A frank discussion on wholesaling

A few weeks ago, the blog Flaming Hot asked us to write on the topic of offering our handmade work at discount or wholesale prices. I wasn't sure I would be able to blog on that topic. It's such a difficult one for me that writing about it seemed to heavy - too complicated.

I changed my mind, because lately I have been getting a lot of requests for wholesale prices. Even though a brief answer to that question exists on my FAQ page, I often feel the need to explain myself further.

I can't tell you how many times I have been asked why I don't offer wholesale. I often can't explain why without saying something that might irritate potential customers. But because there have been more and more emails asking whether I do (and if I don't, why not), I finally have decided to elaborate.

No, I don't offer wholesale prices. I do however offer a volume discount of 10% for orders over $500. That's essentially a thank you to my customers who have chosen to spend a great deal of money on my beads.

I used to do wholesale - about three or four years ago - and that lasted less than a year. And it pretty much killed me. Why, you ask? Because I am not a machine. When I offered wholesale, my work was in such demand that I was backed up for months. That caused a lot of stress, and I wasn't making enough money to keep my business afloat. I had to either raise my prices or stop making beads altogether and go back to work outside the home.

My beads are not mass-produced. As you know, I make them one by one. It doesn't cost less to make a quantity of beads - which would be the main attraction of offering wholesale prices. Production work tends to really stifle creativity for me - and makes it hard to stay motivated to meet deadlines.

I do offer retail custom orders, and that does create a limited amount of production work (making similar beads over and over), which I can handle up to a point. Wholesaling would just send me right over the edge.

Also - because my work is in demand, and has been since I have started, I don't necessarily need to offer wholesale prices to keep my name out there and orders coming in. If people are willing to buy at the prices I have my work set at, there's no incentive at all to offer deep discounts.

Lastly - I make high quality, relatively unique, art glass beads. Too keep that level of quality and perfection in each bead, I can't be asked to work faster in order to keep up with the large demand wholesale pricing would bring on. I'm a perfectionist - and my customers like that. I have to love every bead that goes out, or it just doesn't feel right to me. For me - it's art. And I hate the idea of art being wholesaled.

Yes, yes - art galleries and bead shops take a large percentage of the price when they represent a beadmaker/artist. That's common and I know it. I know that a lot of people wholesale.

Think of it this way - instead of employing a gallery or bead shop to represent me, I would rather represent myself. I would rather do the work of marketing my name myself. I would rather cut out the middle man and offer my beads to the designer, collector and bead enthusiast.

I have nothing against anyone who wants to do business the conventional way by wholesaling - on the contrary. I firmly believe everyone has the right to do business the way that works best for them - and this works best for me. I can work at my own pace, keep my quality high, and concern myself with the happiness and satisfaction of the customers that will actually be using my beads in their work or displaying them in their collection.

Today I got a call from a potential customer who told me she has bead stores in her town, and wanted to know if I sold wholesale. I had to politely say no, and try to explain myself without coming across as harsh. That's really, really hard for me. I want so much to say yes - I am the kind of person who wants to please everyone. She sounded somewhat surprised and a little disappointed, but I know that I did the right thing.

If I were to wholesale, I would need to hire employees to keep up with the demand. But then the beads would change - they wouldn't be my work anymore. They wouldn't look the same or feel the same. I guess that's the downside to creating things you love for sale.

I don't think this topic will ever get any easier, and I don't think it will go away. But hopefully this post will help people see my perspective on it.

Same Old Tired Topics....

They appear on all the beadmaker's forums - and probably in forums related to art s and crafts in general. They are often looked at with weariness and sometimes even anger and frustration. They are topics that just won't die - and should they? I am talking about those very conversations that we as beadmakers hear and read over and over again.

Sometimes we forget that there are new beadmakers coming along all the time - our art is really exploding these days. And those beadmakers often don't follow the forums religiously like some of us veterans do. So they come on the scene not really knowing how often we've seen those forum threads and blog posts coverying the dreaded copying issue. The much-maligned mass-produced beads debate. The annealing conundrum. The giving-away-info-for-free argument. Or even the basic beadmaking questions we all see in forums - what glass/equipment to buy, is safety really important, do I need a kiln, how do you make this or that kind of bead, and for the love of all that's holy, why can't I keep my propane tank in the house???

