more questions
Karen Tellefsen
1. I have a lot of finished pieces, and I really must find some way of
selling my jewelry. My things are pretty, and depend more on a my
quirky artistic sense of design than fancy, time-consuming beading
(like those lovely amulet bags some of you make). I've sold a few
things to my colleagues at 20% to 40% over materials cost as gifts
for wives and daughters, and have gotten compliments. My sister
gets many positive comments on jewelry I've made her. However,
my stock has gone beyond gifts and sales to colleagues.
I've put some things on Yahoo auctions, but my auctions have
barely been looked at. I want to get 1.5 to 2 times the cost of materials,
so my prices are modest, but if no one looks at them, no one will buy
them. I think there is too much competition on these auction sites,
and most of the "eyes" are beaders, because the only things that sell
consistently are fancy lampwork beads many of us don't make.
(They tempt me also; I've done some half-baked scientific glass
blowing, so I know glassworking isn't easy.)
I've seen jewelry similar to mine selling for $20-40 at boutiques,
but I'm asking for $10-12. How the heck do I advertise and promote
my things? If I post information about my auctions or website here,
I'd only expect praise and/or constructive criticism because you're
all capable of constructing anything I've made. How do I get people
looking for gifts or fashion accessories to look at my artsy beaded
costume jewelry, as these must be my real potential customers?
This is my webpage, if you want to look and comment:
userweb.interactive.net/~kat/bead.htm
2. What is your opinion of "Pay Pal"? It looks very attractive to
someone selling small amounts of merchandise, as the charge
is per transaction and there is no set-up fee. I'd rather buy
something with a credit card than mailing a check because it's
faster and easier.
Kathy
Just wanted to say that really like your work. I love the circuit board
creations!! My husband is an electrical engineer, so I have been seeing
that stuff around the house for years. Very nice wirework finishing those
pieces off. Are you at all interested in doing a couple of art shows a
year. your circuit board things are so unique, that I think if you
concentrated on that you would have no problem getting into some nice shows.
Also, how about advertising in technical publications that target people
like engineers?
Bead On!!
Kathy
Karen Tellefsen <k...@interactive.net> wrote in message
news:01bfec58$10280a80$0c8c6bd8@kat...
BeckiBead
able to move some pieces. Especially at those prices.
And I love paypal.
Becki
lee
<01bfec58$10280a80$0c8c6bd8@kat>:
>
>I've put some things on Yahoo auctions, but my auctions have
>barely been looked at. I want to get 1.5 to 2 times the cost
>of materials, so my prices are modest, but if no one looks at
>them, no one will buy them.
get off yahoo. i really dislike thier setup & wouldn't buy from
there. it's impossible to find anything & thier search is awful.
you'd probably do much better an ebay.
>I've seen jewelry similar to mine selling for $20-40 at
>boutiques, but I'm asking for $10-12. How the heck do I
>advertise and promote my things?
contact some of those galleries & boutiques, make an appointment
with the person who does purchasing & take your items in to
show. make sure you set them up professionally & don't sell
yourself short. most of those places have a large markup for
overhead, so if they pay you $10-12, then they will probably
sell for $20 or so. be careful of consignment stores though.
>2. What is your opinion of "Pay Pal"?
pay pal is really useful. i use it for all kinds of
transactions.
lee
BeadR Dee
that if something doesn't sell, raise the price. Sounds crazy, but
remember, we are a country that believes dollars paid equals quality.
If you have your work priced too low, they won't feel it's of any value.
Also, remember, you will have some costs involved in marketing your
work. If I were you, I wouldn't go any lower than 4 times cost. One
for the cost, one for the marketing, one for labor and one for profit.
You might try contacting some up-scale dress shops in your area. A
beadaholic I know that does pieces similar to yours (and not even as
nice) has found two or three that carry her jewelry. Just think of the
places where one of a kind has some cachet, and market them that way.
--
---------------------------------------
Denise W. -- Riverbend Creations
http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/riverbend/
Lori Sousa
very nice stuff on your site! Nice sense of color and design. The earrings
don't excite me much, but the necklaces are good. Are you stringing these on
nymo? If you are doing this for sale, you might want to move up to Sofflex and
crimps for strength. Some of the necklaces look a little heavy for Nymo.
The circuit board stuff is WAY cool. That is definitely a marketable idea -
could you work up a whole line of these? It would be a definite identifiable
"style" - you could go a long way with this! I know a woman in Hawaii who
makes jewelry totally from reclaimed matls. I will track down the link to her
site and send it to you.
Lori Sousa
Briarrose Designs
handcrafted jewelry, traditional care, contemporary flair
gabbailey
it out. I'd really like to take a look..
Thank you!
Chris
Karen Tellefsen <k...@interactive.net> wrote in message
news:01bfec58$10280a80$0c8c6bd8@kat...
> Hi, I haven't posted here for a while, but I have a few questions.
>
> 1. I have a lot of finished pieces, and I really must find some way of
> selling my jewelry. My things are pretty, and depend more on a my
> quirky artistic sense of design than fancy, time-consuming beading
> (like those lovely amulet bags some of you make). I've sold a few
> things to my colleagues at 20% to 40% over materials cost as gifts
> for wives and daughters, and have gotten compliments. My sister
> gets many positive comments on jewelry I've made her. However,
> my stock has gone beyond gifts and sales to colleagues.
>
> I've put some things on Yahoo auctions, but my auctions have
> barely been looked at. I want to get 1.5 to 2 times the cost of
materials,
> so my prices are modest, but if no one looks at them, no one will buy
> them. I think there is too much competition on these auction sites,
> and most of the "eyes" are beaders, because the only things that sell
> consistently are fancy lampwork beads many of us don't make.
