Wholesale Silver Jewelry

1. WHAT IS STERLING SILVER WHOLESALE?
   
2. IS YOUR SILVER STAMPED '925? IS IT STERLING PURITY? IS IT PLATED? IS IT REAL?
   
3. HOW DO I CARE FOR STERLING SILVER?
   
4. WHAT TYPES OF GEMSTONES ARE SET IN YOUR STERLING SILVER WHOLESALE JEWELRY?
   
5. HOW MUCH DOES SILVER JEWELRY RETAIL FOR? IS THERE A SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE?
   
6. WHAT IS A RECOMMENDED STARTING ORDER SIZE?
   
7. WHICH ARE THE BEST SILVER JEWELRY DESIGNS?
   
8. WHERE CAN I BUY DISPLAYS, SUPPLIES AND TOOLS?
   
9. DO YOU SELL OTHER STERLING SILVER JEWELRY WHOLESALE PRODUCTS?
   
10. DO YOU KNOW WHERE I CAN BUY OTHER STERLING SILVER WHOLESALE?
    
11. HOW OFTEN DO YOU GET NEW INVENTORY?
    
12. WHAT ABOUT SILVER RING SIZES?
    
13. WHERE DO PEOPLE SELL YOUR WHOLESALE STERLING SILVER JEWELRY?
    
14. DO YOU DROPSHIP?
    
15. WHAT ARE STERLING SILVER JEWELRY WHOLESALE ASSORTMENTS?
    

1. WHAT IS STERLING SILVER WHOLESALE?

Pure bullion silver (.999 Fine) is too soft to make into jewelry, so an alloy is made by adding around 6-7% copper and a tiny amount of zinc or nickel. The resulting alloy is identified as .925 or "Sterling" silver. SilverSource Sterling Silver Wholesale Jewelry guarantees the solid Sterling purity of every sterling silver wholesale item we sell, and we laboratory assay-test samples frequently from all our manufacturers to ensure consistent sterling silver wholesale purity.

2. IS YOUR SILVER STAMPED '925? IS IT STERLING PURITY? IS IT PLATED? IS IT REAL?

SilverSource has always guaranteed, in writing, the solid sterling silver purity of every item we sell. We back this guarantee with consistent laboratory assay-testing of all our products, and our longstanding spotless reputation as the leading silver jewelry wholesaler in the trade. In fact, to the best of our knowledge SilverSource was the first wholesaler in the trade to make an absolute guarantee of purity, in writing, on every item we sell. Other wholesalers have since tried to follow suit, usually with weasel-words such as "Stamped 925 to assure quality" or similar text, but you should research any supplier and purchase carefully. Anyone can of course stamp any piece of metal with whatever he chooses. US federal law already requires stamping of all precious metal jewelry items regardless; this minimum requirement is a given fact to which all wholesalers are already subject.

Everything in our inventory is stamped "925". This mark is the longstanding and internationally accepted mark signifying Sterling silver purity. There is one small caveat - the extremely rare possibility of an exception. Theoretically, if an ultra-lightweight ring were made only of very, very thin wire, there could conceivably be no room for a stamp without damaging the item itself. However, every item we currently stock, across all categories, is indeed stamped. Again, know that regardless of its stamp, the solid Sterling silver purity of everything SilverSource sells is absolutely guaranteed.

Rhodium. We do not plate our merchandise with the metal rhodium, as is common in the trade. Rhodium is an exceedingly bright and shiny, cold-looking metal which does not tarnish easily. It has an appearance and function similar to chrome on an automobile bumper. It will not acquire the same special warm patina as genuine sterling silver over time, and eventually wears off in an unsightly and uneven manner. Rhodium plating is widely used in the silver jewelry trade as an easy, cheap way to cut corners and bypass the necessary labor and expense of properly finishing and polishing the best quality wholesale sterling silver jewelry.

Everything we sell is unplated, and all items are made of solid sterling silver metal, except in such instances where being hollow is an integral part of the design, as in hoop earrings made of sterling silver tubing for example. One little-known fact is that United States law allows for silver purity to range down to a low of .915 and still be labelled '925'. On almost all occasions, the purity of our merchandise usually assays significantly above .925, often around .931 or .933. Assay testing involves melting sample pieces of jewelry and subjecting them to sophisticated computer chromofluoroscopic analysis. We have been continually assay testing samples of our merchandise for well over a decade, and we stand behind the purity of everything we sell, backed by the spotless reputation and full resources of the SilverSource brand. You may confidently present anything of ours to your retail buyers as the genuine article, backed by our absolute guarantee.

