Where to Sell Jewelry: 7 Places That Actually Work

You have 40 pairs of hammered copper earrings on kraft cards, a tray of beaded bracelets, and a handful of friends and coworkers who already bought from you. The next step is selling to people who do not know you yet, and the internet is full of advice that starts and ends with "open an Etsy shop."

Etsy is one answer. It is not the only one, and for a part-time jewelry vendor with a few dozen pieces it is often not the first. If you need the rules before you sell (licenses, what "sterling" has to mean, and the lead limit on kids' pieces), start with the guide on whether you can sell homemade jewelry. This guide is about where: the seven places jewelry vendors actually sell, what one $30 pair of earrings pays you in each, and how to add one place at a time.

One note before we start. If you are trying to sell a ring or a gold chain you already own, this guide will not help much. It is written for jewelry you make yourself.

Where Can You Sell Jewelry You Make?

You can sell jewelry you make in seven places, and a part-time jewelry vendor can run three of them at once: one place where people try pieces on, one link for reorders, and one shop or event that sells for you. The first three sell to a shopper at your full price. Etsy and Amazon Handmade bring you strangers for a share of each sale, and the last three trade a bigger share, or a thank-you to the host, for someone else's customers.

1. Craft and art fairs. Shoppers who came to buy handmade work, a table where every piece can be held and tried on, and the biggest single sales days of the year.
2. Farmers markets that take crafts. Weekly regulars who see you every Saturday and buy a new pair when the season changes.
3. Your own storefront link. Past buyers order the matching bracelet or a second color and pick it up at your next show or your porch.
4. Etsy and Amazon Handmade. Strangers in other states can find you, and you pack and mail every order.
5. Boutiques and gift shops. A shop buys a dozen pairs at wholesale, pays you once and sells them at your retail price.
6. Consignment cases. A shop or gallery displays your pieces and pays you a share after each one sells.
7. Trunk shows and home parties. A friend, a salon or an office hosts you for an evening, and the guests shop your whole line.

Instagram and Facebook are not on the list as their own places. They are where you show new pieces, and the sale works better when the post points to a link where someone can pay.

Why Does Jewelry Sell Best Where People Can Try It On?

In-person places tend to make the first sale because a buyer is judging how a piece looks on her, not how it looks on a card. A $30 pair of earrings is a small decision about her own face, and a mirror at your table answers it in five seconds. A photo has to answer the same question with no face in it.

Three things are hard to judge through a screen:

• Size and weight. A hoop that looks delicate in a close-up photo can be 2 inches across, and weight is hard to judge until a buyer holds the pair.
• Length and fit. Necklace length, bracelet size and ring size change everything about how a piece sits, and most buyers do not know their own numbers.
• Color of the metal. Copper, brass and gold-tone pieces look alike in phone photos and very different in daylight.

That is why the in-person places on the list usually come first for a new vendor. Each one turns a stranger into someone who owns your work, knows your sizing and trusts your metal.

After that first sale, the hard part is over. A buyer who wore your copper hoops all summer does not need to try on the brass pair. She needs a way to order it without waiting for the next fair, which is what a storefront link or an Etsy shop is for.

Bring a hand mirror and a bracelet sizing chart to every in-person sale. The mirror sells the earrings, and the chart lets a buyer order the right bracelet size from your link later.

Which Place Fits the Jewelry You Make?

Pick the place that matches your price, your hours and how many pieces you can finish in a month, then add a second place once the first one runs on its own. A vendor with 150 pairs of $25 earrings and free Saturdays starts somewhere different from one making six $140 silver rings a month. The table below is a quick way to choose.

Scroll sideways to see every column.

These rows are planning guides built from the fee pages and fair prices in this article, all checked October 6, 2026. Your local fairs, shops and costs decide the final mix.

Is a Juried Craft Fair Worth the Booth Fee for Jewelry?

