Hi,I am still in the process of setting up the shop for selling handmade jewellery. I have quite large number of necklaces/bracelets ready but this setting up shop is proving quite daunting😔 and I am just putting it off.
I have made a list of preparations needed before I actually put any listing in my shop,could you all lovely Folksy sellers go through it and kindly let me know if I have missed anything.
Taken the PPL insurance with Guildofjewellery designers. Is there an option to display it,is it necessary to display it.
Complying with regulation about nickel in jewellery,what do I need to do to show that?
I am going to register as self employed for tax purpose
I have informed our home insurance about starting this shop and they are going to cancel the insurance. Need to look for alternative.
How do I calculate the postage please
6.How to price any item.
7.Do I need to do anything actively about privacy policy? Or is it displayed as a standard format automatically ?
All help/ guidance will be gratefully appreciated. Thank you.
there isn’t an option to display your insurance details anywhere in your shop, you can mention that you are a member of GoJD in your shop announcement if you want to
you don’t need to show anything about complying with the nickel regulations but it is worth keeping track of where you source your findings from so if someone has a reaction you can show that you have done due diligence by buying from a reputable supplier (any UK based supplier should have already checked the metal composition of findings)
3 and 4 I think you have under control
make up a dummy parcel how you intend to send things out so you can weigh/ measure it and then use https://www.royalmail.com/price-finder to find out the postage
pricing is always a contentious point - some people sell to break even/ fund the hobby whilst others sell to make a living. There are a number of articles on the folksy blog https://blog.folksy.com/category/seller-tips/pricing-tips
yes you do need to write up a privacy policy, I think I found a template online and adapted that.
It’s old fashioned I guess, but I keep the Royal Mail price leaflet on my pin board, highlight the most common postage prices I use and refer to it about 5 times a week when I’m figuring out postage.
Good luck with your shop! You sound very organised.
Hi all,after many delays I have opened my jewellery shop! Thank you for your helpful advice.
I have a query about postage and packing to everywhere else.
Do you send your orders to USA by international economy or international standard? both ae expensive but economy is cheaper of the two.
International economy for large letter is £4.19 delivery time 2-12 weeks!
International standard is £5.75 with delivery 6-7 business days.
And this is for large letter! even more expensive when it is small parcel.
Am I missing something?
How do you all send international orders please?
Large letter has to have max depth of 2.5 cm,my box measures exactly that so 1-2 mm is added with bubble envelop,would it be ok to send as large letter?
You can get postage rulers which have a large letter slot in them - if it doesn’t fit through that then it can’t go as a large letter (your box + bubble envelop sound like they will be too thick). These are cheap and well worth getting so you can double check before buying your postage. (I get boxes from international craft that are slim enough that even with a bubble envelop they fit as large letter)
Post to everywhere overseas is taking much longer than normal. Last thing I sent to the USA was supposed to take 5-7 working days (and previously pre covid that is what it has taken) but it took double that at 14 days. I wouldn’t risk the economy option as it will take forever and you will have unhappy customers because of that (I have to send tracked for insurance purposes). I’ve always found that americans are happy to pay the high postage as they are used to having to pay high shipping costs to send stuff within the USA.
Thank you so much Sasha. You are always a great helping hand.
I will definitely buy this postage ruler.
Can I please ask for a link of the shop you buy slim boxes from?
Thanks again.
Postage prices to the US have gone up a lot this year, partly because of a reduction in flights due to Covid, partly due to US policy changes. But if a buyer loves your item and can’t find anything like it in their own country, they’ll be willing to pay the postage to get something special.
Those times given are the average during normal times (and even then it sometimes seems to be more the time it takes to arrive in the US, rather than arrive with the buyer). I would normally expect standard to take 1-3 weeks in normal times, and although I haven’t posted internationally much this year, from reports from other people it sounds like 1-8 weeks isn’t too unusual this year.
I’ve never sent economy (which goes by ground/ship rather than air) because I think the wait would be too long for most customers’ patience, and I don’t think it’s worth the hassle for just £1.50 saving (although most things I ship are parcels so £5.75 to the US sounds cheap to me).
I wrap the necklace in tissue paper so it can’t tangle up on itself in a long rectangular box in a cut down A4 envelope (I don’t normally have brown paper to hand, the envelope normally allows me to get a double layer of paper over the box) and then print the postage label off a bit smaller than normal so it fits on the package.
Yes to the first part and yes to the second part (with a hand written note thanking them etc) unless it is obviously going to a gift recipient when I leave the invoice out. If its going overseas its best to check what the customs duty threshold is and whether or not you need to attach an invoice to the outside of the package so that customs can inspect it and work out the fees the customer has to pay.
