How to Sell Jewelry Online: 8 Steps to Success
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Comments: Whether you’ve found some pretty trinkets in your attic, or you’re a maestro with a pair of pliers and a handful of precious stones, selling jewelry is one of the most lucrative ways of making money online.
It’s no wonder so many people are looking for ways to start their own jewelry store, especially when 46% of consumers* are more likely to shop at small businesses than their larger competitors. But can you learn how to sell online?
If you’re looking for a way to tap into this growing industry, you’ve come to the right place!
Our guide will show you where to sell your jewelry and how to get started in just eight easy steps. Before you know it, you’ll be dazzling your customers and making a tidy profit at the same time! Ready to make a business out of bling? Let’s go!
Think About Your Niche
- Choosing the type of jewelry you’re going to sell
- The different ways to source your products
- The benefits of competitor research
One of the first things to consider when selling anything online is your niche – and selling jewelry is no different. But what exactly is a niche, and how do you go about identifying yours?
Finding your niche isn’t just about pinpointing your specialized section of a market, although this is an important first step. It also covers who you’re going to sell to, and how you’re going to come up with the goods in the first place. Broadly speaking, finding your niche looks very similar to building up a business plan.
Take a look at the different sections below, each of which looks more closely at the main points to consider when finding your niche and building your business plan.
- What makes my jewelry stand out?
- What is its unique selling point?
- Does it fit into a current trend?
It’s a difficult balance to strike – your products need to offer something completely unique, but they should also sit within an overarching trend that consumers are willing to buy into.
Michelle Owens, the Director of Marketing at Healing Crystals Co., highlights the benefit of setting yourself apart from the competition:
“Our top tip for selling jewelry online is to distinguish yourself. There are so many jewelry options for consumers to choose from, and it’s very easy to get lost in the crowd unless you have a unique value proposition. Figure out what makes your product unique, and make sure that uniqueness is front and center across all your marketing and social media.”
If you want to see this in action, take a look at Pandora. This highly successful jewelry business built its brand around its famous bracelets and charms. Nowadays, Pandora’s catalog extends to rings, necklaces, and earrings, but its charm bracelets still sit at the heart of what the company does, and keep customers coming back for more!
For example, 35% of women are likely to choose white gold jewelry when purchasing for themselves. As a result, if you primarily produce white gold jewelry, it’s key that your platform and your marketing are targeted towards women – the customers most likely to result in sales.
Knowing your audience now will help you to curate a clear and confident brand message. In the long run, this will stop you from trying to do too much at once; this will keep you within your niche, and help your customers understand what your business is all about.
There are a few options here. Firstly, your stock can be secondhand. This might mean you’ve gathered all of those shiny bits and bobs from your attic, or you’ve hit the thrift store and picked up some vintage bargains. Either way, you’ll be selling pre-loved, ready-made pieces.
If you’re more of a creative type, a second option is to make your own jewelry by hand. This is more time-intensive and can often be more expensive, but many customers will actively seek out these individual pieces. Because of this, you’ll find you can charge more for these kinds of products – your time and effort are worth extra!
Lastly, you can run your jewelry store as a dropshipping business. This would mean outsourcing your products, and selling them on behalf of a third party.
This might sound like you’re just doing another company’s job for them, but don’t worry – you’ll still be selling them under your own brand. If you want to find out more about dropshipping, check out our guide on how to start a dropshipping business.
It’s a good idea to take note of the things that you think these brands are doing well. These are all things you can then incorporate into your own online store when you get round to setting it up.
It also gives you the chance to start thinking about the ways your brand could be better than those that are already established. Pick out some areas you think could be done better and start coming up with ideas to test these, and potentially put them into practice on your own online jewelry platform.
At the end of the day, you’re going to have to fight for space amongst the many online jewelry sellers out there. Scoping out the landscape will give you an advantage and help you to get ahead of the game.