A juried craft fair is worth it when the booth fee is a small share of what you can sell in a weekend, and for a $30 piece that math is easy to run. At American Craft Made Baltimore 2027, the American Craft Council's 10 by 5 foot booth costs $850 and a 10 by 10 costs $1,500, plus a $45 application fee, for a show that draws more than 10,000 shoppers to 380+ exhibitors. Artists in the council's Early Career Artist Program could apply for a subsidized 10 by 5 booth at $400 on the same page, and members get half off application fees. Applications for the 2027 fair closed June 5, 2026, so treat those as a guide to what the next cycle may cost. Its smaller American Craft Fest St. Paul, which is open to early-career artists, charged $300 for a 10 by 5 booth and $15 to apply in 2026, with 80+ early-career artists and more than 3,000 visitors.

"Juried" means a panel scores your photos before you get a booth, so you pay the application fee whether you get in or not. The American Craft Council lists jewelry as its own medium in three groups (enamel, metal and non-metal), and wooden or glass jewelry goes under non-metal. American Craft Made Baltimore's 2026 application page said the fair gets about 600 applications a year and picks about 400 artists.

What makes a fair pay off for jewelry:

• Photos that show the work clearly. American Craft Fest St. Paul asked for five images of the work and an optional booth shot, so shoot on a plain background in daylight.
• A price range across the table. A $20 pair of studs at the front and a $120 statement necklace at the back give every visitor something to buy.
• Enough stock of your best two designs. A big crowd buys what it sees other people trying on.
• A card with your storefront link in every bag, so the person who bought earrings can order the bracelet in March.

If you are new to juried shows, the guide to getting accepted into a juried craft fair is written for food vendors, but its advice on photos, jury scoring and booth shots works the same way for jewelry.

Can You Sell Jewelry at a Farmers Market?

Yes, you can sell jewelry at a farmers market that accepts craft vendors. Cottage food permits cover food, so they are not the paperwork that matters for jewelry; sales tax registration and the market's own rules are. The market still decides whether to take you. Some markets cap the number of craft tables or require everything on your table to be made by you, so a market that already has three jewelry tables may have no spot open.

A weekly market does something a once-a-year fair cannot: it lets the same buyers see you 20 or 30 Saturdays in a row. A regular who buys a $25 pair of earrings in June may come back for a gift in November, and that second sale depends on her seeing you again. Homegrown's own list of farmers markets, on its signup page on October 6, 2026, counts more than 8,500 markets in its Market Finder, which is one way to find markets near you to ask about craft tables.

Ask the market manager these questions before you apply:

• Does the market accept craft or non-food vendors, and how many jewelry tables does it already have?
• Does it require every piece to be handmade by you, and does it count pieces assembled from bought charms and chains as handmade?
• What is the weekly fee, and is there a season rate that costs less per Saturday?
• Does it need a sales tax number or a business license from craft vendors before the first market?
• Is there a rule on tents and tent weights, and where do craft tables go on the market map?

The guide to selling soap, candles and other non-food products at farmers markets covers how markets handle craft tables in general, including which ones label themselves artisan or maker's markets and welcome more craft vendors.

How Do You Take Card Payments at a Jewelry Table?

You can take cards at your table with just your phone through Square's Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, or with a Square card reader, and Square's hardware starts at $59. On Square's Free plan, each in-person payment costs 2.6% + 15 cents, or $0.93 when a buyer pays $30 for earrings. Square's pricing page, checked October 6, 2026, lists the Free plan at $0 a month. Its Plus plan costs $49 a month and lowers the in-person rate to 2.5% + 15 cents, which only pays off at high volume.

Cash still costs nothing, and some buyers at a fair prefer it. Take both, and post a small sign that says you take cards, because a buyer who thinks you are cash only may walk off to find an ATM and not come back.

A jewelry table has two problems a bread table does not have: small pieces walk away, and expensive pieces need a closer look. A few habits handle both:

• Keep high-price pieces in a closed case and take out one at a time when someone asks.
• Put the mirror where you can see it, so a buyer trying on earrings stays in front of you.
• Count your stock by tray at setup and at close, so you know the same night if a piece went missing.
• Ring every card sale before you bag the piece, not after.
• Ask for a phone number or email for the receipt, which also gives you a way to tell the buyer about new pieces.

