Jewelry Pricing Terms -
Retail, Wholesale, Sample Sale

© by Rena Klingenberg; all rights reserved

Jewelry pricing terms such as "wholesale", "retail", and "sample sale" may seem complicated if you're not familiar with them. Here are some quick and easy definitions of these pricing terms, to help you have a knowledgeable discussion the next time someone asks about your jewelry pricing.

Retail pricing is how much the end customer (the general public) pays for your jewelry.

Regardless of whether you sell a necklace directly to the customer, or you sell the necklace to a shop that sells it directly to the customer, it's the full price paid by the final customer.

Wholesale pricing is the discounted price a shop or gallery pays for your jewelry.

Typically it's around 50% of the retail price. Or it may be 60% of the full retail price for smaller orders and 50% for larger orders. A bracelet that retails for $40 would probably be wholesale priced at around $20 to $24 for the shop to buy from you and then resell to the final customer at $40.

Most jewelry artists require a minimum purchase before granting wholesale pricing to a shop. For example, you might require a minimum of 1 dozen of all one item; or a $150 order of all one item. The minimum purchase protects you against a store owner who simply wants to buy some jewelry for herself at a wholesale discount, but doesn't intend to carry your jewelry in her shop.

Sample sale pricing is a fashion industry term.

Sample sales are when designers sell their production samples and demonstration pieces that they use for showing their latest lines to store buyers. Most samples are sold at significant discounts.

It's kind of like getting a discount on the "floor model" of a TV - it's had a bit of wear and tear from being on demonstration in the store, so it isn't worth as much as a brand new TV still in the box - but it's still sellable.

"Sample sale pricing" is simply how you discount your jewelry sample pieces that have been shown around to shop owners.

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