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First off, I want to say that I don't make (or sell) jewelry. However, this topic can include any handmade craft items that you wish to sell, so it is still relevant.

What I make are small, hand-sewn stuffed animals, usually horses, out of felt. I have been making them for years, and many people have told me how wonderful they are. I used to live in a large urban area, and one day I visited a horse-themed boutique where the owner saw one of my ponies on a keychain. She was captivated by it, and I told her that I make them. She talked me into bringing several into her shop to sell.

The good news is, people loved them and I sold several at her store, for a much higher price than I would have imagined. The bad news is, a few months later the owner decided she wanted to focus on her interior decorating business instead, so she decided to close her store. I think a better option would've been for her to hire some staff to keep her store open, as it was doing very well, but that was her choice.

Ever since then, I have found it difficult to place my items in stores. I know there is a market for my products, but if there are no stores in my area willing to let me bring them in, how can I sell them?

Case in point: I now live in a mostly rural/agricultural area. There are few boutiques that accept hand-crafted items here. Actually, there are few boutiques, period. I even inquired at a local saddle/tack shop if I could bring them in, and they weren't interested. They wouldn't even look at them! Apparently, they only sell gift items that are made by child laborers in Chinese sweatshops, not anything made locally.

I brought some into the one and only crafters' mall. I sold a couple, but that was it. I visited the shop a few times, mainly to see how they were being displayed. I never even saw more than two at a time in the store, and even these were hidden in some dark corner or on a knee-level shelf where they weren't likely to be spotted by customers. I think what it boiled down to, really, was that one of the owners just didn't want them in her store. She wanted "pretty" things, like beaded purses and angel decorations. My horses didn't "fit" the feel of her store, so they weren't welcome.

Eventually, a few months later, she handed me a bag with my remaining horses, informing me that they didn't sell. She failed to mention the main reason why: she had never bothered displaying them in the first place!

But despite her attitude, they probably wouldn't have done well anyway. I

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