The card fee is small next to a booth fee. On 30 pairs sold by card at $30 each, Square's Free plan costs $27.90, which is less than a tenth of a $300 booth.

How Do Regulars Reorder Your Jewelry Between Shows?

Regulars reorder between shows when you give them one link to order and pay, and pick up at your next fair, your market table or your porch. The buyer who loved your copper hoops in May wants the matching bracelet in July, and if the only way to get it is to wait for a fair or send you a message, some of those orders never happen.

When the problem is past buyers who want a second piece before your next show, Homegrown is built for that local reorder. It costs $10 per month billed annually with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30, which you pay rather than your customer, so a $30 pair of earrings costs you $1.17 in fees. On Etsy, the same pair costs you $3.30 in fees before shipping or ads, because Etsy's 6.5% transaction fee pays for buyers it finds for you, which a regular who already knows your table does not need. If you join Etsy's Share & Save program and send a regular through your own shop link, Etsy refunds 4% of the order, $1.20 on $30, per its Share & Save help page on October 6, 2026, so that order costs you about $2.10 in fees, against $1.17 plus the $10 monthly plan on Homegrown, which comes out cheaper once your regulars place about 11 orders a month (14 on monthly billing). Shopify Basic charges the same 2.9% + 30 cents on standard cards (3.5% + 30 cents on premium cards) but starts at $29 a month billed yearly, which buys a full online store with shipping that a vendor selling locally may not use.

What fits a jewelry vendor on Homegrown, per its signup page on October 6, 2026:

• Variants with their own price, so one listing can offer three lengths of a chain or four colors of the same earring.
• Pickup at more than one spot, with markets added from the 8,800+ on its pickup list (a separate list from the 8,500+ farmers markets in its Market Finder tool), plus custom spots such as a fair, a salon or your porch.
• Local delivery inside a radius you set from 1 to 25 miles, with a delivery fee you keep minus card processing.
• QR codes that link to one product, so a card behind each pair of earrings can point to that exact design.
• Sales tax on storefront orders that Homegrown calculates and files for you, and a customer list that stays yours.

Homegrown has limits you should know first. Its signup page lists pickup and local delivery, with no shipping option, so a buyer three states away still needs your Etsy shop or another checkout. A first-time customer makes a Homegrown account before ordering. There is no drops or countdown release feature for a new collection. Your storefront is listed on the Homegrown marketplace, but plan on most orders coming from people you send to your own link, and no jewelry vendor was listed there yet in our October 6, 2026 catalog pull.

If your best buyers keep asking when your next show is, set up your Homegrown storefront and list your three best-selling earring designs with a pickup spot at your next fair. The trial is 7 days, with no charge until day 8.

Should You List Your Jewelry on Etsy or Amazon Handmade?

List your jewelry on Etsy or Amazon Handmade when you want buyers in other states to find you and you are ready to pack and mail every order. Jewelry is small and light, which makes it one of the easier handmade products to mail. Both marketplaces bring shoppers you would never meet at a fair, and both take a bigger share of each sale than a local link.

Etsy's Fees and Payments Policy, read October 6, 2026, charges a $0.20 listing fee per listing, which lasts four months and renews at $0.20 each time a piece from a multi-quantity listing sells. It adds a 6.5% transaction fee on your price plus whatever you charge for shipping and gift wrap, and Etsy Payments charges 3% + $0.25 on the total, including tax and shipping. Etsy may also charge a one-time shop set-up fee. If a sale comes from Etsy's Offsite Ads, Etsy charges 15% of that order (12% once your shop passes $10,000 in sales over the prior 365 days), and a shop under $10,000 can opt out.

