Food for thought...?

Just gathering people’s opinions…When I released my peep I did get a lot more traction than I would have expected! Then when I released my chick inside of a chicken, I noticed it was difficult to gather testers (which should have been my first sign). I wasn’t going to charge two dollars, till a relative convinced me I should (I regret that decision) I received very little traction, which I’m not surprised, given at first glance its just a very basic chicken.

Anyway, I am wondering, would the peep have been a flawed way to determine whether or not my patterns would be successful in any shape or form since it was RIGHT before easter? I’m still in the trial and error stage of what people want, and what they’d pay, if its a paid pattern that is.

Any feedback would be appreciated

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I was just thinking about this for example i have the bag charm patterns on my store and i went through alot of opinions and stuff figuring out prices
I had a bunch of attention on the patterns and people wanting to test them but then as im releasing them no one seems to want any of the patterns
I dont know about lowering the price but i guess i will if i have to
I see so many people selling patterns for much more than id pay for one and theyre still getting so many people buying them and im just not sure where to start

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RIGHT!?! I see a lot of patterns I find a bit overpriced, some are just green fuzzy balls with eyes, and if you’re familiar with instagram, they’d be charging 5 dollars for it :skull:

I guess it has to with how detailed/big the item is, and if its popular-? Idk but maybe the thread will help us both out :woman_shrugging:t3:

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Hopefully someone with more amswers can help but yeah i see so many people charging so much for patterns that i could find for free or even make without a pattern yet theyre still being bought by so many people

Another thing i was thinking about is how pretty much no one makes journals i think thats part of why lots of people arent buying/using patterns (or my patterns anyway) for example so many people have used my fingerless glove pattern and the only journals there are because i listed it as a requirement on my tester call
So basically when people go onto someones store and look at a pattern and theres no journals for it they get second thoughts because they dont want to buy a pattern if they dont have a reference on how other people are doing with it
Its the same as if your ordering something on amazon and you check the reviews to see if other people got it and liked it- your more likely to choose the one with the most and best reviews

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I never require journals, but now I understand why do many do- thats a great point

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(I apologize in advance for the long reply! I don’t sell any patterns, so my thoughts are consumer based only, but I hope they help!)

I think the fact that it was a Holiday pattern with that holiday coming up did play a part in sales, something important to note is that people both here and other sites have lots of different patterns already, so depending on similarities of patterns they might be less likely to buy something they already have or if it looks similar to a pattern they already own.

An example would be bee’s. There’s aways patterns coming in but I as well as others probably wouldn’t get them as I already found a bee pattern that works for me.

As for pricing, you definitely shouldn’t sell your hard work short! however you can always change the price or even have it go on sale, there’s the spring cleaning event happening right now where it’ll automatically go in if the percentage of sale is in (it’s ??% to 75% so as long as it’s in range it’ll be on sale, the post is here on Ribblr so feel free to look at it as I forgot the number lol there’s even something in the post you can download a photo I believe that you can use to promote here on ribblr) I think a good reason why others get sales despite the price being higher than yours has a lot of factors in play.

Promoting the product both here and other places will gather traction especially if you already have a following. (The SelFee link can be shared anywhere) as well as activity in the community.

Lots of people feel more comfortable buying a pattern from someone that’s active in the community as if a question comes they could ask and they would receive an answer. For example if you bought a pattern and got stuck and asked the creator for help but got no reply it definitely wouldn’t feel good to have bought it and not understand it. And being active would give more of a chance for people to look through your profile and find your shop

Another factor I believe could be it would actually be the photos, the more pretty or “aesthetic” the photo looks would gather more looks especially if done in the same area. For example if you look at other popular shops their photos might be more appealing. A great example would be Lemon Yarn! Their photos are very cute and have great lighting, my eyes will always gravitate to their photos especially with the bright colors! Now you don’t have to have bright colors to attract, just having a simple color palate that works well and is shared across photos in backgrounds could work,

I mentioned earlier that when patterns look similar to other patterns the chance that others buy it will be less, so something important to note when creating and selling patterns is uniqueness, what makes a pattern different and stand out? I think the stitches and using Yarn over and Yarn under change the look and will gather more attention. However not all changes could work an example would be the bee’s again, even if the colors are different than others but the base pattern is the same it would sell less as you can always change the colors of the bee you already have

Journals are definitely good to have as it adds credibility, however if used during testing make sure to have the testers relay any problems through chat or direct messaging as there’s problems happening where testers put parts of the pattern in the journal and say they have trouble on those and they’re public to see or if they mention troubles in the journal it won’t look good for potential buyers especially as these questions are during the testing phase and not the final product.

