Thumbnails, prices and making contacts

Jewelry Discussion
1

Was: Should I display prices on website?

Hi All Thanks to everyone.

I think we’ve run the course on the question of listing prices, and
the results are all but unanimous. With my penchant for counting
things, I found that there were thirty-one responses of which only
six left some leeway for not showing prices. So there is no question
about what is a sensible procedure. However, I have two more
questions.

One of the reasons I have for not showing prices is to try to have
some personal contact with the people who are interested in my
stuff, especially since my jewelry does not appeal to the general
public, but to a specific group of people who like insects. As
someone
wrote, in a face-to face situation such as a store or show, one can
always say Hello, get a sense of what he or she like, or whether they
will really buy something"but on the internet, everything is faceless
and impersonal. So do you think there is a way of making some kind of
personal contact? Has anyone been able to do that, and how did you
work it out?

My second question is about the use of thumbnails. If we accept the
notion that people are more likely to purchase things on impulse, and
want the fewest steps between seeing the image and buying it, then
it would seem that the thumbnails are not a useful idea. Yet I see
them on most jewelry web sites.

What then about putting the prices on the full image and not on the
thumbnail? I actually was doing that for awhile but I have no idea
whether it was helpful or not.

Sandra Buchholz

2

Sandra - the reason for thumbnails is that they load fast, so even
if the viewer is on a slow connection, they can see the pieces in a
reasonable amount of time. Full size images must be a higher
resolution, and will load very slowly - incredibly slowly in fact -
on a slow connection.

By using thumbnails you let all viewers see the range of work. Then
if they choose to take the time they can click for the larger image
and wait for it to load.

I assure you there are plenty of places that still have slow
internet! I stayed in a motel in an area that I know has high speed
internet the other weekend, and the “high speed” the hotel provided
was almost as slow as the old dial up I used to have. I literally
could not load pages I needed for my work it was so slow.

I’m curious as to why you are so determined on the “personal
contact”. I love it also, one of the things I like about doing shows
is the chance to see how people interact with my work… but I’m
not going to lose a sale over it! What you are perceiving as
“personal contact”, the buyer may well see as intrusion and extra
time they don’t choose to spend. I would think that having a very
visible “contact” button on the site would allow anyone who wants to
make that personal contact; and anyone who doesn’t to buy and move
on.

Not criticizing, just very curious…

Beth Wicker
Three Cats and a Dog Design Studio

3 
What then about putting the prices on the full image and not on
the thumbnail?

This is what I would want. I don’t need to know prices of pieces
that don’t appeal to me, and it would look better without the prices
cluttering up the small images.

M’lou

4

You and I both target niche markets (lovers of bugs and dogs). But
dealing with our niche groups is no different than dealing with John
Q Shopper in any other market.

As a shopper, I DO NOT want to be forced into personal contact with
a seller unless I choose to initiate it. If the seller makes it
difficult in any way for me to see prices, photos or descriptions,
I’m outta there. I assume that if prices are not visible I can’t
afford to shop there. There are too many places to spend money
online–if I can’t have it my way, I’ll go spend my dollars
somewhere else.

As a seller, I provide as much info as possible to the potential
buyer. Price, photos, descriptions, any personal comments about a
piece that may appeal to a buyer–it’s all there up front. People who
are sincerely interested in the jewelry contact me to buy. Once in a
while I’ll get an e-mail from someone who just wants to tell me about
their dog. That’s OK too–sometimes I can parlay those chats into
sales.

Just like at a show, I don’t like to bother the buyers. I say hi and
let them know I’m available if they have questions, but after that I
stay out of their way.

Same thing with my website and etsy shop–hi, welcome to the store,
holler if you need me. That works best for me.

My second question is about the use of thumbnails. If we accept
the notion that people are more likely to purchase things on
impulse, and want the fewest steps between seeing the image and
buying it, then it would seem that the thumbnails are not a useful
idea. Yet I see them on most jewelry web sites.

What then about putting the prices on the full image and not on
the thumbnail? I actually was doing that for awhile but I have no
idea whether it was helpful or not.

Thumbnails let people glance at all the designs quickly and decide
which one(s) they want to see in more detail.

I’ve got thumbnails with my prices/descriptions. When they click on
the thumbnail they only get bigger pictures—

no descriptions or prices. (Of course, I don’t have a shopping cart
yet, so that may have to change when the cart software finally gets
installed…)

Kathy Johnson

5

Hi Sandra,

Just thought I would throw in my two cents regarding your issue.
First off, thumbnails are very important for the simple fact they cut
down load times for web pages. By using thumbnails the end viewer
does not have to load a full image, also as you can fit more images
to a page because the size is smaller i.e. thumbnails so they can see
more images at once so they can get a real sense of all your work
with-out having to click through a lot of links. So yes, always use
thumbnails!

Second, regarding prices, for you a good middle road would be to add
descriptions to your thumbnails. This has two GREAT benefits. The
description and prices will not appear on the thumbnail itself but
WILL appear when the end user put the mouse over the thumbnail. Also,
by adding descriptions Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. will index these
when it spiders down through your site and when people do a web
search for example for a sterling dragonfly or ss dragonfly, your
images will appear in the search! This not only gives you a higher
rank in the index but will garner more hits especially as folks will
come who are looking exactly what your selling - you just may find in
addition to more hits you will get more sales.

Regarding personal contact, if someone is taken with your designs
they will contact you. Whether or not you have prices on them will
probably never matter in this regard as the design, look, “feel”,
textures, style, of the design will always be a more important factor
so I would put the prices in the description and make the QUALITY of
the images/photography the most important factor.

Anyway, that’s what I think…

Kindest Regards,
Rick
threeangelsforge.com