Amazon Handmade takes a referral fee of 15% or $0.30, whichever is greater, on every unit, per its program page on October 6, 2026. Amazon's selling fees page figures that fee on the total the buyer pays, including shipping. Handmade needs the $39.99 a month Professional selling plan, but after a one-time first-month payment Amazon waives the monthly fee for approved Handmade shops. You have to apply to Amazon Handmade and pass its review before you can list, and Jewelry and Watches is one of its open categories.

A few things decide whether jewelry sells online:

• Measurements in inches on every listing, including hoop diameter, drop length and chain length.
• The exact metal, such as "sterling silver ear wires, brass disc," never a vague word like "silver-tone" next to "silver."
• A photo on a person or a display bust, so a buyer can see the size, plus one flat photo in daylight.
• A shipping price that covers a padded mailer and tracking, since Etsy's 6.5% and Amazon's 15% both apply to shipping too.
• A clear returns line, saying whether you take back worn earrings, so a buyer knows before she pays.

A new shop with no reviews is hard for strangers to trust, so ask the buyers you meet at a table to order online once and leave a review when the piece arrives.

What Does Each Online Option Cost on a $30 Pair of Earrings?

On one $30 pair of earrings, the online options cost you between $1.17 and $4.50 per order in fees, before any monthly plan, and the gap grows fast with volume. At 20 orders a month, that is $25.80 on Square's Free plan, $33.40 on Homegrown with its annual plan, $52.40 on Shopify Basic, $66.00 on Etsy and $90.00 on Amazon Handmade. Here is the full stack for each one.

Swipe sideways for all eight columns of the fee stack.

We checked these fees on findhomegrown.com/signup, Etsy's Fees and Payments Policy and Etsy Payments Policy, Amazon's Handmade program page, Shopify's pricing page and Square's pricing page on October 6, 2026. Card processing is figured on the $30 price; Etsy charges processing on the total with tax and shipping, so real Etsy orders run a few cents higher. The Etsy row assumes one $0.20 listing fee per pair sold and no Offsite Ads order, and it is the case where the buyer did not come through your own Share & Save link, which would refund 4% ($1.20 on $30). Monthly columns use annual or yearly billing unless noted.

Here is the arithmetic behind the "you pay" column. Homegrown and Shopify: 2.9% of $30 is $0.87, plus $0.30, is $1.17, or $1.35 on a premium card at Shopify's 3.5% + 30 cents. Etsy: $0.20 plus 6.5% of $30 ($1.95) plus 3% of $30 and $0.25 ($1.15) is $3.30. Amazon Handmade: 15% of $30 is $4.50. Square's online rate: 3.3% of $30 is $0.99, plus $0.30, is $1.29. Multiply each by 20, then add the plan where there is one.

At 20 orders a month, Square's Free plan is the cheapest line on the table, and it is a fine choice if all you need is a payment link. Homegrown's lower per-order fee ($1.17 against Square's $1.29 online) catches up at about 84 orders a month on annual billing, or 105 on monthly billing. Square's pricing page also lists a customer directory and pickup and local delivery. Square can calculate the rate for you, but its sales tax help page, read October 6, 2026, says it is "solely your responsibility" to charge, collect and remit the tax. Homegrown costs $7.60 more at 20 orders on annual billing and also files the sales tax on storefront orders for you. Etsy and Amazon cost more because they bring buyers, so the right question is whether the buyer was already yours.

How Do You Get Your Jewelry Into Boutiques?

You get jewelry into boutiques by selling at wholesale, usually half of your retail price, because the shop needs room to cover its rent and staff. Faire, a wholesale marketplace where shops order from brands, says in its pricing policy that a retailer's margin is "typically" 50%, "or 2x the wholesale price." So a pair you sell for $30 at your table goes to a boutique for about $15.

Half sounds low until you count what you skip: no booth fee, no Saturday at a table, and one payment for 12 pairs instead of 12 small sales. A shop can also reorder every few weeks without you being there.