Decide Where You Want to Sell Online
- Selling through your own online store
- Selling on online marketplaces
- Selling on social media
- Which platform is right for you
- Successful examples of online stores
The internet is a big place, and we know it can feel overwhelming figuring out where to start. The right platform for selling your jewelry online all depends on your needs, your goals, and your audience. To help you out, we’ve put together a quick-fire guide to the main places you can sell jewelry online, and which one is best for whom…
How to Sell Jewelry Online: Finding Your Space
- Your own online store – built using a platform such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or Squarespace
- Online marketplaces – such as Etsy, eBay, and Amazon
- Social media – such as Facebook and Instagram
#1. Your Own Online Store
Selling jewelry through your own online store is the most professional way to build your online business. You have total control over your store’s design and branding – you can display all your products in one place, create a professional and consistent brand, and provide a smooth customer journey from start to finish.
The main thing that puts people off building their own online store is the fact it takes a little longer to set up than simply uploading products onto a marketplace like Amazon. However, if you’re setting up a business then it’s worth the extra bit of time and effort!
Building an online store isn’t right for everybody, but it’s not as expensive or time consuming as people often believe. Most ecommerce builders come with a tiered pricing system, so you can pick your plan based on both your budget and selling requirements.
If you’re looking to start your own online jewelry store, we recommend Shopify, BigCommerce, or Squarespace. Take a look at the table below to get an idea of how much their plans are, as well as who they’re best for.
| In one line... | Plans available | |
| Shopify | Best for larger jewelry businesses | Shopify Basic – $29/mo Shopify – $79/mo Advanced Shopify – $299/mo |
| BigCommerce | Best for a purely online jewelry business | Standard – $29.95/mo Plus – $79.95/mo Pro – $299.95/mo |
| Squarespace | Best value for money | Business – $23/mo Basic Commerce – $27/mo Advanced Commerce – $49/mo |
Want to see what kind of store you could create with an ecommerce builder? Have a look at the example below. This website uses high-impact images to showcase its products, and has attracted the interest of some of the biggest names in the business!
Online Store
Name: Third Crown
Niche: Contemporary jewelry
Powered by: Shopify
Jewelry featured by: Beyonce, Vogue, ESSENCE Mag, TMRW Mag, and more
#2. Online Marketplaces
The best thing about online marketplaces is that you don’t need to work hard to get your products in front of customers – platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy are hugely popular and get tons of traffic every day.
The downside is that you have no control over your branding, and you also face a lot of competition from other brands selling on the same marketplace. This means you probably won’t get many loyal or repeat customers, as you’re not creating a memorable brand.
While you usually don’t have to pay an expensive subscription to sell through online marketplaces, you might have to pay listing fees or transaction fees depending on which marketplace you choose. Always check the rules and fees before signing up, as it could eat into your profits if the fees are too high.
Good to know...
It’s worth noting that Etsy only allows handmade or vintage items, while Amazon only permits new jewelry to be sold through its marketplace. eBay is best if you just have one or two jewelry pieces to sell.| Do You Need a Subscription Plan? | Listing Fees / Referral Fees | Transaction Fees | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | ✔️ $39.99/month | 20% of the total sale price (up to $250) | ❌ |
| Etsy | ❌ | $0.20 per product | 5% |
| eBay | ❌ | 200 free listings, then $0.35 per product | 10% final value fee |
Here’s an example of what a successful marketplace jewelry store can look like. This brand has chosen to sell its products through Etsy, and has made thousands of successful sales.
Etsy
Name: Delezhen
Niche: Personalized gemstone jewelry
Number of sales: 255,527
You don’t need to sign up to a paid subscription to sell through eBay, and you get up to 200 free listings – so if you’re only selling a few items, you’ll only need to pay a 10% final value fee on your sale.
The main thing is to make sure that you describe your jewelry properly, and list it in the correct category – eBay has different jewelry categories to help protect both sellers and buyers. As long as you know what your jewelry is made of, you should find it easy to find your category.
To get started with eBay, simply head to eBay’s selling page and create an account – it’s super quick and easy to set up!
Selling jewelry on social media can allow you to reach a big audience. It’s also very low-cost, and quick and easy to set up!
