Choosing Your Next Jewelry Supplier
15 Questions – To Help You Choose Your New Suppliers
In the last email I discussed some steps to help your business get ahead during the winter. One of the most important is choosing trusted sources. Although I sell high quality product and provide to my customers what I hope is considered very good service, I know most of my clients have other sources. The way I see it, it is important that you choose your o ther sources wisely because it will only make your business stronger.
1) Are they really a wholesaler?
“wholesale prices” usually translates to slightly below retail. If they sell retail or simply require you to purchase more than $x then they are not a true wholesaler. Wholesalers only sell to other businesses. Period.
Most do. But inversely to #1, just because there is no min does not imply that they are a retailer. Some of the most reputable wholesalers (like us) do NOT require a min order. More importantly, check if there are terms or tiers for getting the best prices. Some companies require high volume purchases ($1000+) before they give you the best prices. The base price may not be much better than retail.
Check if there is a re-stocking fee and what the terms are for returning product. Is your satisfaction guaranteed? Most companies these days have very generous return policies, so if they don’t, be skeptical.
5) Do they allow drop shipping?
If they retail the exact same product they are wholesaleing to you, don’t buy from them. Period. You don’t want to be competing against your supplier because they will always be able to undercut you and are not really looking after your interest as a wholesale customer.
Do they recognize your name? Will you have a permanent account rep? This is a big deal. You want your supplier relationships to be personal – in the sense that they know who you are and understand your business. Even in the Web 2.0 age the person to person contact is important. If they don’t take the time to get to know you a little or don’t return your calls in a timely manner, this is a very bad sign.
What services do they provide after the sale to help your business succeed? Is your relationship over once the order is placed? Will they answer your questions and give you advice on marketing the jewellery? Provide selling tools such as online and offline catalogs you can utilize? Try to get a sense of how interested they are in helping your business as opposed to just ‘getting’ your business.1000 products may seem like a lot, but over the course of a few months if you see the same 1000 products, the number will seem a lot smaller. Buy from companies that are nimble and responsive to the marketplace. You want your sources to be always on the hunt for new and unique designs.
This may be relevant to you only if you have a or catalog and plan to re-order same items again and again. At wholesalegemshop.com for example, we like to vary our designs and don’t usually re-stock the same items month after month. Keeping designs fresh helps sales. But if you plan to sell on your website or your own catalog, be sure you figure this out ahead of time. You don’t want to spend hours editiing a photo and printing a catalog only to find out you cannot source the same items.
Some places make all their profits on the shipping. Some sites charge per item. This is especially important for interanational orders. There are economical ship methods for international, so if someone tries to overcharge you be very skeptical of their credibility. Jewelry is very light and can be shipped through the postal service for only $1-$5.
Look for the secure lock bottom of browser. Only really matters that the checkout is secure. If you are not on an https page when you begin the checkout process, RUN! Your credit card information will not be safe if you enter on an non SSL site.
Click logo on their site for report. This is a great way to measure a companies reliability. The fact that they pay $400+ per year to be members says a lot in itself. And the BBB has high standards. But click the logo on the site. I had someone steal my custom BBB logo and put it on their site so when a customer clicked it, they were directed to MY BBB Report page! Very slimy. Be sure to match the name of the company with the name on the BBB report. Lots of scammers out there.
A couple hand-picked entries don’t really count. Look for sites that share loads of feedback that (when you read) is obviously unedited. Also check the dates to see if they are recent.
This will tell you a couple things: first – often times you can get some great insight into their products of helpful tips from a supplier’s blog. Also, it is an indication of how serious they take customer service. I.e. spammy blog could mean that their bottom line is volume, not quality.
Jewelry Home Parties – Silpada Vs. SilverPeace.com
Submitted by Aaron Rome
You love jewelry and maybe you want to start your own business. You are hesitant to open a store – too much overhead – I agree. Then you remember that jewelry home party you attended last year and think, ‘hey, I can do that!’. And chances are you can. But whether this is the right choice for you depends on your goals.
