Direct marketing question for all of you.

[hippywife]

I have begun making jewelry, earrings really. I use Swarovski crystals and pearls along with other nice crystals and glass pearls and beads, no plastic in any form. The findings are base metals that are silver or gold plated, and brass or copper. They are nice but not expensive, ranging anywhere from $6 to $15 dollars a pair so people can afford them.

I would really prefer, since I'm just starting out, not to use Etsy or Ebay to sell them, but to market them directly with our PayPal account.

Many people on DU are familiar with me, some have come to know me well. I am a very honest and forthright person, almost to a fault actually.

All that to say, or rather to ask, would anyone have a problem buying from me directly without using one of the usual sales sites?

Thanks in advance for your responses! :hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I would have no problem doing that.

How can we see some of your stuff?

[hippywife]

4. Thanx for your response, Jackpine!

I will be taking pictures and posting them with complete descriptions when I have a little more of an inventory built up. There are a few pics of some of my first attempts, I've never made jewelry before, at this link that I shared with the cooking and baking group.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=236&topic_id=83882&mesg_id=83896

I've been selling them to my coworkers and they are going over very well, so I'm getting lots of practice and getting better all the time. :hi:

ETA: They really are much nicer in person. I really need to hone my photo skills. ;)

[whathehell]

2. No, not at all...n/t

[hippywife]

5. Thank you, whathehell! :0) n/t

[whathehell]

7. You're welcome, Hippywife!...Will we get to see some pics?

[hippywife]

8. Definitely!

See my response above to Jackpine for a sample of my poor photo skills. LOL

I promise the earrings are very nice in person, the pics just aren't that good. Something else I need to work on, as well as branching out with some more unique and original designs.

:hi:

[whathehell]

9. Cool!....I'll check them out. n/t

[hippywife]

10. Those aren't the ones I'll be trying to sell.

The ones in the pics are pretty much gone, except for the last one. I'm not going to post things for sale here yet. :hi:

[whathehell]

11. Okay!

:hi:

[shireen]

3. i would buy from your directly, if i wore jewelery

but that's because i know you from DU.

But if you're looking for a wider base of customers, Etsy is the way to go.

Or you can do both.

Good luck!

[hippywife]

6. I may end up doing that at some point

but just to start with, I would like to not have to pay fees to market them. Between here and my customers at my job, I think I should be able to make back my original investment in materials and create a close client base, which I have set as my immediate goals for the time being. Later, if it takes off, I may need to branch out a little more and go with Etsy when I have time to create a larger catalog of items.

Thanx for responding, shireen! Appreciate it. :hi:

ETA: I will also be taking custom orders.

ETA 2: I just want to make sure this is going to go over well before I commit to a sales site.

[Capitalocracy]

12. I might have to follow your example

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=213x7103

[hippywife]

13. It's working out doing it this way.

I'm just not making enough yet to open an Etsy shop and sharing with them and Paypal, ya know? So I though this might work. I'm selling at work, too, enough to keep me in supplies for custom orders at the moment, but word is starting to trickle out beyond DUers to friends of DUers.

I wish you luck with your endeavor. :hi: