Comments on: How to Handle Difficult Jewelry Customers

By: Analise Brown

Analise Brown — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 19:15:24 +0000

I wish I could hire you to come and meet with what I see as my LAST customer that I do a custom piece for. She terrifies me!
At this point when she messages me and tells me she is so nervous to see the item I just reply “Me Too”! my goldsmith is extremely talented and I have no doubt the piece will be perfect but this is her 3rd remake! If this is not it, I am done. I need to practice my responses. Unsatisfied customers are not my strong suite and over the past 36 years, this is really the only one I’ve had that leaves me sick to my stomach.

By: Rena Klingenberg

Rena Klingenberg — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 05:39:59 +0000

In reply to JW. JW, I so agree!

By: JW

JW — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 04:58:01 +0000

And remember, if things start out badly or go bad early in the process, it is unlikely it will get better. Sometimes saying no is the best answer.

By: Rena Klingenberg

Rena Klingenberg — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 22:56:24 +0000

In reply to Chris H. Chris H, thank you for letting me know how this post helped you! :)

By: Chris H

Chris H — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 22:11:45 +0000

Thank you, Rena, this was needed and most enlightening. I really liked how the examples illustrated thenpoints you made. So clear!

By: Carol-Ann van Blerk

Carol-Ann van Blerk — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 12:13:11 +0000

Great advice and that works for almost all handmade businesses, thank you so much.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 21:13:41 +0000

Hello!
I have been creating jewelry for several years and had briefly tried selling on Artfire early on but I had to stop because of time constraints and low self-confidence. I’m considering setting up a website and trying to sell some pieces again and have been researching what I need to do to get a legitimate business going. This article has been super helpful in explaining how to handle the inevitable issues that come up for handmade work (I’ve had similar issues even in giving items as gifts to family and friends) but I was hoping to get a better idea of what some artists use as a policy to guarantee their work. Do most artists offer replacements/refunds within a given amount of time if a piece breaks? For example, do I offer a guarantee of six months or a year against breakage, or do I maintain a lifetime guarantee? How do you protect yourself against claims from customers who have misused or abused the item and then tried to return it? Most of my work is bead weaving and I am concerned that I will have customers who try to return pieces because they’ve put too much stress on the thread and have caused it to break. I’ve tried looking for example policies posted by artists on Etsy, but they’re not very descriptive.
Thanks!
Jen

By: Consuelo

Consuelo — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:32:14 +0000

Hi Rena,
Oh, does this bring back memories! We started out not knowing the value of our jewelry, so we under priced it, by only charging for materials by 3 times; then we at the time of sale, would offer even more of a discount, especially if we knew them (the customer).
Often, we were given the beads or broken jewelry to make something for them. Now, what do I charge? Most of the time I ended up doing it for free. To encourage a possible customer, and we did it gladly.We often didn’t get any payment.
But, we so far do not offer custom work, mainly because of many of the reasons the previous replies above mentioned.I had experience in the graphic design field, so I was familiar with the changing demands of some customers. We have done a few times, very few, custom orders, mostly with the request of “color only” not materials or style. So far, they have been more than happy with their pieces.
If a customer, does in the future, request a refund or is unhappy with the piece, we will happily refund them with a return of the jewelry. So far, we haven’t had that experience (I’m sure we will encounter one in the future).
We do, however have the policy to repair any piece we created and sold to them “free of charge” and shipped back to them”free of shipping charges”.There’s no profit in that, but hopefully we will build a loyal customer base.
We haven’t experience any negative response to this policy.

By: Rebecca Brooks-Guelfi

Rebecca Brooks-Guelfi — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 03:05:11 +0000

Hi Rena,
You really are a treasure chest for us! Thanks so much for providing this GO TO article.
I have always been terrible at the business aspect of working as an artist. When I was an independant contractor during my years as a painter I can’t tell you how many times a customer changed their minds prior to a job being finished and then didn’t want to pay extra.
One job we had to repaint a four story stair well over completely THREE TIMES, first he wanted it all gold, then he decided he wanted it ALL PURPLE, then he changed his mind and wanted it painted green! LOL can you believe that. :^0
I can’t tell you how many times I lost profit due to not having any of these business policies in place.