However, once you get going, selling jewelry on social media can also be extremely time-consuming – especially when managing it on a day-to-day basis. You might find you run into similar problems with branding as you do on marketplaces, because your branding and designs are limited to the layout of your profile page.
That said, social media shouldn’t be overlooked as the ideal way to engage customers and build up a following for your business – we just don’t recommend relying solely on it for selling your products.
Here’s an example of an Instagram jewelry store. The grid-like layout and white space are perfect for showing off these eye-popping pieces, giving it a contemporary look and feel.
Name: BR Design Co
Niche: Clay jewelry and accessories
Number of followers: 18.8k
You can still sell on social media if you choose to create your store with an ecommerce builder like Shopify, BigCommerce, or Squarespace. Each of these platforms allows you to connect your social media accounts. This way, you can use multi-channel marketing to boost your sales: tag your products on social media, and then direct traffic to your website!
Which Platform Is Best For You?
Deciding where to sell your jewelry online is a pretty important decision – you need to pick the best place for you and your customers. Here’s a simplified look at what each platform is best for, to help you make the best decision:
- Online store: best for professional sellers or business startups
- Online marketplace: best for quickly getting your products in front of a large customer base
- Social media: best for hobbyists selling a small range of product
| Can you sell for free? | Examples | Main Pro | Main Con | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online Marketplace | Yes! But they often charge listing or transaction fees | Amazon Etsy eBay | Huge customer base searching for your products | Masses of competition and lack of branding |
| Social Media | Yes! | Facebook | Easy to target particular audience groups | Can be time consuming to manage, not very scalable |
| Online Store | Yes! But most charge a subscription fee | Shopify BigCommerce Squarespace | Extremely professional, customizable, and scalable | You have to work harder to get customers onto your site |
The good news is that you don’t have to pick just one. If you only have a few items to sell, then a single platform like Etsy will do just fine. But if you’ve got more jewelry to sell, or you want to maximize your profits, you’ll want to think about combining multiple platforms – have an online store and Amazon listings, for example.
Set Up Your Store
- How to set up your store with an ecommerce builder
- How to set up your store on an online marketplace
- How to set up your store on social media
Once you’ve chosen where you’re going to sell online, it’s time to make and sell your jewelry. You need to set up your store and get your products in front of customers. Whichever channel you choose, we’ve got a quick setup guide for you!
Ecommerce Builders
The easiest way to create your very own online store is to use an ecommerce website builder – this removes the need for coding, or for hiring an expensive developer.
The process is easy: pick a template, customize it, add your products, tailor your settings, choose a domain name, and publish. This might seem like a lot, but trust us when we say that it’s still an easy process, and we’ve included lots of detail to help you along the way.
Choose an ecommerce builder
Of course, before you begin, you’ll need to select an ecommerce builder first.
The best ecommerce website builders for selling jewelry online are:
- Shopify – Best for larger jewelry businesses
- BigCommerce – Best for purely online jewelry businesses
- Squarespace – Best value for money
If you’re planning to grow and expand your jewelry business, we recommend Shopify. It comes with a large app store that makes it easy to improve your website’s functionality, and helps you deal with increased demand. You can also sell in-person, thanks to the Shopify POS app.
BigCommerce is also awesome for scaling your jewelry store online. It has the best inventory management system, so you can track your stock levels with ease.
Squarespace is better suited to smaller stores. Its stunning templates make it an excellent choice if you want a website that reflects the luxurious, high-quality characteristics of your products.
- Budget and value for money – how expensive are the builder’s plans, and can you afford them? Don’t just look at the starter prices – make sure that the higher plans will also be suitable for when the time comes to upgrade.
- Ease of use – if you’re a total technophobe, make sure your builder is beginner friendly! Our reviews always explore ease of use, and you can sign up for a free trial to test it for yourself, too.
- Tools – take a good hard look at the tools and features, and whether they match your business’s needs. Blogging functions? Built-in analytics? Real-time shipping quotes? Equip your store with everything it needs to succeed.
- Design – you need your store to look as good as the products it’s selling. How many templates are there to choose from? How much can you change the design? Don’t leave design as an afterthought – make it count!
