Comments on: Selling Pricey Jewelry vs. Bargain Jewelry

By: Elizabeth Trail

Elizabeth Trail — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 14:13:09 +0000

My jewelry too is “pricey”, with silver charms starting at $24, and going up to statement pieces at around $360. (I was doing quite a bit of gold before 2008, but high metal prices have forced me to focus on silver.) I choose my shows carefully, try to “dress the part”, and focus on making my packaging and display reflect the quality I’m trying to convey.

By: alinda lord

alinda lord — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 03:08:28 +0000

Well heck! I’d love to purchase the eucalyptus leaf bangle. Please msg me if you have more! Thanks.

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 21:39:02 +0000

I love your work! Pricing has always been a challenge for me. Over the years I’ve gotten much better at it with the help of a couple of good friends. And it definitely matters the type of show and what people are looking for.

By: Judy Pagnusat

Judy Pagnusat — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 19:07:39 +0000

I have a very talented jewelry friend who has always told me that you will sell more if you raise you prices and I has seen this happen. Knowing your venue is great advice and this was a wonderful post. The information you give about your process is great and I often have thought I need to do more of it. Thanks again for the informative post.

By: Duane Aldrich

Duane Aldrich — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 17:10:10 +0000

Great post! I found the same thing a few years ago. I had set my prices low and hardly had any sales. I usually made my table fee but not a huge amount more. Then a friend said I was charging too low for my quality and caused people to not believe they were sterling silver and real gemstones. I raised my prices and boom the sales started. Now we keep a good variety of items on the table that cover the low and high price range. We have some simple bead work earrings and necklaces as low as $5. These are those quick to assemble items like hanging a charm or guitar pick on an ear wire. And, we have the gold and silver gemstone items priced higher. Variety is what has helped us especially at a newer show that we don’t know the customer yet.

By: Michelle Maple

Michelle Maple — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 16:06:08 +0000

In reply to sarah. Well put Sarah!!!

By: Michelle Maple

Michelle Maple — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 16:01:02 +0000

This is great information! I have been struggling with this for years and not knowing how to handle it. I’m at the point where I want to give up craft fairs altogether! I have a variety of prices for my jewelry from $10 quick sale earrings to $75 necklaces. I think that I have too much of a variety of jewelry styles and need to stick to one or two and also maybe less is more instead of trying to load up my booth with everything! I have items in 3 consignment shops in the area and I do fairly well, so I know my style sells. I have 2 more fairs for the holiday season and will be reviewing my approach and Etsy shop for 2019!

By: Elizabeth Payne

Elizabeth Payne — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 15:50:27 +0000

Pamela, your work is beautiful. I would not flinch at paying your price for your gorgeous brooch.

One thing I learned is that a key in the psychology of selling is “branding”. The consistency carry with your logo-font theme on your business cards, carrying through your earring cards, cards for your brooches, tags for your bracelets, etc. You can make a “mission statement” on your card, without having to mention justifying your price. The card reflects who you are. sets a mood. On the back of your brooch card you can have a short about you. Your statement. Saying just a few bits about your work, gives your customer something to connect to. Perhaps:
Pamela Dudrow,
(Name of your jewelry line if you use one) Ex Artisan Metalsmith
Or
Artisan Metals
Pamela Dudrow, City State

“Each piece is handformed, hammered, over 50 cycles of annealing and finished with hand applied Renaissance Wax. Each piece represents approximately __ of work.”

Or something of the kind printed on the inside. Tent cards work well for brooches because they can be folded with a base to stand on your table or stand in a tray. Folded earring cards, or cards with a hanger attachment can stand in trays or hang on a shutter. I used to hang earring and brooch cards from interior window shutters. Stand them with the lovers facing up, Voila! Freestanding Earring and brooch display!

Cards are not hard to make. I designed my own earring cards using business card software. You can buy business card stock in bulk to print yourself or have a local printer print them and pre-crease them for you.

Design the card in the “Tall” setting. If you are going to fold the card for freestanding a short earring or hanging, you will want to place your logo on the bottom half of the card. On the top half, upside down, a brief blurb about your jewelry, type of earwires used. If you don’t already have a logo, you can use apps or website like Canva, Canva.com to create your own, find an artist on Etsy, or Fivr, or software like Brøderbund for PC, Photoshop, on iOS, Canva, Over both are free. Fonts and artwork are available from creative market.com, font bundles.com…with lots of free fonts to add to your apps or computer. For brooch cards, I used design layouts for table placecards(large, 1/4 of the page printed vertically across the page in a landscape layout, for my free standing cards.

I think if your sale earrings were carded on a card that reflects who you are, the customer will see that they have a much greater value.

Forgive me if my thoughts are a jumble, not enough coffee has been administered yet today!

By: Beverly Carlson

Beverly Carlson — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 14:13:41 +0000

Yes, the what seemed like the oddest advice I ever received was “When things aren’t selling, raise your prices” Perception, perception.

