Reorders, consistency, wholesale etiquette and pricing your work.
Use this rule: materials at per-bead cost plus your labor rate times hours, times two for wholesale, times two again for retail. Get per-bead cost by counting the beads on the strand and dividing the strand price by that count. If the strand is 13 inches, the method is the same: price divided by bead count equals per-bead cost.
Use STONE-SHAPE-SIZE-HOLE-LENGTH/COUNT-LOT-SKU in that order, all caps with hyphens. Print on standard address or larger shipping labels in a readable font. Place the barcode at the right edge or bottom. We include examples for strands and loose pairs, plus a checklist and a size-range conversion.
Plan on two bracelets per 15 to 16 inch strand at 4, 6, 8 or 10 mm. For 10 students, buy about 5 strands; for 20, buy 10; for 30, buy 15. That includes an 8 to 10 percent waste allowance. Add a spare strand buffer so no one has to compromise color or layout.
Count your A items weekly, B items monthly, and C items quarterly. Assign A to any SKU selling 5 or more units a week, B to 2 to 4, and C to 1 or fewer. Accept a variance of one strand or 2 percent per SKU, whichever is larger. Recount the same SKU when variance passes 3 percent.
State stone, shape, size range, hole size, strand length, bead count, and any color or optical effects. Add clear, color-true photos with scale and hole macros, plus a short QC notes block. For labradorite, moonstone, and opal, show the flash or sheen from multiple angles and note care. Example listings below you can copy.
Most US importers, us included, sell gemstone beads by the strand to the trade. Get your paperwork first: a state resale certificate lets you buy without paying sales tax, and wholesale rooms at gem shows ask to see one. Then buy deep on a few stones instead of one strand of everything, and confirm stone, shape, size and cut on every listing before you pay.
Treat keystone, a 2x markup, as your floor rather than your target on small faceted goods. Gross margin at keystone is 50 percent before overhead. Push well above that multiplier on 2 to 4 mm sapphire and tourmaline, where bead counts and bench time run highest, and sit nearer keystone on larger labradorite pears and nuggets.
Treat the strand's cost as cost per usable bead. Cull any beads you would not sell, then divide strand cost by the usable bead count. Assign each earring pair the cost of two beads, and reduce the strand's remaining cost by that amount. Price finished items by multiplying material cost two to three times, then add labor at your hourly rate.
Plan about 6 to 8 weeks from order to delivery on Jaipur-cut rondelles, and hold safety stock equal to roughly half your lead-time demand. Multiply your average strands sold per week by the lead time in weeks, add the safety stock, and reorder when your shelf count hits that number. Tourmaline needs the wider buffer of the two.
Plan minimal cull for hard stones in rounder shapes, and higher cull for brittle stones and top-drilled points. From a 16 inch finished necklace you use about 61 of 6 mm or 46 of 8 mm beads. A 15 to 16 inch strand of 6 mm rondelles carries about 65 to 70 beads, 8 mm about 48 to 52.