Commercial Decoy Making

C

Capt. Frank Miller

Active member
Guys,
As usual I am asking for some advice. Being from the East Coast I have had a lifelong love affair with decoy making. I currently have some very old school looking bird (canvas and wire birds in the NC tradition). I want try to start selling some. Nothing huge - just a part time venture. But I was wondering if there were any commercial carvers on here willing to give me some guidance?
Thanks,
Frank
 
I'm just a hack, but here is my advice.

Decide how much money your time is worth per hour, and multiply that by the number of hours it takes you to cut out, carve, paint a decoy. If you are truly doing this as a legitimate business venture, add 15% to cover just what you are going to have to pay for FICA tax.

Add on $25-$30 to cover your cost of materials for your average puddle duck. Do not include a mark up on materials (you should probably add at least 25%, but don't for now)

Add what your time is worth to your cost for materials.

Now answer the question: "Can I sell my decoy for that amount of money?"

If your answer is "yes", call an accountant who you will have to pay to tell you what other licenses, fees, permits, you'll have to pay to operate a business in your state. He'll also tell you what are legitimate business expenses that you will get to deduct each year. You'll have to get the paperwork to collect sales tax for your state. Costs to be able to accept credit cards. You'll have to keep records, inventories of materials and product, etc.

Do you have a market to sell your decoys to?

My decoys are crap, but if I had to bill myself for my time, I couldn't afford them.
 
You could test the waters of E-bay? Set a reserve and if the decoy doesn't sell for what you consider as a reasonable price, you're not out anything except a listing fee.
 
Frank,
Canvas over wire are not the easiest decoys to sell for a profit. Most hunters would rather have wood or cork so the customer base is smaller. About the only advice I can really give is to make some unusual stuff along with ducks, things like gulls, coots and grebes. Seems like slightly unusual decoys have a better chance of selling for those of us who haven't built a name yet. I made a rig of simple full body canvas over wire dove decoys a few years ago and some of them went pretty well on ebay. If you test the water on ebay make sure and don't start with too low of a price like stated earlier.

btw We need to see some of those decoys. :)

Tim
 
Define a 'part time venture'...are you looking to have a hobby that makes you money? Good luck with that. Are you looking to have a hobby that pays for itself? That is more likely. I've started selling a few birds. Hopefully pay for materials for other decoys for myself and swaps, and maybe an occaisional tool. Not creating a new sourse of income, just trying to slow the money from leaving the bank account.

Doing canvas birds, if doing larger decoys, figure out how to ship them before you sell them. I did a swan, and UPS and Fed Ex ground were over $200 to ship it from Michigan to Florida! You will limit how many you can sell when shipping is outrageous.

Food for thought,

Best of luck and show us some pictures!

Chuck
 
Define a 'part time venture'...are you looking to have a hobby that makes you money? Good luck with that. Are you looking to have a hobby that pays for itself? That is more likely. I've started selling a few birds. Hopefully pay for materials for other decoys for myself and swaps, and maybe an occaisional tool. Not creating a new sourse of income, just trying to slow the money from leaving the bank account.

Doing canvas birds, if doing larger decoys, figure out how to ship them before you sell them. I did a swan, and UPS and Fed Ex ground were over $200 to ship it from Michigan to Florida! You will limit how many you can sell when shipping is outrageous.

Food for thought,

Best of luck and show us some pictures!

Chuck
Click to expand...

Chuck,
Look into Greyhound Package Express for shipping. Last month I shipped to big packages (with model airplanes) down to FL. One went to Tampa and the customer picked it up from the GPX station and that total was $60. The other went to Ft. Lauderdale and the fella was not feeling well so he wanted to have it delivered directly to his shop so he didn't have to run around. The package itself was $60 and they charged me only $18 to deliver it from GPX directly to the fellas shop in Ft. Lauderdale.
Both of these boxes were about 20" x 30" x 60+"
Might look into it. I've shipped stuff all over the Country using GPX. Seems to me you can ship up to 34"x44"x84" and up to either 100 or 150#(don't recall which).
Holler if you need any help with that.
Lou
 
Lou,

my box was about that size. Called in a favor, got it on the tail of a Miami bound truck for free...can't beat that, but also cant do that all the time

Chuck
 
Jim, great advice. You did forget to mention that with postage rates going up as fast as they are, you will also have to factor in that cost which means, to turn any profit you can't sell any decoys farther than next door. Welcome to the site Frank, sorry to hear about your decoy affliction.........I got infected a long time ago...no cure yet? What color ribbon do they have for decoy carving sickness? Hello Lou, is Greyhound an East Coast thing? haven't heard of them before. dc
 
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Hello Lou, is Greyhound an East Coast thing? haven't heard of them before. dc
Click to expand...

Hi Dave,
Greyhound is 48 contiguous States wide. Every Greyhound Bus Station also has the Greyhound Package Express... www.shipgreyhound.com
I've had an account with them for several years. I box up, drop them at the Greyhound Station in Detroit and the customer picks them up at his closest Greyhound Station and I've never had a bit of damage with GPX. It never leaves their hands.

I did an article in a newsletter I do for ouir flying club: http://www.rccd.org/Documents/Newsletters/RCCD-NL-0801.pdf
If that link doesn't work well, go to www.rccd.org and click on "Newsletters" and then view the Jan.2008 Newsletter. The section on shipping models is in that issue.
You can do an easy search for the Greyhound Station closest to you right from the Greyhound link above.
Later partner,
Lou
 
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Dave,
Here's the location of your nearest Greyhound/GPX Station:
SPRINGFIELD GRYEHOUND STA
2425 E KEARNEY ST
Springfield, MO 65803

Lou
 
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Define a 'part time venture'...are you looking to have a hobby that makes you money? Good luck with that. Are you looking to have a hobby that pays for itself? That is more likely. I've started selling a few birds. Hopefully pay for materials for other decoys for myself and swaps, and maybe an occaisional tool. Not creating a new sourse of income, just trying to slow the money from leaving the bank account.

Doing canvas birds, if doing larger decoys, figure out how to ship them before you sell them. I did a swan, and UPS and Fed Ex ground were over $200 to ship it from Michigan to Florida! You will limit how many you can sell when shipping is outrageous.

Food for thought,

Best of luck and show us some pictures!

Chuck
Click to expand...
I look at it the same way as Chuck does, I sell enough to pay for my addiction. If you are a new carver/seller, it is going to take some time to establish a reputation before you will sell decoys for anywhere close to a profit. I recently cleared out the decoys I had laying around in order to pay for a bandsaw. I put a couple on Ebay and set too low of a minimum thinking that bidding would bring the price up to closer to what they were worth but it didn't work out, they sold for less than half of what they should have. I am starting to make a few sales for what I consider to be a reasonable price, but if you factor in the amount of hours spent on each my hourly rate is well below minimum wage.
 
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