If you have the skills to create handmade jewelry, selling it can be a profitable venture that can earn you a side income or even a full time income. You might think it is easier to create your masterpieces than getting them to sell, but if you follow my steps on how to sell handmade jewelry online, you should be well on your way to putting a bunch of extra money in your pocket quicker than you thought possible.
Many people are always looking for artisan jewelry and for unique pieces to accessorize their outfits. Purchasing jewelry online is continuing to grow. According to SaleHoo, in 2018 more than 29 million people purchased jewelry online daily.
Online Stores For Selling Handmade Jewelry
There are several locations that are already set up where you can sell your handmade jewelry. Some things you will want to consider before choosing any of these are what costs are involved selling through these networks and what your competition will be with these marketplaces.
Etsy – This is the most established and popular ecommerce platforms for handcrafted goods. They have over 20 million active buyers, so the potential is great, but there is also lots of competition with this site.
Etsy will charge a $.20 listing fee at the time you list your product, a 5% transaction fee when it sells, and if payment is happening through them an additional 3% plus $.25 payment processing fee. If you want to do any type of customization, like send them to your website or customize how your product looks, you will have to join Etsy Plus which will cost $10 per month.
Amazon Handmade – Amazon is one of the most-visited websites in the world, so the traffic is there to sell products. They have currently waived their monthly fee, so sellers only pay a 15% referral fee for what they sell.
Aftcra – Can only sell handcrafted goods that are made in the United States. There is no fee to list your products, and products are listed for up to 6 months. Once your product sells, you will be charged 7% of the selling price.
eBay – This is the second largest online retail website behind Amazon, so don’t count them out. It doesn’t cost anything to list your product with eBay. Products that sell between $.01 – $50 will be charged 8.75%. Items that sell between $50.01 – $1000 will be charged 8.75% of the initial $50, plus 4% of the remaining final selling price.
ShopHandMade – This site is completely free. There are no costs involved, that also means lots of competition.
FaceBook Marketplace – FaceBook Marketplace allows you to list your items for free. The drawback is you are selling locally, so you won’t have as much potential. You can also set up a free business page on FaceBook where you can list your products and share links to your website for viewers to purchase directly from you.
Create Your Own Website
Create your own jewelry niche website. Having your own website will help buyers see you as a professional business and you will be able to direct customers to your website from whatever online store you are using or from Social Media like FaceBook, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram.
Having your own website can eventually get ranked in Google, Bing and Yahoo and help you gain organic traffic from people who are searching for what you are selling.
I recommend that when you create a website, you add either Shopify, BigCommerce or WooCommerce. This will allow you to sell your handmade jewelry directly from your website.
Shopify lets you set-up your own online store with all the features that you need to sell your products. They do offer a free trial for their services, but after the trial, the costs start at $9 per month and go up to $299 per month. There are also transaction fees and a percentage of the sale that you will need to pay. This one can get costly.
BigCommerce is an online store builder. You can add products, upload photos, process orders, create coupons and more. They offer a 15-day free trial subscription, but after that, the pricing starts at $29.95 per month for their services with different levels offered up to $249.95 per month.
WooCommerce is a wordpress plugin that can add ecommerce functions to your own website. The plugin in is free, and works great for websites that want to sell directly to their readers.
If you are unsure on how to start your own website, take a look at this review for Wealthy Affiliate. Wealthy Affiliate is where I joined when I started my first website to learn how to create a website. They provide training, web hosting, website designs, and everything in one location for creating your very own website.
Tips For Being Successful Selling Handmade Jewelry Online
- Follow The Trends – Knowing what people want is a great start to being successful. Follow Gem Obsessed. It is a blog created by Cheryl Kremkow and she writes articles on topics like jewelry trends, jewelry design and celebrity jewelry.
- Use Google Alerts – You can put “jewelry trends” into Google Alerts and you will get emails when new articles come out with your keyword. It will help you keep up-to-date on all the latest news.
- Provide concise and descriptive information for each piece of jewelry. If people are unclear what they will get, they won’t purchase it. Include the length, what the stones are made of and types of metals you are using. A strong product description can also improve your search rankings.
- Take great pictures. I recommend investing in display stands to showcase your works of art. Photo dark pieces on light background and light pieces on dark backgrounds. It will help make the pieces pop better.
- Use descriptive phases like “one-of-a-kind” or “eye-catching”.
- Offer a 1-year warranty. Standing behind your products will help customers feel more comfortable purchasing your handmade jewelry. It also lets them know that if the product breaks, you will either fix it or give them a new one.
Use Social Media
Not only should you share your jewelry photos on FaceBook, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram you should share your blog posts as well. The first website that I developed gained most of my early traffic from Pinterest, and the first sales I ever made with a different website was from a follower on Pinterest.
Use FaceBook Advertising. It allows you to target consumers according to certain demographics (age, gender, etc.). You can reach people that aren’t even connected to you.
Create a business page on FaceBook. It is free to do. You can post pictures of your jewelry and provide links either directly to your products or to your website where they would be able to purchase directly from you.
Where Else You Can Sell Handmade Jewelry
- Craft Fairs are a great place where you can sell your products and gain a following for further sales. Provide your customers with your website details for them to check out other products offerings that you have. You can check with your local Chamber Of Congress to find details of craft fair dates in your area.
- Local Small Businesses – Many small businesses will display local products on their counters. Use a display that shows your website information for additional traffic.
- Farmer’s Market – No longer do Farmer’s Markets only provide food items for purchase. Most will allow you to set up a stand that is selling handmade products.
Summary
As you become more successful with selling you handmade jewelry, you might want to venture into areas for selling your jewelry that have more costs associated with your business. There are platforms that I have provided you with for how to sell handmade jewelry online that will have little to no expenses involved.
Most new businesses are looking to keeping their expenses down. I would start with the free to very little expenses as your are getting your business started.
Creating a website is one of the best ways for you to get your information in multiple of locations without spending much money. It would be my best recommendation to help you gain a following that will continue to grow in time.
Click on the links above to learn how to create your own website.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and I will get back with you. You can follow momsmakingmoneyathome.com on Pinterest, Twitter, Linkedin or FaceBook for all the latest updates. Please use the share icons to share with family and friends if you found this information valuable.
Thanks for reading and good luck in your new venture.
~Marla
Some of the links within this post are affiliate links of which I might receive a small compensation from sales of certain items.
