“The general public allready has a hard time understanding why
handmade silver jewelry can cost so much.”
That’s exactly why this market price increase is actually a very
GOOD thing. The public has an unrealistic view of what silver
jewelry is really worth. So much of it is coming out of third world
countries at absurdly low prices, people have a hard time when they
compare mass-produced silver jewelry prices with custom silver
pieces. Explain to your customers the difference in quality in
workmanship, and guarantee, if you offer one. Also,
remind them that they are not only paying for the metal, but more
importantly, they are paying for your experience, expertise,
design, workmanship, attention to detail, artistic abilities. When
working in silver as opposed to gold or platinum, the cost of metal
is so low, the cost generally has little to do with the end cost to
the customer. It may also help to remind them that they asked you
to create a piece for them because they couldn’t find what they
wanted somewhere else, they wanted something that no one else would
have, or they wanted something created specifically by you.
Don’t feel bad about raising your prices to reflect market costs.
If the local grocer suddenly had to pay farmers twice as much for a
gallon of milk, you can absolutely, positively guarantee that they
will raise their prices to cover this increase. That’s capitalism!
Gotta love it.
Good Luck,
Heather Sickler
Jeff Howden
Intica Fine Jewelry @intrica
I was afraid to wait, so I stocked-up too! But, partially because
I’ll have a relatively busy season. The spot today was $7.09 . . .
I’m just happy it wasn’t up to $15.00!
My only concern is WHAT if the price doesn’t go up, but ends up
dropping instead??? (I’ll be feeling like a true fool!) I also
wonder if anyone is increasing the their prices on already finished
pieces that will be sold in the next few months . . .if so, by how
much (a percentage would be great!)
William, Iwould suggestthat you start increasing your prices by 10%
each 2-3 months and see if your income drops or not if kyour income
increases or stays the same then increase another 10% untell
income is affected in a negative way then stop. You will find I
think that you will make more money and work less. I usualy charge
$3-400.00 per hour now after 30 years in the business. Vernon
My only concern is WHAT if the price doesn't go up, but ends up
dropping instead??? (I'll be feeling like a true fool!) I also
wonder if anyone is increasing the their prices on already finished
pieces that will be sold in the next few months . . .if so, by how
much (a percentage would be great!)
I’m sure someone else can explain this better than I, but I’ll
take a stab at it. You have to mark up based on the current spot
($7+). I know it didn’t cost that much when I bought it, but what
if I sold it now based on the original cost ($4+) and used up all
my stock and then the market took another jump and I had to
purchase at $15 to replace stock, but by the time I made more the
market dropped to $3. I’d be losing money on both ends. Since its
only gone to $7+, the markup won’t even be noticeable, (its only
costing me $3-$4 more, at most) but if it goes way up…
However, I’ve been reading some articles suggested by Dauvit
Alexander (an Orchid list member) in the Financial Times and the
one today seemed to suggest that Buffet may have erred. Anyway,
its interesting reading that Dauvit suggested. In case you missed
his post, here’s the URL: http://www.FT.com
I stocked up too, and got some of my jeweler friends to buy with
me so we could up our quantity discount. Yes, I’ll be very
unhappy if I made a mistake, but on the other hand if it does go
way up and I hadn’t bought I’d be much more unhappy and a lot
poorer.
Personally, I don’t think that silver will go up, but will go
down again. The stock market is pretty healthy at present. When
this is the case. I don’t think that speculators are particularly
interested in bullion. Richard Whitehouse UK
Some time back someone referred us to the Financail Times website
for info about silver. I went there to their public archives and
one thing I learned was that farmers in one area of India put their
savings into silver bangles which they wear and cash in during hard
times. The analyst said that there were billions of ounces held in
this manner, much more than Buffet had, and that if the price went
up much more the farmers were likely to sell and this would drive
the price down. I think that there are lots of phonomena like this
which work against anyone actually cornering the market in a metal
which is mined in many places and has a substantial stock
worldwide. since buffet got into this I see that silver has come
back down from $7 to $6 or so. so much for cornering the market.