FREE: Huge Auction For Selling Handmade Jewelry COMMENT AUCTION Includes Nikon Coolpix!!

well it looks like I'll get the bidding kicked off here for ya. As for advice I am a newby wanting to start making my own so I can't offer any but will definitely be checking in daily for pointers...Thanks for an awesome auction...Goodluck
Oh I can give a piece of advice I will try and live by... use quality supplies, for an expectional finished product

Hey guys! My advice is as follows:

If you are doing a craft show, offer a discount if you buy something. Like: Buy a handbag and get a headband half off (or free), this way you get an extra sale and just give away a small bit of your profit.

This also makes people feel like they are getting a good deal and mre likely to buy something!

My advice is to be willing to negotiate. Think of the lwest price you will accept then price it enough to give yourself room to be talked down on the price.

I just wanted to pass on my story. Some of the best places to sell are crafts shows, powwows and Sci-fi conventions. It's easy to get into craft shows... but expect a bit of theft to occur, Powwows and Sci-fi conventions have MUCH less theft.

At 16 I made a good friend of a cuff earring maker, Joanne Bell (if you are out there Joanne -Friend me!) And was able to work her both at the LAX Hilton. The Lady who played the female Mimbari came to the booth and was thrilled with the items... it was wonderful to talk with her and she was soo friendly and generous.

Another great but rough place to work is RenFaires-- I fell in love with the Stone Friends who moved to the Texas circuit and I still miss them and their hand wrapping my favorite stones for me as we chatted boothside! I used their jewelry for my wedding and gifted a silver wire wrapped Amethyst to each of my Bridesmaids. But having to remember to ask for Lady Visa And MasterCard may be a bit annoying not to mention the literal roughing it and costumes usually asked for.

You would be amazed of the friends you can find at boothside! Many become friends who you know long after your business has changed or you have moved on in life!

But it is important to create places people can always contact. Fancy email or websites are great and look cute on cards. But a simple Gmail account that never dies or gets deleted or a regularly checked congregating/social website can do more for you than all the fancy made online shops you can get.

I do have an etsy (well 2 actually) and love doing it. I have one shop which is vintage and handmade and just opened a supplies shop. I will be opening just a handmade shop because my shop Sailors and Stuff is just so disorganized. I have vintage, handmade, and supplies on that one. I am excited to open up my new shop soon too so am def looking to hear advice from some people :) I am not making tons of money from selling handmade but am hoping I can someday make a living off it.

My advice is to make a mixture of higher end pieces as well as nice looking but lower costing made pieces because while we all are thrilled when & if we sell a larger or more expensive piece of jewelry, a lot of times it has been the lower end earrings and bracelets sells that have kept my head above water at some of the sells that I have attended.Gemstone shows, craft shows, powwows,festivals, and sometimes even some of the larger flea markets you can do pretty well at selling your handmade jewelry items at. I myself have had quiet abit of luck just selling at some of my local galleries and festivals on commission., have sold some on Ebay as well & am thinking about doing a small store on etsy. As long as we all are creative & don't copy others designs, we all have our own unique taste & styles to offer the public and fresh new ideas will keep us all in business at least some.Pay attention to new styles, fashion trends & color changes in hollywood as that is what flows down to the general public. Don't be afraid to try new things in your jewelry styles and supplies. sometimes just what you think would not work in a necklace may just be what the fashion world is waiting for. Just think about new Steampunk trend!. I myself would never have thought of using broken watch parts as a focal point on a necklace & now look! It's the big craze that all the young people want! So if A new idea pops in your head try it, you just never know!You could become the next big super star fashion designer of jewelry!!

btw I will also add a bead or so if you bid

insure that none of the velvety texture is removed from the display.

