Great way to sell handcrafter jewelry?

Question

What is a great way to sell handmade jewelry?
hi. i know about ebay, etsy, and parties, but i would like ways to wholesale items. if i sell my crafts to a small store and they get a small %, it is customary to go in say a month later and give them the 10%? im not quite sure on when to pay the store owner. Bi -monthly? what are some other ways to negotiate cosign agreements? And for those who sell what ways do you market your productS? business cardS? siteS? flyerS?

Answer 1

A store that PURCHASES your jewelry for resale will look at the retail price you've set the piece at and pay you 50% of that.

A store that takes your jewelry on CONSIGNMENT should receive 40% of the sale and the artist should receive 60%. Many stores/galleries (especially inexperienced ones) that take things on consignment will try to get a 50-50 split; this is NOT the industry standard and you should not accept it.

You should have a written contract with any store/gallery you are doing business with. That contract should specifiy, among other things, the pricing set-up, the date each month that a listing of sales and the accompanying monies should be sent the artist, who is responsible for insurance while the jewelry is at the store, a list of each piece the store has taken, etc.

The gallery/store should have a standard written contract they use. However, when I first began putting my jewelry in smaller stores & galleries, I found that many did not--afterall, newer artists with less exposure tend to go into less-experienced/smaller establishments. If the store/gallery does not have its own standard contract, then you will need to provide one.

There are some very useful consignment contracts templates you can use as is or modify in the archives at Ganoskin. Just click on the link below and type "consignment contract" in the search function--I searched the entire archive and found over 100 on-topic postings.

Good luck.

Answer 2

I have a number of pages at my website that deal with selling polymer clay items for consignment, wholesale, at shows, at websites, etc., though the info would also apply to selling any type of hand crafted jewelry, etc.
Here are links to those pages:

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/business.htm
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/shows.htm
and maybe this one:
http://www.glassattic.com/~glassatt/polymer/start_a_business.htm

Good luck!

Diane B.