Buying and Selling Jewelry Online

Online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay offer excellent opportunities for both buyers and sellers.

Global sales of jewelry online are growing by 5% to 6% each year, reaching a projected $250 billion by 2020. Consumer demand fell during the last recession, but it has since recovered and is now stronger than ever.

Many merchants are wary of selling jewelry online, even though millions of people shop for it online each day. Buyer are also reluctant to purchase from the unknown and unseen digital universe.

Both buyers and sellers should at least consider online Jewelry offerings. Trusted marketplaces like eBay and Amazon are an excellent place to look. Amazon is the world’s biggest retailer; as such Amazon is a great resource. . 

Jewelry has universal appeal. No matter what country or culture you talk about, jewelry is a big part of it, so it’s a pretty safe bet no matter which country you’re selling in.

Jewelry also crosses gender lines. While it’s easy to think of jewelry as ‘womanly’, men have long worn jewelry as well — wedding rings, earrings, watches and more.

Shipping is one of the biggest expenses for online shoppers and sellers. Jewelry is fairly inexpensive to ship and store. It doesn’t take up a whole lot of space it doesn’t weigh much, you also don’t have to pay a lot in shipping fees other than insurance.

Much of jewelry is trend-based.. Both eBay and Amazon have indicators to show you what is hot and trendy. You can also set up a Google Alert for something like ‘jewelry trends’ so you can see what the latest fashion.

Jewelry buyers do consider reputation, authenticity, and other people’s experiences when they shop. Stay away from the fakes. Selling fake jewelry that’s listed as real is enough to get your account closed down in a quick hurry.

Buyers will start their purchase on eBay, then check the seller’s website to see if the business is well-established and can be trusted. Buyers want to learn as much as they can about the seller before they buy an item. Even when they visit the retailer’s own website, the initial purchase is often completed on the marketplace to gain the protection that it provides.

Amazon requires jewelry sellers to provide documentation before they can even sell on Amazon. To sell fine jewelry on Amazon you must show proof that you are already in business and making X amount. So if you are a brick and mortar or successful elsewhere, then you can apply to sell fine jewelry on Amazon. Be prepared to pay a $5,000 entry fee PLUS submit a spreadsheet and at least 10 items for quality assurance testing. The fee becomes due after you pass the quality assessment.Rules for Fine jewelry -both for getting in and for staying in - are the strictest of all categories on Amazon.

No matter what type of jewelry you’re buying or selling, online markets force  competitive pricing is a must. YoThere are an enormous number of sellers and so aggressive pricing is a must. Both buyers and sellers should be aware of current prices and the supply-and-demand cycle. The online marketplaces provide tools to compare pricing.

Selling jewelry online has to do with trust and reputation. Buyers don’t get the chance to examine pieces in real life, so they’re taking the sellers word for it. Find a credible supplier and keep that relationship going so you have utmost confidence in what you sell. The BBB Reliability Program is a stong indicator. Avoid Chinese suppliers if you want to have quality branded products. Chinese brands are ok if you just want bargain basement items and don’t care about assured quality, just don’t pay too much.

One interesting trend for a number of jewelry sellers is the behavior of Millennials – the generation born between the early 1980s and around 2000. There’s more than 80 million Millennials in the US alone, and they are the most tech-savvy group of consumers.

While many Millennials are at the age to buy diamond engagement rings, they are more likely to be interested in fashion jewelry and handcrafted jewelry. They are adventurous, quick decision makers, but less likely to take financial risks when buying luxury items such as fine jewelry. Millennials want to impress others through how they act and look, rather than the price of the products they buy.

As a very large generational group, Millennials present a lot of opportunities and changes for online the jewelry market, both now and as they age over the coming decades.

While the “gender gap” has become much narrower in many respects over the last few decades, the typical jewelry-buying habits of men and women have remained quite different. For example, there are  differences in the online channels that men and women typically buy from. Etsy, for example, mostly has female users: 67% of Etsy buyers and 86% of Etsy sellers are female. The overall Etsy experience and design is heavily tailored to a female audience.

by Rob Longwell

Editor