Cheap Beads For Making Jewelry

The holiday season is in full swing and with a shortened shopping season and an uncertain economy a lot of people are turning to online shopping to save some time and money all at once.  If you’re going to shop online, why not actually make some money for yourself while doing it?  And, yes, this even works when you’re trying to save some money on beads!

There’s a new service called MemoLink that actually pays you to shop! It’s absolutely free to join  and super easy to use.  The way it works is you get “points” for shopping online or for completing surveys.  There are plenty of craft stores, jewelry stores and lots of other mainstream online stores to shop from including Walmart, Target, Overstock.com, Barnes and Nobles, eBay, JCPenney and hundreds more!  And even if you’re not going to shop much this season you can still get some points and rewards from filling out surveys.

Those points can then be redeemed at online stores like Amazon.com, Walmart, Kohl’s and the points can even be redeemed for cash!  So you can buy some gifts for your cousins at Best Buy and then with the points you get started on shopping for cheap beads and jewelry supplies for yourself on eBay!

There are actually hundreds of stores you can buy from and the items you buy don’t cost any more than they would normally.  In fact, MemoLink actually offers lots of special deals and online coupons that you wouldn’t normally get.  I’ve talked about how buying cheap jewelry beads online can really save you some cash, but with MemoLink you don’t only save some money but you actually end up making some as well!

And this is a service that can help you buy cheap beads and supplies all year around.  The more surveys you fill out and the more shopping online you do, the more points you get!  Imagine buying beads from Amazon for free and then making several beaded bracelets from them that you later sell at a craft show for $25 a piece!

When it comes to working all the angles on buying cheap beading supplies a strategy like this can really help you not only save money but actually increase the profits from your jewelry business as well.

So join MemoLink today and start making money for all the online shopping you’d normally do anyway!

Have you checked out GoodyBeads.com for cheap beads and jewelry supplies yet?  They’re an online bead and jewelry supply store, but they have a lot of good beads and pieces and even some unique items I haven’t seen elsewhere.  I tend to like the smaller online bead stores because I find they can have very good customer service, their websites are sometimes very easy to navigate and they often have unique and interesting beads for a lot less than you’d expect to pay from an independent store.

GoodBeads has a lot going for it, but one of the best parts about ordering from them is their free shipping deal for bead orders shipped in the United States and Canada.  For the United States you have to order $35 worth of beads and for Canada it’s $100 or more.

I also like that they offer a ton of different categories of beads, including some products where the profits are donated to charity and even some very unique items (like pens and salad forks) that are designed to have beads put on them for decoration!  Very cool!

And if you order something from GoodyBeads, here’s an online coupon code you can use to save $10.00 off your next order with them. When you place your order simply type the code CRAFTS2 in the coupon code box.

The coupon code expires on 4/30/2009 and I’m not sure about all the restrictions and how long it will really last.  Please drop me a comment if you try this code and it works (or doesn’t work) for you!

Did you know Fire Mountain Gems has a special program for bead jewelry artists and organizations that order a high volume beads, supplies or other items through them?  The program is called “Platinum Partners” and to be a member of this exclusive club you have to place $5,000 worth of merchandise from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads within a rolling 12 month period.  Everyone is evaluated on a monthly basis and they will notify you when you’ve ordered enough to qualify!

Being a Fire Mountain Gem Platinum Partner definitely helps you buy your beading supplies for a lot less money, but there are actually a few other great benefits.  Here is what being a Fire Mountain Gem Platinum Partner gets you:

Platinum Partners always pay the cheapest price available on their orders, whether they are ordering one bead or a crate full of clasps!  That means you’ll always pay as though you’re ordering 200 or more of the item even though you may only be ordering a few beads and some minor jewelry supplies to keep you going.

Special upgrading mailing on the latest Fire Mountain Gems and Beads catalog means that you’ll get your catalog before most other customers.

You’ll have access to special Platinum Partner phone operators who will be able to answer your questions or place orders via a toll-free number.

A special weekly Platinum Partner email which will examine worldwide jewelry trends and even present specials on items not yet available to regular customers.

And just in case you thought being a Fire Mountain Gems Platinum Partner was the top of the ladder, there is also a Platinum Partners Plus program where you can save another 10% of the lowest price listed on the Fire Mountain Gems website.  To qualify you have to purchase $15,000 or more within a 12 month period.

I don’t expect to get to that level any time soon, it’s good to know that if I ever do get there I’ll still be able to save money on my beading supplies!

One of the ways to make sure you are buying your beads for the right price and selling your handcrafted jewelry or for the proper charge is by using a sophisticated method to keep track of your expenditures and profit margins with specialized beaded jewelry software.