I have been planning to do this auction for awhile for people who want to sell their handmade jewelry online or at craft shows. I want this auction to also be for those who want to give tips to other artists including me. For anyone who leaves some useful advice in the comment section I will add 1 bead. I will be including three necklace dsiplays I got from an awesome site gems on display. I really don't use them but I think they would be great for craft shows. I am also including a book for some inspiration on beading. I am not a beader so hopefully someone else can use this. You also get a Nikon coolpix digital camera which is essential for selling online. If you have good pictures people buy your stuff. It doesn't matter how good of an artist you are. If your pictures suck people will not buy it. I got this camera on listia and was honestly not a huge fan of it. But it does work better than nothing :) It is in good condition has some knicks on the side as pictures show but other then that you are good to go. The camera does not have cords. I just stick my memory card in the computer and thats how I transer pictures to it or if I want them printed you can stick your memory card into a machine at walmart or target. I am including small and large bags to store your jewelry. The mini post its are great to stick on the bags to make little notes. I use them on everything! The composition book and calculator are essential. You need to be organized and write down everything. If you don't keep track of how much you are spending and selling you could end up losing money which happened to me a lot when I first started. The calculator is actually really nice and also good if you are taking a math class haha. The stationary set is great for leaving little thank you notes. I usually will write a thank you message and give them a coupon code for their next order, include my business card, and include some free earrings or jewelry.

My advice: Choose the best color display that is right for what you do. If you have black displays, pet hair gets all over them. However, if you are doing outdoor shows with them, they do not show any wierd things flying around in the air that white displays catch and show. White or tan displays are much better for indoor shows because there is usually not any dirt or debris flying around in the air that they could catch or show. I use white displays, white earring cards, and black fabric for my craft shows. If you are looking for really inexpensive jewelry displays, supplies, and boxes, I shop at lottadisplays.com and gemsondisplay.com. Lotta Displays has cheaper prices and gives you free gifts with your orders. I think GemsOnDisplay is only good for wholesale. Back to the dirty display problem: If black displays or white displays get anything on them that makes them look bad, take a peice of masking take, put it over the peice you want to get off, push hard ONLY on the part that you want to remove to

I use to do craft shows alot. I always put out a registration box and had a drawing. I would give away some little something. People love to take a chance on winning and while they registered it gave me a chance to chat with them and maybe help them with their shopping. Personal attention is always rewarded. Be involved with your product it will bless someone. The library at the school I work at lets vendors set up on a small scale and sale to the teachers and students. It is great, teachers work such long hours and this way they can take a few minutes to look at some unique products. Most city libraries and city halls have rooms also that you can sit up at and share you talent and don't forget our senior population. They love to shop also. Make someones day by taking the time to share a little piece of yourself with them. Great listing.

if this stays under 2500 i will bid.

Sorry my first comment got cut short, I had to post the other half.

I am new to all this to,but i find renting a booth @ flea markets is where i do best!I have 2 booths in a flea market mall but am not making much money.To much theft there.Also there is 130 + vendors to compete against.Im hoping to win this so I can display some of the necklaces I have already made.

Another idea is to take your pieces to a tanning shop, a lot of them will display your stuff and only charge a small "fee" after they sell, This is a great idea for a auction! I have fanned and will bid!!

I think you should have done the camera seperate, you would get more credits. The camera would probably pull in around 5k in credits alone. And I dont know for the jewelery making stuff this is the first ive seen it here like you have it. It should do well though. But I think if you seperated them, you would probably get close to 10k combined. Ill be watching to see how it does!

nice auction!! ahhh..post it notes...fun ways of writing "you are here" on all of them and then sticking them all over wal-mart ;) all silliness aside, very awesome items you have here!

BRIDAL EXTRAVAGANZA SHOWS!!! I got married in may and i found so much at those shows, they are the same as any other place in having competition but hey how else do you get any better right? Good Luck

Ya, listia can be strange sometimes. But the thing that ive found hold true for every auction no matter what the item is, is that if you charge for shipping that = less credits, if you have free shipping that = more credits. Simple as that. That is the only thing ive seen hold true to every single auction ive ever seen on listia. WE could both list the exact same....phone, right now, same model, same condition, and both have the same feedback, and if i charged shipping and you had it for free, you would get usually from what I see about 5 up to 10 x's the amount i would get charging for shipping. Theres some exceptions, but usually thats only when its a big ticket item like an Iphone or Ipad 2, people will pay anything for shipping to get something like that. EVerything else I believe the free shipping rule applies across the board.

