You can make good money selling hand made jewelry. But jewelry making is not a cheap hobby or a cost effective business venture, not if you do not know how to access the right suppliers.
When we shop around craft stores, it seems that their stocks appear all the same from no more than a handful of mass producers, making it extremely difficult to pick up outstanding pieces, let alone find the decently priced stuff.
But the proliferation of internet has certainly brought down the price barrier and make wider choice available to the masses.
What will I learn?
Where to Buy Jewelry Making Supplies Online
Some of the most sought after suppliers in the art of jewelry making are:
1. DollarBead.com
For beginners hoping that beads could bankroll their business, this is the first place to get
started.
The variety on offer here is great and with each costing just $1, there is a lot of
room for learning and experimenting with beads.
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It’s like an online dollar store but just for jewelry making supplies.
All shipments are charged a reasonable $5 flat and shipping time takes no more than days.
On average, I would usually get my shipment only 3 days from order! The packaging is no fuss with only simple strings holding the beads together.
This site works especially well if you have had your fair share of designer beads, and only looking for filler beads.
The range here could blow your mind, from seed beads to semi-precious gemstone beads, shell beads to glass beads, acrylic beads, pearls, plastic beads, and lots more.
I personally would think that every individual strand is worth more than its $1 price tag, sure I am happy for the price to stay that way! There will be times the site introduces new products, and again every new strand on sale is priced at a remarkable $1 pricing.
2. eBay.com
If you are looking for specific designs rather than generic pattern beads, eBay could be a better place. Because of the huge collection on eBay, you need to key in specific search terms to find what your look for.
Say you want just Swarovski crystal beads, then in the search box, you should specifically type out “Swarovski crystal beads”, to make sure nothing other than Swarovski crystals would get displayed.
If you are diligent in sifting through the results, you may just come across a few that falls below retail price, especially if these items are from China sellers.
If shipping time is a concern, you should narrow down your search to just suppliers based in continental America. eBay is excellent when it comes to variety and exclusivity for beads.
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Sometimes there could be less number of bids, especially if these concern the higher price bracket beads. So, you may just win outrageously expensive beads in the absence of intensified price war.
Another popular class of beads is Pandora beads. In general, I pretty much find what I look for in charms and Fimo beads from eBay without much problem, and the price I paid was not really a rip-off!
3. JewelrySupply.com
This is a useful site if you are looking for display and storage systems, a necessary feature if you sell your handcrafted jewelry at crafts fairs or even storefronts.
I routinely turn to this site prior to participating in the various craft show events. The price tags look decent and they also guarantee fast shipping at a reasonable rate.
There are also beads and charms on sale here, but I find the collection too limited for my liking.
The only exception is the findings selection. Not only the range is impressive, it
probably offers the lowest price among all other sites I know!
4. JesseJamesBeads.com
In my opinion, not many suppliers can beat this site in terms of the range and diversity of beads and other jewelry-making resources!
Jesse James Beads also have physical storefronts but the best place to view their entire extensive collection is their website.
It is noteworthy that this place does not overcharge. In addition, there is also the 30% off coupon if the buyers are willing to show off their original jewelry designs.
The catch is that these pictures should depict their bead packs in the designs.
The collection is huge: ranging from semi-precious packs to glass packs, plastic packs to seed beads, tiny beads, glass pendants, pendant packs, crystal strands, pearl strands, and many, many more.
It also boasts of fast and efficient shipping. On top of that reliability, a hand-written note would also accompany every shipment from the sales representative who processed your order.
5. FireMountainGems.com
Some like to call this the mother of all beading sites, and this accolade is not without its
merit! Whether you make jewelry for business or as a hobby, you can find anything and everything you ever needed for your jewelry craft here.
Free tutorials on designing jewelry, excellent customer service, all shipments regardless of size are charged $5 flat for shipping, and the easy user navigation all make Firemountain Gems the best website any jewelry artist can ever find.
Moreover, there is also the bulk purchase scheme! It is split into 4 discount tiers and the discount goes steeper as you purchase more.
Other than that, you are also entitled to a free gift every time you order.
There is this opt-in scheme where you can register to access all of the tutorials and newsletters.
Don’t miss out on their free comprehensive jewelry-makers catalog. You can find interesting ideas, stunning photographs, and of course the full range of jewelry items on sale here.
6. Hobby Lobby
Hobby Lobby is sort of like a good old fashion craft department store. It operates chain stores with a footprint that spans many states.
Its average store covers a floor area that is substantially larger than usual craft supply stores, and it is easy to get lost inside the store itself.
It has an impressive collection of jewelry findings, but what I find even more interesting are the non-conventional crafting supplies that are outside of the jewelry aisle. This stuff can be wonderful sources to make pendants, earrings, and other unique pieces.
For me, a trip down Hobby Lobby often provides inspiration to create my own new brand of jewelry craft by simply looking at these “alternative” supplies.
Beautiful blog post! Thank you for including us in your write up. We love selling unique and colorful beads, glad to know the guys and gals at MoneyPantry like them also. Thanks!
Thanks for stopping by, Sarah.
I am glad you included Fire Mountain Gems on your list. I shop several places but this is always my first stop. Great quality, selection and very reasonable.