When I started in wholesale, things were confusing and I had a ton of questions! I hope this video helps clarify some things. Also - if you are waiting to hear back from Faire, don't be discouraged! Keep reaching out and working on your catalogue in the meantime!! Hope thi sencourages you.

Thank you for your honest review Sarah! I’ve utilized Faire from a purchasing perspective but have just started the process of researching how to become a wholesale vendor on Faire and am really appreciative of the information you provided in this video!

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Julie! That's so cool that you'll have experience on both sides! I obviously don't know what it's like to shop on Faire but it seems like SUCH a fun experience!! Hope it goes well for you Julie and thanks for leaving a comment :)

Thank you for this review. You make so many good points about things I didn't even consider. Your presentation is great too - easy to follow and well organized.

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching and leaving a comment! I'm very glad it was helpful. :)

I absolutely love your style of communication. This was also encouraging

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! I'm glad it helped.

I have just heard about Faire, and I appreciate this video as I'm considering joining, thanks for your honest thoughts!!

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! It’s quite a large platform now and many have found success on it :) All the best!

This was very helpful. I have my Shopify website optimized to do wholesale by adding code on the backend myself (I watched some KZread videos), but it's not perfect and limits what I can do because sometimes it's reflected on the retail side which I don't want. However, I don't think Faire is for me right now. I love being able to build genuine relationships with my wholesale clients and the amount of commission fee that Faire takes doesn't fit my margins. Maybe in the future I will explore Faire again. Thanks for the video.

This was such a great review, thank you!!

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching Deandra! Glad you found it helpful :)

i’ve been on faire about the same time and was looking for others opinions. you and i see pretty aligned in our views about the relationship building

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

It's hard! I only recently figured out how to start sending email campaigns, but even then I hesitate to send emails. It's slowing down for me these days on Faire and I think I need to do my own outreach~

Thanks for making this video - it was very informative and appreciate the time spent making it. I was on the fence about joining Faire, but I think I'll go ahead and give it a try and see how it goes. I agree with all of the con's and wish it was more community related.

@bysarahkim

4 ай бұрын

All the best with Faire! I know they're constantly evolving and updating their policies. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. For me I don't sell enough on Faire for it to impact my business too much!

I’ve been thinking about using Faire, but I put it off only in the hopes of trying door to door with retailers locally where I live in London. Thank you for the honest review, it does help to understand what the costs and advantages are.

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Nadia! I think door to door is the best way to go! Especially locally. So that's really awesome. I need to do more of that... and I actually think Faire favours people who have wholesale experience so this is such a natural progression! All the best~

You are a great presenter Sarah!

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!!

Great! It would be nice to see a behind the scenes of how your end as a Faire seller looks

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

I should! That might be a cool in-depth video. Thanks for the idea Clare!

This video was super informative thank you! I'm curious how many products you had to have before they approved you. I hope I didn't just miss it in the video

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Hi Jessica! I'm not 100% sure on how many items you need... I don't think they have a minimum. But you will need a minimum spending amount. So if it's $100 minimum, then you want to have enough assortment for stores to be able to spend $100! I did learn from Paper Camp that having 48 SKUs minimum is good for entering wholesale. And this doesn't include variations (like colour, etc.) - 48 unique items! I hope that helps!! :) All the best with your biz.

@labittie

Жыл бұрын

@@bysarahkim that does help! Thank you so much!!

I feel this, when I was trying to join Faire they didn't reply to me until my application listed that I was selling wholesale in a shop already. It was probably my 4th or 5th application

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Right!? I hear this is common. Feels like there's really no transparency in all of it!! But I'm glad to hear that you're on Faire now :)

Thank you. This was very helpful. I just set up my shop last week. I am an artist and greeting card business. It’s a bit intimidating not knowing what to expect. I am doing the Summer Fair. I’m not sure what type of discount to offer. Any suggestions? Thanks again, Linda

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Linda! To be honest I don’t have much success on Faire. I would take a look at your margins and see realistically what you can offer. Between the 50% markdown and the 25% Faire commission, there’s such small room for profit as is!!

