Selling through Third-Party E-commerce Services

by Jamie Santellano
(Santa Clarita, CA USA)

Organic Sterling Silver Leaves

So, I've been working on getting my jewelry store front up and going for a while now.

Been researching a couple of different Third-Party E-commerce services and settled on one back in October of 2009. I joined as a basic member, and then found that the services were so basic that it was very difficult to get the traffic I needed to go to my storefront.

Discouraged, I stopped working at it.

Until about two weeks ago when I was working in my studio I had some down time, and started checking my e-mails and noticed that I had received an e-mail saying that I had sold an item.

I thought it had been a mistake, for after all I had some website problems about a couple of weeks prior to that and had to rebuild my site, so needless to say I don't have my web-store anymore.

Anyhow, I read the email a few times and then it dawned on me! I still have my Third-party E-commerce store front!

So I log onto the site and sure enough I had found that one of my items had sold. Now this was not a very expensive item, but the fact that it had sold was HUGE in my eyes!

It was then I thought that maybe my luck had changed.

Excited about the sale, I started working on my storefront again. I even paid for the upgrade to a "Pro" seller account.

I'm enthusiastic about it and log onto the site everyday... even feel like I've become obsessive about checking the stats several times a day.

I've even been promoting in most of the ways that the guides suggest, but it is a tough thing, and feels like I'm waiting for the paint to dry.

I feel like I've been doing the right things, but have an unsettling feeling about the whole thing... may just be self-confidence at this point, but what my worry is is that I feel as if I'm WAY overpriced compared to the other Artists on that site.

I know that they aren't my competition because my work is unique to me, and their work is unique to them.

I've also been searching around the site to see what others are doing, and how they are priced.

Every so often I do come across someone's storefront and see high prices and then don't feel so bad about mine.

How do I get over this unsettling feeling? Is this a very common thing among other Jewelry Artists, and if so how do you deal with it?

I feel like the quality in my work is worth every penny spent, yet feel uncomfortable about asking for it.

I really feel like this is the very thing that's stopping me from moving forward.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Jamie Santellano
Jamie Santellano - metal sculpture and jewelry
Wearable Art Blog

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Selling through Third-Party E-commerce Services

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Prices
by: Lisa

Jamie, your pieces are beautiful. I also worry about my pricing when I see cheap prices on other websites, but really don't see how these people are factoring in time to their prices. I have done MANY hours of research to compare similar work to mine and feel that I'm right in the middle, but get quite frustrated when I see designers charging next to nothing for their work. I would love to really know if customers are influenced be lower prces when determining the value of handcrafted jewellery.

Pricing & Educating towards a higher-end market
by: Jamie Santellano

Lisa, Thank you for responding! I have to say that I've been battling these feelings for quite some time. I've been a hairstylist for 16 years now, and have to say that when I started to merge into selling my art, I used to say that my prices are my prices and my style is my style. There is an audience for everyone and those who like my work and the quality of my work will buy, and those who don't will move on.
As a hairstylist we were always discussing our prices and when it was a good time to raise them, and what was everyone else charging and always justifying why we should keep them low.
Now that I've been creating jewelry and have taken workshops abroad and really focusing on creating high quality pieces, I'm faced with the pricing issue, ESPECIALLY NOW that I'm doing more shows.
Last year I bought this jewelry software, and started inputting the data of my inventory: labor, weight, and costs for materials...WOW! WAS THAT A SHOCKER!!! I nearly fell over when I realized how much more this software was calculating my jewelry at! I didn't realize how much I had been undercutting myself!
I must say that I recently did a show, and had some people making comments about my work being thousands of dollars, (and yes there are some pieces that are over a thousand dollars more on that in a moment...) but what they didn't realize is that it's COMPLETELY HANDMADE! I think that's most likely my biggest problem at this point in dealing with my pricing. Maybe it would be advantageous to have some pictures of me working in my studio, so that clips of the process can be shown. I think it's a matter of educating them to a point that they can have a better understanding of what goes on in the studio.
At least then they could see the chain being made, the hammer blows, and a project from raw materials to a work of Art-Wearable Art.
After all, those who do buy my work ABSOLUTELY understand it.