By: marellyn

marellyn — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 14:02:10 +0000

Pamela, forgot to tell you how much I admire your work. Awesome and eye catching.

By: marellyn

marellyn — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 14:00:55 +0000

Pamela, found your comments so true. First and foremost research the show. Just had a craft show this Sat. past, a one day show at a high school, fundraiser for the music dept. I had “inexpensive” x-mas earrings ($2-3). They went fast, but then so did my more expensive jewelry ($40-50) pendants, bracelets, ($10-15), earrings, etc. I wonder if the earrings go their attention and being so inexpensive they felt they could spend more on my higher priced pieces. I also offer one free repair to local buyers, Have yet to have anyone take me up on this in 4 years. I have repeat customers at most of my craft shows. In a nutshell, when I do high end shows with high buy in fees, my already high prices on most items double and I have no problems getting my price. Conversely, the local churches and schools don’t bring in the crowd that doesn’t mind spending the big bucks, so I reprice some of my items accordingly. Thanx for sharing your experience, I agree with all of it.

By: Loretta

Loretta — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 14:00:45 +0000

I have never attended a craft fair where I was selling anything. This year I started wrapping crystals and stones. I had no idea what I was getting into until I purchased my first load of wires. I did not know they came in all kinds of tempers and copper and coated copper and silver coated and pure silver either. I have been learning as I go along. I had not even paid for bulk as I had no idea I could. I am busy making at least two a day then I spray them all with a light coating of clear One Coat enamel. It sure does help when I nick the wire while making the piece. I hope I can at least sell a few. I am gonna feel awful if I don’t sell any. I also found out I am trying to over charge for my items. I have been looking on all the sites that sell what I am making and I thought I could charge that much but seems no one is wanting to pay me that much. I am learning so much just reading your articles. Thanks so much-Loretta

By: Joey Barnes

Joey Barnes — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 13:14:57 +0000

Pamela – thanks for your post. You’ve made a powerful statement: know your show and be confident in your work. One change I would make to your tags – I would not try to explain why you have priced your pieces they way you have. Your work speaks for itself. It’s superb!

By: sarah

sarah — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 12:05:52 +0000

How you display your jewellery makes a HUGE difference to the price. Roughly speaking, a few pieces spaced out = pricey, rummage through a stuffed box = bargain.

By: Meredith L Clark

Meredith L Clark — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 00:41:30 +0000

In our younger days, both my husband and I were “rowdy bikers”. A lot of $$$ is spent on those Harleys and we understand quality work and are happy to spend $$$ to have it. Seeing the photos of your work, it’s quality, beautiful work. Since the Harley days are over, I’m now making copper jewelry like yours, so having the same pricing problems you spoke about. Your article was very helpful.
Meredith

By: Rena Klingenberg

Rena Klingenberg — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 16:42:22 +0000

In reply to Norma I Vega. Hi Norma! See my Jewelry Pricing Formula. I recommend reading that entire post, including all the other posts that are linked in that article. Pricing is a psychological thing - for both the seller and the buyer, but mostly for the seller. :)

By: Norma I Vega

Norma I Vega — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 14:27:53 +0000

Wow, this is all great information, ladies!!! Thank you.
I’m having a really hard time myself. First comes the guilt. Although I have an online shop, many of my customers come from work or from friends. I find it difficult to sell an item for the price I believe it deserves because they are people who are known to me. In fact, as a joke I may say something like, “Gosh, why don’t you guys shop at the website?” They all just smile and continue with their order.

I’ve never sold at a show or tag/flea market so I do not have the experience. Except for two online sales since I began in 2005, yes I said two sales, I have only sold to people whom I know.

I would like to know what is a good pricing system. I have had comments from friends who say I am undervaluing my pieces. My cousin said that people would rather pay a higher price than what I sell for and so I should increase the price on many of my pieces.

I did take this advice into consideration and raised some of my prices and wouldn’t you know it, I have sold more. (Still, no online sales…)

I really could use your expertise!!! Thanks so much for whatever input you can give me!!!

By: MaryAnn

MaryAnn — Sun, 07 Jan 2018 05:19:51 +0000

My experience at many, many shows over the past 11 years has been all over the map. I tried the same experiment you did, only displaying pricier items at an arts festival I had done annually for three years. I was certain I would make more money if I only offered my higher priced inventory. I went home after the two-day event with about 50% of the revenue I had earned in previous years. My biggest earning festivals are the ones where i have items that cover a broad range of prices. My assessment is that being accessible to a broad spectrum of customers is less of a financial gamble. That said, it’s very difficult to draw conclusions about why sales are what they are. So many factors can have an effect on the buying mood of the public. Pricing is the most difficult thing I do. I wish there were cut and dried answers.

By: Holly

Holly — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 11:16:12 +0000

If you still want to sell some of the bargain pieces, offer them at the sale price WITH purchase of a regular-price item, not as a stand-alone price. That way you still focus on the more expensive pieces but can move some of the sale items as well. People like the idea of a gift or special price as a thank you for making a purchase.

