January 24 Through February 4—TUCSON, ARIZONA: Annual show
Welcome to the GemologyOnline.com Forum
A non-profit Forum for the exchange of gemological ideas
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 6:01 pm

All times are UTC - 4 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 8 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Another couple of Tech Execs go into the Jewelry Business
PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 1:45 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm
Posts: 21602
Location: San Francisco
:roll:
Markette Six, a new online platform for listing, buying, and selling jewelry and watches co-founded by two former Apple Inc. executives, is striving to differentiate itself among its competitors by guaranteeing the authenticity of every product it lists, dispensing with listing fees for its sellers, and offering retailers global exposure.

https://markettesix.com/


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Another couple of Tech Execs go into the Jewelry Busines
PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:15 pm 
Offline
Gold Member

Joined: Mon May 26, 2014 9:42 pm
Posts: 1033
Perhaps we ought to sell them a Raman unit. :-)


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Another couple of Tech Execs go into the Jewelry Busines
PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:46 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm
Posts: 21602
Location: San Francisco
Look at you, David, making this into a pitcher of Raman flavored lemonade.

I have heard that Real Real has had a couple of mis identificaations.
But they pay their gemmos peanuts and expect them to positively identify 10's of items per hour....

In order to go into the vintage business one has to have very deep pockets and at least a hand full of buyers with loads of experience, probably snatching them from auction houses.

I will follow the new site to see if their retail pricing is tempting.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Another couple of Tech Execs go into the Jewelry Busines
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:50 pm 
Offline
Gemology Online Veteran
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 10:23 am
Posts: 923
Location: NYC
interesting, i have checked it out, the website still has bugs and some unclear things, i have tried or studied many online sale platforms, like Facebook, Etsy, Poshmark, Instagram, Vero, Ruby Lane, The RealReal, 1stdibs, Artfire, eCRATER, Zibbet, Bonanza, LiveAuctioneers, invaluable, Bidsquare, Shopify, wix... each of them have their own pros and cons. i don't want to discuss about online selling platform here cause this is a gemological forum but since you opened discussion about it, how do you know these guys Barbra? is the purpose of this post just information or introduction?

_________________
Farshid Roshanravan


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Another couple of Tech Execs go into the Jewelry Busines
PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 11:13 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm
Posts: 21602
Location: San Francisco
Just information.
One of the trade rags was featuring the opening.

I would be very interested in your thoughts of the venues you've mention Farshid.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Another couple of Tech Execs go into the Jewelry Busines
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 12:44 pm 
Offline
Gemology Online Veteran
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 10:23 am
Posts: 923
Location: NYC
Barbra Voltaire wrote:
Just information.
One of the trade rags was featuring the opening.

I would be very interested in your thoughts of the venues you've mention Farshid.


for me the most important things that i was considering are:

-Fee (commission + listing fee)
-Audience (visitor popularity, Product Search, Advertisement)
-Protecting Seller & Buyer (Payment System, Return Policy, Shipping + Insurance)

there are some other things which can be important but not as critical as above. (like ease of use and listing, Photography, connecting to other platforms and social networks, having mobile app...)

when you want to list online there are many options, i have found Facebook Market place the very easy for listing and getting audience also it has no Fee at all, you can decide the payment (paypal, check, messenger, venmo...) and shipping. but not good for selling high value items cause there is no demand, it's good for cheap stuff, the Facebook page Shop is totally different thing which FB has changed it's policy couple of times, so far with no fee but payment is getting through Stripe (or PayPal) with 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, FB's Policies are so general and they changed it time to time! the Return Policy was 30 days and now they changed it to 10 business days! more info: https://www.facebook.com/payments_terms ... alespolicy . to list in FB's Page Shop you can & will be able to sell in Instagram and also Advertise in both FB and Instagram, you can choose connect your FB's shop to your Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce or Magento, WIX... Website you already have so payment will be through your own website and it's e-commerce system (you will still have Fees) , this is very good for high value items and also you will get Instagram features, you will be able to tag product in Instagram posts so you will get both your website and Mobile Social Audience. this is the way many online Jewelry sellers with their own website are doing,

Etsy, is also another strong platform for jewelry business, when verified it is very easy listing, very good for Vintage Jewelry (before 1999) or your own jewelry, very good for Artists , Etsy fee is 5% (used to be 3.5%) + $0.20 per item listing also there are subscription package for more tools and advertisement which they also charge for advertisement so your listing get more audience and more traffic to your shop

