To sell or not to sell

[David Holt]

I've had 4 people so far ask me to build them bows to buy.  I've only made a handfull of bows and granted, I am proud of everyone but I never thought of making bow to sell.  I wouldnt even know what to charge someone.  Should I cross the line or just give them away?

[DVSHUNTER]

well, I have been in a similar situation, and morely, I can't see  charging anyone for my bows, there are just too many ifs, and I'm not setup for it. So what I do, is offer to teach them to make their own. I offer my shop and tools and try to make a new friend. If they absolutely had no interest, then sure make one for em. Keep it cheap and do your best. Make sure they know about the liability/risk  and use your best judgement.  It is more fun for me to help someone make their own than to sell them one.

[kodiakkid]

I vote give em away. Should I send you my address?  

[David Holt]

dvshunter:  belive me, I thought of that but none of the four want to build or live to far away and being in hte military I definately can't make it a business by any stretch.  I would love to have my garage filled with new bowyers!!

KODIAKKID:  I saw your trade bow and I hope I'm gettin it.  GREAT WORK!!

[Pat B]

I sell a few, trade a few and give a few away.   You could have them pay for the wood.  Teaching them to make bows is the most rewarding.

[eman614]

i mostly trade right now, and it's working out well. i also do like pat, and get them to buy the wood, fiberglass, and glue. if they feel like throwing me a bone after the fact then i'll take.

[John Scifres]

Keep in mind that bows are covered by the Pittman-Robertson Excise tax.  So if you are totally above-board, not only do you have the liability, you have the 11% tax that comes off your sale price.  Those 2 things alone scared me away from selling bows.  I just don't need the hassle.  Plus it really takes the fun out of making bows for me.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

I got into making Custom turkey calls hot and heavy and got to the point I was turning out some great calls, Had a few guys start wanting to buy them and I started taking orders and it turned into a job that I had to do to complete the orders.

 Totally took all the fun out of it and I bet I ain't made 10 calls in the last 5 years. When I do get he itch I give them away or trade them off.

 Kris

[Flinttim]

I have a job already and would not want another,selling takes the fun out of it. Another thing, there have been a lot of "bow sellers" come and go. Usually what happens they get in over their head and the next thing you know, their name is mud (not Mudd as in Roy). I've seen the same thing in the custom gun business.There has been some serious talent in bowmaking that now has a bad rep. That's a shame, but it happens all too often.No names offered but some of the old timers here will recall a few.

[No-sage]

Even if you give a bow away, you're liable should anyone get hurt when using it.  That, and the tax issue, should have anyone thinking about selling bows without setting up a real, above board business thinking twice.

I'm actually quite surprized that folks would admit to selling bows on the internet without taking care of business properly.  Too much hassle for me to even think about it.  I won't even donate to organizations anymore because of the liability.

[greyhawk39]

This has been a topic on my mind and have discussed with alot of people.If you sell a bow to a person and there is a clause that you have a 1 year proational or life time warranty on craftsmanship of the bow.That the bowyer will upon inspection make the decision to fix or replace the bow free of charge.And the other topic that no-sage brought up.To build a bow out of the goodness of your heart and to be sued that would be pretty cheesy.We want to share our god given talent with others and bring more people into the sport...

[David Holt]

Thanks for all your input gents.  I didn't think this topic would take off like this!  Definately alot more to think about than I originally thought.  You learn something new every day!

[jsweka]

We always here about the possibility of being sued should a bow you built for someone else break and cause injury.  Yes the possibility is real, but does anyone know of a real example where this has happened?

I built one for my brother-in-law last year, he paid for materials and I'm getting ready to build one for a guy I work with who will also pay for materials.  In these cases, I feel pretty comfortable that I won't be sued in the unfortunate event that the bows break.  I definitely would not build a bow for someone I don't know well and I sure don't have any ambitions of turning my hobby into a business. Maybe I would if I hit the lottery big time and didn't need to worry about money  

[SSGN_Doc]

I've built a few bows along with Dave's guidance, and use of his tools.  (messed up a few as well).  I now work a lot slower than Dave.  

We have both tried talking folks into learning.  I gotta say that building along with someone in the workshop seems to make things go faster, and I just like combining brainstorming ideas.

When we invite folks to build, most ask if we could just build one for them.  I don't think thy understand what they are missing in the process in really understanding their bow.  We tossed around the idea of building them and charging, and I'm glad Dave posted the question here.  Glad to get so many responses and open our eyes to issues we hadn't considered.

Currently being assigned to a ship isn't going to leave me as much amateur bowyer time, but maybe I can get some of my crew into the workshop, as they are asking questions about my Traditional Bowyers Bibles.

Having made my first bow this past summer, and building more bows since with improving technique and experimentation has been addictive in it's own right.  Then taking small game with a bow has been a new challenge that has brought a new level of satisfaction to the craft.

Seems like trade and tutelage are the most appropriate paths to take for this traditional hobby/sport.  The comaradarie, the development of skills and craft and the trading of ideas are probably more valuable than the bows themselves.