[Jewelry making - Article 00973] - Re: [Orchid] Wholesaling one-offs

[David L. Huffman]

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Hi All;

    Thought I'd throw in 2 cents (and then some) on this thread before
    it wears out. I'll sum it up this way. Consignment, memo, retail and
    wholesale shows, bricks and mortar retail, custom commissions,
    whatever, there's a learning curve on all of this. I've had good and
    bad experiences in all these venues. What I do mostly now is private
    commissions, contract repair and custom work, and limited production
    work for other artists. But whatever you do, don't expect instant
    results and don't draw your conclusions until you've given it time
    and thought about it. I think you can strike water digging one 60
    foot well sooner than digging 10 six footers. 

    But here's my point, success in these different adventures in
    jewelry depends on a number of factors, not the least of which is how
    much capital you can tie up and for how long. My advice is, start
    with less expensive materials and spread out, getting a lot of
    exposure, then recycle as much money as you can into providing pieces
    that can sell for higher prices to more exclusive markets. If you've
    got 20 pieces in 5 galleries, pick the best two sellers and start
    them with the nicer stuff when you can afford to include it in your
    collections. Eventually, I think you'll want to get as much money as
    you can doing the least amount of work, and that means flipping
    expensive stones and metals in elaborate creations selling in toney
    galleries. Expect this to take place over years, if not decades. 

    I agree with Jim Binnion, consignment, unless you're just getting
    started, should be limited. You're loaning money at zero interest.
    But unless the stuff is irresistible and until they have confidence
    in your product, how can you expect them to risk the money adding it
    to their inventory? We've argued about who has what risks in this
    thread, but both parties have risks, and it's difficult for either to
    have a sense of the other's level of investment. Retailers don't have
    anything to assure them that their customers will buy. They may like
    your work, but they know their customers aren't them. To many of
    them, their customers are a mystery, I think. :-) I find that some
    venues, retail and some galleries, can be convinced, if your work is
    moving for them, to change over to buying. You may need to do some
    stringent convincing too. I'm doing that now on a small scale. I've
    also recently pulled work from a retailer who, behind my back,
    ignored my suggested retail pricing and jacked up the prices so the
    stuff just sat, even turning down customers who would have bought if
    he'd stuck to my pricing (stuff gets back to me somehow in small
    towns). I set it up so he could make 66 percent, but that just wasn't
    enough for him, so screw him. I'm selling it a piece or two at a time
    to his competitor. My point, make sure the party retailing your work
    has a perspective on it, that it's not mass manufactured crap that
    they can just slap a triple-key markup on. 

    Finally, context is everything, in my opinion. If your work is
    buried amidst cheaply made junk and you need to get more for it,
    customers are just going to wonder why your stuff is so expensive.
    Example; I set up a nice display of what I though was affordable
    sterling and low cost gemstone jewelry in a short term co-op effort.
    Really sexy, cute stuff. I broke even on the effort while the
    pseudo-native-American guy next to me with the twisted wire jewelry
    laid out on a card table covered with a blanket made a killing at 5
    bucks a pop. Why? Because it didn't take long, with enough of that
    stuff around, for the customer base to be established, namely, people
    with a lot of bare midriffs and piercings and not much money. But
    I've sold "designer" sterling jewelry, mass produced in Mexico, in a
    retail "designer" store for prices that would embarrass you. How?
    Well, it was sitting there with all the other expensive stuff so
    people figured it must be worth it. 

    So before you even consider selling anywhere, check the place out.
    Try to imagine you're a customer looking for something special. If
    you find yourself distracted by the made-in-Taiwan niobium earrings
    on the acrylic turnstile next to the cash register, of it occurs to
    you there's a lot of "cat themed" merchandise... well, you get my
    point. 

David L. Huffman

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