Love the idea
Its IMPORTANT to get into the real world & real stores selling cards every day
 
Valxart love to offer introduction card packs to stores if we had a way to do it  
 but still over 20K of our GCU-Zazzle 99.5% are UNSEEN
 
We have purchased and given away over 400 of our own cards to promote Valxart name but i do not have a list of sites knowledgable of GCU and ran out of places worth sending to.
 
Even if i had addresses, i would send them Valxart cards to stores as sample packs at reduced rates -  
I want long term happy buyers but must be seen and sitting on a drive unseen waste all the time I put in already. Stores have edge since you can walk by and see

I would really like to have this option also--I have had a couple of people recently approach me about carrying my products and I'd like to focus on cards. Any chance there is GCU discussion about Donna's idea?  

Hi Sharon and David,
It would be nice if someone from GCU would let us know if we could do this somehow, and we would receive the same royalties..It would be great to sell our cards to stores..Well hopefully someone at GCU will let us know.
 
Donna Collins

I appreciate someone taking the time to explain the process-that actually helps a lot for someone not familiar with that process. So the bar code that has to go on the back of the card can be applied separately? Doesn't need to be printed on?  
 
There is a big difference, speaking only for myself here, between experience levels of the artists who contribute here. Some have been doing this for years and working with retailers etc and many have not, myself included. Bridging the knowledge gap is extremely helpful and i appreciate your outlining all of it. Didn't actually realize I was asking for something redundant
 
thanks

Hi Doreen,
You know thats a better idea.... All I have to do is get orders for my cards, I buy them, I pay GCU for them and then I collect a payment from the retail store and GCU doesn't have any extra paper work....
 I do notice that some stores already buy GCU cards in bulk...which is so great.
Thanks for letting me know...
 
Donna Collins

Sharon, no one here was asking anything redundant and I apologize if my discussion led you to believe the questions were not valid  
 
I didn't see anyone here mention anything about the bar codes and that is actually a valid question that GCU may provide some insight on which might be useful for selling offsite.
 
As I stated, I interpreted this discussion to be fairly vague . . . so your idea is indeed a valid one I do think however from my 'previous life' that bar-codes are unique to each individual store.  So for example if Walmart bought our cards at GCU, the bar-code on the back is unique to GCU, however a large company that size may choose to enter those bar-codes into their system rather than repacking them with Walmart bar-codes.  
 
It does give food for thought me thinks  
 
 
[/quote]
 
Doreen--I just had a moment of embarassment about how much I don't know I'm reading books and reading the community blog and trying to put all the information to use in my work and appreciating, a great deal, all of the help offered on GCU. Thanks, really  
 
I did go find a lot of info about bar codes, UPC and the supplementary codes for each design. And that you can buy labels. Now I know more than I did!

Quote from Donna_137698 on Oct 8^th, 2011, 2:51am:

 
Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be Donna . . .
 
Approaching stores with person to person only works for those who are comfortable with strangers and starting conversations; and those who are confident in what they are selling, i.e., great salespersons.
 
Anyone who is not this type of person will probably not have a tremendous amount of luck with this approach.  Stores know at first glance whether they are interested in selling your cards or not and it's really more about whether you did your homework before approaching and whether they LIKE you or not; so here are some tips:
 
1)  Visit the store(s) as a customer a couple of times, make a small purchase if you can.  Compliment them on something about the store.
 
2)  Pay VERY CLOSE attention to whether any or all of your cards even fit what the store carries.  If this is a store which sells only New Age cards and gifts, don't bother if you do not have any of that type of card to offer.  So only approach those stores with specific cards of yours which you think make a good fit for their store.  To do otherwise is wasting their time and you'll never have a second chance.
 
3)  Once you've (a) established that you have cards which fit the store and (b) have made yourself 'seen' a couple of times in the store, bring in a nice little packet you put together which includes;
      
     * A couple of sample cards which suit their store
     * Make up a brochure or rack card with the important features of why they should buy your cards such as; bulk pricing, variety, quality and so on. Include nice visuals of a few more cards.
     * Your business card with contact info.
     *  Include a VERY SHORT letter to initiate contact something like. . . "Dear Margret - I have so enjoyed my visits to your lovely shop and on my last visit it dawned on my that I have some greeting cards which might just fit perfectly into your offerings, so I decided to drop a sample off." ...blah, blah
 
    Leave this packet in a manilla envelope with the store owner/managers name (which you should already know after visiting the store a couple times) the next time you go in.  KEEP IT SHORT!
 
4)  After a couple of weeks, call to see if they are interested in getting together to see more samples.
 
Be prepaid to answer the question:  Do you provide the card rack?  
 
The rest is a matter of how diligent you want to be; there is a reason people who go 'door to door' are called salesmen!  They are good at getting people to open up and want the product they are peddling.  In general, artists are not good at that, so don't be discouraged if this approach is cumbersome and uncomfortable at first . . . you'll get better at it.
 
5)  DO NOT EVER send, email, post on a blog, or in anyway make contact with anyone for the purpose of promotion/sales if there is absolutely no direct connection with what they offer and your cards  . . . this would be considered spam - whether in person or on the internet.  
 
Good luck . . . it's really just find a way to become a good salesperson.  If you were trying to get into a gallery for a show, then yes; resume (Artist's resume not employment resume), portfolio and so on would be required . . . but again cards are not art, they are a product with heavy competition in a saturated market.
 
Did that help at all?