How to make your money go further with small businesses
Fees are a thing over here —
Whether it’s transaction fees or commission fees, the amount you spend is not the amount that is deposited into a small business’ bank account!
Use this guide as an educational resource for how to make your money go further with small businesses, but know that the payment and shopping options we offer are offered for a reason. We would much rather you buy with a higher fee than not at all! We want our work to be as accessible to you as possible.
Without further adieu, here’s the breakdown:
Online shop
This is the best place to support small businesses. There are a lot of baseline costs when it comes to running your own website, but the only fees that pertain to your purchase as a customer are transaction fees.
The payment methods that give us the highest percentage of what you spend are Apple pay and manual card entry. So if you can, use these first! At least for my website (run on Squarespace!), manual card entry uses a platform called Stripe. This is the same platform that handles all Apple pay transactions, so know a manual card entry keeps your information safe! I have no way of seeing your card’s information.
Brick & mortar stores
This really depends on the store, but in general most galleries are done under consignment and boutiques + gift shops are done under wholesale.
Let’s get some vocabulary out of the way —
Consignment is when a brick & mortar shop has your work on loan; the small business owner still owns the items the brick & mortar store is offering. When an item sells, the shop pays out the small business’ cut (50-60%).
Wholesale is when a brick & mortar shop buys your work up front at 50% of retail value; the brick & mortar owns the small business’ work to sell as they wish.
The pro of consignment: the small business get a larger cut. The pro of wholesale: the small business gets paid up front and isn’t waiting to recoup labor + material costs.
Brick & mortar stores are very important for small businesses because they introduce new audiences to our work and allow for people to see our work in-person.
The stores are also doing the selling of these items, whereas if a small business were to sell the same piece on their website, it would require the extra labor of photographing, marketing, and listing the piece! This can save small business owners valuable time, which can be worth the extra cut monetarily. Brick & mortars provide financial stability and flexibility that creatives can rely on!
I am personally neutral on if you choose to purchase my work through brick & mortar stores or online. Small businesses receive a higher dollar amount when you purchase directly from them, but your support in-store keeps us in-store! So your support in-person is truly appreciated.
The rule of thumb: tell employees how much you love our work! This encourages future purchases for wholesale and keeps our contracts with consignment.
A note on Etsy
I no longer have my work on Etsy because of their high fees.
The rule of thumb: if you find a small business on Etsy, see if they have an online shop!