Thanks again Rena!

Rebecca :^)

By: VM

VM — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 15:05:01 +0000

Yes you need that on your web page! Your good customers will make sure they read and understand what they are getting into. For your bad customers, you can make a point more than once during the conversation/correspondence “our policy, which is on the website” etc. This does help shut people up. What you keep in mind for yourself is if you may want to give someone a gift or a break on the shipping or some discount if something happens where you want to make some nice gesture to a client that you feel is deserving, not just someone who wants to complain.

By: Arely

Arely — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 00:09:09 +0000

Do I have to write them on the webpage or just for me? How do I start the page of my policies? please help!

By: Joyce

Joyce — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 13:55:21 +0000

I fell into the trap of making a few pieces for a person with her stones. I priced my time and materials way too cheaply and it took lots more time and energy than I had planned on. What started at 3 pieces quickly blossomed into 11 with a very short deadline. I had no time left to create my own items. Finally, out of sheer frustration, I announced to her that I was finished and would do no more work for her. What a wonderful, freeing feeling that was. I was finally out of “prison”. Now I know better and am very careful with custom orders. As I think back, I didn’t know how good my work really was so did not give myself much credit; therefore, I projected out exactly what I expected “back”. Hope that makes sense.

By: Maria

Maria — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 07:19:49 +0000

Thank you Rena for your good tips.

I remember my first big assignment, I set a price which was far too little. “Little did I know how much time and stones in it sat.” The client wanted value. I was happy and I showed her the set, she was really happy with it and gave me a good amount there (the value of the set was 3 times as much).

Later she called me up and said: “Maria, you have the money invested quite well that I gave to you. You have made money there for your jewelry set I am grateful for, but for what I do with my money, you do nothing at all.”

She has always hinted that my money has been just given to me.

This client wanted to have my jewelry, but I have discontinued with the client. I do not need to be friends with my clients. What’s important to me is that I should be happy with what I make and so should the customer. But I’m not on my knees in front of customers, I put too much time and love into my jewelry for that. I’m better with prices, by the way. 🙂

Hug Maria

(translated from Dutch with Google Translate)

Dank je wel Rena voor je goede tips.
Ik weet nog goed mijn eerste grote opdracht,ik maakt een prijs af en die was veel te weinig.’Wist ik veel hoeveel tijd en stenen erin gingen zitten ‘ De klant wilde naar waarde betalen.Daar was ik blij mee en ik liet haar de set zien ,ze was echt blij ermee en gaf me een flink bedrag erbij .( de waarde van de set was 3 x zoveel ) Later belde ze me op en zei: Maria ,je heb het geld toch wel goed geïnvesteerd wat ik extra aan jou gaf.Ik zei u heeft MIJ niets extra gegeven ,u heeft geld erbij gedaan voor uw sieraden set daar ben ik u dankbaar voor,maar wat ik met mijn geld doe gaat u helemaal niets aan.
Ze heeft steeds laten doorschemeren dat ze mijn zomaar geld heeft gegeven.
Deze klant wilde nog div sieraden van mijn hebben,maar ik heb de klant afgebroken. Ik hoef geen vrienden te worden met mijn klanten,als ze maar te vrede zijn met wat ik heb gemaakt.Wat ik belangrijk vind dat ik gelukkig moet zijn met wat ik maak en de klant .Maar ik ga niet op me knieën voor klanten ,daar zit te veel liefde en tijd in mijn sieraden ,dan zou ik mezelf weggeven,dat doe ik niet. Ben nu beter met prijzen, trouwens 😉

By: carole

carole — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 15:42:36 +0000

All great tips. I think I need to spend some time looking over my policies!