- Customer support – should things go slightly wrong, you’ll need a helping hand – so it’s worth checking you’re happy with the support options on offer!
When you’ve found the right ecommerce builder for your online jewelry store, it’s time to pick your plan. Most ecommerce builders come with a free trial, so you won’t have to sign up for a plan straight away.
When you do need to upgrade, prices start at around $20 per month, and can reach up to $300 per month for much larger businesses. To give you an idea of costs, here are the prices for our top ecommerce builders:
- Shopify: $29 to $299 per month (billed yearly)
- BigCommerce: $29.95 to $224.95 per month (billed yearly)
- Squarespace: $23 to $49 per month (billed yearly)
After you’ve chosen your builder and selected the plan that’s right for you, it’s time to move on to the fun stuff: building an online store that reflects your brand and the products you sell! Click on each of the headings below to take a look at the steps you’ll need to take before setting your store live for visitors.
A domain name is your website address – for example, ours is websitebuildingguide.com. Domain names are super important: they give your site its own identity, and help build a trustworthy, professional, and recognizable image for your business. Register your domain as soon as you can to secure it – each one is unique, so once it’s gone, it’s gone!
The price of domains vary, but they typically cost between $10 and $60 per year. Plenty of builders throw in a free domain with their annual plans, which is a great way to start out.
Here are our top three tips for choosing the perfect domain:
- Make it unique. Your business is unique, so your domain should be too! Stand out from the crowd – if “myonlinejewelrystore” is already taken, don’t just add a number two on the end.
- Keep it simple. Don’t go too far down the rabbit hole in search of individuality; keep your domain memorable.
- Stay relevant. Your domain should reflect your business in some way, whether it’s your store’s name or yours.
Are domain names making your head spin? We’ve got you covered – take a look at our Beginner’s Guide to Domain Names for the full downlow.
In brick-and-mortar jewelry stores, products are laid out in the best possible way to show them off. An online store should be no different.
That’s why you need to pick the perfect theme. A theme is a website template which shows the layout and design your pages will have if you choose it.
Customizing your theme lets you build your business brand through colors, fonts, and more.
Here’s a quick look at just some of the things you can customize and add:
- Colors
- Fonts
- Images
- Backgrounds
- Videos
- Galleries
- Extra pages
- Contact forms
This is when understanding your audience comes in handy – you should tailor your branding to your customers!
To actually start selling, you need to add products to your site. Ecommerce builders like Square Online, BigCommerce, and Squarespace let you upload products in bulk, saving you time and effort.
Here’s a short list of the things you should check before launching your site:
✔️ Links – do all your links actually work? Does the new page load properly? Is it the right page for the link?
✔️ Images – you want your carefully taken photos to be appreciated, so make sure they load properly, aren’t fuzzy or blurred, and don’t turn into an empty grey box – it’s every shoppers nightmare!
✔️ Checkout – possibly the most important thing, go through your own checkout process to make sure it’s a smooth and seamless journey.
✔️ Mobile – it’s easy enough to forget about this one, but it’s always worth previewing your store on mobile. If your site doesn’t work on mobile, you’ll be losing out on valuable customers, so give it a quick flick through on your phone to see how it’s looking.
✔️ Settings – make sure your store’s language, currency, and contact details are all consistent and up to date.
Online Marketplaces
The setup varies depending on the marketplace you choose, but generally it’s pretty simple – create an account, upload your products, and start selling! Some marketplaces, such as Amazon, require you to choose a selling plan, and most ask for listing fees.
For more detail on setting up your marketplace store, using Amazon and Etsy as examples, unfold the steps below:
Make sure that your products are suitable for your chosen marketplace – for example, Etsy only accepts handmade goods, vintage items (over 20 years old), and crafting supplies. Certain categories on Amazon are reserved for premium sellers, and this includes jewelry.
Etsy has a free Standard plan, and a $10 per month Plus plan if you want a better range of selling tools. We recommend you start out on the free plan – both plans charge a $0.20 listing fee and transaction fees.