Thanks for the great video! I am wondering what terms you offer (for how long to produce and ship)? Also, do you keep every item in inventory or do you produce and then ship once you see what is selling?

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Hi Karen! I have all my inventory ready to go. Because I sell stationery, I think it’s easier to do it this way (compared to businesses that sell larger or handmade goods). I take 1-4 days to pack and ship :)

@karenpaytonart

Жыл бұрын

@@bysarahkim thank you for your reply and providing such great info!

Hi, this video was super helpful and informative. Can i ask, how many products it was that you got accepted at?

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Hi! I had about 50 SKUs I believe - mostly greeting cards but a lot of little stickers and bookmarks. I think having a good selection will help :)

Hi Sarah. Thank you for a great video. Just you with very informative information. No distractive loud music. Awesome. Question. If Faire is taking 25% off of the first order and you the brand have to wholesale it at 50%. Seems like that is 75% off the first order and 65% off subsequent orders. Am I calculating correctly. Would love clarification on this. Thank you. Karen

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Hi Karen! Thanks for the comment! Yes you’re right. Wholesale standard is 50% of retail cost (doesn’t HAVE to be but that’s the most standard) and yes Faire takes 25% commission from first orders (they only take 15% on returning orders and 0% if it’s a store that signs up through your referral link). So yes at the end of the day you really have to make sure that wholesale makes sense for your products. There are some products of mine where the margin just does not make sense so I don’t put them up for wholesale - they just sell retail. Welfare does take a huge cut, I found out working with sales reps also requires quite a big cut as well. They are driving traffic to your brand and making sales on your behalf so it doesn’t make sense to have to pay them like this. I always create products and price them keeping wholesale in mind. It’s a very different scale and a very different mindset than retail and I would say it’s too very completely different business models! I hope that helps Karen!

@karenbradford4314

Жыл бұрын

Sarah. Thank you for being so gracious to give such an indepth response. I will be looking for your videos as it seems that it is one of the more pleasing ones out there. Thanks a bunch.

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

That’s very encouraging to hear! Thanks Karen :)

Hi Sarah, thank you so much for this video. It is super informative as I venture into the world of selling my cards. A quick question: do you know about how many products we have to have ready for us to potentially be accepted? You mentioned that FAIRE first “denied” you because you didn’t have enough products available. Knowing this will give me a better idea of where I stand in terms of being ready to set up shop. Thank you so much in advance for your help!

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Cecilia, thanks for all the comments and for watching my videos! I'm not sure what the magic number is but I think they need you to have enough SKUs to offer a good range to your retailers! For a card shop, I've heard ~48 SKUs is good (in general for wholesale - not Faire specific). You want our stores to be able to have a variety to choose from :) It would be different if you were to sell candles or a bigger item like that because you'd need far less SKUs I believe! Hope this helps!

@cecilia_storyteller

Жыл бұрын

@@bysarahkim Thank you so much, Sarah! This gives me a more precise goal to work towards. I hope you and your family are doing well. Thanks again!

@mirandadunsterville

6 ай бұрын

thanks for giving a rough number to think about! I have some work to do!! @@bysarahkim

As a retailer that has been using Faire, I think this is a good example of why people still like to purchase at large wholesale shelves. Because although you have to do lots of legwork as a seller like creating a booth and price sheets and you have to put out more money for that expensive booth and all the travel involved, the reality is that you’re cutting out the middleman. It’s a convenient portal to be able to purchase from but I feel bad often because where did this third wheel come from and why in the world do we need them? It’s irritating to me sometimes especially after I’ve ordered from somebody once and liked their product. I feel like if we are adults I should at this point be able to have a one on one relationship with product makers. I also disagree with the exclusivity terms for some of the same reasons that you pointed out. If there’s a store down the street from me that carries a couple of your ornaments, but not your cards, it doesn’t make sense that I can’t care of your cards. You should be able to have control over who you have exclusive terms with and what kind of minimums are required of that including being able to change that at any moment because the demand in the area is higher now.

