Selling Jewelry on RubyLane.com

by Marta
(Fletcher , NC, USA)

I'm considering selling my artisan jewelry online with RubyLane.com. Have you heard of this site? They seem to have a high end market. I have looked at jewelry on Etsy.com and the prices were so low I don't see how anyone can make a profit. Any advice?

Thanks so much.

Marta

Answer:

Selling Jewelry via Online Storefronts

© by Rena Klingenberg; all rights reserved
Yes, I've heard of RubyLane. It's an e-commerce site where artists, antique sellers, and other vendors can open an online storefront for selling their products.

Etsy is another e-commerce site that's set up similarly. However, Etsy emphasizes handmade items and has a trendier appeal.

To help you decide which online storefront option to choose, consider things like:

* Monthly fees.

* Transaction fees.

* Any other costs, such as listing fees, etc.

* Which one looks like it caters more to your targeted market.

* How well you like the other vendors' online storefronts there.

* How the site is marketed, and opportunities for individual vendors to have their products featured.

* Tech support and training for getting the maximum value from your storefront.

The most important factor in your success with ANY online storefront (whether you choose RubyLane, Etsy, eBay, Yessy, your own website, etc.):

You must proactively market your storefront yourself. The e-commerce site won't automatically send buyers to your shop. You have to drum up your own customers.

That means you'll need to do things like:

* Get links to your storefront.

* Put out an ezine and capture subscribers who are interested in what you're selling.

* Possibly do a bit of online advertising in places where your targeted audience is likely to be.

* Set up an artist's blog and post several times a week about your work and other happenings in your jewelry business. Include lots of photos, and links to your various products on your storefront as well as to your shop's home page. See my Jewelry Blogging Success Tips.

* Find vendors who serve your targeted audience with different products (so you're not competing with each other), and cross-promote each other's businesses.

* Print up jewelry business cards with your online storefront's URL and include them with every jewelry sale you make. Also give them to anyone who expresses interest in your jewelry.

Regarding pricing on the various e-commerce sites:

There's a wide range of prices on all of these sites. What one vendor charges doesn't really affect what another vendor can charge, because you'll be bringing in your own customers from your targeted market to your storefront.

The important thing is to price your jewelry so that it's profitable for you to sell it, and is a price your targeted customers will pay.

For tips on pricing your jewelry:

Jewelry Pricing Formula.

Marta, I hope this helps you decide what to do about choosing an online storefront for your jewelry. Good luck with your new venture!

Comments for
Selling Jewelry on RubyLane.com

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Definitely promote your own RubyLane / Etsy Shop
by: Lisa

Yes, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that they can just post some jewelry on RubyLane, Etsy, etc. and just wait for the sales to roll in.

Unfortunately, no, you do have to do your own promoting. You may get the occasional rare customer wandering in to your shop front while they surf around the main Etsy or RubyLane site, but don't count on making money this way.

If you want to make sales you have to work to bring in your customers.

Ruby Lane Stats for Selling Jewelry
by: Anonymous

This is why I no longer sell Jewelry on Ruby Lane.Currently, the total number of jewelry listings on Ruby Lane is over 300,000. The average number that sell are less than 4000.Slightly over ONE PERCENT of the jewelry listings are SOLD. Of the price points on SOLD Ruby Lane jewelry,approximately 3,000 sold for UNDER $99. DO you consider that high end market?.We did not && got out!

Why it's hard to sell on Ruby Lane
by: Melanie

Ruby Lane is better for those who can commit to ONLY selling on Ruby Lane. That's because they are given preferential treatment. I used to have a store there, and left, because of this. They also sell click fees for higher placement.

You'd be better off selling from your own website and paying for advertisement or getting a cheaper site that you can work from.

I've been selling at Collectors Online Mall because it's cheaper and the stores are more like websites, that can be customized.

Do your homework about Ruby Lane first
by: Kristy

After my not so great Ruby Lane experience, I blogged about it and discovered I wasn't alone. You can read the comments at this link:

http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=179
and
http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=186

I'd encourage you to check out www.artfire.com or www.etsy.com first if you want to sell your jewelry online.

Good luck!

Kristy

who make money on RubyLane...
by: Anonymous

..you guessed it right!..it's RubyLane that makes millions of $$$$
We had a shop there. And we sold as long as we kept adding items at least weekly. But it's very very costly! Not only you have to pay 30c for each item you add, you'll also have to pay "maintenance fee" of 30c for each item again. Plus so called "advertising" fee, for their one page ad in American Artist magazine. The ad itself is another tool attract people to RL, not to individual artists, who join this co-op advertising.
If you have 100 items there, it will cost you $30, PLUS $20 "advertising", whether you participate in this ad co-op or not.
So, in order to get some visibility, you need to have at least 100 items ALL the time. Total: $50/month - before you even had a sale.
If you keep adding items on a weekly basis, your visibility will be ok, but at cost. You need to maintain this $100 limit, to add items and to remove other items. So, $50 is THE minimum.
Like somebody mentioned here before, your chance to sell, is ok, if your jewelry is unique and attractive and reasonably priced, and you keep adding and removing items.
IF you stop doing this, you are DEAD. As soon as you stop adding items, you're getting burried down down and nobody will find your art.
It's a very expensive experience, but it might work.
Etsy is a very different site, basically it's free, but the quality of jewelry there is very different, from A to Z.
Not only that, half of the world is on Etsy, and if you are not adding items just like on RL, you're dead.

This is why the best is to have your own gallery and to invest some time in promoting thru search engines and blogging.

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Submitted by: Anonymous

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Comment
..you guessed it right!..it's RubyLane that makes millions of $$$$ We had a shop there. And we sold as long as we kept adding items at least weekly. But it's very very costly! Not only you have to pay 30c for each item you add, you'll also have to pay "maintenance fee" of 30c for each item again. Plus so called "advertising" fee, for their one page ad in American Artist magazine. The ad itself is another tool attract people to RL, not to individual artists, who join this co-op advertising. If you have 100 items there, it will cost you $30, PLUS $20 "advertising", whether you participate in this ad co-op or not. So, in order to get some visibility, you need to have at least 100 items ALL the time. Total: $50/month - before you even had a sale. If you keep adding items on a weekly basis, your visibility will be ok, but at cost. You need to maintain this $100 limit, to add items and to remove other items. So, $50 is THE minimum. Like somebody mentioned here before, your chance to sell, is ok, if your jewelry is unique and attractive and reasonably priced, and you keep adding and removing items. IF you stop doing this, you are DEAD. As soon as you stop adding items, you're getting burried down down and nobody will find your art. It's a very expensive experience, but it might work. Etsy is a very different site, basically it's free, but the quality of jewelry there is very different, from A to Z. Not only that, half of the world is on Etsy, and if you are not adding items just like on RL, you're dead. This is why the best is to have your own gallery and to invest some time in promoting thru search engines and blogging.

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Ruby lane to see on line jewelry
by: Dita

Thanks so much for these wonderful comments. I met a girl in a craft show, (another vendor) who said she sold quite a few items within two weeks after she joined Ruby lane (because they do a much better marketing than Etsy).

I am with etsy. I found Ruby lane was too expensive for me. Besides, you need to pay $20 a month and upload ten items each month (if I understood her correctly)

I thought I was not doing that home work in Etsy. If I upload every day, and pay attention to the Etsy community it is not so bad.Besides I have that web address in my business card- I can't afford to waste that.

So I'll follow Rena's marketing tool and go from there. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone :)- Dita

http://www.alankarshilpa.etsy.com
http://www.bead-z-mommys-business.com
http://www.alankarshilpa.blogspot.com