Selling to Potential Competition?

[HildaLea]

I was contacted yesterday by a fellow Etsy shop owner. She does paintings of vintage maps and then sells prints of them. One set of maps that I sell come from a US State coloring book and she was asking to buy the whole book (50 maps). On the one hand, selling 50 maps at once sounds great, but I'm wondering whether it is smart to do. If she paints versions of these maps and sells copies around the same price I sell mine....I might be helping create my own competition.

On the other hand, she could've just bought all 50 maps from my shop (without messaging me first) and then done whatever she wanted with them. But I think the point of her messaging me is that typically if someone is buying a large # of something, you give them a discount.

What do y'all think? Should I be happy about the large sale and not worry too much about what she may do with them, or should I take the stance of "you can buy them all individually or go search for the book yourself [like I do]"?

[HoneyThistle]

Hi Bee, I would look at it like this: as someone who wants to complete an art piece (or pieces), I will look for the necessary supplies until I have everything I need. So if I were in her shoes, I will buy these 50 maps one way or another if I really wanted to complete the project.

In your position, you're selling the maps, and here is someone who wants 50(!) of them. Give her a bulk discount if that's something you actually factored into your business, or you can ask her to purchase them individually if the bulk discount doesn't make sense for you financially. Either way, if you are too standoffish or refuse, she'll just get her reference maps somewhere else... and still potentially create competition for you, and you'll lose out on a really great sale.

[Former_Member]

Yes, sell, give her an discount, be happy she contacted you. This happens all the time, I think :)

[PaperBoundLove]

Hi Bee.
I agree with Wei and Emma.
If she wanted to copy, she doesn't need to buy your maps anyway.
She could just use your listing pictures.
I guess she might be a collector. (:

- Khin

[OneFairfaxRoad]

I would sell the whole book. As long as you're happy with your profit, it doesn't really matter what she does with them because she could buy them somewhere else.

[Former_Member]

I agree with what everyone said above. I'd sell them, give her a reasonable discount and tell her to come back for more later that I"d be glad to give her another discount. Don't worry about her becoming a competitor. She sells original paintings, your sell printed material, two different things. There's enough room on Etsy for both your businesses and more. :)

[HildaLea]

Thanks for all of the advice! I did wind up selling to her and feel like I've made a good connection to a fellow Etsy seller :)