> (They tempt me also; I've done some half-baked scientific glass
> blowing, so I know glassworking isn't easy.)
>
> I've seen jewelry similar to mine selling for $20-40 at boutiques,
> but I'm asking for $10-12. How the heck do I advertise and promote
Karen Tellefsen
I'll look into local dress shops and crafts galleries.
My sister had suggested a gift shop in Virginia Beach
and a fancy caterer in Connecticut owned by friends of
hers, but Virginia Beach is too far and costume jewelry
doesn't mix with caviar, even if it looks like beads. BTW
I live in northern NJ.
I used Yahoo auctions because they have free listing.
I will try Ebay, but to this inexperienced eye, beaded things
don't move there either. They do have an "artist jewelry"
category that is a good fit for my stuff. I'll have to charge
$1 more on Ebay just to cover listing costs. I have a nice
necklace I just made with B-grade amethyst, hematite
and cute base metal beads:
jpeg://userweb.interactive.net/~kat/amysfish.jpg
and another one with bone turtles and spacers with tiger's
eye.:
http://userweb.interactive.net/~kat/boneturt.jpg .
I'll try that those. Pricing? I think about $15.
Here are my Yahoo auctions, any ideas what could
I do better?
http://user.auctions.yahoo.com/user/K_Tellefsen?
I'll sign up for "Pay Pal", since two of you like it and
no one said anything negative.
As for shows, I'd do one, maybe two, a year, but my
husband already whines about the beads (until I
remind him that is the only way I can sit in front of
the tube with him, and that he hates the poetry more).
Personally, I find crafts shows daunting, they
want $100+ a table. If I get $12 a necklace that cost me
$5 in materials, I?d need to sell 15 to pay for a table
at a small show. I used to laugh at the <high> prices
that other crafters and stores charged for costume
jewelry similar to mine, but it costs that much to
sell the darned things owing to marketing expenses.
As for labor, beads are part of what keeps me from
going nuts, if I recoup material and marketing costs,
I'm happy. After all, I am a beadaholic; I just want
an excuse to buy more beads to play beads with and
I like to have big palettes of many colors and shapes.
Everyone likes the crazy circuit stuff, so I will
start looking for discarded boards in the lab again.
I think you are correct the circuit stuff would
get me in a juried show, since it is interesting
and unusual, but I'm not so sure it would sell.
I see discarded electronics and I think fridge
magnets, brooches, earrings and pencil cups.
I have to do most of the soldering in the lab after
work because a $10 iron doesn't give the control
a $500 iron does. I've made some really nifty
barrettes out of brass and copper corrosion coupons,
but those went through the reflow oven with
solder paste (I'll have to scavenge some more
lead-free material.) The copper wire I used is all
building wiring I scrounged. If I advertised in
technical publications, I would really annoy my
technical colleagues. But I've sold the circuit
earrings at a science fiction (PhilCon) art show.
I usually sell a few bead things at PhilCon also,
but costume jewelry doesn't mix with space ship
and pixie paintings. Maybe I'll try a real show.
I usually use a double string of FF thick silk
because it is strong and knots well. My things are
heavy and I use a lot of 4 and 6 mm hematite
because its inexpensive, uniform and looks nice.
As for strength, I made a 6 mm rose quartz
bead necklace for my mother on pink silk,
and she broke it. I restrung it on "Soft-flex"
and she broke it. I restrung it on Kevlar
and she broke it. After that, I figured she's
so clumsy, she'd break any string. Also, Mom
can't handle barrel clasps or spring rings,
so I switched to large hooks and eyes.
webpage again for those who asked:
http://userweb.interactive.net/~kat/bead.htm
Karen Tellefsen
> I have a nice
> necklace I just made with B-grade amethyst, hematite
> and cute base metal beads:
> jpeg://userweb.interactive.net/~kat/amysfish.jpg
oops.
http://userweb.interactive.net/~kat/amysfish.jpg .
this will work better.
Marilee J. Layman
<k...@interactive.net> wrote:
>2. What is your opinion of "Pay Pal"? It looks very attractive to
>someone selling small amounts of merchandise, as the charge
>is per transaction and there is no set-up fee. I'd rather buy
>something with a credit card than mailing a check because it's
>faster and easier.
When I started taking PayPal, my sales increased about 150% and my
auction bids increased, too.
--
Marilee J. Layman
Bali Sterling Beads at Wholesale Prices, Retail Quantities
http://users.erols.com/mjlayman/balibead.htm
BeckiBead
And that will helps sales, greatly.
Just my .02 cents
Becki
Bodhikt
>technical publications, I would really annoy my
>technical colleagues. <
Why would that annoy them?? Because they didn't think of it first?
If you're really worried about it, use a nickname/nom de guerre for your
jewelry ad, & a PO box address. Isaac Asimov worried about such things when he
first started submitting SF, but found that it really didn't matter, once he
was "found out". And he soon found he PREFERRED writing SF to "real
work".........
Minibeads
auction bids increased, too.>>
Yep. Just paid Marilee via Paypal. Wouldn't bid before she used this. Then
went to her site and got some more stuff to send with the auction wins.
I don't have local anything postal wise, so I'm much more likely to bid when I
can make the payment online. Saves me the postage, the trip to the post
office, and whatever payment fees like money order or check costs.
Lewis
Marilee J. Layman
><<When I started taking PayPal, my sales increased about 150% and my
>auction bids increased, too.>>
>
>Yep. Just paid Marilee via Paypal. Wouldn't bid before she used this. Then
>went to her site and got some more stuff to send with the auction wins.
Yes, thank you, and your package went out today. :)
>I don't have local anything postal wise, so I'm much more likely to bid when I
>can make the payment online. Saves me the postage, the trip to the post
>office, and whatever payment fees like money order or check costs.
Yep, saves me time & effort, too.