[Jewelry making - Article 00381] - Re: [Orchid] Artist Internet Sales - Poll/Opinion

[Tamara L. DeSchepper]

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    I am in this same retail/wholesale boat and am trying to figure out
    how to address it. At a recent event, I spoke with some gallery
    owners and was surprised to hear what they had to say. Many said that
    they wouldn't deal with an artist who sold over the internet. Period.
    It seems as if there is an anecdotal fear of all gallery customers
    now buying everything direct over the internet in order to avoid the
    galleries and get a better deal by going directly to the artist. This
    fear seems to be heightened by the hard times many galleries have had
    over the past few years. What I'm trying to understand is whether
    this fear is real, or just a knee-jerk reaction to something new?
    Does anyone know of any actual documentation to back up the fear that
    galleries will become obsolete in the internet age? Also, when asked
    about getting commissions from work sold over the internet that
    *might* have been sold through their gallery, the owners replied
    that was too much extra hassle, see point number one - don't deal
    with artists who sell over the internet. Period. Of course, maybe I
    was talking with the wrong gallery owners. Do others find this the
    prevalent attitude? 

    This attitude is frustrating to me as I've spent the last 2 years at
    retail shows building up a following of customers who use my website
    for re-orders and gifts and would hate to give up that revenue
    stream. It seems as if there should be a solution to this dilemma
    that would work for both sides! 

    One idea that has been floated is to print a password on the
    business cards that are handed out at retail shows. Before a customer
    can purchase anything on your website, the customer would login with
    that password. This guarantees to the gallery owners that the only
    people buying from you are your legitimate retail show customers. I'm
    of two minds about this. I'm a lazy internet shopper, so if someone
    tries to make the internet buying experience difficult for me, I
    generally move onto the next store. Has anyone tried this approach?
    What were your results? Do you think the results would be better if
    you offered some kind of "return customer" discount to encourage
    people not to lose the business card with the password on it? 

    Thanks for the discussion on this topic so far! This is such a
    creative community, it seems like we should be able to come up with
    some solution that will be fair to both artists and gallery owners. 

Tahmi DeSchepper
http://www.tahmi.com/
Uniquely crafted, handmade jewelry inspired by working 
traditional textile techniques in silver and gold wire.

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