Selling on Ebay, Etsy, or Amazon

I've been making jewelry for awhile now, and I am trying to figure out which place is the best place to sell my jewelry online. So far the best response I've had was on Facebook from friends -- I actually sold a few pieces that way.

Etsy

I started the Excavating Treasure site on Etsy, and have listed lots of jewelry, but so far no sales. In the last few weeks I've only hand around 175 page views. This tells me that the market is either flooded, that my keywords aren't up to snuff, my pictures aren't the best, or Etsy is not the place for me. I'm not sure which. The only thing I know for sure is that I am in the red with Etsy, because every listing costs me  20 cents.

I've been told (NEVER seen it myself) Etsy pays out immediately to Paypal when something sales. So, at least that's good.

Update: I've decided to abandon my Etsy store for now, but if I figure out the tricks of it, I will let you know!

Ebay

Since page views seem kind of slow, and in the past I've done really well on Ebay -- selling other items -- I thought I'd try to sell my handmade jewelry for a reduced price in an auction setting.  I listed my first piece "Autumn Harvest Necklace" on Ebay. It didn't sale even though I had several page views.

I have noticed the traffic is much higher on Ebay. Since I listed my auction, I've had 70 page views, but no watchers or bids. If the item sells, Ebay will take a percentage, but they offer free listing fees. Giving it a try only costs a bit of time. Unfortunately, many Ebay shoppers are bargain hunters, and this is what I found to be the case with my jewelry.

Ebay also uses Paypal so if something sells I can direct deposit the money ASAP.

Amazon

I haven't tried listing jewelry on Amazon, but I'm considering it. I know Amazon holds funds for I think 30 days (if I remember correctly). That, I'm not fond of, because that leaves me paying the shipping and not recouping any costs for a month. This is why I'm leery of selling there. With that said, I may give it a try after Ebay.

At this point I'm not sure what I'm doing, so we are learning together. Once I figure out the best solution for sales, I will share it with you!

How have you had success selling online?

Why I Prefer to Use Natural Materials to Make My Jewelry

 

I never really looked at a book to tell me why I should use real gemstones for my jewelry pieces; although, I'm sure I could learn lots of reasons why gemstones are amazing. I didn't weigh the options. I didn't even consider the cost, even though gemstones are cheaper than you might imagine.

All I did was fall in love. I fell in love with the texture, the look, the weight of real gemstone jewelry. I suppose jewelry and I have had a passionate love affair for more than 20 years, but I've always hated the way synthetic metals made my fingers turn green.

School friends would wear the cutest new "fashion jewelry" and look adorable. I would put it on, wear it for a few hours, and the next thing you know my fingers, neck or earlobes were green. I despised the way that made me feel inferior -- moldy.

Plastic beads were great growing up, and I have seen pieces that look beautiful that are constructed with them, but if there is the option for gemstones over plastic or acrylic, I will choose them every time. My grandmother -- and crafter extraordinaire -- once told me,

"If you use cheap materials to make it, it's going to look cheap when you're finished with it."

I believe gemstones, natural stones, sea glass, and sea shell are perfect to make beautiful pieces. That's why at Excavating Treasure, I make most of my pieces out of natural materials.  Don't get me wrong, occasionally, I'll do a piece with glass beads, or porcelain beads, but my favorite pieces by far are the gemstone pieces.
   

Many of my pieces feature not only gemstones, but sea glass or sea shell that I have actually picked up with my own hands. Most of the sea glass comes from the little town of Port Lavaca, Tx, while most of the sea shell comes from Virginia Beach, VA and the Outer Banks, NC.

--Susan  

Sea Treasures Necklace by Susan Elliott

Jewelry Details This one-of-a-kind necklace and earring set is a gift from the sea. It is constructed with yellow jade, white fresh water pearl, white beach stone, beach metal and glass beads.

The necklace pendant is wire wrapped with sterling silver plate wire. The clasp is an original design.

The pendent measures 2-inches in length.

The earrings feature white sea stone, sea metal, yellow jade and glass beads. They measure approximately 1-inch.

The stones and metal were found at the beach in Virginia Beach.

Story Behind the Necklace: My husband and I took a quick trip to Virginia Beach, VA. While there we visited several beach fronts. The last one we visited had many shells, but one of the coolest things we found on that beach was the sea metal.