You can sell wholesale two ways. The first is your own line sheet and invoice, where the shop pays you directly. The second is Faire, which charged brands in North America, on its help page read October 6, 2026, a 15% commission on orders from its marketplace, plus a one-time $10 fee on a new retailer's first order. Orders from shops you bring yourself through your Faire Direct link pay 0% commission. Every Faire order also has a payment processing fee set by how fast you want to be paid: 3.5% + $0.30 for next-day payout, 2.4% + $0.30 at 30 days, or 1.9% + $0.30 at 60 days. If you use both, Faire's pricing policy says your Faire wholesale and retail prices must be the same as or lower than your prices anywhere else, including your own line sheet. Those Faire fees hit heavier handmade products the same way: on a shop's order of six $18 mugs, a first marketplace order leaves a potter $78.91 and a Faire Direct order leaves $105.11, as the guide to where to sell pottery works out.

Swipe the table to see what reaches you.

Faire's commission and processing rates from its North America brand pricing page, checked October 6, 2026. Processing is 2.4% of $180 ($4.32) plus $0.30. Shipping costs and any free-shipping program are not included.

Before you walk into a shop, bring these:

• A line sheet with a photo, a style name, the wholesale price and the suggested retail price for each design.
• A minimum order, such as six pairs per design or $150 per order, so a shop does not order two pairs.
• A small display, like a 12-card earring stand, since shops sell more of what is easy to show.
• Your lead time, such as two weeks, so the shop knows when a reorder arrives.

Is Consignment a Good Deal for Jewelry?

Consignment can pay more per piece than wholesale, because the shop keeps a share only after a piece sells, and the split jewelry vendors see most often is 60/40, with 60% to you. The Jewelry Making Journal calls 60/40 "the most common consignment percentage" for jewelry and says splits run from 80/20 to 50/50. On a $30 pair, 60% is $18.00, against $15.00 at wholesale.

On consignment you are lending the shop your stock. You get paid later, usually once a month for what sold the month before, and unsold pieces can sit in a case for a season. A sample gallery contract published by Ganoksin, an online jewelry community, shows the terms worth asking for: the gallery keeps 40% of the retail price, it may buy pieces outright at 50% of retail, and it is liable for loss, damage or theft while your work is in its care.

Put these in writing before you leave a single pair:

• The split, stated as a percentage of the retail price you set.
• When you get paid, such as by the 10th of each month for last month's sales, and how.
• Who pays for theft, loss or damage while your pieces are in the shop.
• Whether the shop can mark a piece down, and who loses the difference if it does.
• How long the agreement runs and how you get unsold pieces back.
• An inventory sheet signed by both of you, listing every piece by style, count and price.

Consignment works best for one-of-a-kind or higher-priced pieces, such as a $140 silver ring or a statement necklace, where a shop owner will not risk buying at wholesale but will gladly put it in a case. For $20 earrings that sell in volume, wholesale is usually simpler.

Do Trunk Shows and Home Parties Work for Jewelry?

Trunk shows work well for jewelry because a host fills a room with people who already trust her taste, and every guest can try on your whole line in one evening with no booth fee. A trunk show is simply a sales event where you bring your stock to someone else's space: a friend's living room, a hair salon, a yoga studio or a boutique on a slow weeknight.

The host does the inviting, and you do the selling. Thank the host with a free piece or store credit, and if a business hosts, agree before the night whether it gets a share of the sales.

How to run one:

• Ask a past buyer to host, since she already wears your work and can tell her friends why she likes it.
• Set a short window, such as 6:30 to 8:30 on a weeknight, so it feels like an event.
• Bring a mirror, a card reader and a price list, plus your best 30 to 50 pieces, not everything you own.
• Offer to take custom orders in a guest's metal or length, with a pickup date.
• Hand every guest a card with your storefront link before she leaves, so a guest who could not decide can order the next week.

Salons and boutiques make good hosts because their own customers come in all week. A salon that hosts you on a Thursday evening gets a reason to invite its clients in, and you get 20 new people trying on earrings.

How Much of a $30 Pair Reaches You in Each Place?

