Repairing Sold Wholesale Jewelry
Anybody in the business of making wholesale jewelry should also have the knowledge of making repairs to the jewelry they sell. Customer relation can be greatly enhanced by offer your clients extras such as free repairs or repairs at a discounted rate. Your jewelry business should be able to guarantee the items you have sold and offer repairs for free or replacements for a specified time time after the sale. Offering guarantees and free repairs are simply good business gestures that will put you above your competition in the eyes of those who matter the most: your customers.
Repairing jewelry you have hand crafted yourself is a trivial matter. Typical repairs for jewelry are usually basic things like such as the replacement of a faulty component on the jewelry, like a clasp that no longer works or embedded stones that have come loose of its casing. Such work can be accomplished very quickly, and at marginal expense to your business.
If you run an online jewelry store and rely on drop shipments to your customers, you will still be required to offer some kind of a guarantee system that allows for free repairs for a certain period of time after the sale. This is a small gesture that costs you little in the long term but can bring about immediate benefits in terms of customer satisfaction. To that end, you will need to acquire some jewelry repair skills, and will need to buy the appropriate tools for the job. These are specialized tools, small in size since they were designed for the repair or manufacture of jewelry. Luckily for you these tools are quite affordable.
Other important items you need to repair jewelry include a magnifying glass with a stand of its own. The purpose of such an item is to give you the use of both your hands when doing the repairs while magnifying the intricacies of the tiny jewelry. A good lighting setup where the light can be directly focused on the jewelry as you repair it is also vital. These items are necessary for the task of repairing tiny pieces of jewelry while avoid eye strain.
Supplies like as chains, clasps, and even gemstones may be necessary for replacements. Do not overstock these items as you will almost never use it all, so go with your gut on this one.
It would make sense to ask your wholesale supplier if they themselves have any guarantees on their products. If so, you don't have to bother with doing the repairs yourself, instruct your clients to return the faulty jewelry to you or to send it straight to the wholesale company who should then proceed to conduct any necessary repairs. Your clients shouldn't be left alone to deal with the wholesale company; follow up on them and inquire about the state of repairs. It's bad business to push your customer off to a third party and not show interest. In any case, taking a course or even reading a few books about repairing or hand crafting or isn't a bad idea regardless of your wholesale provider's stance on repairs. A new skill is always good to have.
For more information on jewelry repairs, check out:
http://www.ehow.com/video_4433066_jewelry-repair-fabrication.html
http://gometaldetecting.com/jewelry-repair.htm
http://www.jewelrysupply.com/jewelry_making_supply_tools.html