pipemakersforum.com

So past 4 pipes I have made I put up to sell on a forum I'm on and haven't sold anywhere else yet. Where did you guys sell before you made names and websites for yourselves? I am still at a point where sales from the last pipe funds the next one to make so the quicker they sell the more I can put out . Nothing for profit yet just to replace supplies and tools for now. At this point they all have sold in less than a week, the last one is the first over 100 and has been posted for about three weeks.

Thanks guys,
Ian Keenum

Go to shows.

Sounds like what you're doing is working.

There's no single right answer.... some of it depends on where you are, some of it depends on what you are currently making, what you hope to make, and what sources you have for sales. The Interwebz has changed a lot of things, there's a ton of pipe-related traffic on Facebook and those kinds of things - forums as you've found out can be useful. If I had to choose between a forum presence and a pipe-show presence, I'd take forums hands down, but I built my business model around that, such as it is...

A retail vendor should probably not be on the radar for awhile yet.

As a guy that is in a (somewhat) similar situation I would suggest selling them for whatever you can at this point. If you have one at $130 and someone offers you $100, take it. Make them think they got a good value. In my experience word of mouth is THE best way to sell the next pipe. As you get your pipes into peoples hands they will talk about them, in person, on blogs, on forums, and on social media. I had pipes that were on a website and priced above my "nobody" status and they never moved. I lowered the price to the range that premal suggested, (his advise has been spot on every time) and I sold 5 in 2 weeks. People aren't willing to spend a lot of money to take a chance on the next new guy. You just have to take your lumps and earn a rep the hard way.

I agree with that, it's what I did, but it's also easy to trap yourself in certain price brackets.

I was successful early on by selling through YouTube and Instagram. Lots of guys in both places buy pipes in that price range.

This one isn't just a pipe, it is a whole set all made from the same briar block, pipe , stand, and knife. With out the extra stuff it'd be around the same price range. I started the price at 200 but it is at 160 now. You guys think I priced it too high?

That is a great set Ian. IMO it is priced too low. I think you'd make more selling them individually, but as a set I'd say $250-275 seems like a fair price. The first thing I see that would be a deterent is the initials on the top of the shank. Keep it on the bottom. Your work is definitely showing fast improvement. I'm diggin that set. If I wasn't broke I'd buy that set in a heart beat, @ $160 that's a steal.

See, it's real hard to look at a pipe and say "Oh yeah that there is worth 225.58". It doesn't work that way. Objectively, neither the pipe or the knife is great in terms of crafstmanship - the briar slips on the knife handle aren't fitted perfectly it looks like (the blade looks fucking awesome), the stem on the pipe is a little bloated, the bowl is a little ass heavy.

Overall is 160 bucks a good deal on that? I would say it's a great deal probably. But again, it doesn't come down to intrinsic value here, it comes down to some particular person seeing that and saying "I gotta have that". That's what the critique/improvement schedule does here. It teaches a guy how to make pipes that people want to pay for, each and every time. Establishing a name for yourself by selling these things for a few years is also critical. "It's not just ANY OLD knife, it's a fucking KEENUM, are you blind??"

The knife is a blank i bought (not forging metal yet lol), normally scales are a lot tighter but working with scraps from a block cut off has it challenges compared to working with a full scale, still not supper proud of it.

I've strayed away from ebay and etsy, feel like till I get that name out there I'd just get swallowed in the sea of estates and crappy first time freehands.

Tried to keep my initials itty bitty but the little diamond bit got a way from me and they had to put them bigger than planned.

Thanks for the advice, going to have to try facebook and other social networks with pipe groups. I'm only on BOB right now, never joined any of the other forums. What is your guys preferred pipe forum?

There's a few good ones, actually there's dozens. I kind of grew up on PipeSmokersForum.com but there's TampandPuff, smokersforums, puff, BoB, pipesmokerunchained.... a whole wack of em. And about 50 groups and sub groups on facebook.