Consigning Your Jewelry to Stores

If you decide to start selling jewelry to stores, consigning can be a good way to begin your journey. Consign means to provide your pieces to a store under the agreement of you receiving your earnings from the sales minus a commission.  

Under this agreement, the store takes very little risk because they don’t have to purchase the jewelry. The advantage to you is that it provides access to sales outlets that might not otherwise be open to you. However, it will take a big part of your time when tracking the inventory; it will not pay out right away, and most importantly… it is risky.

Be very careful when choosing stores, as there are risks related when using this method. Damaged, lost and stolen pieces are just some of them.

To lower your risks, develop a Consignment Agreement, specifying the following:

• Commission: Never do 50/50 – you deserve better than that! The lowest I have done is 60% to me and 40% to the store.
  
  
• Duration: Dates that your jewelry will be displayed in the store. If nothing sells within this time, both parties have the right to return the jewelry.
• Store Insurance: protects your jewelry.
  
• Payment Schedule and Method: when you can expect to be paid for jewelry sold and the methods you accept for payment (Paypal, Cash, Check, etc).
  
  
• Jewelry Display: The display arrangement for you jewelry.
  
  
• Customer return policy: if a customer bought a jewelry piece, and there was a problem with the workmanship, you will be responsible for exchange or repairs.
  
  
• Inventory:A list of all pieces showing the suggested retail price, item number, quantity, and a brief description.
• Sample Agreement
  

Once I became better known my consignment era was over. I would not do business with a store without a minimum initial order of 25 pieces. This makes the store feel like they need to sell your pieces in order for them to get a return on their investment. And if your pieces sell, they will come back and you will not have to go through the hassles of using this method.

Do you have a question about consigning? We are here to help.

Wholesaling Your Jewelry to Stores