Amazon also has two main selling plans. The Individual plan is best for beginners selling less than 40 items per month – you simply pay $0.99 per item sold, plus any extra selling fees.
However, to sell jewelry you need to be on Amazon’s Professional plan – the good news is, you get better features on this plan, but the bad news is that it costs $39.99 per month.
Now is the time to create your seller profile – this is most important on Etsy, where you can upload a photo, bio, about information, store logo, and more to help customers get to know you.
Social Media
Selling on social media can be a bit finicky to set up, and it varies a lot from platform to platform. It’s worth checking out our specific guides if you want to learn more about creating a social media seller account. You may want more detail on how to set up a Facebook Store, but for now, here’s a quick run-through:
To set up a Facebook Page Shop you need to be the admin of your business page, be selling physical products, and accept Facebook’s terms and conditions. Only then can you create an actual Facebook Shop!
We have a full guide on this, but in short the steps you need to follow to enable your Facebook Shop are:
- Set up an account with Facebook’s Commerce Manager
- Create a collection
- Customize your storefront
- Publish your shop!
And here’s a quick example of how to get started selling on Instagram:
Head to your settings and click Switch to Business Profile, then sync your Facebook store (or online store) with your Instagram account to pull your products into your Instagram account.
Once you’ve set up your store, you just need to upload photos – go to post settings and select Tag Products. This helps your followers find and buy products they love from your feed!
Create posts, share content to your story, use hashtags, and even connect with influencers to promote your products.
Make sure to activate the Shop tab in your Instagram profile!
You now have a good idea of what it takes to set up a store, whichever online channel you choose to sell your jewelry. Using an ecommerce builder takes the most work, especially compared to online marketplaces, but although the process is longer, it’s still very easy.
Showcase Your Products
- How to customize your store
- Writing good product descriptions
- Including high-quality product images
Now you can start having some fun. Jewelry is all about looking good – in a brick-and-mortar store, a lot of attention goes into the lighting and placement of each piece.
Online is no different, except that customers can’t go up and examine your products. Instead, you have to make them shine in different ways. Here are our top tips…
Customize Your Store
Most people probably don’t want to buy jewelry from a dirty, falling-down shop on a sketchy street, right? Well, how you design your storefront sends similar messages to online customers. A well-designed storefront can increase customer trust and help to show off your products at the same time.
Ecommerce builders give you the most control over your storefront’s design, which is why they’re so good for businesses – you can tailor your branding to your customers in order to encourage more sales. In fact, if design is high on your priority list, we recommend checking out Squarespace – the undisputed champion of attractive online web design.
Of course, all that scope for customization doesn’t mean you can’t keep it simple, and opt for a readymade, in-built website template to build your store around. For more info – and inspo – we’ve put together our top 10 fashion website templates to get you started!
Most ecommerce builders allow you to filter their templates based on industry. It’s a good idea to look at the themes that have been specifically made for selling jewelry or accessories – chances are they’ll come with all the features you’ll need to present your products in the best way!
If you’re selling through a marketplace then your branding options may be limited – still, think carefully about what you can control, such as the tone of voice you use for your copy and the photo you use for your profile.
Find out more
- Do you need help customizing your online store? Our step-by-step guide on How to Design a Product Page is an awesome resource to help you out!
Write a Captivating Description
With an online store, you can’t notice which item the customer is eyeing up – you can’t stroll over and use your awesome sales skills to entice them into making a purchase. What you can do, though, is write an enticing, persuasive, and informative product description!
Customers can’t pick up the items and examine them, so they’re relying on you to give an accurate insight into the product. Like Tiffany & Co., make it factual, but appealing – people want to be persuaded they need that diamond bracelet or a new pair of earrings!
Find out more
- Learn How to Write Product Descriptions that sell in our helpful guide
Take High-Quality Images
Did you know that 51% of users want to see a minimum of three different product photos, all from different angles, before they’ll commit to buying a product? Your description might be stunning, but it won’t be enough on its own to make shoppers click that buy button.
People want to see what they’re getting, so you need to take some professional photos of your products. Think about the background, the lighting, and the overall quality of the photo – is it in focus? Is it pixelated? All of these factors count towards earning your customers’ trust, as well as their dollar.
