Do any of you have experience selling custom-made boards? I am a college student and have been making boards for myself and my Surfrider Club at the school and hope to venture out to sell them custom per order as a side hustle. I’m from South Jersey and surf at Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks during my time at school and know a few guys who own shops in those locations, but am unsure of how to go about making the first step.
Shops are so tight right now that they will seldom buy boards outright. Your best bet is to run them by one or two shop owners/managers and see if they will consign one or two of your boards. There are glitches in doing consignment. But either you sell the board or you don’t. Demand is what it is about. Take a few pictures of the boards. Put a time limit on how long you will consign a board. 30–90 days. Have a written agreement. Consignment boards if not sold often come back to you in less than perfect shape. Shop dings from customers handling and reracking the boards etc. Better not to provide any fins with your boards and let the shop sell the customer a set of fins. If you provide a set of stock fins for a shortboard, those fins will wind up being sold by the shop or installed on another shapers board. Pitfalls my friend.
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Thanks for the advice!
Hey dude!
Nick from AkuShaper here. Stoked you are considering venturing out selling your own boards. Who are you linked up with down in VB? Do you know where you will be selling your boards primarily? Up in Jersey? I can link you up with some guys. We also have some new tools through AkuShaper if you are considering setting up a website. Shoot me an email sometime and we can have a deeper chat about all of this. Nick@akushaper.com.
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Thanks, just shot you an email!
I guess that was me 45 years ago… So much has changed , but one thing remains the same… Your chances of getting rich making surfboards is slim… The current surviving business model, Shop out the front factory out the back… To make enough from selling to shops, at the going wholesale price, ( thats even if they take a few on consignment ?) you need to be making 25 to 40 boards a week, meaning staff and dramas… If you sell 3 really good quality boards a week, made start to finish by yourself, in a cheap space, you will make enough to get by, with way less stress… try that for a few years and see where it goes… Keep overheads as low as possible…
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Thanks for the advice. I’ve been building boards with the money out of my pocket for some time now, and I am more interested in selling custom boards so I can keep making boards without going broke. I’m in college (and currently work, so the money isn’t the driving factor), and in 2 years will have a crazy full-time job, so for now, I just want to have fun with it and share some of my boards with customers. If I happen to make some money, great, but I’m more focused now on having fun, learning, and getting my name out there because that is how I know I will be able to make the best boards.
The owner of Island Trader Surf Shop in Stuart Florida has a place in Seaside Park, New Jersey. He’s a great guy. Perhaps you could contact him and see if it might be possible to consign a board or two with him. I think he transports boards back and forth between the to places. Island Trader Surf Shop – Stuart FL New & Used Surfboards, SUPs & Gear
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Great, thank you.
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