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

So many good insights!! Yeah, it's such a pro and con. My DREAM would be to go to a tradeshow one day and meet some cool buyers or retailers like yourself! I think for now, since it's more of a passive presence on Faire, it is nice that I don't have to do legwork to meet new stores... especially the ones that are out of country for me. But definitely, the majority of my wholesale orders come from directly reaching out (I do cold emailing for shops I admire and it works out better than Faire). I really do wonder what the future of this marketplace will be..!! As they are growing and allowing more and more retailers and brands on it, I wonder if it'll dilute the market and make it less appealing for both sides too...

New subscriber, loved your content

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you Maria!!!!!

Hi, so you upload your products on fairy and wait to get sold? Do you ship them by yourself or fairy do this? Can I do dropshipping using fairy or this is only for big amount of products?

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Martina! Thanks for your questions :) I do upload my entire catalogue onto Faire, but they don't dropship. I ship them myself and charge the customer for shipping in the final step of the transaction. I would say that you need inventory on hand because you never know what kind of orders will come in! I have all my products ready to go.

Thank you!! How many products they required from you to join? Would love an example of how you learned to price your items effectively to succeed at wholesale 🙏🙏🙏

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Hi Lenny! I believe Faire only requires you to have ten products, but I think to succeed, you should have 40-50 unique SKUs (so for me, those are different greeting card designs). For pricing... I follow industry standards but also make sure my costs and profit margin work out for me. Greeting cards are about $5.50 USD right now. That means for wholesale, I sell them at $2.75 USD (50% of the retail cost, always). This works for me because my costs are much lower than that, which allows me to make a profit on both wholesale and retail. For some products, my costs are similar to the wholesale pricing, so I do not sell them wholesale (only retail). Hope this helps!

@LennyYT

Жыл бұрын

@@bysarahkim thank you! Do you set a minimum contract to accept wholesale on faire?

Can you pls show how you make your catalog and SKU numbers. Also how often do you need to update your designs and catalog pls. THANK YOU

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Hi Swetha, I make my own catalogue on InDesign. I design it from scratch myself! You can find some good examples, like Rifle Paper Co's on issuu.com. I add to my inventory every season (but do a big catalogue update every year).

@swethakalluri2205

Жыл бұрын

@@bysarahkim you are too sweet for replying. I love all your videos and you are so generous with your knowledge. Thank you. Btw your husband is so helpful and daughter is adorable 💕

Very Honest, Very Informative~ Was thinking about using Faire~ but ummmm, now maybe~ Since I have sales rep that does fantastic work< I think I might just stick with her~ she charges 5%~ Seems like a great deal~ BUT I do have to handle $$ and returns~ that part sucks~

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Sindy! A sales rep sounds really amazing. That's something I would love to explore this year...! How did you end up finding or choosing a rep to work with?

@sindyanderson7035

2 жыл бұрын

@@bysarahkim My daughter sells for the Gift Mart~ her boss talked me into wholesaling~ so working on pkg, Sales packages, and so much more. So much goes into getting ready to wholesale that retail stores don't think about.

Every option to sell will favor the buyer since that is how they make their money. I am working on getting a website.

Hi Sarah! I’ve been approved as a seller on faire, but I have some questions about your experience with the tax portion! It mentions if your brand is not based in the US, that there are prompts to follow to ensure tax exemption on revenue from the US. Did you have to deal with this? And what kind of questions did it ask?

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Hi Terri! Yes I did have to do this. I think it asked me basic business questions. Depending on your country, there are different policies for tax with US. I think Canada has a tax agreement with US so I get taxed here for US sales. But yes it’s a simple form I believe!

Can you please comment on how the photos are taken for Faire? They all look very professional? Does everyone hire a professional photographer or do you take them with your iphone?

