The math on the project seemed to work. I would pay about ten percent of the retail value of the item if I bought it in bulk and have an international shipping company send it to me for distribution. I designed the website, bought traffic from Google and purchased five hundred units from my new friends in China. The international shipping company delivered them a week later and 498 of them are still sitting in my basement unopened.



The business failed but I learned a whole lot about the international shipping process for jewelry. At one point in the process my partner and I decided that adding a pendant to this magnetic necklace would make it more unique and easier to sell. We even tailored the website to appeal to a certain segment of the population. The pendant we chose was made of quartz crystal. I didn't realize at the time how hard it would be to get.

Quartz crystal, as any jeweler could have told me if I bothered to ask, is found almost exclusively in Asia. It's not that crystals aren't available in other regions of the world, it's just that very few jewelers like to work with it. The stones would have cost me more than the necklaces and the international shipping fees would have been higher. I chose not to add the pendant as part of the package.

After that, I cancelled the project and pursued other interests. I actually lost money but I learned valuable information about jewelry, outsourcing and international shipping that I can apply in other business ventures or use to write articles like this one. I have also learned an awful lot about e-commerce and how world markets work. Absolutely anyone can set up a manufacturer in another country, sell a product to any consumer in the world and use an international shipping company to deliver it.

All you need is an idea for a product, a computer and a website. There are even ventures out there where you can purchase the website already done and sell someone else's products for a commission. It's called affiliate marketing.

As far as the jewelry market is concerned, despite my failure in it I believe that it is a fantastic business to get into if you have a few dollars to invest. The size and weight of each item compared to its value makes jewelry one of the most cost effective products that you can move by international shipping. International shipping companies charge by weight and volume and the fees to move stones and precious metals are fairly low. The import taxes are high but you can pass those on to the consumer.