Most of the traditional home-party models such as silpada usually involve paying the host in product and the person who manages the process (the representative) a commission. If you want to try something with very low risk, then this route could make sense. Established home-party companies such as Silpada provide the advantage of a turn-key solution with all the bells and whistles such as glossy catalogues, customer service and training materials. And very importantly a brand that has deep name-recognition. A couple disadvantages of going with a large established company include:
- There is an endless supply – your products while may be very nice and of good quality, may not be unique, since there are so many reps floating around.
- High consumer prices – while the advantage to you in terms of your commission may seem generous at 30%, your customers will be paying high prices for the product. And as a business-person you should always concerned about providing your customers with excellent value.
- If you want to maximize your income and have more control over your business, you may find that the rules you have to play by to be inhibiting, especially when you figure out you can source the same quality products for less money therefore improving your profit potential.
There are a lot of smaller home party companies out there such as SilverPeace. Some of these companies also provide you with ‘kits’ , the left-overs of which you send back when you are finished your party. In the case of SilverPeace they provide only limited support and a marketing kit for $21 (vs. $200 which is typical formany of the other home party companies). SilverPeace does NOT supply you the jewelry kit to start. But they do have a relationship with one of the best OEM sources of wholesale silver jewelry on the internet, wholesalegemshop.com. Maybe you see where this is going. If you are in need of hand-holding and are ok with decent but limited profit potential, then stick with a large, established home-party-plan company. But if you are the kind of person who likes to be creative, you have an entrepreneurial spirit and you enjoy risk-taking, then don’t go that route – instead start your own thing and really be your own boss – build your business and be proud.
Let’s look at the numbers. Big Home Party Company X charges you $200 to register and then gives you 30% of the sale from your party. You do 5 parties @$1000/ party = $5,000 in sales. Your cut = $1500 less $200 fee = $1300 profit. If you walk away now, you made $1300. Not bad and you have no liabilities. Take the other model – do it yourself – 5 parties @ $1000/ party = $5,000 less your expenses: Wholesale Jewelry product costs (~$1800) less SilverPeace marketing kit ($21) = $3179. Essentially, when you source the jewelry yourself at wholesale costs you are able to take a markup of 2.5 to 3 times what you pay. So instead of making 30% on jewelry that belongs to someone else, you make a 70% profit by making the up-front investment on your own.
And the third option is of course to do it totally on your own, but if it was me, for the $21 and an established source I would go with Option 2.
Both options are viable and depending on your personality and your business/ life goals either one could work for you. The bottom line is this – Having some guidance is nice, so ask youself whether you want something cookie-cutter, or something free-form, or a little of both. Whatever road you go down be sure to do your research and explore all the options. And one word of advice I always hand out is don’t rely solely on what you read on the web. Pick up the phone and call a warm-blooded human being who is the expert in their field. 90% of the time you can get your question answered a lot quicker, and well, if you cannot reach a person at a particular company that will help you, that should tell you all you need to know about who to do business with.
This is just a short rant and probably not articulated all that well because I am in a rush to finish my work so I can pick up the boys from school. But if you ever want to talk to an ‘expert’ (ha ha, I have to chuckle when I write that about myself!) call me. I give free advice and some people actually find it useful 
.
Aaron Rome
401-709-4420
Checkout this article on Yahoo Shine – it compares silver jewelry business models – the ‘home party plan’ vs. being a truly independent business person.
Business Tips Article
This article gives a good summary of the planning steps needed to start a home-based jewelry business, or small business selling jewelry at craft shows, home parties, etc.
Starting a small business tips article
Building Inventory For Your Jewelry Business
I am often asked what sells best. Even thoughthe answer to this question is dependent on a number of factors including your marketing channels and target customer, I usually recommend earrings and pendants for your first wholesale jewelry purchase. The reason is pretty simple. 1) One size fits all 2) I have 100’s of rings and pendants that will retail at $10-$15 while still giving you a 250% markup (your price x 2.5).