By: Elizabeth Wald

Elizabeth Wald — Tue, 16 May 2017 12:11:52 +0000

This is a FAB post! I keep lurking the murky waters of doubt and guilt about pricing. You make me realize I AM worth the prices I deserves and too – I would think the low bargain priced items would have a bad connotation as in “so so” jewelry. Thus the perceived value in your jewelry that day was higher.

GOOD for you! A lesson we all appreciate.

Bless you,

Elizabeth

By: Caro

Caro — Sun, 31 Jul 2016 19:55:46 +0000

Katherine, I am impressed that you made $1,200 selling $5 earrings! That is a ton of inventory to move. That’s like a pair of earrings every 2 minutes for 8 hours. Great show!

And Pamela, thanks again for the reminder to know the show. My experience has been the opposite, people have pawed through the discount basket, disinterested & moved on to the more expensive pieces. This is at a retail gem show. The process of pricing really makes me scratch my head.

By: Donna Jadis

Donna Jadis — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 04:50:06 +0000

Thank you for this information… I have a wide range of pricing: from $5 earrings through $200+ hand made gold chain maille bracelets. Sometimes it feels like only “the nickels” (the $5 earrings) sell at shows, and I’ve long wondered if I should just stop offering them. I may have to give that some more thought going forward based on your story and these follow up comments.
Thanks!
Donna

By: Stephanie Thompson

Stephanie Thompson — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 04:40:46 +0000

Good to know, Thanks for sharing this!

By: Lady Mockingbird

Lady Mockingbird — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 21:24:02 +0000

In my experience, pricing items too low impacted sales negatively. I spent 3 years trying to sell my jewelry at really low prices (just barely covering cost of materials and other overhead expenses) I sold hardly anything at all. On the advice of some other jewelry sellers who all thought I was seriously undervaluing myself I increased my pricing first by doubling it. The very next day after doubling my prices my sales on ETSY quadrupled and kept on growing from there. My sales in direct shows at my booth also increased. I never failed to make enough to warrant doing a show after I did the price increase. Over time I’ve learned much better pricing strategies for ensuring that my time, my expenses plus a little for reinvesting back into the business are all covered.

It makes a huge difference to the perceived value on the buyers side of the table when you price your hand made work properly.

By: Judith

Judith — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 19:01:21 +0000

Harley ‘brand’ items are expensive. You had a crowd of people looking for quality items….and fortunately, you were in the right place selling the right items.

By: Linda C

Linda C — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 16:18:55 +0000

Years ago when in a business of a bowling alley cafe and tap room, found a huge difference between when it was a men’s tournament – they tipped quite well however at women’s tournament they would barely tip. It may have been your venue in this case however I have learned to sometimes ask my customers if they thinking priced too high on items (this is when it was clear they were just a-lookin) and found they thought the price was fair. I go with what I feel it is reasonable. Just remember there is an awful lot of junk jewelry in retail stores with pretty high prices!

By: Pamela Dudrow

Pamela Dudrow — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 13:20:33 +0000

Thanks for commenting and I completely agree! You really must know your venues!

By: Catherine Franz

Catherine Franz — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 12:52:17 +0000

Pamela, thank you for sharing this information with me. I too have experienced the same thing. I make a lot of earrings that cost me in time and materials about $.10 to make. Then I sell them at $5. I make a lot of money this way since I normally have approximately one to two thousand pairs of earrings at this price. I make sure that I make double my costs – space, payroll for my helpers, my materials and any time I put into it. I always get this. In fact several shows I sell so many that I make a pretty good profit.

But you’re right, the show makes the difference. After 12 years of selling I know each of the shows that I go to. That doesn’t mean that I don’t get a surprise every once in a while. For example, one of the churches last year went from selling the pricey items to selling the five dollar earrings. I still left with $1200 profit. And that’s all from earrings. That’s a lot of earrings sold.

The main point here is to know your show. If it’s a new show and you haven’t done your research you will not know what to expect. I find the churches the funkiest type of buyers. I don’t always know what I’m going to do year-to-year.

Thanks to your comment though, I’m going to change my strategy with one of the churches this year. Since a lot of the jewelry vendors around me are selling the cheaper stuff, I’m going to put out the expensive stuff for the first hour and see what happens. I will have the five dollar earring batches under the table.

Again Pamela thank you! I hope you do well in all your shows. Your jewelry is beautiful. And since I do fold forming myself I know how much work is involved.

By: Rena Klingenberg

Rena Klingenberg — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 05:03:11 +0000

Thank you so much for this great post, Pamela! My experience with pricey vs. bargain jewelry is similar to yours – at shows where people are happy to pay for pricey jewelry it’s best not to display the discounted pieces.

Also, I love the intriguing designs and colors of your metalwork – and your information cards accompanying each piece and explaining the amount of work involved in creating it, so people understand that it’s pricey for a reason!