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Rating

Submitted by: Jamie Santellano

Title

Comment
Lisa, Thank you for responding! I have to say that I've been battling these feelings for quite some time. I've been a hairstylist for 16 years now, and have to say that when I started to merge into selling my art, I used to say that my prices are my prices and my style is my style. There is an audience for everyone and those who like my work and the quality of my work will buy, and those who don't will move on. As a hairstylist we were always discussing our prices and when it was a good time to raise them, and what was everyone else charging and always justifying why we should keep them low. Now that I've been creating jewelry and have taken workshops abroad and really focusing on creating high quality pieces, I'm faced with the pricing issue, ESPECIALLY NOW that I'm doing more shows. Last year I bought this jewelry software, and started inputting the data of my inventory: labor, weight, and costs for materials...WOW! WAS THAT A SHOCKER!!! I nearly fell over when I realized how much more this software was calculating my jewelry at! I didn't realize how much I had been undercutting myself! I must say that I recently did a show, and had some people making comments about my work being thousands of dollars, (and yes there are some pieces that are over a thousand dollars more on that in a moment...) but what they didn't realize is that it's COMPLETELY HANDMADE! I think that's most likely my biggest problem at this point in dealing with my pricing. Maybe it would be advantageous to have some pictures of me working in my studio, so that clips of the process can be shown. I think it's a matter of educating them to a point that they can have a better understanding of what goes on in the studio. At least then they could see the chain being made, the hammer blows, and a project from raw materials to a work of Art-Wearable Art. After all, those who do buy my work ABSOLUTELY understand it.

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Educating Your Customers
by: Rena

Hi Jamie,

You're right, there are people who prefer to buy items of higher quality - and are perfectly willing to pay higher prices for that quality.

You're also right that in order for them to understand and appreciate the value of your art, you have to let them know about the quality and craftsmanship that go into it.

Here are some specifics on how you can educate your customers:

Sell More Jewelry by Educating Customers About Your Art

Sell More Jewelry by Letting Customers Know It's Made to Last

Sell More Jewelry by Educating Your Customers

Educating Customers and Increasing the Perceived Value of Your Jewelry

In your online storefront, be sure to make the most of your product descriptions. You might give a brief outline of the stages and tools involved in creating the item, and maybe how many hours went into it. Explain the quality features you've built into this piece.

At shows, you can follow the tips in the articles I listed above by

having pieces in various stages of progress for people to see and touch

having a "how it's made" slideshow playing in a digital photo frame

having a poster showing your various stages of creating a piece

(continued below . . .)

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Rating

Submitted by: Rena

Title

Comment
Hi Jamie, You're right, there are people who prefer to buy items of higher quality - and are perfectly willing to pay higher prices for that quality. You're also right that in order for them to understand and appreciate the value of your art, you have to let them know about the quality and craftsmanship that go into it. Here are some specifics on how you can educate your customers: <a href="http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/Jewelry_Business_Success_News-jewelry-business-success-news-34.html#article">Sell More Jewelry by Educating Customers About Your Art</a> <a href="http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/Jewelry_Business_Success_News-jewelry-business-success-news-94.html#article">Sell More Jewelry by Letting Customers Know It's Made to Last</a> <a href="http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/educating-your-customers.html">Sell More Jewelry by Educating Your Customers</a> <a href="http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/educating-customers.html">Educating Customers and Increasing the Perceived Value of Your Jewelry</a> In your online storefront, be sure to make the most of your product descriptions. You might give a brief outline of the stages and tools involved in creating the item, and maybe how many hours went into it. Explain the quality features you've built into this piece. At shows, you can follow the tips in the articles I listed above by <UL><LI>having pieces in various stages of progress for people to see and touch</LI> <LI>having a "how it's made" slideshow playing in a digital photo frame</LI> <LI>having a poster showing your various stages of creating a piece</LI></UL> (continued below . . .)

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(... continued from above)
by: Rena

Show How Your Art is Made

On your website, I would focus on creating an interesting, detailed section on how your jewelry is made, and have this section be one of the first links on your site's navigation menu.

(Maybe even choose one of your "how it's made" photos to add to your site's home page to get people interested in your process, accompanied by text saying something like "See how it's made" or whatever.)

