Hobbies & Games >
Beading & Jewelry Making
Get a Widget for this title
RSS FeedIs it better to consign jewelry to boutiques or sell on eBay?
Results so far:
| Consign | 50% | 194 votes | Total: 390 votes | |
| eBay | 50% | 196 votes |
Consign
Write now
Print
Invite a writer™
Add to FavoritesWhen it comes down to deciding if it is better to consign jewelry to boutiques or sell on eBay, it is actually a very difficult question to answer. In reality both options have good points and bad points. As a Stay At Home Mom, I do both, and they are nearly equally frustrating. I do feel that consignment is the better option although and like the over all experience much better that selling on eBay.
The upside to consigning is that your work is usually displayed in a gallery, boutique or other retail setting. There is staff on had that can help potential customers try on the jewelry and to help you make the sale. Even though you are not there to sell your own work, there is a human element added to the transaction. This gives the potential buyer a chance to see what the jewelry looks like on. They also get to see how long the earrings actually are or exactly where on their neck the necklace will fall. You have a better chance of selling a piece of jewelry for a good fair price if your potential customer can interact with the jewelry and a salesperson. If you are great at making jewelry, but not so good with interacting with your customers then consigning can be a great thing for you. It is also a wonderful way to sell you jewelry if your business is taking off and your work is in high demand.
The problems with consigning are pretty costly. If you are lucky you can get as much as 80% of the sale price, in which case you are doing very well and I would recommend sticking with that boutique for as long as they want to continue to sell and consign with you. There are some boutiques though that insist that giving you only 40% is a reasonable and fair payment. I can only say run out of there as fast as you can, they are only taking advantage of you. Not all boutiques only sell handmade items. Many boutiques are also buying products mass produced in China and are paying pennies for the items they are offering. They do not understand the quality of work that comes with artisan made jewelry and will assume that your work is not any better than the jewelry they are importing.
Another issue to deal with working on Consignment is the fact that you don't have any control over the safe keeping of your jewelry. If it gets stolen or broken by a clumsy customer, you will not get paid. Getting paid for the jewelry you make depends completely on the ability of the salesperson at the boutique.
I do sell on eBay and I have to say that during the off season, that is when I am not vending, basically from January through March eBay brings in a bit of extra money. Those are the winter months and in much of the US a lot of people do not want to leave their houses to go shopping. I have been doing eBay for about a year and a half and eBay has made more money off of my jewelry than I have. I have finally figured out a good balance between making money & paying money to eBay and for the past few months I have actually made more money that I paid out to eBay. EBay has extremely high fees that they charge to set up a store, list an item and the percentage that they charge when an item sells.
The feedback system that they have is a bit of a nightmare to say the least. As both a seller and a buyer I have actually had to spin the truth a bit when giving feedback to say that everything was fine when it wasn't, just so that the other person does not come back at me with negative feedback. Negative feedback shows that some one is unhappy with you as a buyer or with your work, that you did not do your job well and that it could be risky to deal with a particular seller. I have bought beads on eBay for the purpose of making them in to jewelry to sell. Some have been OK, but for the most part nothing more than just OK. I have gotten beads that look nothing like the beads that I purchased, but not wanting to get a negative retaliation from the seller I have simply said Thank You in my positive feedback to them. If I am unhappy with a customer I would never tell them, its just bad eBay business.
I have had customers who were a nightmare to deal with! There are customers who think that eBay is an online Flea Market and everything can be bought for a small fraction of the asking price. I specifically state all of my selling guidelines on my eBay store, but I still get customers who win an item and think that they can change the rules. I get customers who win little items that I put up for auction for .99 cents 'To draw attention' to my store and then turn around and tell me that they bid on it on accident and want to exchange it for an expensive piece of jewelry that I would never even put up for auction in the first place. When they don't like my polite replies of no they respond with emails that state 'You seemed so nice' or 'I just don't want it now'. And the fact of the matter is that eBay states in every auction that winning bids are binding contracts that are to be kept.