Advice From Our Users
“Having consistent, clear, professional images of the jewelry is an absolute must. Not only must they be high quality, but they need to be consistent in lighting and background to give the overall product line a cohesive feel. It’s also super helpful to have additional images of jewelry displayed on a human or life-size bust, to give the potential buyer an idea of scale.”Beatrix sells her jewelry on her website, beatrixbell.com. Each piece is handmade in her New Orleans jewelry studio.
Find out more
- Learn How to Take Product Photos to really show off your jewelry in our full guide
Price Products and Set Up Payments
- How to price your products
- How to set up payments
- Different payment gateways
- Transaction fees
Part of getting customers to buy your jewelry is pricing it correctly. If you’re selling jewelry made from precious stones, that should be reflected in the price. Likewise, if you hand-make your jewelry, the total price needs to factor in your time, labor, and skill.
It can be hard to know if you’re pricing your products right – too expensive and nobody will buy them, too cheap and you won’t make a profit. Here’s a quick run through our top tips – check out our full guide below for more detail.
- Always cover your costs. At a bare minimum, you need to make sure you’re not selling at a loss!
- Research the market. Find another jewelry seller that seems similar to you, and look at their prices. Think about why they’re charging that amount, and how your products (and prices) compare.
- Try out this formula: Total Cost of Product + Markup % = Final Product Price.
Make sure you set consistent pricing across your products, and make it clear for the customer to see.
Set Up Payments
Whichever online channel you use, getting paid is usually pretty simple. The main thing is to connect your account to your store, so that customers’ payments can go directly into your bank account.
Amazon sellers have to wait for Amazon to transfer money to them, which happens every 14 days, while Etsy uses Etsy Payments to deliver money to its sellers. Ecommerce builders give you most control – some even let you choose from hundreds of payment gateways.
Payment Gateways
There are tons of different payment options out there. The one you choose will depend on your location and currency, your own banking preferences (for example, if you already have a business account set up), and even your customer demographic.
With that in mind, here’s a quick list of the main payment options available:
- PayPal
- Stripe
- Square
- Amazon Pay
- Apple Pay
You can also accept manual payments, such as wire transfers. Etsy has two options – Etsy Payments, or PayPal.
If you have a pop-up shop or brick-and-mortar store, Shopify and Squarespace both allow you to take in-person payments through their POS apps. Although BigCommerce doesn’t have any proprietary software like its competitors, it’s still compatible with leading POS providers, such as Square. All three platforms sync up with your inventory, helping you to manage your stock levels as you go.
Check Transaction Fees
If you choose to create your jewelry store with an ecommerce builder, it’s worth checking out whether it charges a transaction fee before you get started.
Many builders, including BigCommerce and Squarespace, don’t charge anything – but others do. Shopify is one such platform, charging up to 2% commission on each sale you make through it. However, you can avoid these extra fees if you opt to use its Shopify Payments credit card processing system.
Etsy charges a 5% transaction fee, while Amazon charges a “referral fee” for each item you sell – the fee varies depending on the category.
For jewelry, Amazon’s referral fee is 20% for the portion of the total sales price up to $250, and 5% for any portion greater than $250. The minimum referral fee is $0.30.
Set Up Shipping
- Preparing to ship your products
- Types of shipping
- Couriers
- Top tips for shipping jewelry
Shipping isn’t quite as fun as taking arty product photos, but it’s just as important.
Shipping Origin Address
First of all, you need somewhere to ship from. Your shipping origin address will tell your ecommerce builder what tax applies to orders, and is essential for calculating shipping rates and processing returns.
Shipping Destinations
You might be worried about how much it’ll cost to ship to certain areas. What if someone puts in an order from halfway across the world? Well, that’s where shipping zones come in.
Shipping zones are just the areas you ship to – for example, you could have the USA as one shipping zone, and then the rest of the world as another. You can choose how local or large-scale you want to go. So if you only want to ship to your state, you can!