In your "how it's made" section, you could have a show-and-tell photo series with a descriptive paragraph under each photo, showing and describing various stages of you creating one of your chainmaille pieces.

You could have another series showing the stages of one of your metal rings, another showing stages of one of your sculptures, etc.

In each these photo series, be sure to point out the exceptional quality features you're building into the piece as you create it.

You may want to use more photos than videos for this.

(I enjoyed the video on your site - it's beautiful and very professional! - but it paused several times to load while I was watching it, and I know many people would click away to see something else rather than keep waiting for a video to load.)

Then, over in your online storefront, you can create a scaled-down version of this "how it's made" info. Consider putting it in the space you're allotted in your storefront's sections like "profile", "about", "bio", "blog" (or whatever extra space your storefront has).

Also - I didn't see any way to find your online marketplace storefront(s) from your main site. You might want to add a link to your storefront in your website's main navigation menu. (Your site's current "Store" link leads to a "coming soon" page.)

Using Writeups / Descriptions

Also you have fantastic photos of your work on your website - but I didn't see any individual writeups on each piece.

I think that even on your "sold" gallery pieces it's a good idea to have a paragraph or two discussing the techniques, process, and time that went into each piece, mentioning the quality features (whatever makes the item stronger, better, more authentic, more valuable, etc.). People can't really appreciate what you've put into the piece if you don't tell them specifically.

Your "Sold" Gallery as a Selling Tool

I would imagine that your unique work attracts a lot of custom orders.

Your website's "sold" gallery will help sell these custom-order folks on having you create something special for them.

It's also a place where they'll go for inspiration on ways your artistry can work with their ideas.

So a description of what went into each sold item in the gallery is an excellent tool for getting these customers excited about the features and quality they can expect in the piece you create for them.

And the fact that these pieces are in your "sold" gallery reassures them that other customers value your art and are happy to pay for it!

(continued below . . .)

X Close Editor

Rating

Submitted by: Rena

Title

Comment
Show How Your Art is Made On your website, I would focus on creating an interesting, detailed section on how your jewelry is made, and have this section be one of the first links on your site's navigation menu. (Maybe even choose one of your "how it's made" photos to add to your site's home page to get people interested in your process, accompanied by text saying something like "See how it's made" or whatever.) In your "how it's made" section, you could have a show-and-tell photo series with a descriptive paragraph under each photo, showing and describing various stages of you creating one of your chainmaille pieces. You could have another series showing the stages of one of your metal rings, another showing stages of one of your sculptures, etc. In each these photo series, be sure to point out the exceptional quality features you're building into the piece as you create it. You may want to use more photos than videos for this. (I enjoyed the video on your site - it's beautiful and very professional! - but it paused several times to load while I was watching it, and I know many people would click away to see something else rather than keep waiting for a video to load.) Then, over in your online storefront, you can create a scaled-down version of this "how it's made" info. Consider putting it in the space you're allotted in your storefront's sections like "profile", "about", "bio", "blog" (or whatever extra space your storefront has). Also - I didn't see any way to find your online marketplace storefront(s) from your main site. You might want to add a link to your storefront in your website's main navigation menu. (Your site's current "Store" link leads to a "coming soon" page.) Using Writeups / Descriptions Also you have fantastic photos of your work on your website - but I didn't see any individual writeups on each piece. I think that even on your "sold" gallery pieces it's a good idea to have a paragraph or two discussing the techniques, process, and time that went into each piece, mentioning the quality features (whatever makes the item stronger, better, more authentic, more valuable, etc.). People can't really appreciate what you've put into the piece if you don't tell them specifically. Your "Sold" Gallery as a Selling Tool I would imagine that your unique work attracts a lot of custom orders. Your website's "sold" gallery will help sell these custom-order folks on having you create something special for them. It's also a place where they'll go for inspiration on ways your artistry can work with their ideas. So a description of what went into each sold item in the gallery is an excellent tool for getting these customers excited about the features and quality they can expect in the piece you create for them. And the fact that these pieces are in your "sold" gallery reassures them that other customers value your art and are happy to pay for it! (continued below . . .)

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(... continued from above)
by: Rena

Comparing Yourself to Other Artists in Your Marketplace

I think we all compare ourselves to other jewelry artists and what they're doing. It's only natural - especially since most of us operate as a one-person show, making all of our business-related decisions alone.