Ruby Lane, has $100 setup fee, and Minimum $69 for 80 items, you can find out more here https://www.rubylane.com/info/faq?actio ... 1iOM8wLwGO

Amazon Fee is about 15% (if 40 items a month, Monthly $39.99) more info: https://services.amazon.com/selling/pricing.html

eBay Fee Varies from 10% and up also might apply listing fee

The RealReal is complicated, it is best to apply for vendor account and their commission and Fees are from 30% ~ 50% of sale!!! it might also include a separate fee for storing, cataloging, and photographing, A Commission Rate of 50% will always apply for any items priced at $200 or less! The RealReal uses their own appraiser/gemologist for pricing, you can tell them your price but might not get accepted by their experts also another thing i noticed is that their pricing is low! most of the time it's very low! their system has been designed for people not retailers, so instead of people sell their jewelry to pawnshops they use this online and mobile friendly platform, they might not be suitable for all jewelry retailers.

1stdibs monthly fee starting at $200 ~ $500 also they charge between 10 to 30 % of the sale, this platform is considered and known for high value items and jewelries but also their fees are very high. it's not suitable for small businesses or affordable jewelries, also 1stdibs is very search friendly in google and if you search for high value jewelries their results are usually in first pages of the search

Artfire Varies, Basic plan $5 Per Month Plus 9% of sale price

Poshmark fee For sales of $15 or more, you keep 80% of your sale and Poshmark's commission is 20%.
------
because i am conservative kind of person i really want to be on the safe side. specially i can not afford loss in jewelry business, if you get insurance for your business it's so good but will cost you more and in case of package lost or damages it takes time to fight and get your money back. some of the mentioned platform they provide shipping label and insurance themselves like Poshmark and The RealReal, some provide discounted labels like Etsy but there are not insured. you decide yourself to use your own insurance or use courier's insurance. if you open an account with courier you will also get discount and your shipping cost will be around $50 for high value items. many online sellers provide insured shipping free because it is included in their profits.

sometimes there are two fees like shop's fee (including listing and commisson) + fee of payment system (like PayPal, Stipe, SquareUp...) for example there is a new social app like Instagram which is called Vero and they provide Merchant account for some limited companies and the sellers pay Vero a fee of 10% of the list price upon the sale, the Payment System Integration is with stripe and a fee of f 2.9% + 30¢ per successful charge for Stripe, so in fact you have about 13% Fee, there might be other fees like shipping and insurance that you should consider. so it can go up to 15% and even more including all costs.

choosing the right platform depends on what kind of jewelry you want to sell, Antiques, Vintage, Fashion, Gemstones, high valued items, watches.... some of them are suitable to sell high end estate jewelry and signed pieces and brands, like Poshmark, The RealReal and 1stdibs, in some of them you can use consignment and they provide the Photography and descriptions but they have higher fees like The RealReal.

another thing you should consider is the level of sale, there are some private groups which their membership is complicated you need to be known in the trade and have references. also some even charge you annually! but this is good if you want to buy/sell to dealers or to people in the trade.

Barbra i was surprised when you asked about my thoughts cause you always say it is Gemological forum not a selling forum, these kind of talk is more for forums like pricescope or sites like Quora and Reddit, Don't get me wrong i welcome the idea about talking more stuff like this, you once had GO Shop but for some reasons you have closed it. i think it is good business opportunity you and other members can benefit from, but again i understand if you don't want, it is your decision and your own Forum, many people prefer to do one thing and not get involved in other things

_________________
Farshid Roshanravan


Last edited by roshanravan on Sat Sep 08, 2018 1:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Another couple of Tech Execs go into the Jewelry Busines
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 12:51 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm
Posts: 21602
Location: San Francisco
Farshid, I look at this information as a series of outstanding sources for appraising items at fair market value. :wink:


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Another couple of Tech Execs go into the Jewelry Busines
PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2018 1:34 pm 
Offline
Gemology Online Veteran
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 10:23 am
Posts: 923
Location: NYC
Barbra Voltaire wrote:
Farshid, I look at this information as a series of outstanding sources for appraising items at fair market value. :wink:


ah in that case i hope that i could have helped ;)

please remember fees and policies can be changed time to time, as for markettesix, has between 20% to 25% and no listing costs so far but their website has a lot of bugs, for example when adding picture you can not delete it or edit/crop pictures online

_________________
Farshid Roshanravan


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 8 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 4 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
Gemology Style ported to phpBB3 by Christian Bullock