I just have one thing to say. Okay, okay - two things. First - for those of us who have really been around - we might do well to look at things from a newbie's standpoint from time to time. We were new once, too. Hell, sometimes I feel like I still am!! Second - to all you new beadmakers out there - please, please for goodness sake, learn how to search the forums for the answer to your question before you post it. Lampwork Etc and other forums like this are virtual libraries. I can't think of a lampworking topic not covered there. Chances are - if you can think of it, someone else has posted about it. Search your question, read some or all of the topics - then, if your question hasn't been answered, post a new topic. Seriously, that will help everyone. You won't get told off for posting something we've all seen a zillion times (**cough**copying**cough), and we won't need to rip our hair out from frustration.

Kisses! :D

Cool Beads and Art

Oooh! I was just over at the Art Bead Scene Blog, and came across her post on these beads. Aren't they the coolest ever? I find myself wildly attracted to the sort of steam punk look (at least that's what I think it is. I'm not too up on the proper terms for this sort of stuff.)

Speaking of delectable beads, take a look at these! Kalera's Fronds always make me swoon. Of course, I love all things related to dragons, so Jeff Welsh's lovely pieces come to mind.

I'm in a dreamy frame of mind lately, so while perusing We Love Etsy (a social networking site for those wh....well, love etsy!) I ran across Jennifer L Nilsson's art - isn't it just adorable?? Her mice and her dragons and her fairies....Oh, I might have to cave in and buy some. SO wonderful.

Thanks, Jo!!

Check it out! Jo over at Lampwork Art interviewed me a few weeks ago, and has posted that interview on her blog. She has said some really nice things - I'm grateful. :)

I've Snapped

Not really! :) I'd like to talk about taking photos - a beadmaker's *ahem* favorite chore.

Taking pics of beads is fun most of the time - at least for me. I love the clarity you can get in a photo of something small and sparkly.

However, there's always that little something that just doesn't look right in a picture. In my case, it's getting the colors in the photo to actually agree with the real thing. Thank goodness there's Paint Shop Pro (or Photoshop or whatever). I can usually edit the photo so that the colors look like they do in real life. Of course, everyone's monitor is different, but at least I can usually get it in the ballpark.

Except for Aqua and it's darker sister Teal. For some really odd reason, I can never get these colors to look right. In reality, I can get aqua and teal to really sing in a set of beads. They're bright, vivid, summery colors that make me drool. But the minute I snap a photo of the beads that contain those lovely colors, it turns out either completely over-exposed or washed out. :( And no matter how I edit the picture, I can't get the vibrancy of color to come through.

The beads above are actually really bright and rich. But they faded out in the photograph completely. Grrrrr So hopefully people understand when I list beads made in aqua and teal, and I can describe the color they are actually getting.

I've tried fiddling with the camera, too - using different lighting, adjusting the white balance, etc. etc. It just doesn't read the color correctly.

Teal and aqua aren't the only colors to fade away in a photo - purple does it, too. It either comes across as brownish, or is way too blue. Luckily, PSP can adjust this pretty readily by fiddling with the hue and color levels. Clearing up the background also helps, as does adjusting the color temperature.

Ahhhh the art of photographing beads...... I can't just be good at manipulating hot glass. I have to be an expert photographer, too. LOL NOT. :)

Rock You Slideshow

Non-Office Politics

Working for oneself is hard. I'm not talking about the long hours, or the sometimes total lack of motivation, or even the inevitable periodic lonliness.

I'm talking about office politics. Yep - even lonely self-employed workers have them. It seems they are everywhere. In my business, the dreaded office politics come from the online world. Forums, guilds, online selling, etc. I have peers all over the world instead of in a local office building.

But since I am my own boss, I am almost completely without guidance as to what makes a good peer in the lampworking world. Am I in competition with other lampworkers, or are we all on the same team? Is it not cool to gossip, or is it the norm? Am I expected to show and tell everything I know about this industry, or is it okay to keep secrets? Am I doing myself a favor or a disservice by talking about this stuff in public?

Who knows? All I know is that I need an outlet - so this blog is being born. I need to discuss the dreaded copying issue, the image stealing, the giving of information for free, the effect the ISGB and other groups, the issue of wholesaling, participation in shows, the forum rivalry and many many more things that sit at the back of my mind and make it difficult for me to be creative.

I'm sure that if my peers even see this blog, they might find it boring, or even negative. But hopefully it will allow me to get some of this stuff off my chest without clogging the forums. It even might provoke some interesting discussion if people feel like commenting. If people want to talk about this stuff here, I welcome comments and debate. Hopefully I will also see my way towards posting some positive stuff, too. After all, I eventually want to let all this stuff go and get to the positivity of making beads. That's what I am on the earth to do!