Two things every seller should have, in addition to the wares they are selling, are a receipt book, which can be bought from a business supply store, and a professional looking business card. Two reasons why you should use a receipt book: 1) customers like feeling as though they have purchased a quality product from a quality seller. Think about it. If you bought a piece of jewelry at a jewelry store, you would want a receipt. Second, reason: I ask my customers for their names and e-mail addresses which I include on the receipt. That way the next time, I am in their area or I am having a big sale, I can send those customers an email message. Many of my customers like the fact that I am interested in them being repeat customers. The second thing every seller should do is invest in real business cards (free and low cost ones are online at vistaprint) to give to their customers with their receipts or to give to the "Looky Loos" so that everyone will take a piece of your "product" home with them. The business cards can have your web site, Etsy shop or other online presence--such as you email address--so your current customers and potential customers will know how to contact you. I hope my two-cents worth of information helps. = )

Great auction!!

My advise... not that i'm an expert.. but just to put my 2 sense down... lol

I would say to try to make many different types of styles. Now days everyone tries to match the "new croud" whats in style. But I feel there are so many people out there that have their own trends and their own likes. Yea making something that popular people like will sell good but I feel making unique items that original people love will do best in a situation like that.

I knew a girl who made jewelry and all she did was make the "beach" necklaces. I mean yea they are pretty, and she did such a great job at them, but making the same thing over and over again can get frustrating as it did her and she eventually stopped making them. If she would've created her own style and did what she loved (not what everyone wanted) she may still be making amazing jewelry.

IDK, guess what I'm saying is go outside of that box a little. especially with jewelry! There's so many options around the world, you should be able to mix whatever you feel necessary and still find someone out there that would appreciate it all the same.
(Great Auction! Love this one!)

I LOVE doing craftshows! I LOVE all the work!! (is that weird?? lol) For outdoor shows, if it's hot and there's electricity available, make your booth more inviting by bringing and electric fan to help cool things off! I found that more people lingered when we had our fan going strong. Another thing we did was we decorated for the season. In fall we had bouquets of leaves everywhere and autumn colored fabrics to add color to our table cloths.

Another tip for craft shows: Add height to your tables so everything is easier to look at. Bed risers underneath the feet of your table are awesome. It makes it the perfect height, so that people don't have to stoop down to look at stuff. You can also place empty boxes on top of your table, upside down and underneath scraps of fabric, to give extra height and dimension to your display.

Beading: Use what some call "alligator" clips to clamp down on the end of your wire so the beads don't slide off while stringing. I can't tell you how many times I dropped all the beads off a nearly finished necklace or bracelet because I dropped one end of the wire. It's easy to forget oneself when you're excited about finishing something awesome and then...OOPS! So use alligator clips, or even a piece of tape, on the end of your wire so you don't lose your work.

When participating in a craft show or flea market, etc, take your beads with you! You never know- someone might want a custom piece, or maybe something falls apart and whaddya know you've got all your supplies right there to get the job done! Plus it will give you something to do during your downtime.

Have I rambled on enough yet? lol I guess I should let other people talk now! haha
Thanks for letting me share!

There are so many comments to help! That is awesome!... Okay, something I think is really important in this day and age is recycling those odd things you would never think of into jewelry, belts, bags and more. There are so many people out there that will gobble up any Green items that you can offer. Next time you go to throw something away, look at it again and see if you mind can play with it and turn it into something magical!

9500 is my high bid i dont really need this because i already own my own jewelry business, just thought I would bump this for you guys.

One of the best auctions i have seen on here! freaking sweeeeet!

I will get a charger!!

Oh, nm..lol..found ya!

^^Loving all this wonderful advise! Glad to see this auction doing well. I hope you get at least 10k.

Places to sell your stuff:
Etsy.com (they charge small fees)
Artfire.com (I've never used them but I think they charge fees)
eCrater.com (Completely free and not limited to just handmade artsy stuff you can sell!)

I really want to list the bracelet, I think I would have to list it for a lot of credits, then i am afraid people wont bid. After my next sale, I will prob be putting things up!