Re: Need wholesale suppliers of Charm Bracelet chain

On Jun 23, 8:57 pm, "Peter W.. Rowe,"
<rec.crafts.jewe...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:03:51 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry beadju...@xxxxxxxxx
wrote:



I don't know the link size on this one, but I need approximately 5mm
(or larger) links. Sterling or silver plated is fine. I can't pay
$9.00 or $10.00 per bracelet (with clasp) because the type of bracelet
I am making doesn't sell for much -

Rio Grande's web site lists finished bracelets, 7 inches long, 4.2 mm wide, in
sterling, for 6.27 each in quantities of five or more. No doubt, for larger
quantities yet, they might give you a better price than that. Item 6324267. By
the foot, in over five foot lengths, the web site says it's 9 dollars. This is
slightly smaller in link size than you specify, but their next size up, over 6
mm, is a good deal more expensive yet.

Rio may not be the cheapest supplier for chain, since they are not the original
manufacturer. But in quantity, they're probably pretty competative. Buying low
quantities from them gets pricier. I'd guess that to find it cheaper you'd
have to be buying directly from the chain manufacturer, which may be difficult
to do unless you're prepared to be buying by the kilo rather than by the foot...

Another source you might wish to check with would be Cargo hold Inc, a company
which sells only wholesale and, last I saw them at a show, pretty much
specializes in chain, with a fine selection of silver chain.http://www.cargoholdinc.com/ Good company.

And I think Metaliferous (spelling?) in New York carries a decent selection of
silver chain, and their prices are generally pretty decent. Their phone service
sometimes gets a bad rap, but what do you want. It's New York. Everyone is in
a hurry all the time... And sometimes they're nice and polite despite the
reputed reputation. The actual product line they carry is extensive and worth
putting up with an occasional harried sales clerk for. Some of the silver
things they carry are almost impossible to find anywhere else, such as large
diameter sterling tubing, for just one example that comes to mind...

However, at the end of the day, as Abrasha pointed out, silver prices are much
higher than just a few short years ago. You may simply have to raise your
prices if your costs have gone up, just like everyone else in business in this
wonderous economy we've got now. You might find your buying public is more
used to this than you expect. Everything else is going up, so having your
prices go up a couple bucks too, won't surprise anyone, I think, and if they
like your product, they're still just as likely to buy it. In fact, people can
be really funny about prices sometimes. I've seen craftspeople reluctantly
raise prices, only to find that at the higher price levels, the public sees more
percieved or sometimes imagined value, so wants it more, and sales actually
increase sometimes, rather than falling with the higher prices. Fashion items
and jewelry seem especially affected by this sort of thing. Sell it cheap,
people assume it's cheap, and even if pretty, well, it's cheap. So they pass it
by. Raise the price to something outlandish, call it designer, give it a fancy
PR writeup, and folks sometimes flock to your door wishing to be in the "in"
crowd. Obviously, it doesn't always work this way, and savvey marketing is
crucial to getting this effect, but it's real enough.

Peter

Hi Peter ~

Thanks for the good information and excellent insight. Interestingly
enough, I bought a small lot of finished bracelets and they were about
4.00, and you're right, it's just a few short years later. And you
make a good point, people probably are getting used to this. And
you're dead on about how people perceive a higher cost as sometimes a
better "must-have" item. I took a job in an office a few years back
and bought some cheapie jewelry because I didn't have any decent
clothes or accessories at that time to wear to work as I had been a
stay at home mom for 7 years. I bought about 3 necklaces each of
which broke by the second or third time I wore them. I have a friend
who makes jewelry - she's an artisan, and knowing what items cost, I
know how hefty her profit margin is. A funny story. I bartered some
work that she needed done for a necklace she had posted on her
website. Looking back, I laugh (at myself), because it was a 16"
beaded necklace: 8 mm labradorite round beads with 4mm swarovski
beads between them, a sterling toggle clasp and a pendant made by a
premade disc with a flat vintage fabric flower glued on it. It
arrived in the mail broken (terrible crimping). She is a very
experienced jeweler. I blamed it on the postal service. I sent it
back for repair, wore it once, and it broke again. That mixed with
the broken cheap jewelry a few months earlier made me want to make my
OWN jewelry. I fixed that necklace (which I still love) and started
making my own jewelry. In doing so realized the mark-up on that
particular necklace. It was listed on her website for over $165 and I
bartered her that amount worth of work (hard work!!!). One thing I
CAN say is that I started out with getting the crimping down but
good! ;)

The style of bracelet I've been making that I am looking for this
chain for is for "fan" jewelry. My buys are mostly working class
basketball fans - I've literally sold most of my items by going into
the grocery store that is one of the sponsors on game day and have
sold stuff right off my neck and wrist. Maybe because it was too
cheap! It's kind of a passion for me. I definitely will have to
raise prices simply because when Iaunch my website a portion of
proceeds will go to charity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If anyone knows of another type of chain that make a good charm
bracelet, I'd love to know! You can email me at beadjunky@xxxxxxxxx
("junky" was a terrible typo but I'm stuck with it). Thanks.
.

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