Tutorial - Saving money on your Etsy item supplies

To try and keep my prices competitive, yet still allow me to earn a decent amount of profit on each item, I try and save money on my materials. In particular, I try as often as possible to buy my materials on sale.

Note that I didn't say that I buy the cheapest supplies possible. Doing this can lead to jewelry (or any Etsy item, for that matter) that looks cheap and/or doesn't last. You don't want to be sacrificing quality to save on cost.

So how do I go about finding materials when I need them on sale?

The easiest way I've been able to do this is to sign up online for e-newsletters from my favorite jewelry supply stores. Larger chains, like Michaels, do this, but these days smaller stores (and likely even some Etsy stores) often send out e-newsletters as well.

These e-newsletters are great because you'll be the first to know about sales, new products, and general news from the store. For larger companies you may also get a copy of the weekly flier as well.

The other perk of e-newsletters, and this is the BIG one, is many stores offer perks, discounts, and sales ONLY to their e-newsletter subscribers. I haven't paid full price for anything at Michaels in months, as ever since I signed up for their e-newsletter I've gotten coupons for 40% off pretty much every other week. These coupons are great as they're good for a week, you can print as many as you want, and you can use one coupon a day. If you hold off on larger purchases and then buy one expensive thing you needed each day of the week you receive your coupons, you'll save a ton of money. These savings can be passed on to the customer.

Part of the trick to this is being able to stock up when you see things you know you'll need when you see them on sale. The other trick is to be able to put off picking up new supplies until a sale and/or coupon hits. If you can plan ahead though, you'll be able to reduce your supplies bill by quite a bit.


If you like saving money this way, you can use this technique to save in other areas of your life as well. In the past few months I've saved on shoes from Fluevog and Aerosoles, business cards from Moo.com, and my yearly calendar from Despair Inc, all because of exclusive sale offers that were sent to me through signing up for e-newsletters.