In rare instances, purity can assay lower than 925 (but still well within the federal Sterling standard) on localized specific solder points in hand-forged (as opposed to cast) jewelry. Precious metal solder is a slightly different alloy in order to give it a lower melting point than the main body of the jewelry. In this way, working a piece of fine silver jewelry with a torch will join surfaces but leave the rest of the work intact. If an item has a great many solder points, it can slightly decrease purity overall, but we have found this to be an exceptionally rare occurence.

Silver can display a fascinatingly diverse range of tones, all the way from jet black, to a dull sheen like a 'tin' steel can, to looking as bright and shiny as polished aluminum foil. Over the years we have had many, many samples tested which looked suspiciously like they might be base metal, but which definitively tested pure by chromofluoroscopic analysis in a very reputable specialized independent assay laboratory.

3. HOW DO I CARE FOR STERLING SILVER?

Sterling silver is a metal that is meant to be worn. Left on top of a night stand, silver will tarnish. One way to prevent silver from tarnishing between displays or wearings is to keep the jewelry in cloth pouches or Zip-closure plastic bags. A silver cloth is the best way to remove tarnish from jewelry. Over time, liquid cleaners tend to yellow the metal (although buffing will bring back the original shine). Light mechanical buffing with a soft polish-treated cloth usually works best.

4. WHAT TYPES OF GEMSTONES ARE SET IN YOUR STERLING SILVER WHOLESALE JEWELRY?

Our sterling silver wholesale jewelry is set with high quality gemstones, or cubic zirconia when in the CZ jewelry product categories. Where possible, we try to list the gemstones you can expect in your order. All gem stones are sold pre-mixed, and cannot be customized.

Each silver ring or silver earring shown onsite is accompanied by a description of the gemstone set in its particular photo example. Thus a good way to get to know the gemstones used in our silver jewelry is by scrolling through all the individual products onsite. The most frequently set gems are:

* amethyst
* carnelian
* citrine
* garnet
* iolite
* lapis
* malachite
* moonstone
* peridot
* pearl
* turquoise

More infrequently set stones include:

* aquamarine
* blue topaz
* emerald
* jade
* marcasite
* onyx
* ruby
* sapphire
* smoky quartz
* spectrolite
* sunstone
* tigereye
* tourmaline

5. HOW MUCH DOES SILVER JEWELRY RETAIL FOR? IS THERE A SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE?

Sterling silver wholesale is hyper-popular and easy to sell. We advise retailers to simply lay all their sterling silver jewelry wholesale stock in front of them and 'meditate' on it until a reasonable pricing structure comes to mind. Give it a try and see how it goes. If not, adjust your prices again by trial and error.

Your minimum markup on sterling silver jewelry wholesale is usually 3 times your cost (a.k.a.: "triple-keystone"). Often you can get significantly more--it all depends on your market--but the wonderful thing about sterling silver wholesale is the huge gap between the public's perceived value and your actual sterling silver jewelry wholesale cost. After all, you're selling real precious metal and gemstones (or cubic zirconia). With keystone pricing you'd retail each piece at around US$3.00-$15.00 each, and shoppers find such prices hard to resist, indeed.

6. WHAT IS A RECOMMENDED STARTING ORDER SIZE?

A standard ring tray holds six dozen (72) rings. If you assume an average cost of around $2.25 per ring, this equals roughly $160 per ring tray. Standard ring trays are 14 inches wide by 8 inches deep. A typical 10 foot wide flea market space could display circa 8 ring trays, running 1, 2 or 3 trays deep.

Essentially, the more you have on display the more you'll sell. It's also advisable to have backstock for variable ring sizes, and for refills as your stock sells out. Displaying only one tray of rings probably won't be enough to entice flea market shoppers to stop at your table; they're attracted by abundance. How much you choose to start with is a decision you'll need to make, and hard to advise. $300 would be an OK start, although $500 is more generous for a decent display. On the other hand, plenty of our buyers have started successful silver jewelry businesses with only a $50 minimum order. They then sold the jewelry online or to family, friends and co-workers on a face-to-face basis. With each reorder, they then build larger inventory.

