Selling Jewelry on Etsy - Should you do it?

Hi,

I find that searching “Metalsmith Jewelry” on Etsy returns nice results and shops…more one of a kind, handmade, versus commodity and assembled items…

then, sometimes, I will check off the filters: “handmade”, and "over $100…or type in a price range, like $500 to $2500…

Julie

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Wow! Orchid and it’s citizens so rock.
Thanks for everyone who is chiming in on this. I will be teaching a class soon on the Business of Jewelry. Though I have an extensive and wide ranging background in jewelry making and selling I have never used Etsy and I want to be able to speak intelligently about it.
For all of you out there…As I am gathering info for the class, what topics would all y’all be most interested in having covered in a class on the biz of jewelry?
Thanks fellow Orchidians.
Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
-Jo

Hey Jo - I am going to start a new thread for you, as that topic is worthy of its own thread :slight_smile:

I’d be interested in hearing about software packages that automatically calculate and track multiple US states’ sales taxes.

  • Lorraine

I think (but not 100% certain) that Square supports that.

Alec

A post was merged into an existing topic: Teaching a class on the business of jewelry making - topic suggestions?

Seth- Thanks.

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Oh wow you read my mind!

I have been on eBay for years, they’re tough on bullshit from serious to petty

Debra, could you elaborate on ebay being “tough on bull***” ? Do you mean on sellers that misrepresent?

Lorraine

I absolutely agree! I have had a shop on Etsy since 2007. The past couple of years I have taken a hit because of the economy. I love the community. Most people coming to shop there realize they might pay a little more, but they believe it is worth it to get a OOAK or custom item. The cost is minimal and you get international exposure!

Hi,

Another great shopping search phrase to find unique things on Etsy is to type in 'OOAK jewelry", or OOAK necklace, etc…or “One of a Kind Jewelry”, etc…

I will often filter “handmade” versus vintage…although I love vintage as well!

and over $100

and maybe add…sterling silver…or gold…to narrow things down…

Julie

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Oh Todd! So sorry to see your name at the bottom of this letter. Thank you for sharing, however. I haven’t registered a trademark yet, nor any of the pieces I’ve made for the very reason you mentioned above. I don’t have the money to pursue a legal case anyway. I can see why you did with such a hot seller and fairly large specific market.

I have sold on Etsy for over 7 years and my experience has been pretty good. Because I use unusual stones, artifacts and fossils, so far I have not been copied. It would be hard to copy the things I do. In any case it has been a good venue for me even though I am high end…I seem to attract the people who like unusual pieces from all over the world. I don’t sell huge amounts, but quite enough to make it well worth using the venue.
Carole

It is some funny timing to see this show up. After several years of playing around with online stores and whatnot, I’m officially making the shift back to wholesale this year. I had originally sold in galleries and stores, but as time moved on and the efforts of wholesale crept up while the margins moved down (along with wanting more time with my young kids), I thought it would be better to go the online route. After messing around with it for several years, I have decided that it just isn’t worth the hassle. As others observed, this may not be an issue for more inexpensive goods ($25-500 range or so), but it would seem that as soon as you go above around the $500 mark, sales drop-off dramatically. I’d love to hear anyone else’s take on this, but my experience and interaction with clients/customers has been that a lot of jewelry is just too personal to purchase online. It’s one thing to take a chance on a $250 ring, but no matter how many pictures or videos you have, there’s no substitute for seeing $3000 item in person and this becomes even stronger when you get into artsy-style stuff. It’s different when you are doing basic designs that are more generic in nature (main-stream jewelry, standard engagement rings, etc.), but as soon as you get off the beaten path in your designs, there’s nothing for the customer to reference in their experience. They’ve likely been multiple jewelry stores and can easily envision how that platinum ring with diamond pave`looks in person, but that more “artsy” design. . .? They’ve got no frame of reference and have to rely solely on the pictures/videos and that’s just asking too much when spending that kind of money. Sure, there are outliers, but by-and-large, they’re about as rare as hens teeth.

The one exception to this is if you are also in-stores yourself yet still have an online presence. When I first started, I was wholesale only, then I added in a retail website, then I eventually stopped wholesaling all over the course of probably 10 years. It was when I stopped wholesaling that sales really dried up and I believe it was because no one could see my work first-hand anymore and there was a lack of confidence in buying online. It lends a certain amount of validity to your site if you can show you are in brick-and-mortar stores. People are still skeptical about making large, unique purchases online from moderately-obscure sites like your average independent jeweler. Having a physical retail presence I think gives the customer a lot of confidence that you’re not some fly-by-night outfit that’s going to leave them high and dry once they’ve made a purchase.

Anyway, that’s may basic take on it. Now to head back to the bench to begin revamping my line and ironing out all the details in wholesaling again. Oh how I’m NOT looking forward to contacting stores and galleries and such again. . .

Erich C. Shoemaker

Hi Erich - here are a few of my own comments on this. Obviously only one person’s opinion :slight_smile:

Our primary business (CustomMade.com) makes fully custom jewelry, and we are 100% online and growing very quickly. You are correct that it is very challenging, but I don’t think it’s impossible. It does require very good systems, people, processes, and marketing materials to do it, and those cannot be developed quickly and easily. In fact, we purchased back the CustomMade website specifically to build this business.

Our average order size is a lot higher than this, and while it does require a great deal of back and forth and a lot of imagery/sketching/CAD work, it is workable. However… we are truly 100% custom. Everything is actually made from scratch for you, whether your piece is $300 or $3,000. I do agree though, that selling commodity product gets VERY challenging. People today want a purchasing experience, not just a product.

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Fascinating! Thanks for the insight. I took a preliminary look at the site to see exactly what/how it is presented and the nature of the business. It’s a beautiful design layout you’ve developed and definitely looks like you’ve managed to create an “experience” as you mentioned. . . or at least, as much as one could expect when not in person. Congratulations!

On a side note, you mentioned everything being made by scratch even if the piece is $300 dollars. Perhaps I’m just naive (or I charge too much :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:), but I can’t conceive how much of anything custom can be done for such a small amount. I mean, I’ve done that before, but it’s never been worth it since the design/communication time alone pretty much eats up a good portion of the balance much less materials and fabrication labor. In fact, I can remember working for a jeweler in my hometown who said he wouldn’t even bother to pick up a wax (his euphemism for touching any custom work) for less than $700.
He was the cheapest one in town at the time. . .and that was over 20 years ago! I’m always fascinated to hear such differences that can exist around the country like this.

Thanks again for sharing that information. As I mentioned, it’s fascinating stuff!

That’s sort of our special sauce :wink: We use systems and software to make things very efficient, so we can do custom at a price point others cannot.

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I sell at least 95% of my stuff at a local market. I’m there every week so have built up a following. About 4 months ago I decided to try Etsy. Yesterday I went to Etsy and did a search for my shop. It took me to other shops which make jewelry similar to mine, but not a single piece of my jewelry came up. As a part of Etsy’s rules you can not put anything on Etsy which draws people away from Etsy. Well, fair should be fair. Etsy shouldn’t be taking people away from my Etsy shop. Remember, I searched specifically for my shop. In the four months I’ve been with Etsy I’ve sold a small 5% of my sales on Etsy.

I’m gonna go out on a limb here Seth and guess that your methods of creating custom jewelry online IS an experience. One that people enjoy, and I’ll take another step out on that limb and guess that more and more people are going to warm up to it as time goes on.

Dave

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