Irregulars / Flawed items

[ABC3]

Not sure where this should go, so if it needs to be moved please feel free to do so.

For those of you who sell their leather works by whatever means - what do you do with your "irregulars" / IR's. Those items that may have a slight flaw. Those that you would not want to sell at full price.

From time to time Tom or Gail (in the shop) - never me, might have a couple of extra cups of coffee in the morning & make a mistake on one of our custom holsters or belts. Nothing big but something that would be noticeable if really examined. Something that I would not want to put my makers mark on & send it out the door.

In the past I have sold these items to one man who runs the flee market circuit for 1/2 retail. Really just to recoup some of the cost. This gentlemen has retired & I can't seem to find anyone who will lay out the money for the "off priced" goods. I currently have about 25 double layered belts & a few holsters that I have been setting on for a while. All very serviceable but with some type of small "screw up".

Does anyone else have this problem? (I'm not trying to sell these items with this post - just looking for ideas).

[Frank]

Anything that I make that might have some type of flaw, I put them away and take them to shows as a demo of my custom made gear. That way people can handle them without the worry of them getting marks or scratches on them. Otherwise a flea market sounds like a great idea. We have one not too far from me which is open every weekend, year-round. I doubt that I'd be attempting to sell much at the flea market in February here in Wisconsin though...lol

[JohnBarton]

I struggle with it all the time. I call them my "oops" products. I have come to the conclusion that I want a functional product to be in use rather than collecting dust. So I sell it at a reduced price and point out the flaws to the customer with my name on it or not depending on how I felt about it when it was done.

It's my experience that most customers are happy to buy a slightly flawed product at a reduced price as long as it functions well. Most of my customers say something along the lines of "hell, I will do worse than that to it in a month." I also have gotten OUT of the habit of giving away my stuff at half price just because of a flaw. If the case is 85% good then it's worth about 85% of the retail price in my eyes.

Still I hate to send something out there with flaws but I know that most customers are looking at the piece as a whole and not picking it apart despite my feelings to the contrary. I pick things apart and expect that everyone else does the same.

If you have a website you can list the "oops" products there. Or offer them to your past customers. Ebay might be a good place to list them. If you have a bunch I wold suggest only listing them in small batches as you don't want to give the impression that these things happen all the time.

John

[kevinhopkins]

Since I run a leather business, we have to deal with this on a constant basis. Of course, it depends on what avenues that you ave available to you, but I've learned one thing over the years that might help: Dead Merchandise is like dead fish...they both stink. Think about this: If you could sell 4 of those units for 1/4th of what you'd like, what could you buy with the money? Could you buy a side of leather...or a half side? And if you could, how much money could you generate from that pc of leather, and how long would it take you to do it? A little pile of money is better than a big pile of....well....a big pile of.....(you can fill in the blank)

Best wishes!

Kevin Hopkins

[hidepounder]

Becuase I am a one man band, this is an easy decision for me. I don't want anyone to even see the products I've made that I don't deem worthy of sale. It would be nice to recoop a portion of the costs to produce them, however it it more important to me that my name not be asssociated with anything I don't approve of. I'm not sure if this attitude has served me well or not...I don't think there is any way to measure. I used to keep "prototypes" or "practice pieces" around to show, until it occured to me that I was apologizing for what I deemed as sub-standard while trying to make a sale! Well "that dog don't hunt", so now if I call it a mistake....it hits the trash can. And that hurts, so I try even harder not to allow that to happen. So far I've been completely unsuccessful...I'm still making tons of mistakes! On the other hand the only folks I know who are not making mistakes are those who aren't doing anything! What is frustrating is that Jill claims there's nothing wrong with them and retrieves these cast-offs like they're jewels or something and is hoarding them somewhere. I keep noticing that pieces I've thrown away in disgust miraculously dissappear from my trash can! I just wonder what she is going to do with them all!?!?!.............

