to read. I love the international nature of this board.
Some scattered thoughts in response...
-- We're paying nearly $3/gallon for gas. I almost choked on the $42 it cost to fill up my tank the other day, but was calmed -- slightly -- by reminding myself that the person who had been at my pump just BEFORE me forked over $75 for a tank of gas, according to the numbers he/she left behind. When the day comes that I'm spending $75 to fill up my car with gas, that's the day I start walking more. Criminies!
We're on track to need a new "family car" in a few years; my ex-husband lives 3.5 hours away and has regular custody of our sons (good for him!), so I end up driving a 4-hour roundtrip to a halfway meeting point every other week. It takes me one tank of gas per trip, just about. That means, at today's prices, I'm spending nearly $45 to drop my kids with their dad for the weekend, and another $45 to pick them up. Good grief; I just realized that, as I put it in print! I'm paying $90 to lose my kids every other weekend. What a world... <sigh>
Anyway... I'm thinking more and more that for those time we need a "family car" -- camping trips, ski trips, etc. -- we'll RENT. And instead, when the time comes to replace the minivan (which as you might have surmised is being driven into the ground; we're at about 160K miles and it's a '97 model; ack!), I'm getting a hybrid instead.
-- I envy you Jane, tariffs and taxes or otherwise, that in Europe at least you had the foresight to imagineer a public transporation system that actually TRANSPORTS the PUBLIC. There's nothing like that in the US, and Amtrak -- our one national railroad -- was/continues to be on the verge of being closed down, or so my hubby tells me he read. It's certainly not cheap to travel by train or even Metro/Tube/whatever you call it, but it's more efficient, keeps all those cars off the streets, and is thus better for the environment in the larger sense.
Hubby and me thoroughly enjoyed the teeny, tiny cars we came across so often while honeymooning a few years ago in Europe. The Mini Cooper comes immediately to mind -- and we're seeing more and more of those here; gee, wonder why? -- but there was an even smaller car, the size of a postage stamp, that could park in a motorcycle spot it was so tiny. I want to say Sprint, or Spirit, or something... Point is, though, I envy the European (and perhaps also Australian and Asian -- haven't been there) sensibilities here. You can jump on a train and get to Austria. We need to drive just to cross town, in most cases, because public transport is, for the most part, an afterthought, and not something planned for general use. More like for students, or the elderly, or impoverished. Except for HUGE cities like San Francisco and New York, where it seems like someone got it more or less right. Would that the rest of America thought that same way... <sigh>
-- Selling bears... yes, the market seems slow right now. I've not been in this industry long. But I can tell you I almost dried up and blew away last summer (summer 2004), sales were so slow. So, not wanting to repeat that ego-blasting experience, I took a lot of this summer, 2005, off to avoid feeling disappointed... and instead just lived my life and enjoyed my kids and mourned my poor kitty Emme's death and made some nice, time-intensive bear pieces for sale which I only finally just posted very recently (beginning of fall, coinciding with the start of school.) I firmly believe that all bearmakers WILL see a pick up as the weather grows colder. Here in Chico we're still in the mid-90's on a daily basis. Who's thinking HIBERNATING, FURRY BEARS with that kind of weather overhead? As Halloween comes -- make sure to get some spooky, fall-colored dressed bears ready for that! -- and then Thanksgiving, and Christmas... and all the wintry, sparkling, icy snowy times that surround it... you'll see a change in the winds, I'm sure of it. Be patient!!! ;)
Hugs and friendship,
Nova Scotia,CanadaThanks Shelli,always informative,useful input on your part.We are seeing the little tiny cars more around here,"Smart cars" and I think they run on diesel.Our gas is over $5.00 a gallon and I'm just hearing it's going up due to the hurricane.I am working on a swap bear with another artist and then will move on to some bears with a more seasonal theme.I will be busy at school soon but with the kids at school everyday and me being a "sub" I may get some well needed days at home alone to create(well only if the hubby is on day shift at the time because he qualifys as one of the distracting kids)
Any way,I will ride this out and hope for the best and may end up devoting more time to soft sculpture dolls or my sculpted creations out of polymer.I will continue to create though as my heart and soul cannot survive or thrive without that outlet.
Hugs,and blessings,Shari.
Baird'sBearsThanks, Shelli :D
Very encouraging words on the bear industry. I think it makes a lot of sense to build inventory a bit during the summer, if possible, and be ready for the holidays. I'm trying to build a bit of inventory for a website, since I don't have anything like a gallery of 'sold' bears yet. I'm not sure whether it would be better to start offering them on eBay asap or keep building inventory.
It took me 14 years to run my minivan into the ground--a 1984 Dodge Caravan, red of course--and I've been on foot, on the train, in taxis or on the public transport since. I miss my dear old Caravan, but I don't really miss driving, since I was the only driver in the house, and always on call. My very last trip was to Home Depot, and I ended up driving a stranger lady home. She'd bought a rug, but had no way to get it back to her apartment!
Now I pay $2.50 for a Toronto Transit ticket that will take me anywhere in the city and quite a way out of it. If I didn't get lost so often, it would be a very efficient means of travel! Rail fare isn't cheap, but hubby now gets senior rates and gets my fare for free!
Back to footpads . . .
Eileen
Kim-Bee BearsOur gas here in Pennsylvania is about $2.40 a gallon.... it took $50.00 to fill my hubby and my car up two weeks ago! I remember when it was under $1.00 a gallon and that was just a couple years ago!
We have recently created a teddy marketplace for our website. You are welcome to create a free store and list your teddy bears with us at Ubear. 
NSW AustraliaHi
Good for you. Haven't tried selling in the last 10 years or so, food for thought
