Wholesale Jewelry Gifts Blog

Wholesale jewelry and unique gifts including wholesale handmade bracelets, handcrafted wholesale earrings and more.

Let’s play a game of picture this! Mother of two small children starts making jewelry as a hobby. Friends and family are impressed and suggest selling the handmade jewelry at craft shows or, wait a second, on the internet. Now you have your own business, a website or a listing at an online handmade marketplace and everything is selling well. After a couple years you have a great selling line of jewelry and you start thinking about selling to some stores. You book a local wholesale gift show ready to take your business to the next level. You go to show and guess what happens; it does not go according to your expectations. You take a couple of orders and do not even make the expenses. You are frustrated and ready to book some more craft shows instead of risking more disappointment. Does this sound familiar?

Maybe a general gift show is too general for your work. Specifically search for handmade wholesale shows. They may be a bit more expensive but these shows draw the right customers for your wholesale handcrafted jewelry and you are sure to do better because of this targeted marketing strategy. This is a big step and quite expensive because of not only the booth fees but also you usually need a different display so that you can display one of everything. The majority of our sales are generated at wholesale gift shows but it can take years to establish a good customer list. When we first started out it was sometimes difficult to get $100 minimum orders, but now customers come to the show specifically to see us and all our new items.

Now picture another scenario. Instead of taking a giant leap of faith, take baby steps. Gather samples of your best selling jewelry and show them to some stores in your area. This way you get to see the store and know that this is the right kind of shop that will be able to sell your jewelry well. You sell a few pieces for them to try and they even promote you as a local artisan. They do well with your work and re-order. Now picture finding ten stores and you are in the wholesale jewelry business. No muss, no fuss, just a little leg work and you are a success.

There are many ways to begin wholesaling your handmade jewelry. You can even meet gift store owners at your craft shows. We have quite a few wholesale customers that we met at art and craft fairs. When starting out there is no right or wrong way. For many years we continued to participate in our best craft shows as well as wholesaling to gift stores. Building wholesale customers gradually will not overwhelm your business, giving the needed time to learn the business to take advantage of all the opportunities available.

There comes a time when every handmade jewelry artisan wonders if selling their jewelry wholesale is the better decision for the business. It actually depends on a number of factors but generally boils down to time and money.

wholesale earrings Start Selling Your Handcrafted Jewelry Wholesale

Wholesale Horse Jewelry Handmade Earrings

While wholesaling your jewelry will bring in larger orders the major question is can you actually make handcrafted jewelry fast enough to make a profit? Anyone who is thinking about jumping into the wholesale jewelry market needs to be able to create production pieces quickly, efficiently and at a reasonable price. There are not too many stores who buy into one-of-a-kind pieces. Gift stores are generally looking for low and mid-range priced jewelry to offer to their customers. They want to sell through fast and re-order the best selling designs. Very few shops are going to order not knowing exactly what they are getting. You need to have unique jewelry that sells well in a great selection of popular designs.

After selling retail for a few years you will have an established line of great jewelry designs but you might be getting tired of always being on road going to art and craft shows every weekend or you might want to just make more money. Wholesaling brings larger orders but the profit margin is less for each piece. Usually the wholesale price is your cost plus your time times two. If you normally retail a pair of handmade earrings at $20.00, the wholesale price is half so $10.00; therefore the cost and time should be under $5.00 for you to make a profit. You need to consider carefully your pricing structure. If you sell too low it is not profitable but if you set the price too high the stores will not be able to move them fast enough and will not re-order.

Wholesale business is good only when you have re-orders because that is where you make more profit. Trade shows are expensive and there are times when you do not even make the expenses, but if you get two or three good customers who re-order then you are making money. For an example, there was a lady who placed an order at a show for $400.00. After the show she called and cut the order in half because she spent too much at the show. We were disappointed to say the least. We almost did not send the order. That lady in the following three months placed over $10,000.00 in re-orders. You just never know how things are going to turn out, that lady has been our very good customer for many years.

Larger orders are great but they take more time to make. You need to be working constantly when you have a wholesale handcrafted jewelry business and it can be very tiring. Quite a few companies, like catalogs, have specific deadlines that you have to meet or the order is cancelled. When placed under that much stress sometimes the quality standards get a little relaxed to get everything done on time. You are shooting yourself in the foot. Do not ever send second rate products. If you cannot meet the deadline call the buyer and ask for more time or to send a partial order and the rest as quickly as possible. When we were just starting out we got an order from a department store but we rushed and sent the order anyway. We never heard from them again. We always regret that decision.

Everyone at one point or another wants more from their business but you need to consider many factors in able to choose the right path for you and your handmade jewelry business. Both retail sales and wholesale trade have their advantages. You need to consider the pros and cons of both before you can decide properly.

There comes a time in the handmade jewelry business when you decide to either sell retail only or to also delve into the wholesale jewelry market. It can be a very difficult decision because in many cases it requires a complete overhaul of your business strategy.

Cat Jewelry Bracelets 300x154 Growing Your Wholesale Handmade Jewelry Business

Wholesale Cat Jewelry Handmade Bracelets

Selling handmade jewelry strictly retail may entail opening your own gift store, catalog sales, craft shows and an e-commerce website. These all require a lot of work and organization.

If you decide on a gift store, you will need to offer other unique gifts as well as your own handmade jewelry so that you can keep up with the expenses. You can have a section of the store where you work on your jewelry or you can run the store out of your home, if zoning will allow, reducing overhead expenses and still making your handcrafted jewelry.

Catalog or email sales can easily be run from home but require time to establish your list of customers. It would probably be worthwhile to add this to other methods such as home parties, trunk shows and craft fairs.

Craft shows will keep you on the road much of the time if you actually want to make a living selling handcrafted jewelry. You will need to make your handmade jewelry making portable so that you can work on stock while at the craft shows. Alternatively you could create your jewelry during the winter months, January to April, when there are few craft shows to build up stock and just make fill-in stock at the shows.

handmade earrings copper 300x156 Growing Your Wholesale Handmade Jewelry Business

Wholesale Earrings Handmade in Butterfly Jewelry Theme

An e-commerce website again is easily run from home but it will take time to become established online. A handmade jewelry website requires time and patience in order to get good rankings which will get you found. Although the possibilities are extraordinary the reality is more difficult. Having a back-up plan will increase your chances of success.

Wholesale jewelry is a whole different ball game. First you must be able to produce your handmade jewelry quickly and efficiently in quantity. You must discover the techniques that are easy to create the same design over and over again. You will need to hire people to help not only to keep up with production but with all the business aspects. Wholesale Gift Shows are expensive but still the best way to establish new customers. Even though you will sell your handmade jewelry at half of the retail price the potential for growth is huge. You will have hundreds of stores selling your handcrafted jewelry so the possibilities are endless.

Personally speaking, I preferred the freedom that retail sales provide. We traveled to craft shows for many years and it was fun and exciting. As our handmade jewelry business grew we evolved into more of a wholesale jewelry company. There are more demands on your time and less freedom due to deadlines but the results are more than worth the effort. There are  great many advantages of starting a wholesale handmade jewelry business.