A Casual Place To Talk About Our Favorite Shiny and Sparkly Objects
This is for all you artistic folks in the audience…
My last post on energy/healing jewelry got me wondering how these people/companies come up with the prices for which they sell their jewelry. I wondered about this, because at first glance, a lot of them seem rather, well, expensive. We aren’t talking about an emerald pendant surrounded by diamonds, an object whose value could be verified fairly objectively; this is in reference to the beaded semi-precious stone bracelets and necklaces with pendants of quartz, chinese coins, or other minerals. I have been wondering how one decides how much these adornments are worth.
So if you are of an artistic sort, and you make jewelry, how do you determine a piece’s value? How do you know how much to charge for your creations?
Interestingly, I came upon this website while looking for something completely unrelated, and there it was: a simple jewelry pricing formula! It can be found at Home Jewelry Business Sucess Tips: Jewelry Pricing Formula.
I suppose this formula could be used to apply to anything, really. For you professionals, is this realistic? When you do your pricing, do you follow a similar formula? If not, how do you make your pricing determinations? Finally, if you do use a formula like this, does it work? Are you able to sell your wares using this setup and make enough profit to live on?
I’d love to hear any comments from anyone reading this regarding how you have set up your pricing structures, what you’ve found works, and what absolutely does NOT work. Who knows? Maybe someone who’s trying to get in to the jewelry business is looking for exactly this kind of information. You never know…
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7 Responses for "Selling Jewelry-How Much Should I Charge For My Beautiful Creation?"
Hi – I found your site from a comment left on my blog by (I believe) CrankyDave. Nice blog! I make some jewelry in my spare time – mostly beading – but I’ve never tried to sell anything before. Judging by the extremely variable pricing at the stores on etsy, though, I guess that a fair number of sellers don’t use a pricing formula.
I’ll be writing a couple posts at my blog on Indian jewelry (use of bangles, heirloom jewelry I’ve received from my MIL, etc) in the future, if you want to stop by. I’d love to hear your comments on the topics.
Thanks for stopping by! I had never heard of a formula either before, and I agree, it seems that few jewelry makers use one. At any rate, please keep in touch and let us know what’s going on with your jewelry making, and help keep us informed if any related interesting posts come your way. Sarah
Fantastic question.Using that formula is very subjective at best.Depending on the type of jewelry you have to figure out what your endgame is.My husband and me plan to reinvest just about everything we make for next year into business.If you begin to factor that in to your costs it becomes a recursive loop.However if you make jewelry as a hobby/side business it should work(the formula)
Liad
http://www.custom-silver-jewelry-by-liad.com
You have to set your own price, but keep an open mind about what it is worth. Since you are more attached to something you create, you have to be honest with yourself.
Hand Made jewelry
I find that you get more sales by offering free shipping. You can always bump your prices up a bit to compensate – but it keeps it simple for shoppers. Nobody likes a nasty surprise when they check their items out and find the shipping adds 20% to the total.
On a similar note, the easier you make it for others to purchase it online, the more revenue one should generate, right? I don’t know what the process is or how much it costs to get a site to allow Visa/Mastercard/Amex/Discover (especially American Express and Discover) in order to pay for things (as in, isn’t there a fee imposed on YOU, the seller, when someone charges something with one of those cards?), but it definitely makes things simpler for the buyer.
However, it seems that PayPal has circumvented that convoluted process and made transactions easier for both sides. I haven’t sold anything through PayPal; do they charge to do so? Is it as easy as it is when you’re paying for something through PayPal? Regardless, it appears as an effective way to help smaller online retailers sell their wares and still turn a profit.
With “the holidays” just around the corner, do people who sell jewelry as more than just a hobby, people who sell larger quantities and/or wholesale, do the holidays play a role in one’s pricing strategy? Do people increase their prices in hopes for high profits? Or do people discount their inventory with hopes that higher volume purchases will equal more profit?
For the people who are just starting out trying to make a profit on what they make, do any seasoned professionals have any words of wisdom they would like to share and any advice for the novice seller? As always, we’d love to hear from you.
Very good question. And the formula is pretty accurate. Most jewelry designers I know follow some kind of formula. Most of what I make does not even go into my website. I have starting selling wholesale to local shops. So having a decent formula in place to begin with allows you the room to grow and sell retail and wholesale. And if you find your items are over priced, you can always have a sale.
Paypal does charge a small fee like 3%, but when your just starting out or your sales online are very small, Paypal is the way to go. If you go the traditional Merchant account, that gets spendy. You have monthly fees plus transaction fees, and some even have fees for when you do not meet their monthly minimum in sales.
Another avenue when your just starting is arts and craft fairs.
As to your comment about some of these sites you feel are way over priced. Alot of that is for their overhead costs, space rental, utilities, things like that and some of them hire employees to make their jewelry for them.
I personally do not increase my prices for the holidays. If my suppliers give me a additional discount, than I pass that on to my customers. It keeps my customers happy and coming back to me and sending me referrals.
Some helpful advice for newbies. Keep a inventory of what you purchase. Easy way to do it, is make a spread sheet in excel and list the type of bead, where you bought, how much you paid and don’t forget to figure in the cost of shipping to you, etc.. Count how many beads you have on the strand than divide it by your cost and include in the spreadsheet. That way when you make something, it is easier to figure out how much supplies costs. Good luck and Blessings to you
Darla
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