I belong to Twitter, and this "cheaptweet" person is following me, and frankly, I don't like the premise of what he's doing.
Apparently, he searches Etsy, and other websites, for "cheap" buys. Frequently announcing a "find" for under $15 or less.
I, and I'm sure a lot of others, spend hours working a my jewelry, some more than others, and honestly, if I just paid myself $10 an hour, for my time, I would be charging a lot more than I am for all of my pieces.
I don't want my work to be touted as "cheap", and probably will never have it called that by this person, but for some reason it just bugs me.
Its the same reason, kinda, that Etsy isn't a favorite for me either, because most of the buyers, are other Etsy shop owners, and let's face it, if you are doing jewelry, how many other '"jewelry" people are going to buy yours? I don't see "big ticket" items being sold a lot on Etsy and I'm sure that is one reason why.
There is a shop that also sells beautiful jewelry on ebay. Most of her sales are for buying, not selling, and the items she has sold, with one or two exceptions are the least expensive items she has. I don't know why she bothers with Etsy, she sells 20 times over on ebay every week!
I came across a shop that had, so they said, and I don't know why it wouldn't be so, that the byzantine bracelet was sterling silver. The price was $25.00! I can't make a bracelet for that in just the materials, let alone my time. That person had to be working for nothing. 18 G sterling is over $2.00 a foot, it takes 10 feet in 18g to make a normal size bracelet. I can't spend that amount of time to do a bracelet like that for $5.00 plus factor in all the other costs that go into making a bracelet.
Ok, my rant is over...whew, that felt good! LOL
I was hoping that Etsy would do away with me having to do live shows at art & craft fairs, but it isn't looking like it will. I guess people just need to see my pieces in person to appreciate them.
If you have an opinion, jump right in! This blog is even boring me!
Lol, I had the same reaction to Cheaptweet. There will always be bargain hunters, but there are plenty of people that appreciate fine handmade jewelry, too. We just have to find them - maybe someone needs to start a 'luxurytweet'!
ReplyDeleteAmen to that...so, who's going to start it?
ReplyDeleteLOL