A Quick Rant

[t1ggerk1ns]

I am sick and tired of threading beads and making cheap tat to fund the silver work. I churn out the stuff by the bucketload, sell way under price for the time it takes, am honest about the materials used in making it, and then find people selling 'tibetan silver', which responds beautifully to a magnet, selling loads of stuff, and not being there when the customer brings it back to complain.

Worse is, they keep trying to say they bought it off me!!!!!!!!!!

[Dennis]

Some of your rant is well justified t1ggerk1ns, but from here I would diffidently suggest that there is a major re-think needed.

Firstly, if you make 'tat' to fund your silver work, that implies that your silver work does not pay for itself. Re-work your designs until it does and keep emphasising that yours is designer made and unique to you.

I have thought a great deal recently about what it does to you if you despise your work. Look at older people in the street and on buses, particularly those who look really unhappy with their lives. Something really corrosive is going on inside them. Don't let it happen to you. Dennis.

[ShinyLauren]

I agree with Dennis.

You should definitely focus on the handmade silver work, ditch the bead stuff - there's no point trying to compete with people that buy their 'silver' stuff in from overseas.

Some of my silver pieces I hate making, as my most popular pieces take forever to make and I am drastically undercharging for them given the time they take, but also know I can't really charge any more, so I'm developing variations and additions to the collection at the moment that are far quicker to make and less expensive to cast. That way I can put up the price of the ones that are an arse to make, but offer different options at lower price points.

I feel your pain though, it's so depressing making stuff that you're proper fed up of!

[Patstone]

Yes I agree with Dennis too, its very easy to get depressed and not so easy to get out of it again. When people see cheap stuff like beads they expect to pay less for silver jewellery too. Like Lauren suggested make some items that are nice but quick to make and sell those cheaper so that people know they can buy nice silver pieces that arent that expensive, so there is a selection, you will find they will come back again later. We also found that by having a card machine really helped us sell the more expensive things, none of our stuff is above £100, and some as little as £12 so a nice variation on price. We only sell at craft fairs, and wouldnt be able to live on what we sell, but ours is just a hobby that got a bit out of hand.

[caroleallen]

I agree with everything said so far. I've made every mistake there is over the years and although I do sell some less expensive aluminium stuff, it's completely different from anything that anyone else sells, so it sells well. As for silver, I always keep it separate from my aluminium stuff so that people know it's different. My stand has 2 parts with a gap in the middle.

I find what works well is to make a whole range in each design, i.e. necklace, bracelet, bangle, earrings ring etc. That way they buy the cheaper earrings and then come back later for the other bits. Its all about building up your reputation for selling jewellery that's unique and also for offering very good customer service.

Having said all of the above, craft fairs have been going downhill for years. I've only done 3 so far this year and will be doing 1 at Christmas. I used to do about 15 or so per year. Next year I'll be doing 2 in total. Maybe one day I won't do any but that's a bit scary!

[Patstone]

Do you sell all of your stuff online then, I think I remember you saying you were selling on Etsy and going into galleries etc. For me, craft fairs are something I quite enjoy doing as they are all local and I know people at the Exmouth one now as we have been doing it for a year or more, and we get regulars coming back to see what else we have on offer. I think my daughter Sam is going to have to sell things in other places as well as craft fairs as she is cutting down her hours at her full time work, only by a day, but she would love to make it a full time job, or at least two or three days a week. I have thought about putting some of our more expensive things on Etsy but not sure about it, there are others a lot better than us on there.

[ps_bond]

I agree with everything said so far. I've made every mistake there is over the years and although I do sell some less expensive aluminium stuff, it's completely different from anything that anyone else sells, so it sells well. As for silver, I always keep it separate from my aluminium stuff so that people know it's different. My stand has 2 parts with a gap in the middle.

One key point from what you've said in the past though - it might be less expensive, but you're still spending an amount of time on them appropriate to the cost. That's rather important!

I find what works well is to make a whole range in each design, i.e. necklace, bracelet, bangle, earrings ring etc. That way they buy the cheaper earrings and then come back later for the other bits. Its all about building up your reputation for selling jewellery that's unique and also for offering very good customer service.

Again, completely agree. I need to be more rigorous about doing full sets (parure?) where possible.

One thing I've seen is that where one person is selling too cheaply, it really drags down the sales levels for all around. If others are just selling imported tat, then that's probably not going to be a good market for trying to sell handmade jewellery as the import tat prices are what people will generally expect to pay.