To all those ebidders who make their own jewellery

[Indigo4]

I keep getting told that I should make sets.."people like sets, why can't you make matching items.." this is all well and good but glass fusing doesn't lend well to looking the same when it comes out of the kiln.

Question i want to know is does anyone deliberately make sets of jewellery to sell more and does it sell more?

Thanks
Melissa T

[Jencel]

Hello, Melissa.
I'm new here too, but I've been in the world of beads and jewellery making and selling for many years. I know what you mean about sets, and about the glass you make not always matching.
I think it's a good idea to offer sets if you can. Customers vary, some want sets, and some will buy just the pendant or just the earrings. So if you can offer sets but sell them as individual items you get an extra chance of a sale.
I think your customers will appreciate that your work will not always be an exact match. It's individually crafted and there seems to be a swing towards these items. I think people are going off mass produced things, which could be good for all us crafters.

Celia
http://uk.nine.ebid.net/perl/main.cg...r&words=Jencel

[cherylgrey]

I have a tendency to agree. I make items that match, but list individually as people can choose what they want. I have listed sets before but they did not seem as popular.
Another thing that I have found id that people will buy one item and ask at a later stage if you could make something to match.
Only a problem if you can't get hold of the beads again.
Indigo4, I can understand that you will get a variation as you are using glass, but so long as the colours are the same, personally I like slight variation, adds to uniqueness.

[Opis]

Hi Melissa

I used to make my own jewellery a few years back, though found that although people kept asking for sets they didn't actually buy them much. I did better (in every sense!) when I advertised a necklace and eg matching earrings separately. In my auctions I would say some thing like:

"If you like this (necklace), you may be very interested in some other items I have for sale, click here (<insert HTML) to see my other items. I will discount postage" etc etc.

Whether tastes have changed or not I don't know, like I say it was a while back. Good luck whatever you decide to do

[JoPhangan]

people are always asking me why don't i do matching sets but they don't actually buy them i think it's more of a "i like the necklace if you had earrings i'd buy them too probably." sort of thing i think its maybe a good idea to list them separately but maybe listing a matching earrings and necklace (or as matching as you can get them with glass) on the same listing for slightly cheaper then if they brought them separately

I'm have yet to try this myself but intend to this weekend when i list things i have

[ElegantScraps]

I have purchased several dicroic (sp) glass pendants and always went for the 'matching' earrings on a seperate listing if they were available. Of course they never exactly matched but the colours did and it's the uniqueness that I love. It would be the same for your fused glass. There always seemed to be more competition for the sets. Another enticer was that they used sterling silver, my favourite! I tend to avoid cheap metals such as 'silver tone'.

As has been said, list them seperately to attract both kinds of buyers. Also, for matching earrings, list them so they show directly below the matching pendant - it gives buyers, who do not tend to open a new window and view them side by side, a better idea of how they look together.

[pearlygirl555]

With our in-person sales it seems customers will decide for themselves what pieces make up a "set" regardless of what my intentions were when I made the pieces. With the online sales, people were more likely to ask us if we would just sell one component apart from the others; they seemed to be matching jewelry they already had, rather than wanting a complete set of earrings-bracelet-necklace.

I like Opis' idea about cross-selling items within your product line; we do that on our regular website, and in person as well.

[craftfairies]

hiya, i make some sets but mostly single items, i have sold more single items. I guess its an individual thing.

rachel x

[cruellady]

I agree - list 'em separately. The thing I've noticed is that folk want to pay less for a set - they hang around forever, but when I've separated them out, I get a better price. So now I just add a link to 'matching items' and let the customer assemble the set themselves.

Cru
x

[meadowgate123]

I think the fashion at the moment is against sets. Does anybody ever sell any jewellery on here, anyway?