I recommend starting off with items that you can buy wholesale for $4-$7. But be sure you focus on jewelry with natural gemstones that is sterling silver. If you are looking for jewelry wholesale lots just keep in mind that often times wholesale suppliers will pick from their overstock (I do this as well), and althoug the quality will be comparable with other jewelry on the site you will not know exactly what you are getting. For this reason I recommend for at least the first order to pick and choose invidual wholesale earrings and wholesale pendats for your inventory.
Tips For Your Jewelry Website
Most of my customers have websites – some as full time enterprises, but most just as a way to promote their business or part time e-commerce for extra income. I have run my business online exclusively for 9 years. Here are a few of the key success factors that I have discovered through much trial and error:
a. Make your site personal – tell your story, prominently display your personal contact (name, phone #, email) information on every page of the site. Put your photo on the homepage and/ or contact us page. Anything you can do to make a connection will likely be the difference between a new customer and not.
b. Simple navigation – think about the flow that a customer goes through from the time they enter the site til making a purchase or completing the desired objective (fill out a form, send you an email… whatever you objective may be). The navigation should be intuitive with as few required actions (ie, clicking, reading, form-filling) as possible.
c. Proof read your copy - double check your content for grammar and syntax. Every page should make sense! Don’t use abreviations or slang. Poorly written copy is a big turn off and first impressions are huge. As it is only 1 out of 100 visitors to your site will make a purchase and this is actually a pretty converation rate (1%).
d. Don’t be boring! Your site needs to be original, fun, artistic, etc. in order to standout.
e. Make important buttons such as “Add to cart” yellow, orange or another bright color that really stands out. You don’t want people searching the page to figure out how to get something into the cart!
Silver Jewelry Artisans in India – Making Jewelry
This is a fun, interesting 2 minute segment which shows some of the actual jewelry makers doing their thing. Personally, I hate when I turn over a package and see a lable that says ‘made in china’. Now, I know that not everything made in China is cheap or was made with exploited labor, but it’s hard to overcome that stigma, especially when you just don’t KNOW where something ‘comes from’. With NAFTA, World Trade Organization and all the free trade craziness as our context, unfortunately the burden of vetting your consumables and non-consumables from food, toys, accessories, etc. falls upon the consumer and their direct suppliers. I could probably make a lot more money if I sourced my jewelry in China and never asked any questions about how it was made or what was in it, but the bottom line is I don’t want to screw someone else for a few more bucks. … kind of a tangent… one of my first friends in Nepal (Chet) left Nepal about 5 years ago because as a teacher he was in grave danger from the Maoist rebels. He went to Malaysia to work. Now this is a smart guy. He ended up working for dirt in a furniture factory. He was treated like crap and had to work about 15 hours a day. Maybe a notch above slavery. It’s wrong and I want to distance myself as far from this BS as I can, as a wholesaler, consumer and a human being. Anyway, enjoy the video! And if you like it please leave a rating on Youtube.
How to Order Wholesale Silver Jewelry
As the demand for gold jewelry increases by the day, manufacturers of good quality wholesale silver jewelry are gradually turning to gold jewelry production or closing business. It is now important that buyers and manufacturers of wholesale sterling silver jewelry understand each others concerns and problems. In this article we look at both sides and provide suggestions that would be helpful to both sides. Here are the most important questions that need to be answered when buying or making wholesale sterling silver jewelry.
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Wholesalegemshop.com Video Promo
This is a good reputable supplier. This video tells more about the company and it’s socially responsible ethos.
Tips For Starting Your Own Jewelry Business
First, its important to have a good plan. A formal business plan isn’t neccessary unless you aim to get a loan or investors, but the plan should be thorough, especially in the financial section. The bottom line for most of us is: can I make a profit doing this? How long will it take to turn a profit? And, is this worth my time? Below I have outlined a few key factors to think about while devising your plan. I want to be clear that this is just a guideline, not a “how to” since everyone’s circumstances are different – what may work for one person may not
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