Has anyone ever used the Wholesale Crafts website? If so, do you
think it is worth the money? Thank you ahead of time for your reply.
Ginger
In a word, no I read their policies (for both buyers and sellers) and
assessed their fees, “payment and rate plan” selections and
guarantees (there aren’t really any though much is implied).For a
juried site, $295 dollar application fee and what you get in return I
will set up a website for you and guarantee optimised search engine
hits and traffic for less than they charge! Then Your work sells
itself (or does not…)…there are plenty of ways to enter the
e-commerce market with one’s product that are far more personally
satisfying than paying for an essential consignment shop on-line like
what “wholesale crafts” seems to be in which you are in direct
competition with all the other metalsmiths and jewelers on the site.
Artful Home produces a good volume of sales if you are selected and
there isn’t a fee to become a juried seller. It is one example of far
better choices for your expenditure of time and money- and there are
many, many out there and internationally…
BTW I looked for your jewelery on the web - the quality of which
would help me make a recommendation/decision as to whether the venue
is right for you or not - and couldn’t find any unless you are the
owner of the “Ginger Snaps” brand which I am thinking you are not.
you seem more the educational oriented “ginger” just getting into
making jewelry…
used WSC.com a few years back. I only had 2 sales that were around
$1000 total. After 2 years I decided to quit. I have friends that do
production work and pieces wholesale between $15-$60 that have done
ok on the website.
If you are not in that category it’s a hard sale in comparison to
the fees.
Judy
R. E. Rourke - I haven’t started my business yet. I will start in in
2016.
I already have my own optimized website for ecommerce that I will
publish when the time comes. I start classes later this month at an
art college to perfect what I know before making my huge jewelry
equipment purchase. Just doing my research way ahead of time. I’ve
been getting a lot of free business tips from Flourish and Thrive
Academy . I can’t remember if it was a video through them or another
site, but LupRocks is another website that I wonder about. It is
supposed to be for product placement in TV shows and movies. It seems
more legit than WSC, but you never know. When the time comes my
business name will be Sincerely Ginger Jewelry. I already have
established the business with the state and all for when I am ready
to sell.
Ginger
Ginger- a word about product placement. you MUST know someone in the
art or costume dept. s to get your stuff on the air. No one can
negotiate for a bunch of clients- think about it. How do you choose
one person’s work over another’s when you are supposed to be
objectively representing everyone you ‘manage’…It is another scam
site that promises you. what exactly? And when you have to pay the
for the service you are guaranteed to get taken advantage of. I have
over 35 years of experience. well 40 years + now, and I promise you
unless you approach the design team of x production company directly
& in person with your portfolio offering to custom make what they
need. or know someone- or a few someone’s you can’t usually get your
foot in the door being an unknown, and novice at that.
Don’t buy into everything that sounds good. Research now should be in
the google stats for the sites that interest you:for instance if
LupRocks has 40,00 hits after they send out a blind email from a
mailing list how many of those are actually pros? how many are
lookie-loos? How many are novices and how many do they claim to
represent? What is their story? are they a start-up? What
productions do they contract with and is it just in the US? What
standards do they have? What international policies do they have?
What is the deal as far as once your work is “lent” to a production -
do you get it back, collect a fee for its use, get an on-screen
credit in addition to fee, or does it say the production co.
keeps the piece at their discretion? I’m betting once you send it
off, there is no guarantee it will be returned nor will you get the
credit, in fact in all probability LupRocks will be credited. Bad
deal all around!!! Then do they sign a non-compete and non-disclosure
clause with each client they represent?Does the production company’s
costumer have a friend that can copy your sketches when they call for
sketches to commission a piece? Who is to stop the piece from being
copied once it is broadcast and where is it broadcast? You may want to
contact religiously oriented production companies - that seems to be
an interest of yours and I’m betting its an overlooked target market
as most religious broadcast personalities are “all dolled up” to the
nines with tons of make-up and present a wealthy middle-class trendy
appearance that they claim is “due to Jesus’ intervention” I can
assure you Jesus has ZERO to do with their wealth but the donations
that keep them supported and the broadcast going do! So perhaps that
would be a great target market for you. I can’t think of a single
jeweler that I know that would even remotely consider dealing with
religious broadcast personalities so you could corner that market !
~It isn’t for the art jewelery makers out there…$100 dollar
consulting fee please! ~nah, just kidding (but in the real world you
would pay for about as much prior research into your interests and
reviewing your work, with recommendations for a career path that is
personalised for you alone as I have done!..and a lot more money
than I quoted to boot!). Seriously, without seeing anything you have
done or design sketches its hard to make any recommendations but i
can tell you research 2 years ahead of knowing how to make jewelry is
premature! You develop a style first and then skill set to match then
business start-up. then portfolio. You can’t do it by developing a
buyers group and then learning the trade- unless you are a buyer and
will provide things made by other professional jewelers/metalsmiths
for your target or contract markets. I consult in International Trade
relative to the Jewelery Business and have done so for a very long
time -I know the business intimately and after the fact isn’t when
you start learning! Go to a craft school or join a gem & mineral
club, or a quality facility like the 92ed street Y in NYC that
charges nominal fees for classes, that has tools and equipment for
the members use- you can save on money and develop your studio once
you find out if you actually have the talent and design and
fabrication abilities it takes to be taken seriously. Tthe research
you are “conducting now” will definitely change in 2 years- some of
the e-commerce businesses will have long since vanished (like
LupRocks…).
I can’t imagine paying for an e-commerce site for 2 years + before
you know how to or what to do once you have learned to make jewelery!
That is the biggest waste of money I have ever heard of : If you were
my student I would say take that 39 or so dollars a month or the
annual fee and invest it in economy tools that you need to get
started and metals that are near the working properties of the metals
you would use to produce pieces for your target or contracted
markets. You don’t have to buy the best at first- until you find out
if you have talent and if you can run a business. Secondly, on -air
one cannot tell real precious metals from imitation so your lessons
may be in fabricating with base metals and more inexpensive stock, as
well as imitation gemstones when a piece is stone set particularly if
you are going to accept commissions fo rthe work from production
companies that can’t guarantee the handling of your pieces. Hey, CZ’s
sparkle as well as diamonds on TV! Imitation corundums look as good
or better than affordable grades of some minerals and gemstones so
tailoring your skill set to your niche is definitely in order. there
are ways to fabricate pieces with perceived value without using the
materials that a piece may appear to be. Anyway- make some contacts
in the industry and broadcasts you wish to supply with jewelry and
develop a portfolio in case any of them want to check you or your
work out before responding. especially if it’s long distance
correspondence and you aren’t independently wealthy enough to fly
everywhere you generate interest in your work or your line of
other’s work! If you have any questions feel free to re-contact me…
rer
I can’t reply to your whole message, but I am not paying for a
website at the moment. I am not paying for anything business
related, other than materials, until I officially start it. I already
have sketches and know what a good chunk of my line will be off the
bat. I already know how to make them, but feel the classes I will be
attending will be an added bonus.
I am already in contact with possible wholesale clients and some
other designers and people that have been making jewelry for quite
some time. I don’t plan on showing sketches to people I don’t know.
Thank you for your ideas and help.