new stuff

[Binraker]

After not making much jewellery for a few years (mainly because it all jest ended up in a box gathering dust) I have decided to start making things again and start selling them.

You can see my new stuff here. Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[caroleallen]

Hi Peter, I think you should consider whether your photography sets your jewellery off to its best. It's a little too dark and a bit fuzzy.

[Dennis]

Well Carole's right, but nothing major. Just adjust the brightness and contrast on a an editing programme. You could open the pictures with Microsoft office to fix them.

My main concern is that if these are silver and your own work, then they are far too cheap. You are just giving them away. Dennis.

[Patstone]

I dont know about Folksy or Etsy for that matter, but selling locally definately depends on which part of the country you live in. I dont know how many times I have said it now, that selling silver rings for example in Devon isnt the same as selling them in London. I know someone who used to sell her silver rings in London on a market stall once a week and make £75 ish per ring, when she gave up jewellery making because of arthritis in her hands, she came down to Devon to live and asked us if we would sell her left over stock, we are still trying to sell it 3 years later, people love the designs but look at the price tag and put it back on the table. You can only sell at a price that people are prepared to pay. Sorry to all the people that are trying to make a living at it, but if I cant sell stuff, I have to stop making as I cant afford to pay for silver out of an old age pension.

Well Carole's right, but nothing major. Just adjust the brightness and contrast on a an editing programme. You could open the pictures with Microsoft office to fix them.

My main concern is that if these are silver and your own work, then they are far too cheap. You are just giving them away. Dennis.

[silvermagpie]

Lovely Jewellery, but i agree with Dennis....your prices are far too cheap!

[caroleallen]

I didn't really look at the prices but yes, they are too cheap. By the time you've added in the cost of silver, chain, box and postage, plus all the hidden costs of running a workshop, there's really little profit left in it for you. I think we all fall into the trap when we start out of desperately wanting people to buy our stuff so we price it too cheap. The irony is that if it's too cheap, people won't think it's worth much, so don't buy it anyway. The answer is to build a brand and make it look appealing. Photographing jewellery in black boxes doesn't really give the right image. Sorry to be so negative, but I wish people had told me the truth when I started out. I hope I haven't offended you. Wishing you much success with your jewellery making.

[LydiaNiz]

another agree on the pricing - and I find natural objects or white are winners for photgraphing on, and natural light. your lighting looks good and nice clean work.

[Dennis]

I feel another of 'those' discussions coming on. I hope you will come back to us if only to assure us that you are not intimidated by our noisy response.

This was talked about last year too: http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4806 Dennis.

[Binraker]

Thanks for the input. I will definitely reconsider my photographic style.

As for price, I make things as a hobby so I am not too fussed about covering costs. That said I have been contemplating the whole low price = nothing special thing that people do subconsciously and I have herd of companies that have been saved and increased sales simply by putting the price up. The prices I chose were based on what similar things on Folksy were up for but I see the logic of asking a bit more to make yourself out from the crowd. So I may have to revisit that too.

[Binraker]

I have re-photographed everything today in the ,somewhat rare at the moment, sunshine. I used a bit of birch ply as my background as the gentle breeze made using paper a bit of a pain. Hopefully That has lightened up the photos. I have also ensured that all the pictures uploaded were the correct size so there is no scaling going on server side and so hopefully stopped the fuzziness issue.

I just need to adjust my prices now. Anyone got any ideas where I should look at prices?I originally pitched everything at the MOTR folksy prices, but to give the feeling of being special I suppose I should be looking at somewhere in the upper quartile.

I am not in this for the money really, more to pay for materials and to stop my house getting littered with more little boxes of unworn jewellery.