How Much to Charge?

[Roger]

Since I find or trade for my materials I find it hard to figure 3x cost. I try to cover corts of materials and time to find and make.

Roger

[rocpup]

For some consignments may be a good deal but for us we also lost several hundred dollars in stock from a place closing their doors.

Yung spent weeks designing and perfecting a water pearl neckless she called "Popcorn". She put it and several other very nice medium priced pieces in a classy jewelry store. The owner was very happy to take them on consignment. They priced three to four times what she was asking. The jeweler had no intention of selling her pieces and just wanted to use her pieces for free decorations. When Yung would check up on her things that mostly did not sell because of the pricing they would ask her to come up with more unique designs.
She did sell a couple of her "Popcorn" designed neckless and earings. About a year or so later this very complicated designed showed up in Pennies and Costco. She said it made her about half sick to see it there. She pulled her pieces from the store.
BE CAREFUL
Don and Yung

[peachfront]

I agree 100% with what Diane, Don, and Yung have reported. Consignment doesn't make sense at our level. Consignment, at a fine art gallery, is for if you're Gerhard Richter and your painting is going to sell for $16 million dollars. Of course the gallery owner can't front you your half of the money if you're at that level. However, for what we're selling, if a "gallery" (it is really NOT a gallery, it is a STORE) does not have, say, $100 to buy an item to re-sell in their store, how do they pay their employees? How do they pay rent? They are just riding along on cash flow and on NOT paying the suppliers. If my item is so wonderful that somebody wants to feature it in their store, it's wonderful enough to pay for. I've never had a consignment deal where I didn't have something stolen. Not because all store owners started out planning to be thieves. They really think they're going to pay you...later...after they pay the landlord. And the taxes. And get the electricity turned back on. Then they close up shop, leave town, and they're too embarrassed to admit they can't pay you for the items they sold because they already spent your money, so instead of returning your unsold stuff they go ahead and take that too. The small business bankruptcy rate is incredibly high, and it makes many small store owners into thieves. You don't give loans to people who have a high chance of going bankrupt. And that's what consignment is -- a BAD business loan. OK, I've ranted this rant before, but it's important. Everybody doesn't need to learn this lesson the hard way. I don't care what you charge, but charge SOMETHING up front. You will save yourself a lot of time, bitterness, and internet rant rages. :-)

[cccbock]

I read this thread with interest because I was wondering the same thing about pricing.......I was guessing 80 dollars which to my surprise was in the ball park of one of the suggestions......Man that is a nice set ! One thing I would be concerned about is dealing with family and friends. Maybe I am the only one here who has had trouble in that area but I doubt it. Family and friends will say things like " please let me pay for it" fully expecting you to insist they take it either for free or at a greatly reduced rate. Then when you quote the price and it is not what they expected then they act like you did something wrong. What you might do is say something like..." I would normally charge $120 dolars for the set but since you are a friend / family member I'll take $80.".....May seem as though you are being deceitful by going this route but it's to protect yourself and save hard feelings.........just my 2 cents...............

[johnjsgems]

cccbock, you are a born salesman. When I did HVAC work if someone asked for a senior discount I raised the parts price 10% and gave them a 10% discount. Made them feel good and didn't cost the boss or me anything.

[Deleted]

As a self un-employed retailer I will concur. The store should BUY the product. Not consign it.

The only time I ever consigned something was when I was sure it would not sell and I wanted to keep the relationship with that party. We'd "give it a go for a few weeks" and if/when it did not sell, they would take their product home. No hard feelings. I was surprised a few times when something I thought worth $100 sold for $600 or once even $1500! Happy to be wrong!

johnjsgems - a 10% discount of a 10% markup is a 1% discount off the original price.

$100 + 10% is $110.

10% discount of $110 is $11 resulting in a $99 sale price. The seniors aqctually received a 1% discount! lol

Sorry John I could not resist!

[peachfront]

CCCbock has it right. The other thing I learned the hard way is that family and friends bounce checks, because they know you won't go after them for the bounced check. These days, your bank charges YOU to be the victim of the crime, so it's a double whammy -- it actually costs you money to sell the product when the check bounces. With a stranger, at least you can have the sheriff arrest the check bouncer until they pay up. With family and friends, it's strictly CASH on the barrelhead. I just tell them I no longer take checks or money orders from anyone. If they don't have the cash, these days they can use their credit card and PAYPAL the money, so if they still have some excuses, then you know the whole plan was to get the item without really paying. Heck with that...! If a family member/friend really admires an item and you know they can't pay (or it's close to the holidays) I just quietly set it aside and it can be their Christmas gift.

[Deleted]

When I first started playing with rocks I gave all friends and family something that I knew they would like then the giving was over unless there was something special that I wanted my son or daughter to have.

As for selling I have sold to museums gift shops and put some in museum gift shops on consignment. There is less chance of a museum closing down than a stand alone gift store.

Pricing is a guesstimation for me and it is not easy. I do not figure my time because most artists can not make a wage until they become known. I try to guess what the traffic will bear and adjust up or down according to how things sell. I did a half off sale in one gift shop at the end of last season and did not sell any more than usual because the traffic had dropped way down.

If I could find the right person I would give everything to them and say "you sell it and give me x percentage so I would not have to deal with it" but I have not found that person yet. I would rather get two dollars an hour over my cost than have a pile of it laying around because I am going to keep making more stuff even if I do not sell anything. But I have another income so that does not apply for a lot of people. A few extra bucks is nice but I can survive without it. Things would be a hell of a lot tougher if I had to make my living this way. Rocks and jewelry are not necessities and a down turn in the economy whacks here first and hard.

I wish all of the down turn strugglers the best of luck and hope for a swift up turn.
Jim