Types of Shipping
There are multiple ways you can handle your shipping rates. These will depend on the builder you choose, and often which plan you’re on, but here’s a quick overview of the main shipping types available.
- Exact shipping costs – charge the exact amount it costs to ship the item through regular postage, or a courier like USPS.
- Flat rate shipping – charge a fixed price on certain products and/or orders. For example, it would cost $3 to ship orders anywhere in the US.
- Free shipping – the best kind for customers, and a great option for businesses looking for a win with their shoppers. You can offer free shipping for all orders if you’re feeling generous; you can also restrict it to certain products, or use it to reward orders over a certain amount.
- Calculated shipping rates – offer your customers the lowest rates by using real-time shipping quotes from couriers such as USPS, Canada Post, FedEx, and more.
- Price-based and weight-based rates – it speaks for itself, but you can charge shipping based on the price or weight of the product, through regular postage services.
Another shipping type worth mentioning is using a fulfillment warehouse. This is where you pay for a warehouse to store your inventory, then pack and ship products for you as orders come through. This is a much more hands off approach for you; it’ll cost extra, but can take the headaches out of shipping.
Couriers
Once you’ve set up your shipping options and sent off your products, it’s up to the courier to fulfil your orders. That’s why it’s important to pick a reliable company which you can trust to deliver your items safe and sound.
The biggest and most popular couriers are:
- USPS
- FedEx
- Canada Post
- UPS
- UK Royal Mail
- DHL
Ecommerce builders like BigCommerce will often have integrations with courier services, providing you with reduced shipping rates and making life much easier. On some plans, you can even get real-time shipping quotes to make sure you always get the best value rates.
The right courier for you will depend on your location and specific business needs, so take some time to look around and compare the different options.
- Make it appealing. Part of your branding and even the experience of buying jewelry is the packaging. Even if you’re shipping in plain old cardboard boxes, try to put something a bit special inside.
- Track it. Jewelry can be expensive, and is often bought for emotional reasons – as a birthday or engagement gift, for example. Track your shipments to avoid any lost deliveries.
- Make it safe. This is especially important if your jewelry products are delicate. Don’t just put a dainty necklace into a box and chuck it into the mail – invest in jewelry foam inserts, pads, or nestle them in cloth. Don’t resort to bubble wrap if you can help it – this ties into tip number one!
Advice From Our Users
“Ship as quickly as possible! After a quality product, there’s nothing customers like more than getting their order sooner than they expected. If your processing time is set at five days, try to ship in three.”Megan Petersen is an online jewelry seller who sells her originally designed jewelry on her website, Megan Petersen Jewelry, as well as on Amazon, and Etsy.
Promote Your Jewelry Products Online
- The different ways to promote your products and drive traffic
Sadly, there’s no magical alert to let users know when a super cool website has just gone live. We have to wait to stumble across it… or for it to find us. This is where you can do your store a massive favor by getting on top of the following five things: SEO, multichannel selling, email marketing, social media, and customer reviews.
Click on the plus symbol next to each heading to find out more.
Ecommerce website builders have built-in SEO tools which automatically make search engines sit up and pay attention. However, there are still other things you can do to optimize your website, and help your store to rank more highly in Google.
Shopify, BigCommerce, and Squarespace all have SEO guides and tools to help you do this.
If you’re on a marketplace, or even social media, getting your content to rank isn’t quite as straightforward – you’re reliant on your platform’s algorithms to put your products above others.
For Amazon, customer reviews are extremely important, while on social media the amount of engagement you get can have a big impact on your success.
Want to use an ecommerce builder for your jewelry store? We’ve analyzed each of our favorite platforms to check that they have all the tools you need to make sure your website gets found. Check them out here:
If you’re still undecided as to which builder is best for you, check out our overall review of the Best Website Builders for Search Engine Optimization
BigCommerce is the top dog when it comes to multichannel selling. You can easily manage all your sales from one place with BigCommerce’s built-in integrations.
Automated recovery emails can tempt back shoppers who have left items languishing in their basket, while automated thank you emails can leave a lasting impression on first-time buyers.
