Would you buy little figurines?

[alvia17]

I’m thinking about making a gig where I create cool little figurines, and ship them to the buyer. The price would not be exactly cheap, most likely at least $50, due to shipping and more importantly the time and effort in making the item. I would buy this myself, and I was wondering what you guys think about this idea. Please let me know, thanks!

[misscrystal]

I wouldn’t discourage anyone from trying an idea. If you make them well and have some finished ones you can show pictures of then try it and see what happens. It costs nothing to try.

Regarding shipping, you need to realize that you will be doing international shipping to any country in the world which can be expensive and tricky if you are not familiar with that. So that is something you need to put some serious thought into before deciding on.

[capitalquality]

Maybe, but it would depend what they were for $50. The reason I say this is that I quite often buy handmade figurines, sculpted, or customized pop vinyls sometimes, for less than $50 including international shipping. I do understand the work that goes into them, however. I would suggest you have some cheaper versions that you can do faster, then people may pay more for more elaborate customized versions.

[alvia17]

Thanks for the replies! They are basically little custom made figures that can be attached as a Keychain. I can make a Verizon of you, or other things such as superheroes. $50 is not a set price, it mostly depends on the cost of shipping. The total cost of the gig needs to be enough to cover shipping and make me some profit.

[emmaki]

I think your business model might be better suited to Etsy and the like. The buyers there are more receptive to dinky handmade stuff for a start.

[twistedweb123]

Personally, being completely honest, I like the idea but I think you’ll struggle with it on Fiverr. I’d say there are a few reasons behind this:

• In general, whilst Fiverr is for both services and physical products, the latter sells in much less quantity.

• Your specific product is a small niche which would make exposure or “finding your gig” absolutely key. No one is going to use the Fiverr search for “small figurines” - partly because they probably wouldn’t think to look for that in general and also because they may not think Fiverr is the kind of marketplace where you’d find figurines. This means you rely on “passing trade” for users to find your gig.

This means users will be performing searches or browsing in categories and then stumble across your gig. Fiverr’s current categorisation isn’t really setup or geared for that product. The best place you could probably list the gig is in “Arts and Crafts” or “Collectibles”. Neither category really best matches your service or does it justice. These categories also receive a lot less foot fall than others - such as graphics & design, digital marketing etc.

Due to this, you would then basically be offering a gig to a small market, to a small audience - meaning even with high conversions, the cap of what you could achieve is very limited in it’s current circumstances.

• Whilst $50 is a very fair price point, it could be offputting to Fiverr marketplace buyers. This is because $50 is considered a rather high lead-in when you look at other gigs. Most other gigs start at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 etc - $50 is quite high for a new, untested gig (and that’s not factoring in P&P). So whilst the pricing is fair, the market may not be the best.

Personally, I’d recommend looking to sell the figurines somewhere which may be considered more appropriate - such as Etsy.

However, you can still utilize Fiverr by listing a service (as opposed to product) which relates to your figurines. For example, imagine making cute figurines which can hold small messages. You can sell these on Etsy for users who wish to buy them, whilst you can list a service on Fiverr offering to take photos of the figurines holding your custom message.

Imagine an interchangeable message, like:

The figurines you create could then be topical and desirable - i.e. offering a cute cupid figurine holding a message at Valentines, a figurine in a suit holding a website URL, a superhero holding a happy birthday/congratulations/get well custom message for kids and so on. In a digital marketing age, these pictures have value, customised messages with eye-catching figurines are a great social share or viral content and could be listed in multiple categories such as digital marketing.

Whilst users are unlikely to search for “figurine holding sign”, you would still rely on passing trade but would be in much more popular categories with a lower price point.

Regards,
Adam

[silkroute]

Personally, being completely honest, I like the idea but I think you’ll struggle with it on Fiverr. I’d say there are a few reasons behind this:

• In general, whilst Fiverr is for both services and physical products, the latter sells in much less quantity.

• Your specific product is a small niche which would make exposure or “finding your gig” absolutely key. No one is going to use the Fiverr search for “small figurines” - partly because they probably wouldn’t think to look for that in general and also because they may not think Fiverr is the kind of marketplace where you’d find figurines. This means you rely on “passing trade” for users to find your gig.

This means users will be performing searches or browsing in categories and then stumble across your gig. Fiverr’s current categorisation isn’t really setup or geared for that product. The best place you could probably list the gig is in “Arts and Crafts” or “Collectibles”. Neither category really best matches your service or does it justice. These categories also receive a lot less foot fall than others - such as graphics & design, digital marketing etc.

Due to this, you would then basically be offering a gig to a small market, to a small audience - meaning even with high conversions, the cap of what you could achieve is very limited in it’s current circumstances.

• Whilst $50 is a very fair price point, it could be offputting to Fiverr marketplace buyers. This is because $50 is considered a rather high lead-in when you look at other gigs. Most other gigs start at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 etc - $50 is quite high for a new, untested gig (and that’s not factoring in P&P). So whilst the pricing is fair, the market may not be the best.

Personally, I’d recommend looking to sell the figurines somewhere which may be considered more appropriate - such as Etsy.

However, you can still utilize Fiverr by listing a service (as opposed to product) which relates to your figurines. For example, imagine making cute figurines which can hold small messages. You can sell these on Etsy for users who wish to buy them, whilst you can list a service on Fiverr offering to take photos of the figurines holding your custom message.

Imagine an interchangeable message, like:

The figurines you create could then be topical and desirable - i.e. offering a cute cupid figurine holding a message at Valentines, a figurine in a suit holding a website URL, a superhero holding a happy birthday/congratulations/get well custom message for kids and so on. In a digital marketing age, these pictures have value, customised messages with eye-catching figurines are a great social share or viral content and could be listed in multiple categories such as digital marketing.

Whilst users are unlikely to search for “figurine holding sign”, you would still rely on passing trade but would be in much more popular categories with a lower price point.

Regards,

Adam

Personally, being completely honest,

All good advice I’ve ever read had started with those words. Upvoted first, then read it. No regrets at all.

Btw, if I remember correctly, physical product sale used to thrive on Fiverr in the earlier years until they rebranded themselves as a digital marketplace. I remember people selling magnets, and Bismuth, and bring shrimp and small hobby stuff like that. In fact, they were the first preference for being featured. A lot of top editorial picks in 2012 were physical products.

[alvia17]

Yeah I agree that it would be difficult on Fiverr, and that maybe Etsy would be better. Also, twistedweb I like your idea about the figurine holding the sign. Thanks for all the advice and suggestions! I will most likely not go through with this gig