A lot of people here won’t feel the need to buy or test a pattern if it’s not something they like or will use, so having patterns that are popular/useful or could get popular are important just a simple search should show you the more popular items however like mentioned earlier making sure your pattern stands out is important

Another factor is being able to understand that sometimes patterns might not sale and it may take some time for you to finally get sales so please don’t give up! Using Lemon Yarn again as an example they mentioned in an interview in a previous event they won where when they began they didn’t have a lot of traction but they still continued and promoting and now they’re at a good place in sales I believe!

If I think of other things I’ll reply but I hope I provided some help or if not others might :smiling_face:

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This is the difficult part obviously you want to be selling popular patterns that people are goingz to want but then you dont want them to be too popular where theres so many options of other patterns that are basically the same but cheaper or free

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Exactly that’s where most people have trouble :pensive: so having something being different is important whether it’s different stitches, has something added or removed etc…

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Here’s a thread I found on here that has more replies to this exact same question, if you want more the question mark in the community area/tab is a great place to search for anything with key words :smiling_face:

Hopefully this also provides more insight, this has a lot of comments so hopefully you’ll be okay with that :sweat_smile:

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This is a lot of GREAT perspective! My chicken is obviously very basic, and the style os one I’ve seen all over pinterest! I knew I was overcharging and it was eating me up…

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Patience plays into it as well. It may not take off right away. Sales may be few and far between but try to not get discouraged. Celebrate the little victories, and keep growing your skill. If you feel after a while that it isn’t fulfilling in ways you wanted it to be, shift your focus to doing the hobby for fun rather than funds.

And just be patient, with the process and with yourself. I’ve had a FO for a year that I had just about given up hope on selling, and I woke up to find it sold. That’s a victory and I’ll take it, even a year later.

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Hi ! I don’t know of what i’m going to say is very appropriate to that subject but i’ll try.

I’ll tell how i proceed for Free and Paid Patterns : On free patterns i don’t post any pics, I use simple techniques and I don’t host support. And for exporting it on Instagram i do the design with Canva. And i dont give the brand of the yarn i use, only the type

When you buy a pattern from me : you have pics, supports, sketches, contexts and tips and a CLEAR LAYOUT made with Photoshop :slight_smile:

So that’s what I’m charging. Also, i read somewhere on Instagram a huge designer who was saying that when she started to make patterns she had the feeling that her work was not legit and was selling her patterns for free. And after she took conscience that her work is still work then she started to sell them like the others even she was in struggle to find testers :slight_smile:

For me actually the problem is that you find your pattern not legit for selling it because of free patterns, but you should see the problem in the other way, bc crochet world is sometimes wild.
I often talk with my mother in law who do scrapbooking and we noticed something that is very similiar in both fields.
Some people creates things and make people pay for that and then after you have another people who do the same for FREE.

I planned a full series of patterns based on the same subject and yesterday again i saw something that make me fill upset : On the pattern i wrote i use a technique that i learned reading books I paid. But while scrolling on Instagram i found a free pattern that was using the SAME technique. After that how do you feel legit and how people will buy your patterns after found it for free ?
That’s the matter.
(+ With the problem that people always wants people for free no matter what your pattern is complex/appealing or not )

And actually we don’t need that, not crediting people, stitch counting and thieves on Etsy are enough.

For finish, if you feel bad about mistakes in your pattern, I could cheer you up saying that even huge designers makes mistakes sometimes in patterns all you have to do is editing your patterns after receiving a lot of suggestions. people who bought it will see the changes :wink:

Sorry if it’s not clear or accurate with what you asked :pleading_face:

EDIT : i just checked your pattern, and for me you could sell easily it btw 2 & 4$ I would pay for that really. It’s very cute and i never see that idea before :slight_smile:

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I’m really glad I provided some insight for you! I’m sorry the price you set felt as though it was eating you up, it definitely is a tough market out there with patterns always coming in different prices, especially as a new pattern creator it can be hard to determine the price of your hard work along with the prices of others, unfortunately as I have yet to sale and publish a pattern I can’t provide much help in that aspect :pensive:

@MissWitchCrafts says it best!

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