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Post by holajonathan on Jul 30, 2021 21:43:12 GMT -5
jasoninsd Ok, I will throw my 2 cents in (no pun intended) A lot of the pricing depends on who your market is. If your selling on Internet, then you are going to reach more folks and your prices can be somewhat higher. If selling at a local Craft or Rock Show then you may need to price them lower, really depends on the crowd. Another factor to consider, at the Craft Shows I do, a Fairburn or a TeePee Canyon agate does not normally register with most buyers. On the other hand the Botswana's are more striking and might attract more interest. Rare or hard to get does not translate to higher prices at a Craft Show As I have mentioned more than once, I sell to make "Beer and Gas" money. I do try and weight the effort or cost into the price but I don't lose any sleep thinking that I may have priced something too low. I have no interest in building a 6 page spreadsheet to track every tiny expense per stone. If I was selling wrapped pendants, they would be priced higher than my shaped/tumbled/drilled/pinch bailed pieces as the effort involved in the latter is in theory less than the wrapped pieces. There is one more odd factor to boggle your mind, sometimes priced cheap translates to the item must be of cheap or lower quality. That's a tough to wrap ones head around. Here again I don't lose much sleep pondering that one. I would suggest a trial Show with a few pieces and see how they do. Or a trial posting on-line somewhere. Good luck Henry "... sometimes priced cheap translates to the item must be of cheap or lower quality." Here's a strategy: price some of your pieces very high, and most at the higher end up reasonable. No one will buy the really high priced ones, but potential customers will perceive that your work is valuable, or that you are capable of producing very valuable pieces. The lower priced ones will seem to be a good value. Here's another strategy: let's say you want to sell cabs for $40 each. Price them at 1 for $55 or 2 for $80. Buying 2 seems like a good discount. If they are priced 1 for $40 and 2 for $75, buying two does not seem like such a great deal. Not sure if these sort of pricing strategies work selling cabs, but they seem to have worked well for me selling other things on Ebay over the past decade. The bottom line is that no one really knows what any particular cabochon is worth because that depends on how much someone likes it and is willing to pay. And most people don't know how much they should like it or how much they should pay. So can use your pricing to help them reach certain conclusions. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Jul 30, 2021 21:46:58 GMT -5
jasoninsd Ok, I will throw my 2 cents in (no pun intended) A lot of the pricing depends on who your market is. If your selling on Internet, then you are going to reach more folks and your prices can be somewhat higher. If selling at a local Craft or Rock Show then you may need to price them lower, really depends on the crowd. Another factor to consider, at the Craft Shows I do, a Fairburn or a TeePee Canyon agate does not normally register with most buyers. On the other hand the Botswana's are more striking and might attract more interest. Rare or hard to get does not translate to higher prices at a Craft Show As I have mentioned more than once, I sell to make "Beer and Gas" money. I do try and weight the effort or cost into the price but I don't lose any sleep thinking that I may have priced something too low. I have no interest in building a 6 page spreadsheet to track every tiny expense per stone. If I was selling wrapped pendants, they would be priced higher than my shaped/tumbled/drilled/pinch bailed pieces as the effort involved in the latter is in theory less than the wrapped pieces. There is one more odd factor to boggle your mind, sometimes priced cheap translates to the item must be of cheap or lower quality. That's a tough to wrap ones head around. Here again I don't lose much sleep pondering that one. I would suggest a trial Show with a few pieces and see how they do. Or a trial posting on-line somewhere. Good luck Henry Regarding "Rare or hard to get does not translate to higher prices at a Craft Show." I recently showed my parents a bunch of my tumbled rocks and asked them to pick out a favorite. My dad took a big piece of Kambaba jasper, and my mom chose rainbow obsidian. She thought the Royal Imperial Jasper was "weird" and the condor agate nodules were "cute," but she liked the rainbow obsidian better. I find that the general public tends to like well-polished rainbow or sheen obsidian, agates with fortification banding, bright colored rocks, crazy lace agate, and things that sparkle. People who aren't into rocks are less likely to get excited most plume agates, moss agates, or anything that you have to look at closely to appreciate. That's my experience at least. Good points Johnathan!  I encountered the same thing when my mom was picking out her first wrap. She zeroed in on a Crazy Lace wrap that I had done! LOL That's kind of funny about the Imperial and Condor...two I would likely be drooling over!  I mentioned it before...my wife really likes cabs and wraps that I would not put in my top 10...but it's a definite different strokes for different folks kinda thing! I think I really need to take a hard look at some of the cabs and wraps I make, as so far, it's always been something that "I've" loved...rather than thinking of what someone else might appreciate better than I do. Sometimes you've gotta play to your audience... |
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Post by jasoninsd on Jul 30, 2021 23:35:16 GMT -5
jasoninsd Ok, I will throw my 2 cents in (no pun intended) A lot of the pricing depends on who your market is. If your selling on Internet, then you are going to reach more folks and your prices can be somewhat higher. If selling at a local Craft or Rock Show then you may need to price them lower, really depends on the crowd. Another factor to consider, at the Craft Shows I do, a Fairburn or a TeePee Canyon agate does not normally register with most buyers. On the other hand the Botswana's are more striking and might attract more interest. Rare or hard to get does not translate to higher prices at a Craft Show As I have mentioned more than once, I sell to make "Beer and Gas" money. I do try and weight the effort or cost into the price but I don't lose any sleep thinking that I may have priced something too low. I have no interest in building a 6 page spreadsheet to track every tiny expense per stone. If I was selling wrapped pendants, they would be priced higher than my shaped/tumbled/drilled/pinch bailed pieces as the effort involved in the latter is in theory less than the wrapped pieces. There is one more odd factor to boggle your mind, sometimes priced cheap translates to the item must be of cheap or lower quality. That's