But just as each artist's work is unique, so is each jewelry business.

And I'm certain that other artists in the same e-commerce marketplace peek into your storefront, admire your artistry and see what you're doing - and start to question and re-think what they're doing! :o)

Offering Some Lower-Priced Items

You mentioned people commenting on some of your pieces that are rightfully priced in the thousands of dollars. Don't feel bad about your pricing!

But if it fits into your business, you may want to create a line of very simple, basic, lower priced items that still express your quality and style - but can be sold profitably for perhaps under $40.

That way people who love your work but can't afford the more expensive pieces can still get something.

And often people start out buying your least expensive stuff - and then happily move into buying your higher priced items once they've become addicted to it!

Comparing Other Artists' Prices to Yours

Many artists way underprice their work. (We recently had a fantastic discussion on pricing handmade jewelry too low - the comments below the main article are especially insightful.)

So don't worry about how much or how little other sellers are charging.

And definitely don't feel you should lower your prices!

Instead, focus on growing your own customer base of people who love and value your high quality chain, metal, and leather artistry.

And all the while, keep educating new folks about your art, and converting them into customers!

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Rating

Submitted by: Rena

Title

Comment
Comparing Yourself to Other Artists in Your Marketplace I think we all compare ourselves to other jewelry artists and what they're doing. It's only natural - especially since most of us operate as a one-person show, making all of our business-related decisions alone. But just as each artist's work is unique, so is each jewelry business. And I'm certain that other artists in the same e-commerce marketplace peek into your storefront, admire your artistry and see what you're doing - and start to question and re-think what they're doing! :o) Offering Some Lower-Priced Items You mentioned people commenting on some of your pieces that are rightfully priced in the thousands of dollars. Don't feel bad about your pricing! But if it fits into your business, you may want to create a line of very simple, basic, lower priced items that still express your quality and style - but can be sold profitably for perhaps under $40. That way people who love your work but can't afford the more expensive pieces can still get something. And often people start out buying your least expensive stuff - and then happily move into buying your higher priced items once they've become addicted to it! Comparing Other Artists' Prices to Yours Many artists way underprice their work. (We recently had a fantastic discussion on <a href="http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/pricing-handmade-jewelry-too-low.html">pricing handmade jewelry too low</a> - the comments below the main article are especially insightful.) So don't worry about how much or how little other sellers are charging. And definitely don't feel you should lower your prices! Instead, focus on growing your own customer base of people who love and value your high quality chain, metal, and leather artistry. And all the while, keep educating new folks about your art, and converting them into customers!

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Thanks for your advice...
by: Jamie Santellano

Hi Rena,
I'm taking your advice and working on it one step at a time. I'll be printing this out and using it as a check off list. :-) This is valuable information.
After reading through some of the things you listed, I realized that this is going to be a work in progress, although I believe it will work out.
I appreciate you taking the time to make these suggestions so accessible!
Thanks, Jamie

GREAT reply!
by: Angie S

Rena,
You really touched on a lot of important points, and summarized some very good articles. I realize now that I haven't been doing a good enough job educating (and frankly, charging) my customers. It really is a responsibility of artists' to do that.
I'll get to work on this tomorrow.
Thanks for the reminder!
Angie S
http://www.weirdlywiredjewelry.com

Thanks for letting me know!
by: Rena

Jamie and Angie,

I'm so glad you found it helpful! :o)

My sales made a big leap when I discovered the importance of educating customers. Now I always tell customers about the "making of" the pieces they're interested in.

I can literally watch their growing appreciation of the piece as I explain (or show) how it was created from raw materials to finished piece.

It definitely increases the customer's opinion of the jewelry item's value.

3rd Party?
by: Jewelry By Joanne

What exactly is a "third party e-commerce service"?

I have a pro shop too, and get discouraged, often.

Third-Party
by: Gene Lindsey

Jamie I have looked at your website and do not feel you are priced too high. You are an ecellent artist and desiogner and deserve every penny of what you are asking.

third party e-commerce service
by: Rena

Joanne, a third party e-commerce service is just another name for an online marketplace storefront like Etsy, Artfire, 1000 Markets, etc.

Thanks for asking! :o)