Consignement or website?

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hello to all of you

Spring is here in Montreal, and with it, more vibrant colours and
more skin to show of jewelry!

I re-started into jewelry about 3 years ago, I make it and import
it. It’s a passion dating back to my twenties, and, after nearly 30
years as a makeup artist in films, I went back to it.

I studied in Taxco, took other classes, set up a studio and a
website ( painstalkainly - didn’t even know how to copy + paste ).

And started to build a clientele. Also started leaving jewelry on
consignment in several boutiques.

Being overwhelmed, I did an Excel inventory of more than 1,200
items. Big job, you should see the size of my index !

After having had a problem with consignments, I’m wondering if I
should continue in that line. What percentage is to be given ? Is a
contract necessary ? If a piece dissapears, how do I deal with this ?

Would it be better to give the boutique a wholesale price, and have
them pay for the pieces on the spot ? What should be the minimum
purchase ?

Or should I stick to selling online, and if so, how do I go about
getting more traffic ?

My price range is about $ 45 - to $ 200- , with a few more expensive
items nearing $ 400- It’s all sterling with semi-precious and
precious stones.

Waiting for your good advice and ideas,

Cecile

2

Cecile,

The only proven way to increase your website traffic, unless you
want to spend a LOT of time doing it yourself and learning all the
tricks, is to hire a proven professional who knows about Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) and all the other means and methods for
making a website work. It is a complex and difficult thing.

I’d rather spend my time on my passion than trying to learn all the
things there are that I’d need to know. For example, the training
course for the software WebCEO is 76 sessions! Am I going to spend
that kind of time when I will use the for only one
website? Nope, not me!

Here is one address of a pro who knows how to do this stuff:

John
Indiana

3

Cecile- I don’t know what others do but I really enjoy myconsignment
gallery. I only have one. I would like another one somewhere else
out of the state I live in because I have a following here and would
love now to branch out. We have a contract. Our price breakdown is
60/40. My cut being the 60%. I was alittle shockedat this at first
but I foundout that it was all the same at every gallery within 200
miles of me. Why sell at a gallery you ask yourself?? The exposure.
The gallery I amin is on a highway going to a popular high end
vacation destination. I have many customers who now shop my website
directly since they purchased and found me at the gallery. The tricky
part there too is pricing. You cannot undersell your gallery. They
would not like that. Theyare doing their best to run a store and it’s
their laborof love. They are just trying to keep the lights on. I
keep my prices the same on my website as I do in the gallery even
though when it sells in the gallery I lose the other 40%. The gallery
isalso responsible for any lost items. They have to pay mefor
anything stolen or misplaced which has never happened there. (Had it
happen somewhere else.) That is all in our contract. It sounds like
we might have similar price ranges. I make mostlysterling silver,
some gold, agates, prices:40-400$. I do a ton of custom
work and repairs as well. I wish I didn’t have to worry about selling
but I can’t keep 500 necklaces under my bed. I have had very good
success with etsy. com and customers evenreaching my website directly
after advertising on there which is very inexpensive to do (15$. )
Good Luck. I hope I helped. I will be interested to read othersposts
on their business tips. -Joy

joykruse.com