a tough to wrap ones head around. Here again I don't lose much sleep pondering that one. I would suggest a trial Show with a few pieces and see how they do. Or a trial posting on-line somewhere. Good luck Henry "... sometimes priced cheap translates to the item must be of cheap or lower quality." Here's a strategy: price some of your pieces very high, and most at the higher end up reasonable. No one will buy the really high priced ones, but potential customers will perceive that your work is valuable, or that you are capable of producing very valuable pieces. The lower priced ones will seem to be a good value. Here's another strategy: let's say you want to sell cabs for $40 each. Price them at 1 for $55 or 2 for $80. Buying 2 seems like a good discount. If they are priced 1 for $40 and 2 for $75, buying two does not seem like such a great deal. Not sure if these sort of pricing strategies work selling cabs, but they seem to have worked well for me selling other things on Ebay over the past decade. The bottom line is that no one really knows what any particular cabochon is worth because that depends on how much someone likes it and is willing to pay. And most people don't know how much they should like it or how much they should pay. So can use your pricing to help them reach certain conclusions. I thought I responded to this... It's been a long time since I've been in sales...other than trying to sell my wife on the idea of me needing more rocks! LOL Those are some very good selling strategies that I'd forgotten all about. I know which ones I'd price on the really high side...the ones I don't really want to sell anyway! LOL |
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Post by Starguy on Aug 2, 2021 11:16:26 GMT -5
jasoninsd The wraps are awesome. Botswana agates are one of my favorites. You did a fantastic job enhancing the stones as well as making them useful for jewelry.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 2, 2021 12:44:44 GMT -5
jasoninsd The wraps are awesome. Botswana agates are one of my favorites. You did a fantastic job enhancing the stones as well as making them useful for jewelry. Thanks Brent! They're becoming one of my favorites to work. They take an amazing polish and the fortifications can be absolutely stunning at times! I've got some preforms ready to go...they just need to find their way into the lineup. LOL |
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Post by Starguy on Aug 2, 2021 13:19:49 GMT -5
jasoninsdHave you found a parallax shadow Bot yet? They are so cool
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 2, 2021 13:26:47 GMT -5
jasoninsd Have you found a parallax shadow Bot yet? They are so cool I've got a couple that I think would be close, but I don't think they'd actually be classified as such. Dangit! LOL |
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Post by Starguy on Aug 2, 2021 13:31:46 GMT -5
You’ll know when you see one. I got most of my bots from The Rock Shed. I’ve found several shadow banders. You can see them during coarse grind when they are wet. |
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 2, 2021 13:42:45 GMT -5
You’ll know when you see one. I got most of my bots from The Rock Shed. I’ve found several shadow banders. You can see them during coarse grind when they are wet. Does this one qualify?  |
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Post by Starguy on Aug 2, 2021 13:49:50 GMT -5
Can you see a shadow moving around when you rock it back and forth? That’s going to make an awesome cab!
in the video above you can see the shadow mostly in the upper left of the stone.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 2, 2021 13:55:39 GMT -5
Can you see a shadow moving around when you rock it back and forth? That’s going to make an awesome cab! in the video above you can see the shadow mostly in the upper left of the stone. I think it's going to be a killer cab...another one I'll have a hard time letting go! LOL I just tried to find a shadow...I didn't see any shadowing...dangit! LOL |
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Post by Starguy on Aug 2, 2021 16:50:02 GMT -5
Keep working Shawn’s Bots, You’ll find one. They’re too cool.
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Post by drocknut on Aug 2, 2021 18:24:03 GMT -5
Those are all beauties. I love Botswana Agates especially with the paralax in them.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 2, 2021 19:08:36 GMT -5
Keep working Shawn’s Bots, You’ll find one. They’re too cool. I've gotten mine from The Gem Shop online. I'll have to check and see what Shawn has on hand the next time I head up into the Hills. That way I can handpick through what he's got! Those are all beauties. I love Botswana Agates especially with the paralax in them. Thanks Diane! I love the overall looks (they have fortifications, so that's a given! LOL) as well as the way they work! They're definitely becoming a favorite! |
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Post by holajonathan on Aug 6, 2021 4:21:56 GMT -5
When the camera only wants to focus on the background... and when you finally get it to focus on the rock, you discover a bunch of dust particles that you didn't wipe off well enough... you know you've got a good shine! So if I tell you that in some of the photos the background is in better focus than the stone, please take it as a compliment. Other than using manual focus mode, which is a pain on a cell phone or point and shoot camera, it is tough to get well-polished rocks in focus for photos. It is for me, at least. I like the copper with #1, 3, and 5, but silver might have been better for the other two. It's hard to tell in photo, however. I do like the twisted square wire. Classy touch. |
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Post by miket on Aug 6, 2021 9:39:16 GMT -5
Very nice wraps, my friend.
No critiques here, sorry!
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 6, 2021 10:49:40 GMT -5
Very nice wraps, my friend. No critiques here, sorry! Thank you my friend! I was just cutting more preforms a few minutes ago. |
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Post by drocknut on Aug 14, 2021 14:07:11 GMT -5
All of those are beautiful. I love Bots but never though to wrap them with copper. I usually pair silver with Botswana Agate but the oxidized copper look rather good too (although with Bots they seem to look good wrapped in anything).
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 14, 2021 17:45:59 GMT -5
All of those are beautiful. I love Bots but never though to wrap them with copper. I usually pair silver with Botswana Agate but the oxidized copper look rather good too (although with Bots they seem to look good wrapped in anything). Thanks Diane! I can definitely see silver being used on Botswana! I used capper since I have more of that on hand at the moment!  |
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