You don’t have to be a marketing genius to run email campaigns – as always, your ecommerce builder has got your back. For example, Squarespace has an email marketing tool called Email Campaigns, which lets you easily and quickly create stunning emails for as little as $5 a month.
And Squarespace isn’t the only ecommerce builder that recognizes the power of email marketing. Shopify and BigCommerce have a number of app integrations that will help you get your products directly into your customers’ inboxes.
Even better, you can track your campaign’s success with built-in analytics. Long gone are the days where you had to just sit and wonder whether your emails had captivated your customer base – now you can track everything in minutes.
Announce new product launches, share photos of customers wearing your jewelry, and even run competitions to help build your brand and your online audience. Don’t be too salesy, and try to post regularly.
If you’re selling very expensive jewelry, customer trust is vital for success, and that’s where reviews come in. Make sure to publish both good and bad reviews online – the trick is to respond positively to both as much as you can.
Reviews are especially important if you’re selling on marketplaces like Amazon. Positive star ratings and reviews feed into Amazon’s algorithm – so the better you do, the higher you’re likely to rank in Amazon’s search results.
Not sure how to get your customers to put their glowing experiences down on paper? Take a look at our handy guide, which will take you through how to ask customers for reviews.
Find out more about the power of customer reviews in our helpful infographic: How to Use Customer Review to Market to Different Generations
Manage Your Stock
- How to manage and organize your stock inventory
All your hard work has paid off, and your jewelry is selling like hotcakes.
This is where an ecommerce website builder can really shine, thanks to inventory tracking. Inventory tracking is where you manage your orders and track stock levels – it’s important to avoid selling the same product twice, or missing customer orders!
By tracking your inventory for you, builders like Shopify, Squarespace can monitor inventory levels, alert you when stock is low or out, and even automatically label products on-site as “Low Stock” or “Out of Stock”.
This means you don’t have to be constantly glued to your screen, and frees up time for other important tasks (or a well-earned cup of coffee).
Shopify, BigCommerce, and Squarespace are really top choices when it comes to inventory tracking. They’ve got it all – not only can they track your inventory for you, they can also give you reports on revenue, and inform you about how many customers have visited your site.
When selling through a marketplace or on social media, your inventory tracking might be a bit more manual. Digital spreadsheets are a great way of organizing and monitoring your stock, but you’ll need to stay on top of keeping it updated.
Alternatively, you could opt to use an app such as Stockpile by Canvus. Although you’ll still be responsible for inputting your numbers, using an app adds a level of automation to the process that’ll help keep things simple.
If your products are all handmade, and you don’t want the stress of managing large numbers of stock, you could operate your store on either a made-to-order or pre-order basis. This means that you’ll only make the items when your customer has committed to a purchase, or when you have a set number of products available from the outset.
With this kind of system, you’ll only have to keep track of orders, rather than stock levels. While this approach does reduce some of the stress of inventory management, it’s still better suited to smaller, more casual stores. If you’re running a jewelry store as your main business, having a ready-made and easily trackable inventory is key. For this, we recommend using an ecommerce builder.
How to Sell Jewelry Online: Summary
This article has walked you through every stage of setting up your online jewelry store, from finding your niche all the way through to promoting your products.
We’ve helped you decide which online platform is the best choice for you, whether that’s selling on Etsy, Instagram, through an online store – or a combination of all three!
It’s been a whirlwind ride! If you’re feeling a bit dazzled, here’s a quick refresh of the eight steps for building a successful online jewelry store:
How to Sell Jewelry Online: 8-Step Recap
- Think about your niche – think about who you’re selling to.
- Decide where you want to sell – the main three are marketplaces, social media, or an online store.
- Set up your store – get ready to sell with your chosen channel.
- Showcase your products – make the most of product photos and descriptions.
- Price products and set up payments – choose a payment option, such as PayPal, and connect it to your store.
- Set up shipping – set your shipping rates, couriers, and more.
- Promote your jewelry products – market your products across various channels.
- Manage your stock – track inventory levels as you sell.
Now you’re ready to dazzle your customers and make the world a prettier place, one jewelry sale at a time!
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