Consignment vs All the Other Marketing Methods

[brad]

A clothing boutique (that also sells "handmade" jewelry items) and an art gallery (that also shows and sells a lot of "handmade" jewelry), have both indicated an interest is showing and selling my jewelry.  They have seen me or my wife or my kids, and some friends wearing pieces I have made.  I assume their "cut" is at least 50% and nowadays likely more?  I also assume that they price the items?  And that price is much higher than I could price them (and sell them) at small show venues and Etsy?  So, on 100.00 +/- items is my cut for a sale likely the same amount, anyway?
If so, why not consign the jewelry and let the shop do the selling and marketing and I can just wait for the check-if lucky enough to have sales, eh.  
I am thinking about a scenario like this: ... I consign a cuff to the boutique, they mark it for 100.00, sell it, and send me a check for 50.00. Or....
I buy a tent, pay for "selling devices (the Square, etc) pay a show fee, sit there all day in the heat and wind, and sell the same piece for 50.00. ...
I would choose to consign if this is a valid scenario.
What are your experiences?  Am I way off in my thinking? Thank you, Brad

[caeterle]

I have never had my jewelry in a store, so I can't speak from personal experience, but I've heard everything from people being very successful to having a terrible experience. It really depends on the store and the conditions a lot, it seems.
There are tons of articles out there on the subject.

Here's one that has a lot of information.
www.sharonz-consulting.com/the-jewelry-guide/consigning-your-jewelry-yay-or-nay-sharon-z-jewelry

[DawninCal]

I did quite a bit of consigning in the town we lived previously. I had my work in three art galleries and one gift shop. I was quite successful in the gift shop and one of the galleries and not so much in the other two galleries. I'm not sure why since they were all on the same street within a few blocks of each other.

In my case, I set the price and they took care of displaying and selling my jewelry. The best consignment deal I had was 70/30 with me keeping 70% of sales. There were also splits of 60/40 at one and 50/50 at the other two. It was really easy - just drop off the work and let them do the rest. Every now and then, I'd drop by the shops with new work and remove the things that had been there for a while. Once a month, I'd get a check for my cut of sales.

I've read a lot about written agreements and such, but in my case all of the arrangements were verbal. I'd guess that had to do with living in a very small town. The only issue I ever had was finding out that one of the galleries had used all of the gift boxes I left for my jewelry to package other people's work. When I brought that to their attention, they wrote me a check to pay for the boxes. If I were to do it again, I would leave it to the shops to provide their own packaging.

I always created a list of the inventory that I left with the shops so I could make sure everything was accounted for either through sales or still being available for sale.

I think it's important to be comfortable with the shop, the owner/manager/employees, their way of doing business and their reputation within the community. It's certainly worth a try to see how it works out. You could leave a small sampling of your inventory and see what happens. With summer just around the corner, this is the perfect time to do it.

Another way to go about it is to sell your jewelry directly to the shops at wholesale prices which is actually more what you described in your scenario above. For instance, if you sold one of your cuffs to a shop for $50 and they marked it up to $100, $50 would be your wholesale price and $100 the shop's retail price. Once the shop bought the cuff from you, that would be the end of that particular transaction and you'd have the proceeds from the sale and they'd own the cuff to do whatever they wanted with it.

Let us know what you decide. Your work is really nice and I can imagine you'd do well with such an arrangement.



Dawn

[Sophy]

Dawn had good experiences without a written agreement but in general I think it's a good idea.

The article Cat shared has good points to help you decide how you feel about the options.

If you decide to consign, the agreement should cover who bears the responsibility if your work is damaged or stolen. Make sure to get a receipt for the work you leave with the store. I had an experience where I placed some earrings with a store, and the store manager decided to copy my design and make some for the store to sell directly. I did not care about that, but then a new manager came along and she did not realize that some of the earrings were consignment, and therefore did not keep track of what was sold. Fortunately for me, I had a list of what I had consigned. Sadly, it was not countersigned by the store, but since I had a long-standing relationship they did pay me for what was no longer in the store but that was on my list. In hindsight I would have had them sign it - and also made sure the new manager knew what was going on.

[brad]

Thank you, for the comments. The three shops I had in mind, are all folks I have bought many items from, and they have asked me to provide them some jewelry. I would be comfortable with any of them. I likely would not bother with a written contract, but I like the idea of providing a list and both parties sign off on it. It was interesting to read that the maker would set the price. I would likely consult with the shops I have in mind and ask what they would like mark the prices as (though I would definitely have a minimum in mind.) Too low, I would either use my Etsy shop and update it, or keep giving to friends and family as gifts. Brad