I really meant to blog last week....LOL! Ok, well it's the run-up to Christmas and I still haven't sold anything. I'm not too upset of course, because I know it takes a while to get established anywhere, including a website like Etsy. I do love Etsy though, I just love the layout and all the support there.
Anyway, I have listed pretty much everything I have made so far, with the exception of a couple of things here and there. I know it's hard to price your stuff - whatever you're selling - and I am starting to wonder if I might be over-pricing my jewellery. At one point I thought might have been UNDER pricing, but my brother recently told me that his colleagues reckon that my prices are too high.
 |
| Would you pay £35 for this necklace? |
The thing is, I would be happy paying the prices I have put everything at. There is no correct way of pricing jewellery, which is what makes it so difficult. The basic formula which I have come across is to add everything you have spent on the item, and multiply it by 2 to get a wholesale price (if you're selling to a store or a company). Now this is realistic because if you sell anything wholesale, you will be expected to sell your goods at around half the retail price. This is perfectly normal - and this is why you need to do this equation to make sure you're not losing out on any profit, even if it might be a little bit. The retail price is usually 1.5 or 2 x the wholesale price. Now, I have actually done both equations and taken into consideration what I personally would pay for each piece if I were buying it. The other thing, is that I do have to cover costs and make sure I pay myself for the time I have taken to make a piece of jewellery. It really does take me about half an hour to string a necklace of beads together from figuring out the design to calculating the price. How many people out there actually know how much I have paid for some of these gemstones? £10 for a string of 50 pearls is quite a lot. Garnet, Onyx and Amethyst are all pretty expensive at the moment, you'd be lucky to find a 30cm string of any of these beads at a good size of 8mm for less than £5. And don't get me started on the price of silver LOL!! Some people might be surprised to learn that I might actually end up paying around £10 for the materials to create a necklace, double that to £20 for the wholesale price, double it again for a retail price of £40 which I think is too much so I take it down to £30 or even £25 because that is what I would personally pay.
 |
| I'd pay £30 for this necklace - would you? |
I don't know....perhaps I'm rubbish at marketing or perhaps it's just that nobody has noticed or is waiting to buy things at the last minute. All I know is that half the people I ask about the pricing tell me it's too much, and other people tell me it's about right. So I'm not sure what to do there! The other thing is that I know there are quite a few people looking at my Etsy store, yet nobody is buying. There must be a reason - again, I think it's probably either price, waiting for payday / beginning of December, or perhaps my niche isn't attractive to many people.
Anyway, as I said, I'm not too upset about it - as I only started this thing in September / October, and I read recently in an Etsy blog that it can take around 6 months to get noticed on Etsy. In the meantime, I LOVE creating treasuries, I'm a member of a jewellery making forum, I love creating jewellery and even though I have had a few down moments, this is a journey which I am taking in order to find out if it will work or not LOL! If this doesn't work out for me, then at least I can say I tried it out and I won't be wondering "what if" for the rest of my life.
 |
| How much did I pay for the silver and gemstones here? |
course I will continue to be creative if this doesn't work out, and I will even continue to market and try to sell my jewellery on Etsy, and next year I might do a few craft fairs and it might help spread the word. Who knows, perhaps this will work out in a couple of years' time? Besides, Russell Grant (A British astrologer) told me that it will take off, but it will take time.....so yes, I called into Radio 2 and got to be on air and find out what the Universe had in store for me - where's the harm in that? The Universe can always change it's mind I guess ;)
Anyway, if ANYONE would like to take a a look at the prices in my Etsy store and tell me what you think of my prices, I would be very grateful for the feedback. Tell me if you think my jewellery is over-priced, under-priced, and tell me what you would pay for which pieces! Please, be honest! :)
Siobhan xx
2 comments:
I think your jewellery is excellent value Siobhan. The quality is very good, unique and you use real gemstones and good quality silver findings. Maybe you need to expand on this fact in your advertising.
All of the items I have bought from you have looked nicer in reality than on the website.
One of the problems you are up against is the fact that an awful lot of people out there are 'beading', at least two of my employees are. However, they are using glass or plastic beads etc and much cheaper fastenings. Somehow you need to get over how much better quality your items are.
I personally don't think you should lower your prices, otherwise potential customers will not realise the quality of the jewellery. Maybe you could approach a shop such as The Very Bazaar to sell them for you, or start selling at craft shows maybe?
Thank you! I often think about the prices of my jewellery and think to myself that I personally would pay the prices I'm asking for. Perfect pricing for whatever you're making and selling, is very difficult to achieve!
I don't have anywhere near anough to sell at a craft fair at the moment, but I may consider selling via a "bricks and mortar" shop, although they would pay a lot less because I would have to sell them at a wholesale price and they have to make a profit themselves. The downside is that they would expect to pay on average 40% - 70% of the price I sell them for, and after that I'm pretty sure they can then sell them at whatever price they want.
If I were to do this, I think I would have to create a range of jewellery specifically for wholesale - still unique pieces of course though!
Thanks for the tips! :)
Post a Comment