How to Make Money Selling Artisan Jewelry Online

A jewelry hobby can easily turn into an online jewelry business.

If you've taken up jewelry making as a craft hobby and design artisan jewelry such as handcrafted necklaces and earrings, you may start to wonder what to do with all that beautiful jewelry you make. Stop wondering. The answer is: sell it! E-commerce is big and getting bigger. Sell your necklaces and other jewelry online, and you might be able to get back some of the money you've invested in jewelry making supplies...or a lot more money. There are some jewelry crafters who find they can live off the money they make selling jewelry online.

Things You'll Need

• Internet access
• Jewelry stock
• Digital camera
• Photo editing software (like Adobe Photoshop)
• Website or registration with a crafter's mall or retail mall.
• eCommerce know-how

Instructions

1. Decide where you'll sell your jewelry on the Internet. You can start an e-commerce store on your own website, but be aware that owning your own website requires some behind-the-scenes Web know-how, and also a ton of web marketing to build up your web traffic. And that could take time and a lot of effort.

2. Consider a crafter's mall or other retail mall as an e-commerce solution. At a craft mall, you can set up your own store and list your items. The malls usually provide a shopping cart system and storefront and allow you to focus on the business of jewelry selling.

3. Explore Etsy.com, Rubylane.com or eBay.com as possible places to advertise your artisan jewelry retail Browse the ecommerce site and evaluate it for longevity (the longer it's been there, the bigger a customer base it's likely to have), appearance (it should look professional and appealing), competition (are there already many stores with exactly your kind of product?), search engine placement (does Google even know it's there?), and the terms of use.

4. Regarding those terms: Make sure you know what fees there are, and whether you have to pay a portion of the profits. Make sure your jewelry is a good match with their standards.

5. Decide what you're going to call your artisan jewelry store before you register or open your own website. Choose a name that evokes the kind of impression you want your artisan jewelry to convey. "Naturestone" has a different feel from "One Mad Hippie's Crazy Jewelry Store," and they both are different from "Elegant Baubles."

6. Open your own e-commerce website if that's what you've decided to do. Register your domain and get a host server. Set up your shopping cart using a paid service or open source software like Oscommerce. Hire writers to write web content for your store or write it yourself. Create your web pages, upload them. Get people to view your store draft pages and get opinions and advice before going live. When you do go live, market, market, market your artisan jewelry store.

7. OR, register with the craft mall. Then get ready to create your artisan jewelry advertisements for your ecommerce success. Expect an initial investment of a lot of time setting up your store.

8. Take digital photos and/or scans of each artisan jewelry item. Make sure the artisan jewelry looks both attractive, well lit, and sharply detailed. Use an interesting background that offsets the jewelry well. You can buy jewelry display busts and other display items from a jewelry supply store, or you can be creative. Since most customers seeking artisan jewelry are new to shopping online, you'll want to instill your customers with confidence that they see all the details.

9. Write up descriptions of your jewelry. Tell what materials it's made of. Describe your experience making it or some bit of trivia to emphasize that this is artisan jewelry. Sell, sell, sell.

10. Decide on a price for your jewelry. This will vary a lot depending on what you paid for the beads, wire, and jewelry findings. It will also vary depending on your market. Research similar jewelry items on the Internet to see what they cost. Start as low as you feasibly can, to be competitive.

11. List your jewelry items in your store. Now start promoting. Order business cards, get online, and start spreading the word. After your store has settled in a bit, register it with the search engines and the Open Directory.

Tips & Warnings

• Selling artisan jewelry online takes a lot of hard work, but it is fun and allows you do do something you love - make your own artisan crafted jewelry.