When you wholesale, you sell you work to an outlet of some kind that resells your work—for a profit—to the person who will actually wear it. Production jewelry lines are made for wholesaling. The pieces are usually less expensive and easier to produce than one-of-a-kind work. Your distributors can sell them at a reasonable price point, which makes them great impulse items. Customers can easily make the decision to buy a production piece without meeting you, the artist, or even without a lot of input from a sales associate at a gallery or department store.

Wholesaling allows you to have your work in a retail venue—all the time—without the expense of a storefront, or the time and bother of creating and maintaining a website. You can present your work in many venues at one time–across the country or on the other side of the world–without having to travel to those venues yourself. Best of all, it means you can stay in the studio doing what you do best and may enjoy most: making jewelry.

Wholesaling may also be a good fit if you work another job. You may not be able to go to retail art and craft shows, and maintaining an Internet presence may take away from what little time you have at the bench.

However, wholesaling does separate you from the consumer. You may not get the kind of feedback from gallery or boutique sales staff that you would from the people who will be wearing your work. If the gallery is not local, you may not know how your jewelry is displayed, how often gallery staff actually show pieces to a customer, or what they’re saying about it. Some venues, too, may be less careful handling your work than you are and damage can happen.

Probably the biggest drawback to wholesaling is that most galleries—which are probably the primary wholesale venues for jewelry makers starting their career–work on consignment. This means that, although the gallery provides a permanent retail space where your work can be seen, you bear all the costs of production and are only paid when—and if—the work is sold.

If you decide that wholesaling might be your best approach to selling your production jewelry line, there are several ways to find outlets for your work.