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I have never used a long arm machine but hve been doing some research on them thinking about purchasing one. I have a local Quilt shop, a very large and successful one, that has asked if I would like to purchase a machine and work out of their shop. They would take 25% of the amount I charged for each quilt. Can I make money paying them this amount?

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That's a loaded question! Personally, I would not do it. My main question is . . why would you want to? Do you have room to put a machine at your house? I know it would probably make it close to not being worthwhile if I were giving 25% off the top to someone else. By the time you figure income taxes and self-employment taxes, depending on whether you have a husband earning income, you could be paying 15% - 40%+ on your net in taxes. Add to that the amount you're paying the shop and you may be working for peanuts or less.

Other questions I would ask are:

(1) Would there be a contract? If so, what will happen if the owner of the shop decides there's enough business for two longarmers. Will someone else be able to come in right along beside you?

(2) What about insurance? Who will be responsible for the insurance on your machine?

(3) Will the shop collect the money and give it to you? Will they pay the sales tax or will you have to have your own ID number? Depending on your state's requirements, you may not even have to charge sales tax on your quilting.

(4) What about quilts sent to you by others? If you put quilts in a show halfway across the country and get business from there, or from your mother's neighbor out of state (I'm guessing at lots of the info here), will you still give the shop 25% . . is it off EVERYTHING you do on that machine?

(5) Will the machine be in a secure location that can be locked away when you aren't there? What if you want to quilt after the shop is closed? Will you have access to the machine?

(6) I'm pretty sure the shop stocks batting and wide backing fabric and would not want you selling that. I make a good percentage of my income from selling batting and extra wide backing fabric to my clients.

For me, part of the glory of doing this is that if I want to get up in the morning and do my housework or yardwork or grocery shopping and then quilt from noon til midnight, I can do it and no one is questioning why I'm not at the machine by 9 or 10 a.m.

I would be much more inclined to suggest that I buy the machine and put it at my own location and then give the shop a set percentage of the business they send my way.

I quilt for our local shop and while I think I always do a good job, I would hate to know that if a few clients or the shop owner decided they didn't like my work or liked someone else's work better, I might be out.

Maybe I'm just too independent. Hopefully others will have a more positive outlook than I've had. But, I've been honest about my thoughts.

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Thanks for your reply Judy,

You have hit on some very good points. I did not feel very good about the whole things but I am not to educated YET on how all this works. I do have a space in my home where I could work. The only real advantage I saw from this was the amount of business that would come out of this shop. The get alot of travel in people and buses of people visiting. They have been looking for someone to do this in their shop and I am sure they will continue to, so I would not be able to count on to much business from them if I worked from my home. I live in a very remote area and this quilt shop is the only one in about a 70 mile radius from it.

I'll keep researching. Thanks so much for your input Judy.

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I think you're wise to think of all the things you have posted but if that shop has a ton of business and people coming through, even if they get their own quilter, they probably produce enough tops to keep more than one person busy.

When buses come through, most of those people are quilters and may already have a relationship with their own longarmer back home so because thousands of people come through that shop and buy fabric doesn't necessarily mean that all of them will be looking for a longarmer.

My feeling is that once you are ready to show your work, enter your quilts in shows, show them to your friends who are quilters, take whatever business you can get from the shop (if any) and you'll be fine.

The business is there . . it's everywhere! If they do get someone in there to do their quilting, make sure you're better than she is!:D

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I have done this. I would be glad to answer any questions that I can that you have. Email me privately. I think it is listed on the member list, just right click on the name. If not, I will check back on this forum later today.

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The Quilt shop is a good business person. Why don't they buy the machine and hire you to operate it? Then you could have your own machine at home to do your own business after 'shop' hours.

There are new quilters that begin their hobby everyday and you will build your own clientele in a very short period of time. You will find that there will be plenty of work for you and probably several other longarmers. If I were you I would not work hard and pay a quarter of my pay to someone else. Your overhead is going to be way too much for you to be able to afford to do that. I think solo is the way to go!

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I contract for a shop, own my own machine and work from my house....they have many times asked me to move the machine to their place of business, but I would only be able to work on the machine during the time of the store hours, I wouldn't have the access to the machine in the middle of the night should I want to work that late or have the freedom to come and go with my own hours should I want or need to take a few hours for something else. They take a commmission of about 20% for a brokerage fee, and they handle all the money, credit cards and such. I don't have to have a supple of battings and fabrics, so I guess it could be said it is working okay for me. If I can be of further help to you email me privately and I will answer all your questions from there.

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I am kind of new to quilting, have only had my machine for a few weeks. We have a quilt store near by that has a quilting machine set up in their shop. Recently they had a job opening for a sales clerk and I inquired. At the time I was in the process of purchasing my machine and they turned me down for the job because of a conflict of interest. They didn't want me there drumming up business for myself. I can understand that, I think! Anyway, something to think about.

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Guest Linda S

Wow. I haven't started a quilting business (yet), but 25% seems like a lot. Most of the shops I have called in my area seem very interested in having me bring business cards, brochures, and samples of my work in for customers to see -- we haven't talked about them wanting a percentage of my profits. I would be willing to pay something for the advertising, but that seems pretty steep.

Linda

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I am new to this quilting forum and would like to respond to quiltb whom said she has worked in a quilt shop long arm quilting. I have been unable to figure out how to contact you by "member list". I have been out of town a few days but am back and would love to ask you a few questions. If you could email me at joang@svic.com when you have a moment and leave me your email address I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks again!!!

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