Hi - Well, It seems no one is getting rich here. My site has great natural search engine exposure, but business just isn't there - I'm waiting for summer to end, schools to open and shopping season to start. I do think that more people than ever are making and selling jewelry, fueled by do it yourself magazines like this one and crafty TV shows, and that will put a lot more jewelry on the market, especially beaded jewelry. Still, jewelry lovers just collect the stuff ... like shoe people do. So it will always sell ... its just slow now.

My website is over six years old. I work very hard on it. Today it was at #5 on Google for a "handcrafted silver jewelry" search. Am I getting orders? NO. Business is just ... bad. But ... it WILL get better. It always does ...

To me, one of the most discouraging things about selling jewelry is the sheer number of people who sell jewelry. The last time I checked etsy, there were thousands and thousands of jewelry listings.  At many of the shows I used to do, the largest number of venders were jewely makers.  It is  almost a cliche, most people who make jewelry think abut selling it.   I am not trying to sell my jewlelry right now for that reason.  I am not sure I can stomach sitting at show next to 50 other venders trying to do the same thing.  What is funny, is that most of the venders at the local shows do bead stringing, wire crochet and wirework. I went to a the Bellevue Arts Museum art fair (one of the largest juried art fairs in the NW), and  just about all of them were metal or glass I don't remember seeing any bead stringing or wirework at all unless it was a pearl necklace next to gold jewelry.  When I go to gallery  openings, none of the artist string beads.  The artists I can think of who do beadwork are people like David Chatt, who does bead weaving and Sherri Markovitz who does paper mache sculptures with bead embrodery on top.  For people who do sell wirework and bead stringing, how do you deal with the competition?          

the best way to deal with competition is to have something that nobody else has or could make. for example, I do strung stuff but it includes polymer beads and pendants of my own creation. they really don't look like anything else out there. people often comment about it being so different from everything else. it works! also, if you are not able to make your own components, I think it's great to have a distinctive style to help separate you from the others.

The fact is ... there is someone new making jewelry - and trying to sell it - every day. Competition is just everywhere. Actually as long as they are making their way selling JUST jewelry, I welcome them ... everyone brings something different to the table. Give ten jewelry makers the same supplies ... and they'll come up with ten unique pieces of jewelry ...

What I hate is the fact that OTHER business people seem to think it is OK to sell jewelry in ADDITION to everything else - unrelated - they sell. I cringe when I walk into a plant store ... and see earrings for sale hanging from the branches of a houseplant on the counter. That bothers me ... I dont WANNA sell houseplants to compete with them ...

The Unique Selling Position is key. You need to be different. Learn to look at things like a shopper; create with them in mind. Try to develop something that you can market as your bread and butter item. I belong to a jewelry team on Etsy with a couple of hundred members; the ones that do well have certain things they make and sell over and over again.

Several years ago I decided my everyday item was going to be sterling silver chain. I buy it in bulk uncut lengths; I have almost 50 different chains in stock and can get MANY more on request. Customers choose from a drop down menu by the inch or can request any length. They can also choose from several different types of clasp. This gives them literally thousands of different combinations of style, width, length and clasp. I do this differently than the usual "chain by the inch" seller; I finish them professionally by soldering on end caps and soldering all the jump rings closed, I tumble polish the chains then give them a final polish on a wheel. Funny thing is ... because of the way I assemble them I can - and DO - actually get a premium price ... there are those who will always pay more for personal attention and service. I never run a sale ...

The way I do this makes my site unique. Sure, I have LOTS of competition ... so many sites and stores sell silver chains it just isn't funny. But they simply don't do what I do. Most just can't ... they aren't able to. I laugh at the paid ads for Kohls, Target etc ... because my site is the number 1 natural result for a "silver chain" search on Google. I worked hard, and built something that works for ME.

Don't be discouraged. Use that energy to find a unique way to make things work for YOU.   

wow! hot topic this market thing. i read this particular thread out of curiosity after regestering today. there was this prompt to read the hottest and i just had to do it.

i am not in the business of selling the things i make, but i do have a couple of observations.

let me tell you first how i got started into fiddling with jewelry. i lost a bet with my wife. i am a silly man and lost a bet where the stakes had a diamond price tag. i decided that because i knew nothing about diamonds i'd better educate myself so as not to get roughly handled by the smoothe talking pros down at the mall jeweler. learning about all those "c's" and the whole diamond biz was fascinating, and then i discovered colored gems! i was hooked, better than playing in my grandma's button box when i was little. i began to buy a few nicely windowed stones. soon i wanted to set one, and tripp's provided an easy answer. then i wanted to make my own shank and setting, and sante fe sold me metal. soon after i discovered cabs, man! i aquired a rock tumbler, a saw, some rough. i began lapping on a stolen picture frame glass (please don't rat me out). i bought tools, hand, power, needed and unneeded. the whole pretty geegaw deal had me mesmerized. i pan gold, i hunt rocks, i want to do it all. i have learned some geology, chemistry, metalurgy. all this from a lost bet. best bet i ever lost too. but i ramble.

stringing was first just because i could afford the material. so some sleepin beauty turquoise (not cheap but way worse today), garnet beads (my birthstone is ruby but i prefer the garnet reds) decided early on to go with naturals and as untreated as possible. so sterling and fine silver for me. the wife wanted necklaces! so did the grandgirls, so did the sis in law, so did the neighbor lady, and the kids girlfriend, and the daughter in law, and soon all of them and my sister were beading! and they began to talk of selling.

 after i had beaded awhile i began pounding on metal and soldering. the above mentioned folks didnt want to pound much, except for the sis in law, but they did want me to sell some. i declined. i got into enamel enough to satisfy my curiosity, it is fun. they thought i should sell it! i had to decline again

i love giving away earings to women who visit the house, dont cost me much and it makes them feel good. of course thy think i need to take advantage of my "talents" and sell it. i don't want to.

everything i do i have seen somewhere, even when i think i found a new thing to do i find it has been done. this is a hobby for me. i love the paths that are revealed, i have a favorite discipline and it can change as often as i like. i used to do fine scale modeling. women hate airplanes! most men have no time for anything but watching other people play sports. years back a well known modeler said he hated to do contract jobs because the subjects weren't his choise and it was too much like work. i agree i do this for fun, for an education, for the glory of soldering it all with hard solder!

then there is Jalex01 or jenny's post on the second page of this thread. she makes a wonderful point. she loves the selling and the making. she loves it. i bet she'd do it even if she made no money, and of course, because she loves it she will make some money. ty jenny. me? i dont want to be in business, i have a job! i know damn good and well there are many people with far more real artistic talent than i have. i have seen how many folks are out there getting rich quick. i believe if you love a thing, and can't wait to do it then it'll all be okay, because you're going to be happy:)

is the market saturated? naturally. unless you love love love every aspect and have a unique product you might as well hobby away peacefully and get a job. bill.