[Jewelry making - Article 00782] - Re: [Orchid] Wholesaling one-offs

[Lisa Bialac-Jehle]

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>     Excusssse meeeee!!!!!!!!!!! 

    Well...ok......excuse you indeed.....lol.... I believe you have just
    succeeded in making all of the points that some of us were attempting
    to make in recommending others never to consign their work. In fact,
    you have absolutely cemented the very just prejudice to consignment
    that I had already developed over years of experience.

>     I have a retail store, I have artists that consign. They have other
>     galleries and retail venues that they consign through. Most also do
>     shows. Different artists do different numbers, usually based on
>     price points, or uniqueness of design. The artists at my store
>     usually sell more pieces at Valentine's Day, Christmas, Mothers
>     Day, which coincidently is when most of all other jewelry is sold.
>     The rest of the year things might be slow. That is not the store
>     owners fault, that is retail.

    Not necessarily. Some galleries have a great perception of what their
    customers want. Others do not have a clue. Stores and galleries are
    only a reflection of their owner's and buyer's taste. That does not
    mean that they have good taste, or the same taste as the customers in
    their region, they just like a certain style that may or may not
    resonate with their customer base. I have galleries in some areas
    that do not sell my work well. It is obviously the wrong style or
    price point for their area. They haven't gotten that yet, but that is
    their responsibility, not mine. I have other stores that sell
    everything I send them within weeks. My work is to their customer's
    taste. We all love each other of course. They think my work is
    brilliant, and I think that they are the best and most beautiful
    galleries and stores on the entire planet. In actuality, it is just
    these particular stores have an intelligent grasp of their customer
    base and my style of work just happens to match it. Other places
    sell sporadically, but love my work, and work hard to sell it as they
    have made an investment. Trust me, if you have spent money on an
    object in order to make money, you want to make that money a lot
    worse than if you have not laid out anything.

>     do not try to intimate in any way that the store owner is
>     responsible for your work not selling. 

    Ah, but it IS the store owner's fault if work does not sell, as that
    is evidence that they do not know the taste of their customer base,
    which is again the whole point. If my work is not to your customer's
    taste, then don't buy it. It won't sell no matter how you display it,
    or how clean you keep it. In some regions, a jeweler's style is so
    out of keeping with regional taste, you couldn't give the stuff away.
    If how clean you keep your artist's work is one of the main selling
    tactics, then I can see where problems may arise... (that's a
    joke...I hope).. Don't blame me because you don't know what your
    customers will buy. In wholesale, they aren't my actual customers,
    only because I never meet them. You are my customer. I only have to
    sell to you, for your taste. It is up to you to figure out their
    taste.

>     Jewelry is a product, and it is your job to find the people who see
>     value in what you do

    Wrong again.....It is YOUR job to see value in what I do....for your
    particular store, and your particular area. It is my job to make my
    product to the best of my ability. To ask me to, (essentially), pay
    to decorate your store with my work, while you do or do not figure
    out what the heck your customer's taste is makes me laugh. It also
    makes me angry. If you are not willing to invest in me, why the heck
    should I invest in you? This is business. Even though I may well like
    you, you are not my buddy or my family. 

    Now if you do buy some of my work, I am willing during the holidays
    to consign some of the radically more expensive pieces just to get
    you some extra attention and make a really exciting showing, but only
    for that season. As you have supported me, you have now given me a
    reason to support you.

>     Some work initially sells really well, and then the regular
>     customers get used to it, and it slows down.

    Yes, and that is when you buy another artists work. A constant
    rotation, or if you're lucky, your favorite jeweler's are
    continually evolving their work so that it does not become stale.
    Customers always respond to new stuff. 

    Galleries and stores are quite simply put, my customers. they respond
    to me the exact same way their customers respond to them. I am
    essentially a store. I have a grasp of my customer's taste, and they
    buy my work, or I am living in a dream world, and will starve because
    no one will buy my work. Unless of course, I am supported by my day
    job, ( that I don't have), or my, (non-existent), spouse, in which
    case, I don't have to do this to feed myself or keep me, my son, the
    goats, chickens, horse, cats, dogs and parrots from living in my car,
    and I can make anything I please as no one has to buy it for me to
    continue to la-di-dah my way through the wholesale/retail world. 

    If the only way an artist feels they can be seen is to do
    consignment, then they haven't dug in their heels hard enough, or
    they have another source of income, or all of their work is priced
    so astronomically high, then it becomes solely an art gallery
    venture.....Take my advice...... Just say no! 

    Out of curiosity, would you allow your customers to take things home
    from your store, try them out for a while, decorate themselves or
    their house with your stuff, use it for months or years at a time,
    dirty it, inflict wear and tear, perhaps damage it, break it, or
    lose it, and then send it back, without paying you first.....? Or
    perhaps forgetting to pay you at all? Or insisting that they never
    took that piece in the first place? No??? Well neither will I. That
    is essentially consignment. Don't ask me to do what you wouldn't do
    yourself. You are right, it is bad for business. Mine. 

    On the other hand, I will work with you to make my jewelry work for
    you. I will accept exchanges after three months and within one year
    with the accompanying receipts. You may have initially misjudged
    price points or style. It is in my best interest to have you as a
    successful return customer. I will try hard to accomplish that goal. 

    I have customers who have bought my work at every show for the past
    14 years. I worship them... :-) Of course I, like everyone else, also
    have the occasional one time customer that walks by my booth and just
    glares at me as if it is my fault. Ai yi yi. 

    For the most part, things don't sell because your customers don't
    like them. Figure it out, and buy accordingly....Do not ask me to
    fund you. This is not the bank of Lisa. You are not my teenager. 

    Now let's hear everyone else's rants...lol.... 

    Lisa, ( wrestled down goats, sat on them and successfully trimmed
    their hooves using pruning shears, as I have done for the last two
    years. Thanks for all of the good goat advice guys. Did I mention
    that they weigh 200 pounds each and have horns? I weigh about a
    hundred..EEEK!! On the up side, they are as sweet and as docile as a
    cat in the sun, and there are only two of them: Axel and Puck).

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