To Buy Wholesale, Prove You’re In Business

We’re talking about what you need to access wholesale-only areas of retail shows, and wholesale-only shows. Besides your business and/or resale license, there may be other proofs required by shows. Advertising, websites, business cards and brochures, line sheets—all of these can prove to wholesale-only show gatekeepers that you’re really running a business. Costs can be high, for these, but then, if you are in business, you’ve probably already created some of them. If you haven’t, here’s a quick run down on the possibilities.    Continue reading

The Business of Buying Wholesale

Congratulations! Your jewelry work is catching on. You have a following on Etsy, your website is beginning to outsell your day job. You’ve been contacted by a gallery or department store. You are ready to formally go into business.

Now it’s time to take off your artist’s apron, put on your power-suit jacket, and get serious about the business end. Continue reading

Can I Buy It Wholesale?

The word wholesale conjures up images of buying things on the cheap. Deep discounts. Bargain basement prices. Have you salivated at the thought of getting into the “wholesale only” section of gem, bead and jewelry shows wondering what delectable goodies were going on the block that you didn’t know about? Who are the special buyers entering those restricted regions? Could you become one of them? Continue reading

Materials and Pricing Artisan Jewelry

If you’ve started your business as a hobby, chances are good that you’re pricing by materials alone, with a bit added in for labor. It’s time to stop that practice right now if you’d like to make jewelry making your career rather than your hobby. But because you’re already most familiar with materials, of the four parts to a product price–materials, labor cost, overhead, and profit—let’s start there. These are the tangibles, such as metals, metal clay, stones, beads, glass, and fibers that are actually part of the jewelry you deliver to a customer and the part of the jewelry that customers appreciate.

But do you also consider findings?  Continue reading

Pricing Your Production Line

Sterling silver pendants, 2013. Photo courtesy Kari Woo.

Sterling silver pendants, 2013. Photo courtesy Kari Woo.

You have a jewelry line you enjoy making. Your friends like it. Your family likes it. Your co-workers and neighbors like it. They—and you—are all sure you can make a living selling it.

Can you?

It depends on the price. Continue reading