New Topic - Pricing & Sales Poll

Ok guys... I have a poll for you guys with the responses benefiting the
jewelry newbies. Anyone game?



1) How do you price your single pieces of jewelry - Do you use software or
a specific formula to derive a price for each piece of jewelry?

2) If you use a formula, how did you come up with this formula?

3) Do you sell online? If so, then how would you rate your online sales
earnings since January? (good, bad, stalled)

4) If you sell online, do you sell through your own web site or do you use
Ebay or Etsy?

5) Do you sell in a shop? If so, then how would you rate your shop sales
earnings since January?

6) Do you consign? What percentages are your consignments? Example: 60/40

7) If you consign, do you have the shop owner sign a consignment contract?

8) Do you sell by word of mouth? (selling to friends, family, co-workers)
How much of your sales are thru this method?

9) If you sell your jewelry by two or more of the methods listed above,
which method brings you more sales?

10) Do you have a name for your jewelry business? Do you have a logo for
your jewelry business? Do you give out business cards?

11) If you sell your jewelry by two or more methods listed above, do you
price the jewelry differently per selling method?
Example: if you sell at Ebay and word of mouth, do you price the
Ebay jewelry higher, lower, or the same as the word of mouth jewelry?

What? No one wants to contribute? If it helps a newbie beader, then I'm
game for it.


: 1) How do you price your single pieces of jewelry - Do you use software
or
: a specific formula to derive a price for each piece of jewelry?

Software.
I used to just put a price on each piece without really considering the
actual total cost to make each piece. I guess you could say I priced "by
the heart" to what I "thought" my jewelry was worth. To me, my jewelry was
worth a whole hell of a lot more than people were willing to pay and my
price was way out of line... too high so I didn't really sell much until I
got my software and started pricing from the software.
Now, not only do I sell 300% more jewelry, but I am doing so with a nice
profit as well.

: 2) If you use a formula, how did you come up with this formula?

Its in the software.
with a few clicks of the mouse, the software can tell me exactly how much of
a overall profit I made during a specific period of time. It will also
break down and list the amount of money it cost to make each piece (by
component), list the different pricing methods (retail, direct, & wholesale)
and give the price for each, tells me how much of a specific component I
have left in stock and if I need to reorder that component, tells me exactly
where I bought the component, how much it cost, and what the item number is
so I can find it easy when I go to reorder.


: 3) Do you sell online? If so, then how would you rate your online sales
: earnings since January? (good, bad, stalled)

Nope, I don't sell online. Too many people do and the net just doesn't need
another jewelry seller.
I've been considering starting a web site where I could post pictures with
prices of my jewelry for those people who know me and my jewelry and wanted
to see what I had in stock. They would of course have to come to me to buy,
but at least I'd give them some idea if what I had was what they were
looking for.

: 4) If you sell online, do you sell through your own web site or do you
use
: Ebay or Etsy?

See question 3


: 5) Do you sell in a shop? If so, then how would you rate your shop sales
: earnings since January?

Not yet. I am doing better right now selling outright, but I do have a shop
lined up for when I want to go that route.

: 6) Do you consign? What percentages are your consignments? Example:
60/40

The shop owner does consignments, with a 60/40 percentage.

: 7) If you consign, do you have the shop owner sign a consignment
contract?

This shop owner said they don't usually sign contracts, but I do have a
contract for consignments and I will have him sign it to protect my
interests.


: 8) Do you sell by word of mouth? (selling to friends, family,
co-workers)
: How much of your sales are thru this method?

Yes, 100% of my sales are thru this method.


: 9) If you sell your jewelry by two or more of the methods listed above,
: which method brings you more sales?

Only one method so far so there is no comparison.


: 10) Do you have a name for your jewelry business? Do you have a logo for
: your jewelry business? Do you give out business cards?

Yes, I have a name for my business, I do have a logo, and I give out
business card that I print myself.


: 11) If you sell your jewelry by two or more methods listed above, do you
: price the jewelry differently per selling method?
: Example: if you sell at Ebay and word of mouth, do you price the
: Ebay jewelry higher, lower, or the same as the word of mouth jewelry?

Well, I'll answer this one by saying that when I do go the shop selling
route, I will adjust my price a bit more to make up for the 40% consignment
the shop owner will take. Ya gotta do what cha gotta do. *grins*


Anyone else brave enough to add your info to the poll??


Sterling

Sterling wrote:
Ok guys... I have a poll for you guys with the responses benefiting the
jewelry newbies. Anyone game?


I don't make jewelry so I don't know how helpful my answers will be, but
I'll give it a shot.


1) How do you price your single pieces of jewelry - Do you use software or
a specific formula to derive a price for each piece of jewelry?

I use a formula.

2) If you use a formula, how did you come up with this formula?

It's based on the complexity of the bead. My goal is to average it to
$60/hour of torch time... that seems like a lot until you consider that
from that torch time I also have to pay for cleaning, stringing,
photographing, listing, shipping, materials, and all other associated
time and expenses. Beads that don't turn out as well as hoped get an
"coolness penalty". Beads that are especially interesting or better than
expected get a "coolness premium".

3) Do you sell online? If so, then how would you rate your online sales
earnings since January? (good, bad, stalled)

I sell online only, with the exception of an annual local bead show.
Bead sales fluctuate with the season, with December and August being
historically my slowest months. 2007 has been a strong year for sales,
with excellent sales in January (as designers replenish stock depleted
by holiday sales, and prepare for spring shows) and very slow business
during the show season in late summer. Typically sales jump when
children return to school... we will see!

4) If you sell online, do you sell through your own web site or do you use
Ebay or Etsy?

I sell primarily through my website, but I keep feelers on eBay,
Justbeads, the Annealer, and Etsy, because more exposure is a good thing.

5) Do you sell in a shop? If so, then how would you rate your shop sales
earnings since January?

I had some higher-end work in a gallery for a while, but sales were very
slow so I removed them.

6) Do you consign? What percentages are your consignments? Example: 60/40

No. I have in the past and will not again.

7) If you consign, do you have the shop owner sign a consignment contract?

8) Do you sell by word of mouth? (selling to friends, family, co-workers)
How much of your sales are thru this method?

No, not really.

9) If you sell your jewelry by two or more of the methods listed above,
which method brings you more sales?

My website, far and away.

10) Do you have a name for your jewelry business? Do you have a logo for
your jewelry business? Do you give out business cards?

Yes to all of the above.

11) If you sell your jewelry by two or more methods listed above, do you
price the jewelry differently per selling method?
Example: if you sell at Ebay and word of mouth, do you price the
Ebay jewelry higher, lower, or the same as the word of mouth jewelry?

I use eBay primarily to try to move beads that have been sitting on my
website for a while, and I do start them lower than I would sell them
for on my website.

Awesome! Input from a bead maker. Thanks Kalera, I am sure this will help
some newbie bead maker out there.

Sterling