Starting Out

by Rose
(Detroit MI Wayne)

My friend started selling my jewelry at her job, and it went very well because my price was too low.

So my sister decided we were going to rise the price, which we did, and it's still going ok.

But I want to expand to the next level. My sister started selling my jewelry out of town, and that went well for me also.

So my next stop was a craft mall where I sold one item for $110.00 - but the downfall was I had to pay them $30.00 every month for 6 months, so I really didn't make a profit.

So now I was thinking about doing a consignment with a boutique, and she's asking for 50/50 of the profit if she sells my jewelry.

I was thinking about selling some items on Etsy but I read some of you guys email and I don't know if I should go that route.

Help!

Comments for
Starting Out

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Etsy is saturated with sellers
by: Anonymous

Etsy has become quite saturated with sellers. If you decide to go that route, plan on doing all your marketing yourself, as the chance of someone finding your item through a search is fairly slim. It’s a good option if you don’t have your own website. I have both, but plan to put more time and energy into my own personal website because when they click on that, there is no competition from other jewelry sellers.

Starting Out Too
by: Elsie - La Boite a Bijoux

Have you tried other stores for consignment rates, esp smaller boutiques? Depending on the store - you may get away with paying about 20-30% of the price of the jewelery which is maybe worth it as you have access to all their clients and you are free to do other things, creating selling, whatever. I always pitch it to the store that it is a risk free for them as they only pay me if something sells - and it gives them something extra to offer their clients, esp if you can change your stock every 3 month or so-it keeps things fresh. Small boutiques fear investing in a lot of inventory so they don't mind consignments. I also price the consignment percentage into the price of the jewelery so I don't really feel the percentage they keep. Good luck.