7. WHICH ARE THE BEST SILVER JEWELRY DESIGNS?

In all honesty, pretty much every item onsite is a market-tested bestseller. SilverSource has been in business for well over a decade, having started out as a retail seller buying from other wholesalers, then manufacturing/importing directly, out of frustration with their offerings. There are literally thousands upon thousands of jewelry designs out there; much of it not so nice or even downright awful. SilverSource, on the other hand, only stocks a carefully chosen selection of the very best designs. Only these carefully chosen and retail-tested designs are the ones which are proven to really move. Anything which sells slowly we can closeout to a short list of price-obsessed bulk closeout buyers, or even just melt down when the price of raw silver bullion gets high enough. The result is that any slow movers are meticulously whisked offsite, and everything presented for sale is tested and prime.

We suggest you simply click around onsite and go shopping. Every merchant displays a selection of wares which represents her personal hunches and taste, to create an harmonious total offering, the overall feel of her shop. That said, try to think outside your own perspective too, and also consider what others might like, say, for example, a young girl who might like cute symbolic designs such as suns, hearts or flowers. Some women go for big stones and flash, others for small, tasteful gems in intricate settings. Everyone has different tastes. Just choose what you like, click around and let your own aesthetic sense be your guide. We strongly believe, and our reorder statistics and feedback confirm, that your sales results will prove out the wisdom of your choices.

8. WHERE CAN I BUY DISPLAYS, SUPPLIES AND TOOLS?

For displays, jewelry supplies and tools we recommend (click to visit:) Fetpak, Noblepack, or JSP to our sterling silver jewelry wholesale customers.

9. DO YOU SELL OTHER STERLING SILVER JEWELRY WHOLESALE PRODUCTS?

At this time we specialize in sterling silver wholesale rings and earrings. We also sell sterling silver wholesale chains on our sister site, (click to visit:)

SilverSource-Chains.com

SilverSource Wholesale Jewelry Supply does not currently sell jewelry displays, gold, platinum, or base-metal/costume jewelry, pendants, sliders, charms, findings, beads, clasps, bullion, wire and sheet silver or proprietary branded merchandise other than our own wholesale jewelry line. Unfortunately we usually can't special-order such items. As time goes by we plan to always expand our sterling silver jewelry wholesale product line whenever practical.

10. DO YOU KNOW WHERE I CAN BUY OTHER STERLING SILVER WHOLESALE?

A thousand sincere apologies, but...Nope! If a sterling silver jewelry wholesale product is not currently in our catalog we cannot help you locate the item.

11. HOW OFTEN DO YOU GET NEW INVENTORY?

New styles tend to arrive on fairly unpredictable schedules. We buy from a wide range of manufacturers in many different countries. New designs are always in development, and we usually start with a limited size-range test of each new design. If they're good we then manufacture larger quantities, which can take months to model, mould, cast, forge, assemble, polish, package and then transport through international and US Customs. The results of this process are always streaming in at odd times.

Our online catalog has everything that's in stock at any given moment, and is updated daily. Eventually, we plan to send out notifications of new arrivals to everyone who opts in to receive them. Until notification functionality is in place however, your best bet is to check our site for new items from time to time, ideally on a weekly basis.

12. WHAT ABOUT SILVER RING SIZES?

Women's rings generally range from sizes 4 to 8 and men's rings 9-13 (keep in mind these are general guidelines). Sizes often go above and below these ranges depending on the designs. Sizes 3 or 4 do sell steadily to, for example, children and teens, slender women (especially those of college-age) or to anyone who might wish to wear a ring on his or her pinky-finger.

Generally, by far the bestselling sizes are 6, 7 and 8. If you're selling to a more mature crowd, and/or in an area of the country where people tend to be stocky, heavy or obese, women's ring sizes can often range into 9, 10, 11 or even larger. The best approach is to stock the widest variety of sizes you can get.

We have a lot of sterling silver wholesale and retail ring sales experience, and we always encourage feedback from our sterling silver jewelry wholesale customers, so we're usually pretty good about providing the bestselling sizes.

