This article is intended for a wide audience of readers.

Direct Sellers - You have your own home-based jewelry business as a professional seller. Your target audience is your local community where you sell at local events, jewelry parties, and other creative ways.

Ecommerce store - online sales through auctions, wholesale or retail

Small Size Physical Storefront Owner - Typically a boutique or small fashion store

Medium Size Business Storefront Owner - Responsible for a region or chain of store

If you are a craftsmen this article is a great source to understand your buyer's perspective on purchasing from you.

EXPENSES

Below is a list of expenses to consider when purchasing jewelry to sell.

Product design and development. This is my key point and thus first on my list to successfully sell jewelry. You can be very efficient at everything else outlined below, but if you have a product that nobody wants, you're not going to make any money. As a small business owner, I spend about 70% of my time researching jewelry trends and fashion. I use to be more cost conscious but now my total focus is on value.

The cost of sterling silver/gold. Today, silver closed at about $16.50 USD per ounce on the world market. Two years ago, it was about $10.00

Delivery time. Buying direct from a local or distant craftsmen typically means at least 45 days from the time you send a deposit until the time you will receive your shipment. Tying up a lot of money can be very costly.

Payment terms. Small orders (less than $1,000) are typically paid for full in advance, less shipping and insurance. Larger orders are typically 50% paid when you place the order and the balance due when the items are ready but before the items will be shipped to you.

Theft/Fraud. It's very disappointing to say but let me be clear that theft and fraud is a very serious issue to consider. It takes a lot of time to build a trusting relationship with suppliers and this is the major asset to achieve. I've had the following issues happen to me, learning as I go along:

- Suppliers over promise the quality of their goods

- Sending money and simply not getting any goods

- Lost shipments that were not insured

- Authenticity of items misleading

- Partial shipments

- The need to renegotiate a transaction because of 'other expenses' such as 'it took longer to make than we thought' or 'the price of raw material is more expensive'

Shipping and insurance. The cost of your shipment from the supplier sent to you. Also, this is typically where vendors add some charges above and beyond what you pay.

Lost and Damaged Shipments. Once your items are shipped, there is always the risk of a shipment being lost or damaged during transit. If this happens, you've lost much valuable time

Import fees, broker fees. If you are importing jewelry, you will incur some kind of brokerage fees. There are also tariffs implied to certain goods.



Taxes. Collected for your local government on the sale of your item

Selling Fees. If you are selling online, you'll have inventory management fees, domain registration, email accounts, transaction fees. On auction sites such as eBay, there are even listing fees and final evaluation fees.

Merchant payment processing fees. There is usually a set fee plus a % of the sale for receiving some kind of electronic funds as payments from you customer. For example, PayPal charges $0.30 per transactions plus about 2% per order.

Marketing Fees. How did you get shoppers to know about you. How much did it cost?

Set-up - Now that you have your jewelry, how are you going to set-up a display. Do you need to take photos? How about a shelf and jewelry display?

Storage. How are you storing your items. What the cost of your small room for running your business? If you have a large warehouse, there's the cost of utilities and insurance.

Packaging Costs. If you are shipping your jewelry, how much is the bubble folder, bubble bag, box, gift wrap, bubble wrap, and shipping label. Small costs add up quickly when you are selling a lot of items.

Postage. The cost charged by your carrier to ship an order.

Personnel. What the cost to process a piece of jewelry from design and development through order fulfillment? If you are a small store, how long is it taking for you to do all of this? Take the total number of hours you spend selling your jewelry and divide but the net profit? How much are you making an hour and is this worth you time?

The sale price of the item

Up-selling to include packaging, gift wrapping. Typically about $6.00 for a nice gift wrapping per order.

Handling fees. Typically based on per order or per item. There is usually a minimum fee.

Gilbert & Frech is a leader in the jewelry industry in providing great selling products to our customers. How? By addressing the key areas listed above.

- We review literally thousands of items each month for the latest trends, prices and costs.

- All of our items are in stock and available for immediate delivery for customers around the world.

- We provide a secure, safe and private purchasing environment for our customers

- Our experts have been designing and manufacturing jewelry for many years.

- Our web sites are easy to navigate, make purchases and select your preferred payment method.

- All of our items are backed with an Absolute Satisfaction policy. Items can be returned for any reason with 30 days for retail purchases and up to 90 days for wholesale customers.