Out of one $30 pair of earrings, between $15.00 and $30.00 reaches you depending on where it sells, before booth fees, shipping or monthly plans. Cash at your own table keeps the whole price. A boutique buying at wholesale keeps half. Everything else falls in between.

The chart is per piece, and a per-piece number can mislead. The $30.00 at your table carries a booth fee, a tent and a Saturday of your time. The $15.00 from a boutique arrives as $180 for 12 pairs with no table at all. The $28.83 on a storefront link carries a $10 monthly plan, which is $0.50 a pair if you sell 20 pairs a month that way.

Use the chart to see the trade, not to pick one winner. A vendor who sells 20 pairs at a fair, 15 through a link and 24 to two boutiques in a month is running three of these bars at once.

Is Anyone Selling Jewelry on Homegrown Yet?

No, not yet: the Homegrown catalog had no necklaces, earrings, bracelets or rings in our October 6, 2026 pull, though handmade crafts were already listed there. That matters for where you put your effort. A jewelry vendor joining now would be the first in the catalog, so plan on orders coming from the buyers you send to your link, not from shoppers browsing for jewelry.

Those craft listings are the useful part. They show that Homegrown already carries non-food handmade work, such as crochet, glass art, shadow boxes, wreaths and soap, from 9 of those 13 vendors (the other 4 list honey, chocolate, raw beeswax, or an art class and collage paper under Arts and Crafts), so a jewelry listing would sit next to crochet and glass art rather than alone among the bread. A jewelry vendor who also sells at a farmers market can list both kinds of products under one link, the same way Farmstand on Shalimar Lane lists its handmade boo boo bags next to 13 bakery listings in the October 6, 2026 catalog pull.

Homegrown is a reorder tool for jewelry, not a discovery tool. Your fairs, markets and trunk shows find the buyers. The link keeps them.

Which Jewelry Rules Follow You Into Every Place You Sell?

Five federal rules can follow your jewelry into any place on this list, whether you sell at a fair, on Etsy or through a boutique. They matter more as you add places, because shipping and wholesale put your words and stamps in front of more people. Verify your state's current rules too, since some states go further.

• "Sterling" means at least 92.5% silver. The FTC's Jewelry Guides, at 16 CFR 23.5 on the eCFR as read October 6, 2026, list calling a piece "Sterling Silver" or "Sterling" as misleading "unless it is at least 925/1,000ths pure silver." The same goes for an Etsy title or a boutique line sheet.
• A 925 or 14K stamp needs your mark once you mail or ship it. Under 15 U.S.C. 297, read October 6, 2026, a piece stamped with a gold or silver quality mark that you mail, or ship to another state, also needs your registered (or applied-for) trademark or your name, stamped next to the quality mark and at least as large.
• Kids' jewelry has a lead limit. The CPSC's Total Lead Content page, read October 6, 2026, says children's products with more than 100 ppm of lead in a part a child can reach are banned, and the company that makes the product certifies compliance in a Children's Product Certificate. The CPSC's Children's Product Certificate page, read the same day, says that certificate must rest on test results from a CPSC-accepted third-party lab, unless an exemption covers the product or its material. Federal law, at 15 U.S.C. 2052, counts a product as a children's product when it is made mainly for kids 12 and younger, so those pieces need that paperwork everywhere you sell.
• "Handmade" has a federal meaning. The same FTC Jewelry Guides, at 16 CFR 23.2 as read October 6, 2026, say it is deceptive to call a piece "handmade" or "hand-wrought" "unless the entire shaping and forming of such product from raw materials and its finishing and decoration were accomplished by hand labor and manually-controlled methods which permit the maker to control and vary the construction, shape, design, and finish of each part of each individual product." Raw materials there include bulk sheet, strip, wire, precious metal clays, ingots, casting grain and similar items "that have not been cut, shaped, or formed into jewelry parts, semi-finished parts, or blanks." A bought stamping blank or a bought chain does not count as raw material. So under the FTC's wording, a necklace assembled from bought charms and a bought chain is not handmade, even at a market that counts it.
• Feathers from birds the Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects cannot be sold. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's "Can I sell it?" fact sheet, which we read on October 6, 2026, says the Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects more than 1,000 wild birds native to the United States, and that selling migratory bird feathers and parts is prohibited "regardless of age of the specimen," with limited exceptions for certain captive-reared and sport-taken migratory waterfowl. The protected list runs from songbirds to hawks and owls. Game birds such as wild turkey are not on the federal list at 50 CFR 10.13, so check your state's game rules before you use them.

