SouthBelleGroveOutdoors Posted October 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 Thanks for all your replies. Yes, the OP was about selling baits to friends. Some of my thoughts on selling anything to friends; Often you get into a new hobby and want to do a lot of it. You can't afford to do a lot of it so you try to sell to your friends. You talk to a buddy and he gets excited. He says he'd love xyz product so you go out and buy some stuff to make the product. He ends up buying from you once and you hardly recoup your expenses. I think the way to go is to make a product and then try to sell that product. If someone wants something special, make it, but keep expenses low and use the opportunity to learn something new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthBelleGroveOutdoors Posted October 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 I ran some numbers. Soft plastics and hair jigs are difficult to produce cheap, they also are tougher to customize enough to warrant a higher price. Crankbaits seem to be the best money maker since a blank plus hardware and hooks are $2. Paint cost is minimal and the equipment cost isn't too bad depending on what airbrush you get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baitjunkys Posted October 5, 2018 Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 Problem is, the crankbait custom paint market has went to the birds. If you can keep it as a hobby you will enjoy it much longer then a business. I promise you that. Tho I love what I do, It can be very trying at times. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpoonMinnow Posted October 7, 2018 Report Share Posted October 7, 2018 Time is key when considering selling lures - time to make them, the time it takes to pack products, the cost of sending them (which rises yearly), the expense of basic equipment including shipping and all this as compared to what major retailers sell the item for. Even 70 cent Senkos seem reasonable as compared to what we could make and sell them for and most soft sticks sell for around half that much. Better off trading lures with each other on TU... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone2long Posted October 7, 2018 Report Share Posted October 7, 2018 On 3/5/2018 at 12:54 PM, SouthBelleGroveOutdoors said: Hello, I'm new to the forum and have only been pouring soft baits since the new year. Last year I got back into fishing after a long hiatus and found that with my newly acquired hobby of wood turning I could turn my favorite pond lure, a popper. This led to that and then I got into pouring worms. I am looking to pour baits for some of my buddies. I'm not necessarily looking to make money but would like to at least break even for my materials and justify to the wife another mold purchase. What do you guys recommend charging for baits to cover plastic? Since obviously the size of the bait matters, would you base the price on prices in catalogs for the same bait or calculate the amount of plastic used? Another option, which my cousin did with his lead pouring kit, was to have his buddies buy some molds to add to the kit and then everyone had more molds to use. The only difference between that and soft baits is that lead is free depending if you have sources but plastic isn't free. Any other advice is welcomed. Where do you guys get packaging and what type? If you were I, would you start a Facebook page and try to sell more of your creations? TIA Your better off just bartering with your friends and not making mention of it on social media I mean I don't know how many your number of "friends" is but once you start packaging and advertising you've enter another realm where the tax man will be very interested 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthBelleGroveOutdoors Posted October 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2018 On 10/7/2018 at 10:53 AM, gone2long said: Your better off just bartering with your friends and not making mention of it on social media I mean I don't know how many your number of "friends" is but once you start packaging and advertising you've enter another realm where the tax man will be very interested That's what I've kind of concluded. However, I don't have any 'hardcore' fisherman that will go through more than a few packs of worms or a couple crankbaits in a year. I do have a possible venture that I might post on the jigs forum which involves tying hair jigs and selling them to my buddy who would supply the hair through his trapping business. He goes to shows selling fur products his wife sewed together. He thinks jigs made out of his hair could sell. I would certainly need to sell them legit and pay the tax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
