Starting a jewelley business

[syed]

Hi
I'm looking into starting my jewellery business but want to keep stock and overheads to a minimum just incase it does not work out. Many of my pieces are hand-made designs using high quality materials and prices range from £35 up to £400. Does anyone know of a good way I can sell these items without renting/buying a shop or using a website as with websites I found it costs alot and you need a good photographer to take the pictures.

Advice would be greatly appreciated as I really want to make this a success.

Thanks

Well, you've certainly shut down two of the main options.

A shop is a huge overhead, so I don't blame you. Have you considered a concession in a shopping centre?

How about a market stall?

A web site does not have a huge running cost - you can buy the 'out of a box ones' such as this one for £20ish a month, including payment costs. One which allows you more flexibility like mine at Jo Divine - warning we sell upmarket sex toys, don't want to offend - costs about £100 a year hosting costs, and comes with a ton of free software. The hard part is making it look like your own shop, rather than an amateur effort. BUT we are lumbered with credit card provider costs (about £20).

Having you considered home parties? Hard work, you may be able to go into association with another home party person.

Be aware, there are a lot of people doing the same as you. And also be aware that you will have to invest some money. It will not be risk free, but if you are unable/unwilling to commit funds, you are not going to get very far, I'm afraid.

You could try going to craft fairs and fetes and having a stall - small outlay required but lots of people eager to spend their hard earned cash.

Head for the upper end of the market with those prices (and i assume that quality).

You may be a bit too pricey for craft fairs (i know, i've stood gormlessly at enough in the past).

Ebay shop?

Have you heard of Etsy?
It is an absolutely brilliant website and is purely for people who hand make their own things.
Alot of us on the arts and crafts thread have our own etsy shop.

In fact atm I am having a ring made for me by a lady in the US.

The advantage with Etsy is that the costs are very low.
20 cence a listing and they are on for 3 months.
I think that may work out to about 5/10p?

There is also another site called Mumzmall.
Again I have a site their but if I am honest, its a complete pita to set up.

Would love to see some of your jewellery too

Thanks

JoDivine I wanted to ask you about your out of the box website - do you get many people viewing and buying? Is it not difficult for people to find your site amongst the thousands out there so how did you market yourself? Also I find that people are weiry in giving card details etc to someone they not be aware of.

portBlacksandRESIDENT you mentioned the higher end market which ones would you suggest as the ones I've seen I don't think people would buy expensive items?

For higher end jewellery stuff I'd be looking to invest in some targetted ads (not sure if its the sort of thing you do - but for example maybe bridal mags, offering a bespoke design service for jewellery??)
Approach some local galleries / exclusive clothes shops etc. & see if they will display some of your stuff. They may ask for commision or agree to buy it off you for them to sell.
I also make bead & gemstone jewellery but stick to the cheaper end (have sold at craft fairs etc) - but its only a hobby not a business at the mo so I only look to cover costs not make a profit

Thanks Whizz
I was thinking of approaching boutiques and smaller shops but I am confused as to how to price it as I will be buying the jewellery from the designer at a wholesale price which I will then put up by 2.2 when selling to the shops but then the shop will have to have a mark up price and I am worried that it ill be really expensive before it reaches customer as it is a longer chain. Any suggestions how to over come this problem and how I should go about with the pricing.

syed: re selling to shops, do expect them to double your wholesale price (and possibly then some). Being a retailer myself I know they are doing the hard stuff and taking the risk with your product.

As for the 'out of the box' website, I've not actually used one. I was tempted, but it doesn't have flexibility I needed and I got a US web host which I can install a ton of free software on for no cost. The hard part is customising it so it behaves as you want. It isn't easy - I've been a programmer for 20 years, and this is my first web project.

The problem with the out of the box solutions is they do tend to look a little amateur - I would hope my site doesn't.

As far as getting visitors, it is hard work. We promote locally, through parties. We have tried Google Adwords, spent a ton of money on that to little effect. We are getting bloggers to review our stuff (have a look at our thread on the MN business classified for more details).

As far as trust, you have to be open, have a privacy policy, contact addresses etc. Get encryption on your credit card pages etc. The out of a box solutions have that all set up for you.

Having said that we have a slow trickle of orders. It isn't a flood, but at the moment this isn't our sole income.

Oh, and I would probably stay away from ebay - just a personal opinion, but i don't see people going to ebay for bespoke jewellery.

Nbg -do you have and email address so that I can send you some of the stuff I want to sell?

Oooh yeah, its meecrafts at googlemail dot com.

Jewellery porn, fab

Nbg - I will email those over tonite.
You mentioned Etsy is this an USA site as everything is in $, also I don't hand make the jewellery myself but a designer abroad does will this eliminate me from advertising on this website?

definitely stay away from the web for selling individual pieces - photographing is too much hard work for individual items....

I would do the following

a)Craft fairs
b)Hairdressers and boutiques (profit share with them on every purchase)
c)get a web page to advertise your design services with a contact me section (should be about £500 to set up plus some good photography)
d) jewellery parties
e) concession stand in local shopping centre (but beware snatch shoplifters!)

thanks fymandbean - hairdressers is a idea but how much commission would be reasonable?

Etsy is a US site but everyone from all over the world sell on there.
So when someone buys from you, its just converted automatically into their currency.
For example, I bought something last week from there that cost about $40 but when I paid with my card via paypal, it came through as £20.

I dont think you would be eliminated from it as I know I have seen some jewellery that is sold by someone who is in the US but the jewellery itself is made in Isreal and is shipped from there.

I would second a blog too.
Its amazing how much traffic you get through them and the advertising it gives you.

Oh and stick and advert here on mumsnet.
Only £25.

Thanks Ngb sorry I have another question, my jewellery items takes about 4weeks to get delivered as they make the item requested as and when the item is ordered so would this put off the customers?

No, so long as you mention that in your listing.

The isreal ones are about that. They were for personalised jewellery items.

syed
If you do set up a website, you need to know how to optimize it so that your google ranking is good and people will actually find you. This is a really good site that helps you learn about how to do this, but it's quite hard work - you will have to be committed. Here.
I was involved in a jewellery business, for a specialized breastfeeding product, www.uniquemums.com although we've (me and the other two founders) now sold it on, but I used the optimization technique and it really worked! We did struggle to fund things like photography, and we had a lot of help from friends and family who knew about things like design.
As for marketing, I wouldn't waste money on advertising - the returns are way too small. The way to go is to get a good press release written up and send it out to magazines, papers etc (start with local press to get an idea of how it will go). It needs a good 'hook' (a story that will catch the eye of the editors) and you need to always follow it up with a phone call. Find out the editor's name, try to speak to them personally, and sell yourself - be charming, be interesting, give them good copy.
Sorry, got to run now, but if I think of anything else, I'll drop by later.

Thanks scotsgirl and Nbg x

I make bridal jewellery to order. Customers know that for larger pieces such as tiaras they will have to wait a few weeks. I think people expect that and like that as they know its specifically made for them.
I work with Swarovski crystals and these come in loads of colours. I simply order what colours I need when I get a customer order. HTH

Nbg what is the name of your shop on Etsy I will look you up. Also do you have the name of the US shop that sells the Israeli jewellery so that I can see how she goes about with the long delivery times. thanx

Thanks Sallysparkle - would you say you can make good money selling on Etsy?

I make badges - would I be allowed to put them on Etsy? It looks quite interesting.