The permission guide linked at the top of this article covers each of these in depth, including what "handmade" has to mean, plus the state lead laws in Minnesota and California and how to describe stones and plating. A boutique buyer or an Etsy reviewer who sees "sterling" on cheap wire will ask, so get the words right before you add a place that ships.

How Do You Add Your Next Place to Sell This Month?

Add one new place a month, and give each one at least three tries before you judge it, because the first fair or the first week on a shelf rarely shows what a place can do. A vendor who opens Etsy, two boutiques and a fair in the same month cannot tell which one is working. Here is a simple order that fits a part-time schedule:

• Write down your numbers. List your three best designs, what each costs you in materials, your retail price, and how many pairs you can finish in a month.
• Pick the place your price fits. Use the table near the top of this article: $15 to $40 pieces start at a market or local fair, $80 and up start at a juried fair or a gallery case.
• Do the booth fee math. Divide the fee by what each piece leaves after materials to see how many pieces cover it, and skip any fair where that number is more than half of what you sold at your best event.
• Set up a reorder link before the first sale. A storefront link, an Etsy shop or both, printed on the card behind every pair, so each buyer can find you again.
• Track every sale by place. A notebook or spreadsheet with the date, the place, the design and the price is enough to see which place pays you best after three months.
• Add one shop or event. Once the first place runs on its own, pitch one boutique or ask one past buyer to host a trunk show.
• Drop the place that pays least for your time. After three tries, a place that sells less per hour than the others is the first one to cut.

The order matters less than the habit. A place you try once and judge on a rainy day is a place you never really tested.

What Do Jewelry Vendors Learn After Their First Season?

Three changes are worth making after a first season: cut your line down, reprice or drop your slowest designs, and stop treating each fair as the whole business. A table with 200 designs makes buyers work harder to decide, and a buyer who cannot decide often leaves without buying. Repricing goes faster with one formula for every piece, and the guide on selling jewelry from home turns $4 of materials and 15 minutes of work into a $20 wholesale and $40 retail price.

Lessons worth knowing before your second season:

• The best-selling designs are often the simplest pieces. A plain hammered hoop at $25 can outsell an elaborate beaded necklace at $85, because more people can say yes to it.
• Gift buyers want boxes. A small kraft box with a card turns a $30 pair into a ready gift, and it saves the buyer a trip to find wrapping.
• Earring cards are marketing. The card behind each pair is often the only thing a buyer keeps with your name on it, so print your link or QR code on it.
• Your time is the biggest cost. A fair day with setup, travel and teardown can run 12 hours, so a $300 booth that sells 25 pairs pays you less per hour than a boutique order of 12 pairs that took an hour to pack.
• Regulars want the next piece, not the same one. Bring two or three new designs to every show, so a buyer who already owns your hoops has something new to try on.

The vendors who last also keep their buyers' contact details. A list of 150 past buyers you can text when a new collection is ready can be worth more than any single fair.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the best place to sell handmade jewelry?

The best place to sell handmade jewelry for a new vendor is a craft fair or a farmers market that takes crafts, because buyers can try pieces on before they pay. For a $30 sale, about $29.07 reaches you through a card reader on Square's Free plan, against $26.70 on Etsy. Pair the in-person place with a storefront link so buyers can order again between events.

Is it better to sell jewelry on Etsy or Amazon Handmade?