There is a lot of junk on eBay and that makes it very hard for the serious Artisan to make any money competing with 1 cent auctions for pieces of jewelry. Most people that shop on eBay don't realize the commitment and effort that goes into Handcrafted Artisan jewelry. They just expect you to jump through hoops to make them happy, they expect a piece of jewelry for next to nothing and they expect it to immediately be rushed off to the post office within moments of it being paid for with out the slightest thought that you might have a life of your own that includes house keeping, taking care of children, cooking, appointments or any number of daily activities that comes with life. They don't think about the fact that their might be six or seven orders in from of them. I don't know what it is about eBay customers, they just expect so much for so little.
In defense of my really good, very nice and loyal customers, there is a hand full of mature, honest and easy to work with eBayers out there.
All said and done I much prefer Consigning to boutiques over selling on eBay, but as a Stay At Home Mom, it is not always easy to get my work to the boutiques in the first place. I definitely make more money with far less hassle at the boutiques than on eBay and my work is far more appreciated at the boutiques as well. Consigning has far less stress involved and much more personal satisfaction when the day is done.
Learn more about this author, Lisa Curcio.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
eBay
First off, I want to say that I don't make (or sell) jewelry. However, this topic can include any handmade craft items that you wish to sell, so it is still relevant.
What I make are small, hand-sewn stuffed animals, usually horses, out of felt. I have been making them for years, and many people have told me how wonderful they are. I used to live in a large urban area, and one day I visited a horse-themed boutique where the owner saw one of my ponies on a keychain. She was captivated by it, and I told her that I make them. She talked me into bringing several into her shop to sell.
The good news is, people loved them and I sold several at her store, for a much higher price than I would have imagined. The bad news is, a few months later the owner decided she wanted to focus on her interior decorating business instead, so she decided to close her store. I think a better option would've been for her to hire some staff to keep her store open, as it was doing very well, but that was her choice.
Ever since then, I have found it difficult to place my items in stores. I know there is a market for my products, but if there are no stores in my area willing to let me bring them in, how can I sell them?
Case in point: I now live in a mostly rural/agricultural area. There are few boutiques that accept hand-crafted items here. Actually, there are few boutiques, period. I even inquired at a local saddle/tack shop if I could bring them in, and they weren't interested. They wouldn't even look at them! Apparently, they only sell gift items that are made by child laborers in Chinese sweatshops, not anything made locally.
I brought some into the one and only crafters' mall. I sold a couple, but that was it. I visited the shop a few times, mainly to see how they were being displayed. I never even saw more than two at a time in the store, and even these were hidden in some dark corner or on a knee-level shelf where they weren't likely to be spotted by customers. I think what it boiled down to, really, was that one of the owners just didn't want them in her store. She wanted "pretty" things, like beaded purses and angel decorations. My horses didn't "fit" the feel of her store, so they weren't welcome.
Eventually, a few months later, she handed me a bag with my remaining horses, informing me that they didn't sell. She failed to mention the main reason why: she had never bothered displaying them in the first place!
But despite her attitude, they probably wouldn't have done well anyway. I have come to find out that for some reason, people in this area just don't buy much in the way of gift items. This includes jewelry. A lady at a small, local jewelry store recently said that a beautiful necklace she had in her shop could easily sell for hundreds of dollars in the area I moved away from, but here, she "can't give it away."
Because of this, I would say that eBay is the way to go. However, I can't sell currently on eBay because I don't have any way to upload photos. Who's going to buy something, especially something handmade, without photos? I likely wouldn't, so I couldn't expect others to. But if I had a way to, I'm sure they could sell.
The beauty of eBay is that it doesn't matter where you live. It doesn't matter if there are no stores in your area to sell your items, or if local people aren't into what you are. It makes no difference. Your customers can be anywhere in the world, so the possibilities are endless! Also, there are no consignment fees. At the store where I had sold so many of my horses, they kept 50% of the profit. I still made good money, but if I could've sold them on my own, I'd have made twice as much!
EBay isn't perfect, I know. And for some people, selling in a boutique or consignment shop may even be a better choice, especially if local people are interested in your items. It all depends on where you live, the local economy, and the reception from local customers. But for those of us who are tired of jumping through all the hoops, I'd say eBay is the best way.
Learn more about this author, Laureen Manera.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Difference of opinion? Debate now.
