Things You'll Need:
- Table
- Receipt book
- Business cards or promotional flyers
- Seller's Permit (varies by state)
- Digital camera with no less than 8 megapixels(for website)
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Step 1
If you want to test the waters first, you can have a home (or use the home of a friend) show by displaying your wares in a spare room and inviting friends and family first. This is a good way to practice salesmanship techniques and merchandise display patterns.
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Step 2
If you are not ready to conduct face-to-face sales, then opening an Etsy store may be a reasonable solution. Once qualified, you can set up your store with just a point and click, no HTML or other web programming knowledge is necessary. This site is preferred over eBay because it is dedicated to the sales and promotion of handmade goods.
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Step 3
If you like face-to-face interaction but not yet ready to have your own store, then selling at weekend open air markets or craft shows may be for you. The booth fees may be as little as $25/day or go as high as a few hundred for just one day. Since this is the most expensive route, make the most of it by passing out flyers and/or business cards. This is also a good opportunity to build your mailing list and offer discounts on future purchases.
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Step 4
Though not as popular as the other methods of selling, consignment is also an option. This is where you can sell your jewelry at an independent shop. There is either a monthly fee or a percentage of commission is taken from the final sale. This is not as popular because shop owners may not offer insurance against damages caused by customers or items may be removed from their shelves without warning. If you go with this, you may want to develop a rapport with the shop owner before going into a business relationship.
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Step 5
You can also take classes at the Gemological Institute of America, which has several locations across the U.S. With the knowledge obtained, you can get a job at a fine retailer or go into business for yourself.
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Step 6
This last idea is both convenient yet complex. With the assistance of people you know, easy money can be made by doing mobile trunk sales. This would involve traveling with your inventory during company lunch breaks and selling to employees. Most people who do this find out company paydays so as not to waste gas but the tricky part is getting permission to do so. Smaller companies are usually casual about this but larger corporations have very formal and strict procedures and some do not permit outside selling at all. Do your research before investing any time or energy into this method.
Comments
cherry67 said
on 2/3/2009 cool!