I couldn't help but imagine the metal pendant could have been part of a pirate's cannon, or maybe part of a U-Boat (Yes, there was a U-Boat destroyed near there during WWII -- I never knew.) I am sure that I'll never know for sure where the metal comes from, but it is an interesting conversation piece and makes an exquisite one-of-a-kind necklace.


What materials do you like to use when making jewelry?

 

Making Rings and I Just Can't Quit

Wrapping rings can be challenging. Sometimes they just don't turn out the way you plan, but sometimes they turn out pretty cool. 

Making rings takes lots of practice. Don't believe any tutorial that tales you something like "it's just this easy," because really it's challenging. I haven't quite mastered the skill and I've been practicing for months.

Even though I don't feel like a master, I keep making rings (and I've even sold a few.) So when I got my new package from Fire Mountain Gems today I made that little yellow flower ring that's pictured above. It took all of about five minutes, and I think it turned out pretty good.

If you enlarge the picture you will see some bite marks on these particular pieces. That's where the pliers have removed some of the sterling silver plate and the brass color is showing through. 

There is a remedy for this dilemma all it takes is a little Tool Magic.  Tool Magic coats jewelry tools so they have a rubber coating. The tools still grip well, and it protects the wires from scaring. I actually prefer Tool Magic to nylon coated tools. The good thing about Tool Magic is that it isn't permanent and it doesn't ruin your tools. 

The only thing I would tell you is that the tools have to be dipped periodically.  But, don't worry a jar will last awhile. 

Don't forget to check out my jewelry at Excavating Treasure on Etsy.

What tricks do you use when making rings or jewelry?

Great Places to Shop for Jewelry Making Supplies

Ok, so maybe a Dremel Idea Builder 3D Printer isn't exaclty on my list for affordability, but a girl can dream, right? To me this would be the ultimate in artistic jewelry design.

Since this is off my table, because it's just way too pricey for me (although if you can swing it -- go for it, and send me pictures of what you create. I'd love to see them.) Let's get serious about the best places to shop for good deals for jewelry makers.

Fire Mountain Gems

If you've read my other blog posts you are aware that I LOVE gemstone jewelry. Fire Mountain Gems is the place to shop for good deals.

The first time I purchased from them I spent around $200. That included gemstones, elastic thread, findings, ect. I added up the retail price, minus the online discounts. I had purchased over $1000 in jewelry materials for a fraction of the cost.

I know $200 is a lot of  money to dish out, but don't worry. Fire Mountain Gems run the best sales I've ever seen.  For instance, a friend of mine purchases moonstone at the local craft store. She spends about $9 a 6-inch string. I just ordered her some for around $3, and I ordered several other strings that were on sale for $1 a piece.

There are steep savings at Fire Mountain Gems. The more you buy, the more discount you get. There are various discount brackets online.

Tip: You don't have to buy the most expensive items, even sale items count towards the discounts. 

I typically order several on sale items to rack up the total amount of purchases and then splurge on a more exotic string of beads or two, which at that point are heavily discounted.

I would recommend playing with the shopping cart until you're comfortable with your purchases and the amount you spend. It's a lot of fun virtual window shopping.

Also, they have a $5 shipping rate. The merchandise takes about a week to get to you, but it's flat rate, which is great because gemstone beads can weigh a lot.

A.C. Moore:

I must admit before I moved to Virginia I had never even heard of A.C. Moore. I was a Hobby Lobby girl, and while I still like Hobby Lobby, I don't have the access to a local store.

A.C. Moore has been a great favorite of mine since moving here. I joined the membership program, and get rewards checks, and special coupons sent straight to my phone.  One thing I've noticed about my rewards checks is that they cover sales tax (at least here). I've literally spent mine without spending anything else -- got to love that!

Depending on your phone, you may want to install the Retail Me Not app, and use the coupons you get from there. Sometimes I have a little trouble clipping them on my Android.

Dream Land Jewelry:

I have only just discovered Dream Land Jewelry and have yet to order anything from them; however, I do plan to purchase some .925 sterling silver wire from them. Their prices are about half the price of anywhere else I've found.

Amazon.com:

Of course, Amazon.com, is a great choice, too. I really like them for books, like One Day Beading Mastery . One of the great things about Amazon is that members can often download Kindle books for free, so you can have a huge digital library of reference material.

These are just a few of my favorite sites. I hope you find them useful.


Do you have a favorite place to shop for jewelry supplies?