Selling my jewellery

I've already posted this question in another forum too, however I am very eager to get some advice from you guys out there. You know what they say about planting more seeds and all...

I have tried selling Jewellery at craft fairs and it has not been as successful as I'd anticipated. There's an awful lot of competition, however I'm reasonably confident about the quality and standard of my pieces in which I specialise in sterling silver.

Has anyone any other ideas of places that you can sell handmade jewellery? Mine is fairly mainstream, not hugely outside the box. Is a site also a good idea???

Where else can I sell my handmade jewellery???

Have you tried approaching shops and galleries?

Online!

Have you tried:
Folksy
Etsy
DaWanda
Coriandr
Misi

You could also set up your own website/blog and create your own shop.

You could also try places like:
Not On The Highstreet
Betty & Jeff
Not Mass Produced

I can't post links unfortunately as I haven't written 15 posts yet, but if you type the above names into Google the sites will come up in the search results.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Milomade

Online!

Have you tried:
Folksy
Etsy
DaWanda
Coriandr
Misi

You could also set up your own website/blog and create your own shop.

You could also try places like:
Not On The Highstreet
Betty & Jeff
Not Mass Produced

I can't post links unfortunately as I haven't written 15 posts yet, but if you type the above names into Google the sites will come up in the search results.

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Thanks for that, will give me some more options

When i started out and had a nice bit of stock i chose a date invited all my friends and family round, I had wine and nibbles... I sold quite a lot of jewellery that night everyone bought something, i was gobsmacked.. It was a great succes (quite like the old tubberware parties LOL)..
Next one of my friends held a party for me, where she invited all her family and her friends need i go on, i am so grateful for the success that i have had.. I love love love all jewellery parties. I sell a bit online but nothing like at the parties.. I have 2 parties a yr myself now,, all other parties are outside the home..

word of mouth is amazing, nothing like it:o

You do have to be careful doing parties though (especially these days) and make sure if you are using your car for business purposes that you aren't going to void your insurance if you have a smash as they will not pay out.

I was going to do parties but decided against it because it posed too much of a security risk for me especially as I live in London.

I'd say Etsy is your best bet the others are a tad unreliable in my experience... blogging is also something to look at. While it's not somewhere to sell it certainly advertises your products. Running competitions also raises alot of interest, this is something we are looking into right now :)

Good advice Nicola (how many of us are there!?) re car insurance. (Am also looking at all types of other insurance too - if you are using torches and chemicals and making money from it your house insurance will not cover you!! Also need public liability insurance if doing craft fairs etc and product liability insurance is a good idea too).

I belong to a women's only gym and they have said I can have a stand on their 'pamper nights' - a ready made audience!!

Also I have heard that our local hospital has display cases in the reception area for things like this.

I intend to do house parties at other people's houses too.

Ooh let us know how you get on at the pamper nights, that is something I have been looking into but having got round to yet!

Hi Laura,

I'd also research good quality tourist (rather than jewellery) shops and also ladies clothes shops, plus local craft markets. Can you take some of your jewellery into your local village and ask people what they think of it (and the price). Its good to get feedback and you never know you might get some customers from it - I did and was very surprised when they wanted to buy.

The sorts of things I look at when researching fairs is; how busy are the jewellery stalls, what sort of stuff are they selling, price, what's the display stand like, which ones have lots of customers and which ones don't, compare what you do with what you see. I have a mock up of my stall at home and that helps a lot. I'll be doing another reccie at a fair in a few weeks and will also be doing my first summer fair at the end of August and will let you know what I learn. Don't give up hope, just do as much research as you can and you'll be fine. :)

Jules