Bob

[Go2Tex]

............. What is frustrating is that Jill claims there's nothing wrong with them and retrieves these cast-offs like they're jewels or something and is hoarding them somewhere. I keep noticing that pieces I've thrown away in disgust miraculously dissappear from my trash can! I just wonder what she is going to do with them all!?!?!.............

Bob

She has a saddle business on the side and she's selling them on EBAY. Bwahahahaha

[JohnBarton]

Becuase I am a one man band, this is an easy decision for me. I don't want anyone to even see the products I've made that I don't deem worthy of sale. It would be nice to recoop a portion of the costs to produce them, however it it more important to me that my name not be asssociated with anything I don't approve of. I'm not sure if this attitude has served me well or not...I don't think there is any way to measure. I used to keep "prototypes" or "practice pieces" around to show, until it occured to me that I was apologizing for what I deemed as sub-standard while trying to make a sale! Well "that dog don't hunt", so now if I call it a mistake....it hits the trash can. And that hurts, so I try even harder not to allow that to happen. So far I've been completely unsuccessful...I'm still making tons of mistakes! On the other hand the only folks I know who are not making mistakes are those who aren't doing anything! What is frustrating is that Jill claims there's nothing wrong with them and retrieves these cast-offs like they're jewels or something and is hoarding them somewhere. I keep noticing that pieces I've thrown away in disgust miraculously dissappear from my trash can! I just wonder what she is going to do with them all!?!?!.............

Bob

There are some cue makers who agree with you and I have seen them bandsaw and almost complete cue for a flaw that only an expert could see. They charge accordingly. I think that there is a place for both trains of thought in hand crafted goods. Each person has to determine what their level of acceptance is.

If I order an anything from anyone then I expect it to right and without flaws OR I expect to be apprised of any issues. If I see something sold cheaper because of a blemish then I personally don't think less of the maker.

I do however have trepidation when we sell something as a second that it won't be represented that way down the road and will taken as an indication of our quality level.

And you know what, it is. IF I choose to sell it for any reason or price then it's part of my body of work that is out there and and I have to accept that it figures into the average. And I do have lines that I don't cross on most aspects of the pieces and we have trashed many cases over things that would be perfectly acceptable to just about everyone else.

My staff hates these words "What is This (capital T)?" Because they know that it will be followed up with me telling them to build it again.

I have to applaud you Bob, in all the things you have shown us here I have NEVER seen anything that I would call a flaw! Your level is what we aspire to.

I think that you and Bill Stroud of Joss West cues could share this statement. He once asked me why I thought he could get so much for his cues and $275 for a shaft when his competitors were selling theirs for $100. I said I don't know, and he said it's because he rejects 75% of the grade A shaft wood he gets and he never wanted to stand in front of customers and explain why something wasn't right on his cues.

[HorsehairBraider]

If I have a piece with a problem, first I try and get real creative. For example, could I repeat it and call it a "design element"? If it's the background, sometimes what I do is cut out the main design and use it in another way, so that the background is gone. I've occasionally come up with real good ideas this way.

If that doesn't fly, then I sigh and do it over. Very, very rarely do I have a piece I either can't do over, or can't come up with a creative way to "adjust". But then - I mostly work in horsehair or sterling silver. My leather work goof pile is a little bigger than the other two.

My leather goofs I take apart and use the pieces in something else, if I can. A lot of tack is made up of leather strapping - and lots of parts simply need a shorter piece of strapping, etc.

To sum this up: I have criteria in my head, and if the piece does not meet that, it does not go out the door. I do my level best to think of a way to fix an issue, and if I can't it goes into the scrap pile and I use the parts.

I try to be reasonable about what I think of as a mistake, and I try to keep in mind that not everyone views my work the way I do. For example, if I have to use high magnification to see the mistake, I start to ask myself if it is all that bad. The customer will most likely not be using a microscope every time they use the piece. I also try to be calm about my learning curve. I can only do the very best I can do, on that day, with the skills and knowledge I have at that time. *Naturally* I hope I'll be better next year, but that doesn't mean everything I make this year is trash.