@bysarahkim

10 ай бұрын

That's a great question! All photos are uploaded by each shop. Not all look professional but most of them do look amazing! Many businesses hire a photographer but I take mine with my iPhone. That being said, it's a challenge! I learned how to edit my photos using Lightroom. I also invest in some props for my photoshoots. It's one of my least favourite parts of my job actually haha. But yeah, there is a high bar for quality photos as customers use the photos to make their purchasing decision!

I applied for Faire for one of my clients, and we received the first order within 2 days. I agree that customer service is SLOOWWW. I do have 2 questions that have not been answered. 1. Do you need to create an invoice for the order? Can you provide the steps after the order is accepted? 2. Can a brand also sell on Amazon? I know the retailer can not. Thanks - your video was very helpful.

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Oh that's amazing! It took me a while to get orders on Faire... still slow :P For invoices, Faire should automatically create them for you. Once the order is accepted, I print the invoice/packing slip, pack the order, ship it, and then update the shipping information on the Faire order. I believe a brand can also sell on Amazon! They don't stop you from other platforms, such as your own e-commerce shop. I don't see why Amazon would be any different or how they would control that. I know there is a "Not on Amazon" badge for brands, so I assume some brands are on Amazon. Hope this helps Rebecca!

did they change the keystone pricing policy? Because I've seen multiple products over 50% of retail.

@bysarahkim

Ай бұрын

Hey! I’m not sure about this as the video may be outdated! But that’s good to know that it’s not a forced pricing structure!

Hello Thanks for your video. I am writing to you from Italy. We already sell to stores and want to try Faire. I wanted to ask you some questions. How much time do you have to be able to ship orders? If you answer, what is the average value of orders to date in $? Good day Gianluca

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Gianluca! It sounds like Faire would be good addition to your already existing sales channels! You can set your own ship times (lead times) and it really ranges. Mine is currently set to 4-7 days. My minimum order amount is $120 so all my orders exceed that, except when there are sales or discounts! :) You can set your minimum order. I believe order values really differ based on industry. Because my cards are ~$3 wholesale, I set my minimum based on that.

@gusatstore8922

2 жыл бұрын

@@bysarahkim Thank you so much for your answer!! In March we decided to start with Faire too .. Let's see how it goes !! good day Gianluca

hi, awesome video! Thank you for your feedback. I would love to know how its going now? Do you still enjoy faire? thinking about joining but I've heard mixed reviews from both buyers and sellers.

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Ariel! Thanks for watching :) Honestly my sales have slowed down a TON on Faire. It's very slow for me and I think it's a mix of things I am not doing well (regular updates) but also maybe a slower season due to the economy? I know others who have a lot of success on it too so it might just be me~ I'm finding that only ~25% of my wholesale orders are through Faire while the rest are my direct outreach.

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

They also have Top Shop feature that I can't seem to get the badge for (got it once) because of one criteria (my reorder rate). I think that's negatively impacting the algorithm for me too. There's a summer market coming up and I hope it pumps some sales for me!

@LifeByAriel

2 жыл бұрын

@@bysarahkim thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate all the info, it helps so much! Im wishing you all the summer sales on your shop! :) I just have one last question. What exact criteria did you need for faire? Was it a business license or etsy confirmation stuff? Just wondering whats exactly needed?

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

@@LifeByAriel I'm not 100% sure what the criteria is but I think they like to see that you have enough SKUs and perhaps some wholesale experience prior to joining! Definitely not Etsy confirmation or business license.

It's not fair that a small seller practically sells their product and then Faire again gives them an extra discount, causing you to lose more money. In the end only Faire and these dealers make profits.

@bysarahkim

Жыл бұрын

Hi Juliana! It’s a huge cut, for SURE. You just have to make sure your products and pricing make sense for this platform. Also, not all my products are listed on Faire because I can’t afford to!

Don't be fooled to think Faire is there to help you make lots of sales. They want the biggest data of all the stores. I would never give your own store list. I would reach out old school way. Find your own stores to sell in.

@bysarahkim

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Swati. I agree too - direct is ALWAYS better!!! :)