Making jewelry is not only fun, it is actually very
easy. It just takes a lot of creativity, and a little skill.
In fact, you could easily start your own jewelry
wholesale company by making jewelry yourself.
There are countless books available with
instructions and ideas for jewelry making. There are
also numerous websites where you can learn how
to make your own jewelry and get ideas. In the
beginning, you will probably want to follow a few
instructions or patterns until you get the feel for it –
but eventually, you should let your creativity shine
through and design your own jewelry.
You can easily purchase all of the supplies that you
need for making your own jewelry wholesale through
wholesale sources online. Buying in bulk will get
you the best prices. You can buy cheap gems, and
high quality gems as well. Everything that you
could possibly need can be located through a
wholesale resource on the Internet!
After you’ve made several unique pieces, you
should show them to friends, family members, and
colleagues. You will be surprised at how many of
these people want you to make pieces for them as
well! Just be sure to charge, and soon enough, you
will have your very own thriving jewelry wholesale
business – simply because you learned how to
make your own jewelry wholesale.
If you make jewelry wholesale, then you definitely
need to know how to make repairs to the jewelry
that you sale. If you can offer your clients free or
discounted repairs, you will find that you have
better customer relations. Also, you need to have
the ability to guarantee your pieces and offer free
repairs for a specified period of time after the sale.
This is just good business – and it will set you
apart from many of your competitors.
If you’ve made the jewelry, you probably already
know how to repair it. The repair that is needed is
probably the simple replacement of a piece on the
jewelry, such as a clasp or replacing a stone that
has come lose. This type of work can usually be
done quickly, and at very little expense.
If you don’t make the jewelry yourself, you still need
to offer free repairs for a specified period of time.
Again, this is just good business. In this case, you
need to learn some jewelry repair, and you need to
purchase some jewelry making or jewelry repair
tools. These tools are very small, and they were
specifically designed to make or repair jewelry. For
the most part, these tools are very inexpensive.
One piece of equipment that you will need is a
magnifying glass that stands on its own, allowing
you to use both of your hands. You also need very
good lighting that can be pointed directly onto the
jewelry that you are repairing. Both of these are
essential if you want to do a good job, and avoid
eye strain at the same time.
You will need some jewelry making supplies as
well, such as extra clasps, chains, and possibly
even gemstones. Of course, you don’t want to
keep too much of this on hand, as you may never
use any of it…so use your best judgment here.
Before you rush out and purchase a book or course
on jewelry making and repair, find out if the
company that you order the jewelry wholesale from
in the first place has any guarantees. If so, you
don’t need to learn anything. Simply have your
customer ship the jewelry back to you, or directly
to the company, and they should take care of the
repairs. However, follow up for your customer –
don’t leave the customer to deal with the wholesale
company on their own – that is bad business! If the
jewelry wholesale company doesn’t treat your
customer right, it will reflect on you!
When purchasing wholesale jewelry beads, you
must use care. You don’t want to end up with beads
that aren’t worth anything to you! Selecting beads
takes a lot of thought – we aren’t talking about
plastic beads that children use to make jewelry. We
are talking about quality beads used to make grown
up jewelry!
Avoid cheap plastic beads. This may be suitable for
some pieces, but it isn’t very durable – or very
pretty. Instead, buy glass beads or Lucite beads.
These are not only durable, they are very shiny and
pretty. They do not have the ‘cloudy’ look of plastic
beads.
Inspect the beads for imperfections if possible.
Beads that are ‘lopsided’ won’t do. Beads that are
chipped, broken, or scratched are useless. Don’t
purchase these beads no matter how cheap they
are!
Most jewelry wholesale beads are sold in bulk. In
this case, you probably won’t have the opportunity
to inspect the beads, so ask about the exchange
policy. Will you be able to exchange the beads that
are less than perfect? Depending on how the beads
are packaged and sold, and the policy of the
business selling the jewelry wholesale beads, this
may not be possible.
So you want to sell your jewelry? Well, selling
jewelry wholesale is a big business, and you
definitely need a catalog of your offerings! Making
a catalog isn’t as difficult as you might think. First,
you have two options: an online catalog or a print
catalog. The choice is yours.
Overall, an online catalog is the least expensive
way to advertise your jewelry wholesale company –
but with all of the online jewelry stores and online
wholesalers, it may not be the most effective way
to make sales. A print catalog should strongly be
considered for a direct mailing.
If you make your own jewelry, you will need to get
good pictures of the jewelry – preferably laid on a
velvet setting. Black or blue velvet will bring out the
jewelry the most. You can take these pictures
yourself with a digital camera, or have a
professional take the photographs. It is cheaper to
do it yourself, of course.
Load the pictures up onto your computer, and use
publishing software, such as Microsoft Publisher to
design and layout your catalog. This may take a
little time and patience, but it is much cheaper than
having someone else do it.
Since you will need hundreds, if not thousands of
copies of your catalog, your best bet will be to save
the catalog on a CD and take it to a print shop that
can handle the job. This will cost money –
especially since the pages need to be glossy and
in color, and the catalog will need to be bound –
but this expense will be well worth it if you will be
doing a mass direct mailing.
In order to do a mass direct mailing, you simply
find a reputable company who either sells mailing
lists or does the mailing for you. You can actually
request lists of mailing addresses where the person
has expressed an interest in purchasing wholesale
jewelry – or any other criteria that you set. In most
cases, it is best to have the company handle the
mailing for you. They will get the best rates on the
mailing because they can use the bulk mail rate.
Make sure that you use a reputable printer, and a
reputable direct mail company! This is an investment
in the future of your business, and your jewelry
wholesale catalog needs to be perfect in every way –
and the mailing needs to go off without a hitch!
