I love building CBGs, so much so that I need to occasionally thin the herd.
Twice a year I pack up my instruments and sell them. The two places I go to sell is a "RocknRoll Flea Market" in the Spring and a "Ukulele Festival in the Fall".
My booth always has a great turn out but I only end up selling two or three.
I always have a mix of 3 strings, 4 strings, Ukuleles and a couple of 6 strings and some novelty instruments that draw folks in.
3 strings sell at $125
Ukes $150
4 String CBG $200
Six strings $400
All the instruments are in great shape, play well and are in tune. Visitor love playing them and chatting about them, but I'm not making sales.
What am I doing wrong?
PS
Replies
As with Shane and several others, it really helps if 1) you yourself can play, 2) you have a young cool friend who can play that might work for free / cheap at your booth, 3) you have a laptop that demonstrates vids of your wares being played, and 4) you give a 3-chord demo with any easy song anyone can play, using a kid, a lady, or an old guy as your guinea pig.
Notice a common thread?
Festivals and markets are great for local exposure, but lots of tire kickers, comments like "oh that looks great, but I dont play", etc. Some may disagree, but I have had great success selling on eBay. I only ship within N. America (Canada and U.S.), which gives a very large audience of potential buyers. The small percentage taken by eBay and Paypal are nominal, compared to the fact that listing is free until tthe item sells. Bottom line, the more people that see your work, the better chance at a sale. On a related note, your prices seem in line with other sellers. Now if you build something extraordinary, a higher price is commanded, of course. Good luck