Jewellery wanted!!

[nibiru2012]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to this site and I don't want to break any rules so I am not going to plug my business. But I was wondering if any of you fine craftspeeps would be interested in supplying your jewellery on a sale or return basis??

I look forward to your responses.

Regards

Vicky

[Peter]

Do you realise those words send shivers into every jewellery designer in the world?...................Sale or Return. If something is so attractive you want to sell it, then why not buy it from the designer and mark it up? Sale or return is a cheap and easy way to sell something that isn't yours with no risk to you, but a hell of a risk to the poor sap who made it! Can you tell I think 'sale or return' stinks?



What was the question again?

[nibiru2012]

Apologies

I was not meaning to offend anyone by my posting and certainly do not want to demean anyones designs or wonderful crafts.

I have only just started up in business myself and am finding it hard to get suppliers (they all want a track record for the business). I merely thought it would be a good way of getting people through my doors and wanted to give a flourishing craftsperson the chance to get their name out.

[Peter]

You may get some replies, but a lot of us have been stung by sale or return. When we give the 'retailer' our goods to sell, we have to trust them to treat the work with respect and extreme care....................sadly this rarely happens, the work you get back is never in good enough condition to resell, and in the case of 'one of a kind' artists, this means we have to throw it away and start again. We advise our forum members not to go for s.o.r. unless you know the outlet, and have control over your stock - you have 2 posts on the forum, I don't hold out much hope.

[Katianne]

Hi Vicky,

I don't make jewellery myself but I hope this will help a little.

If you are looking for crafters to supply items for your shop, would you consider offering to buy some items at a wholesale price outright, rather than Sale or Return? If you are just starting out you could maybe purchase a few items initially to see how they sell, then buy in larger quantities should sales go well?

It might also be worth mentioning where your shop is, as that way people local to you could always arrange to come in and see you with their work.

I'm not trying to pretend that I know anything about selling my work in shops, but these are a few things that spring to mind should I be a jewellery maker consdering your proposal.

HTH

[Endeva]

Totally agree with the above, buying at wholesale would be a better option.
We don't know anything about you, where you're from, the name of your shop etc.

Maybe a little intro is needed?

[nibiru2012]

Intruduction

You're sooooo right, let me introduce myself. My name is Vicky and I live and work in a small Village called Earls Barton just outside of Northampton. I have never used one of these forums before so I am new to this game.

Still not plugging my business, but to give you guys an idea of what kind of work I do, I sell Gold & Silver bullion for investment and would also like to stock one off bespoke jewellery.

To be honest, as I have only just started in business(1 week ago) I do not have that much money to play with which was why I was asking for sale or return. I do not and hope I haven't upset anyone but I thought we may be able to help each other!

I hope this clears up a few questions!!

Vicky

[GlamGlass]

It takes time for anyone to trust anyone and as others have said the sale or return way is for established businesses where trust has been built!

I would look at buying direct at wholessale prices and seeing how you go.

[[email protected]]

Jewellery Wanted!

Hi

I agree wholesale is definitely the way to go! I certainly wouldn't give my jewellery to anyone that I didn't know, most definitely not on a sale or return basis anyway! I like many others of you, spend hours making one of pieces of jewellery and would not entrust them to anyone that I didn't know anything about!

Jo

www.uniquebeadedgems.co.uk

[crafty-clarie]

I gave it a go, put my items in a little shop sale or return. The shop owner added a percentage mark up as well. However, I have ended up with a lot of relabelling (all the labels are damaged), the boxes are all sun damaged and only a couple of sales.

I found that the shop keepers priority was to sell those items that make more profit than selling my items where the profit was only small.

[ejralph]

Well just to be awkward, I think SOR can be a great thing if done right.

There are advantages, but it only really works if you know the shop, they are well established and have a good reputation. And more importantly, you are prepared to be proactive about going in regularly, checking your stock and making sure problems are averted before they happen. If your stock is damaged while in a shop on Sale or Return, you make them pay for it! That should be worked into your initial agreement with the shop.

But a good sale or return arrangement has lots of advantages. You are able to often make more money on the stock and take a higher percentage of the final selling price. You can control prices more. You can change your stock around so it never looks old or tatty - and you won't see your stock marked down in the sale bins either!

But unless its the right venue, it doesn't always work. Which is why so many people are anti sale or return I suppose.

So I agree with everyone else in this case Vicky - you would be unlikely to find many people who would be prepared to offer their work to you on a sale or return basis in this instances. And actually, I wouldn't personally sell wholesale to you either - but only because its a new business, a new "unknown" person who doesn't really know our product and if I sold through outlets, I need to know they are the right outlet for my work and promote it in the right way to the right people.

But it is tricky - because everyone has to start somewhere don't they!

Maybe once you have built up your business a little, designer-makers might be more likely to consider lending you stock - but as it stands, it wouldn't be likely that many would.

Sadly I don't think there are any shortcuts to having a stock-based business without initial capital to get your stock. There are not many trade suppliers who would lend you start-up stock either. So I think you would just need to bite the bullet and maybe invest some cash into purchasing some good quality product lines from somewhere, build a good foundation and take it from there.

Good luck with it though -

[EmilyRichard]

I must say, I have had some very good SOR experiences too so I can appreciate where you're coming from Vicky, yes it can be mutually beneficial for the gallery and the artist. But I always make sure I've checked out the gallery/shop first and you do hear so many horror stories about things going wrong, that as a designer maker you have to tread very carefully.
I hope your business goes well

[Glitterbug]

I agree that SOR can be good but I'd only supply galleries that are local to me so that I can keep an eye on things. One of my very best galleries does SOR and I'm very happy with the arrangement as I get a better price than if I wholesaled.

[Selina]

I think in theory it sounds like a good idea. I tried it with some of my tiaras in a new bridal shop, when I went back she hadn't sold any and told me people want crystal, I replied that all my things are Swarovski Crystal, what she actually meant was that she sold all her wholesale bought stuff before even mentioning mine. And yes she ruined all my labels and I had to do them all again. Selina

[baines]

SOR can work and it does work better in today's economic situation where retailers need new stock, but don't have the funds to make larger wholesale purchases.

You do have to develop a retationsship with the retailer and you do have to be prepared to "lose" stock. But at the end of the day, the retailer has the outlet and the market which you normally don't have access to - and that is basically the deal.