To chain, or not to chain, that is the question

Afternoon wonderful people!

I just wanted to let you know about a couple of important changes to how necklaces and pendants are now listed on the website. This is a change that is about 75% done and the rest will be rolled out slowly but I think it’s going to have a couple of big and good impacts on the way you buy from me.

If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember that before Christmas I asked if people their preferences on if all pendants should be sold with or without the chain, with a choice of chains listed separately, and the majority of you fell into the following categories:

• You already have a main chain you prefer and just change the pendant, so you don’t want to end up with a bunch of chains you don’t want or need
• You don’t like having to change the pendant, so you want a chain included
• You want the option of being able to upgrade to a thicker chain, or a daintier, or budget-friendly option.

Some of you also had the following concerns:

• You didn’t want the burden of having to choose between chains and want me to make the decision for you
• You resent having to browse chains once you’ve picked a pendant
• You were worried that it would cost more this way.

 

I took all of this on board, along with some of your excellent suggestions and came up with a plan.

• Necklaces would be listed with two options:

1. 1. Pendant Only
   2. Pendant with the chain that I recommend based on the size and design of the piece

• A single listing would be made available for all chains, with 3 thickness/budget options in a variety of lengths.

This means that if you don’t want a chain you aren’t being charged for one you don’t need; if struggle with lots of options you can select the option with my recommendation; or lastly if you don’t agree with my recommendation you can opt for “pendant only” and then choose your chain separately.

 

Now, this has been a LOT of admin work and maths behind the scenes so you might be wondering why even bother with this change? Aside from people asking for different/no chains fairly regularly, I wanted to be able to upgrade the type of chains I use with my jewellery to a nicer and sturdier 1.7mm belcher. They’re a bit more expensive but I know that life is very expensive lately and I didn’t want to force you to embrace that change if you didn’t want it – and some of you were very honest that you didn’t. By doing it this way, I can recommend the better chains, but ultimately if you can’t afford it or don’t want it, you can just opt for the old kind (1.7mm trace).

 

The final concern – will this new way cost more? The short answer is “no” and for many pieces it’s ended up cheaper. To understand why, I need to explain how I price my jewellery.

Most jewellers use a formula like this* when working out how to price their work:

(Supplies + overheads + time) x2 = wholesale price 
Wholesale price x 2 = retail price

*this isn't the formula I use, it's just an example

Previously, the chains were added into the “supplies” part of the formula which was affected by time, meaning that essentially you’d end up paying more for the same chain in a more time-consuming piece of work than a simpler, quicker piece; and that didn’t seem fair.

Now that only the pendant price is calculated this way and all the chains are a flat price, it means that the more expensive pieces of jewellery I was making has actually come down in price and sometimes quite significantly!

 

I hope all this makes sense and you’re happy with the changes going forward.

If you’ve got any questions, pop them in the comments!

~ Riley x