Etsy is easier to start, because you can open a shop without an application and pay $0.20 a listing, plus a possible one-time set-up fee, while Amazon Handmade requires an application and approval first. For $30 earrings, Etsy's fees come to $3.30 and Amazon Handmade's 15% referral fee comes to $4.50, both checked October 6, 2026. If you want both, start on Etsy and apply to Amazon Handmade once you have steady sales and a full set of photos.

How much do boutiques pay for handmade jewelry?

Boutiques usually pay wholesale, which is about half of the retail price, so a pair of earrings that sells for $30 earns you about $15. Faire's pricing policy says a retailer's margin is typically 50%, or 2x the wholesale price. On consignment you earn more per piece, often 60% of retail, but only after each piece sells.

Can you sell jewelry at a farmers market?

Yes, you can sell jewelry at a farmers market that accepts craft vendors, if it has a spot open. A cottage food permit is not the paperwork that matters, since those permits cover food. Each market sets its own rules, such as a cap on craft tables or a rule that every piece must be handmade by you. Ask the manager before you apply, and check whether the market needs a sales tax number from craft vendors.

Do you need a license to sell jewelry at craft fairs?

Selling jewelry you make is not on the SBA's list of business activities that need a federal license, checked October 6, 2026, unless your pieces use wildlife materials such as shell or bone: the SBA lists "any wildlife-related activity," including the import or export of wildlife, under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That agency's "Can I sell it?" fact sheet says sea turtle shell, including tortoiseshell jewelry, generally cannot be sold across state lines, and pieces from a U.S. endangered or threatened species cannot be sold across state lines without a permit. For whale teeth or bone, it sends you to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Feathers from birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which covers more than 1,000 native species, are a separate case: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says they cannot be sold, apart from narrow exceptions. Your county or city may require its own license, the SBA notes, and your state tax agency can tell you whether you need to register to collect sales tax. Juried craft fairs also charge an application fee, such as $15 to $45 at the American Craft Council's shows, before you are accepted. Verify your state's current rules with your state tax agency before your first event.

Can you sell jewelry on Homegrown?

Yes, you can list jewelry on a Homegrown storefront for $10 a month billed annually, with 2.9% + $0.30 card processing on each order and no commission. The signup page, checked October 6, 2026, lists pickup and local delivery but no shipping, so it fits jewelry vendors who sell to local buyers at fairs, markets and trunk shows. A buyer needs a Homegrown account to place a first order.

Related Reading

These guides on the Homegrown blog go deeper on the rules, places and switches that come up when you decide where to sell jewelry.

• Can You Sell Homemade Jewelry? Rules, Permits, and How to Start: the sterling, stamping, kids' lead and sales tax rules in full, with the state laws in Minnesota and California.
• Selling soap, candles and other non-food products at farmers markets: which markets take craft vendors and what managers ask before they say yes.
• How to Switch From Etsy to Your Own Storefront: how to move repeat buyers to your own link without breaking Etsy's rules.
• Where to Sell Candles: 7 Places That Actually Work: the same question for another non-food product, with how to plan for the holiday season, when about 35% of candle sales happen.
• Where to Sell Soap: 7 Places That Actually Work: how soap vendors split their sales between booths, shops and links.

Give Every Pair a Way Back to You

The places that pay you best for jewelry are the ones where a buyer tries a piece on, and the places that keep paying are the ones where she can order the next piece without waiting for you. For a part-time jewelry vendor, that means one in-person place, one link for reorders, and one boutique, gallery or trunk show host who sells for you. Add a juried fair once the booth fee math works and your photos are ready.

A Homegrown storefront is $10 a month billed annually, with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30 per order, and a 7-day trial with no charge until day 8. List your designs with lengths and colors as variants, add the fairs and markets where buyers can pick up, and print the QR code on your earring cards. First-time buyers make a Homegrown account before they order, and orders are for pickup or local delivery, since the signup page shows no shipping, so keep Etsy or another checkout for buyers far away. When you are ready to turn this season's buyers into regulars, create your Homegrown storefront before your next show.