By measuring how much you spend on your beads you can use this jewelry software to not only automatically figure out your cost-per-bead for you but you can also keep track of bead sales and even keep track of of the vendors with the lowest price for specific beads you use often!

There are lots of handcrafted bead jewelry software packages available, but only a few of them are specially designed to handle the inventory problems that come with having a lot of beads and making a lot of different pieces of jewelry.  Some jewelry software programs are very expensive and have lots of features and some are fairly inexpensive but lack some of the more useful features you may need.  When you’re shopping for jewelry software always try to see if you can see photos of what the screens look like or even try to see a video demonstration of the software being used.

One of the most widely used and yet still affordable options is Bead Manager Pro, which has all of the features a home-based handcrafted jewelry business should need for quite some time.

Here are some of the things you can do with Bead Manager Pro:

Track Bead Inventory and Jewelry Supplies Instantly: Being able to keep track of what you have and what you need is essential when you’re trying to run an efficient jewelry business from your home.  You can enter all the beads you have in stock or just the important ones to your inventory over time.  Either way you can quickly determine if you have all the beads you need to build a certain piece of jewelry at any given time.

Help With Pricing Your Jewelry So You’re Profitable: Once you have your beads entered into the inventory system you can use Bead Manager Pro to “build” a piece of jewelry and tell it exactly how many of each piece you’re using.  Bead Manager Pro will then offer you some different pricing structures based on your selling situation.  No more guessing if you’re making money or not!

Ability to Create Professional Invoices: Don’t sell your beautiful handcrafted jewelry with a little carbon paper receipt that looks like it was scribbled on!  Set a professional tone by printing invoices that clearly have your contact information so that your customers can later call you up or visit your website if they want to buy more of your jewelry!

Export Data: Bead Manager Pro can even export its data so that you can use the data in other programs if you wish.  The data export is exported in a standard format that can be read or used in programs like Microsoft Excel and Word.

Bead Manager Pro is used by a lot of professionals and it’s a great way to start growing your handcrafted beaded jewelry hobby into a profitable business!

You may also want to read some other reviews of jewelry software that are available today.

Halloween is right around the corner and if you’re like me then you’re gearing up for all the fall craft shows buy making plenty of halloween themed beaded jewelry.  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and making jewelry with halloween beads always gives me a little kick!

Click on the photo for more cheap Halloween lampwork beads, charms and lots of other cheap beading supplies for Halloween at OrientalTrading.com!

Halloween is a fun holiday but it isn’t one of those holidays where people want to spend a lot of money on beaded jewelry.  I understand that so I always try to price my Halloween bead jewelry a little lower than my regular bead jewelry, but to make sure I stay profitable and still make money at my fall craft shows I use some techniques to make sure I buy my Halloween beads without spending a lot of money.

The key to making money selling Halloween jewelry is to make sure you buy cheap Halloween beads. Here are some tips you can use to buy cheap beads for Halloween or any holiday!

Buy Cheap Beads from Discount Stores: I’ve written about the importance of buying cheap beads from discount stores in the past, but for Halloween beads and other holiday items this is especially important.  Halloween items always have high prices before Halloween and low prices afterwards.  Regular and specialty bead shops will have high prices initially to make the most profit they can, but discount stores don’t need to grab the high profit because their strategy is to sell high quantities of items at lower prices.  As a result the price of Halloween and holiday beads at discount stores won’t vary as much and you can be sure you’re always paying a low price for your beads.

Buy Cheap Halloween Beads in Bulk or Wholesale: You can buy any sort of bead in bulk or wholesale, but a lot of people forget that beads for a specific holiday like Halloween can be saved and reused from year to year, regardless of style or trends.  I mean, no matter what the fashion trends are from one year to the next I’m sure I’ll always be able to sell beaded bracelets with black cat beads and beaded earrings with Halloween Jack-O-Lantern beads on them!

Buy Up Those Cheap Halloween Beads in November: I love to go shopping the day after Halloween for beads at all the local craft stores and online sites because I can always get great deals that I couldn’t get a few days before.  If you want cheap beads for Halloween or any holiday then you need to be willing to buy up the clearance inventory beads at a deep discount after each holiday.  I know Halloween will come around next year and when it does I’ll have plenty of beads ready to go for my next Halloween jewelry projects!

The key to buying a lot of cheap beads after a holiday like Halloween is having the patience, organizational skills and room to store them!  I personally use well-labeled plastic bins to store all my cheap Halloween and other holiday beads from year to year.

This method of buying of lots of cheap beads at a discount and then storing them works for all the holidays, obviously, but it also has a fun side to it.  After you buy up your beads and put them away for a year it’s a lot of fun to open up those boxes and discover all the neat Halloween beads that you forgot about from the year before!  It’s almost like having a little treasure chest of surprise cheap beads from one year to the next!