We list the sizes available in the product description for each sterling silver wholesale ring style. PLEASE NOTE: FRACTIONAL RING SIZES ARE GROUPED UNDER THE NEXT-LOWEST WHOLE SIZE. THIS MEANS, FOR EXAMPLE THAT SIZES 6, 6-1/2 and 6-7/8 WILL ALL BE SOLD AS "SIZE 6". "Adj." in the size charts refers to adjustable rings. Sterling silver wholesale jewelry ASSORTMENTS ARE MADE UP OF A PRE-ASSORTED MIX OF POPULAR SIZES. All sterling silver wholesale orders are subject to availability.

13. WHERE DO PEOPLE SELL YOUR WHOLESALE STERLING SILVER JEWELRY?

Many of our buyers have retail shops or silver jewelry kiosks in shopping malls. Some sell at swap meets, flea markets, festivals and fairs. Others sell to friends and family at jewelry parties, or to colleagues at work. Some sell on the Internet, on their own websites and on auction sites such as eBay. Some silver jewelry sellers arrange a jewelry show at lunch time in their workplace cafeteria or break room.

College campuses are another great venue to sell silver jewelry, and college students are the ideal demographic for the product. Often you can arrange a tent and tables setup by paying a daily fee, through the college bookstore or as a sorority fundraiser (if they look at you like you've just landed from outer space when you ask about the idea, persist. You've found virgin territory). The best times to sell are during the first few weeks of a semester. The most lucrative schools have higher enrollments (verifiable via college admissions guides found in any library).

14. DO YOU DROPSHIP?

The minimum wholesale order on SilverSource.com is US$50. SilverSource does not dropship, nor do we have an affiliate sales program. Our customers buy merchandise first, then sell actual items directly from stock at hand.

Why?

There are many reasons:

--Drop shipping and affiliate sales can be somewhat of a scam, in the sense that you as a merchant will likely pay far more than you should for the products you resell. Prima facie, any sales price which covers processing labor and freight for only a single relatively low-priced item, but which still allows for any significant, worthwhile profit for both you and the originating wholesaler, is almost assuredly a contradiction in terms, and not likely a feasible reality in a highly competitive marketplace. At best, prices from wholesalers who dropship will likely be around 2 to 5 or more times higher than prices at SilverSource.com. Therefore if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Drop shipping and affiliate sales are similar to predatory lending, or rent-to-own products. Dishonest providers prey upon those who want to start their own businesses, and victimize those don't have sufficient capital to purchase inventory. In such scenarios, be assured that the dropshipper will get the lion's share, with an astronomical markup over cost. You, on the other hand, will do all the labor but harvest only crumbs.

--SilverSource sells handmade artisanal goods imported from all over the earth. These wholesale jewelry designs arrive on unpredictable schedules, and can sell out on an intra-day basis. Demand is constant and strong, while supply can sometimes encounter bottlenecks. Because of production times, as well as delays due to shipping and international customs processing, it is often a challenge to consistently keep the same styles and sizes in stock at all times. If your business plan is to take individual retail orders in advance from pictures, and then fill those orders from the SilverSource website later, it could be a frustrating experience, because items can sell out quickly, and we can only promise in-stock inventory right at the time you place your wholesale order.

--Jewelry shopping, especially for silver jewelry with its low retail price-point, tends to work best as a direct tactile experience - ideally as an immediate impulse purchase, from jewelry physically at hand.

That said, dropshipping does work for some businesses, usually on very expensive items for which a small percentage commission can still amount to something. Keep in mind that whatever the product, there must be significant enough room in the markup. These conditions are rare, and hard to acheive: it requires high demand coupled with short supply, as well as some kind of proprietary lock on the product such as a patent or exclusive licensing agreement. Such a scenario is pretty much nonexistent anywhere and at any level within the entire jewelry industry, from platinum and diamond luxury goods at the high end, down to base metal costume jewelry at the lowest end of the trade.

15. WHAT ARE STERLING SILVER JEWELRY WHOLESALE ASSORTMENTS?

Sterling silver jewelry wholesale ASSORTMENTS are a great way to save money. Building upon years of customer feedback and retail-tested expertise, we carefully plan manufacturing quantities to create sterling silver wholesale assortments in bulk. Labor costs involved with customized sterling silver wholesale orders are reduced, and the savings get passed to you!

YOU GET quality SilverSource® pre-assorted mixes of our popular sterling silver wholesale jewelry, without the 3 piece minimum for specific designs. NEW to the silver business? Assortments make excellent retail starter kits, too! PLUS, hot new designs not yet catalogued may be included in sterling silver wholesale assortments as they are created.