How do I enter the gem business ?

Crystal canuck · #1 03-03-2018, 04:59 AM

How do I enter the gem business, and would I want to ? It's become obvious to me that collecting minerals and gemstones is becoming a real passion for me. Perhaps if I did it for a living I would have one of those dream jobs everyone talks about...you know, when people are excited to get to work everyday and their hobby becomes their career.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a very successful salesman, I sell furniture and appliances, and at the risk of tooting my own horn, I'm one of the best in town and make around 6 digits.

But when I look at tourmaline, emeralds, quartz and so forth, I get lost in their beauty. I have many large specimens at home ( and some small but more valuable ones ) and I never tire at their magnificence.

My memory is very good, I am good with people, but no so good with math. I'm not dumb or anything, but algebra is not my strong point and when gemologists start talking about axis and so forth my eyes start to glaze over a bit

My real love is coloured stones, like fluorite and tourmaline, and I love the large raw specimens the best, so maybe a jeweler would be a boring place for me because I would be constantly waiting for that emerald, sapphire or ruby customer. I don't know, maybe some thoughts or advice would be nice. Not sure if there is any money in metaphysical shops any more, and besides I am not interested in the other things in metaphysical shops like tarot cards and stuff.

FairyCrystal · #2 06-03-2018, 10:25 AM

If it's really what you want, then why not just start?
Find out what's needed, in my country you have to start an official company, and you'd need that to buy from wholesalers anyway. If you have an official company, you can also visit mineral trades/fairs like the one in Tucson in February each year.
Think of how you want to sell, online or physical or both, and start working towards that. Think about storage space, package material etc, the practical side of things. If you want to sell online, large pieces will cost a fortune to ship.

But nevertheless, if it is your dream, then go for it. Doesn't mean you have to quit your daytime job.

Crystal canuck · #3 06-03-2018, 04:05 PM

Thanks for your input Fairycrystal ! You're right, I suppose I could keep my existing job and explore possibilities. Going to one of trade shows is a great idea.

There would be lots of people I could talk to there, and in my town we do actually get those shows that come at least once a year.

I do love my job, but it's still a job and not a passion. I have two hobbies, collecting crystals/gemstones and going to the dentist every day off I have ( just joking that's not a hobby/pastime but lately it feels like it LOL ! )

I get the feeling that maybe I could make some extra money but I'm not sure if it could ever support me fully, maybe that's just a pipedream, again your suggestion of going to a trade show is wonderful.

I would rather sell physical but that is probably too limiting in today's economy.

FairyCrystal · #4 06-03-2018, 04:31 PM

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Originally Posted by Crystal canuck

Thanks for your input Fairycrystal ! You're right, I suppose I could keep my existing job and explore possibilities. Going to one of trade shows is a great idea.

There would be lots of people I could talk to there, and in my town we do actually get those shows that come at least once a year.

I do love my job, but it's still a job and not a passion. I have two hobbies, collecting crystals/gemstones and going to the dentist every day off I have ( just joking that's not a hobby/pastime but lately it feels like it LOL ! )

I get the feeling that maybe I could make some extra money but I'm not sure if it could ever support me fully, maybe that's just a pipedream, again your suggestion of going to a trade show is wonderful.

I would rather sell physical but that is probably too limiting in today's economy.

No it's not. If what you have to offer is special (to a group of people at least), they will come and visit.
My fave crystal shop has done physical sales only for years. It's too much work to ship it. And as a former proprietor of a web-shop I can tell you it IS an awful lot of work, not much fun in the end either. I lost my passion because of all the practical chit around it: making invoices, printing them, packing up all these items, putting address labels on them, taking the whole lot to the post-office, mailing with customers and so on and so forth.
Last year 'my' crystal shop began to sell online too, but not everything (they have over 800 /900 different types of crystals, too much work to put those online. And they only put the somewhat larger pieces online. Very smart, keeps them from having to do all the work for a tumble stone that costs 1 Euro. Then the shipping & packing cost, and printing, is more than the price of the stone.

They're only opened during weekends, and people come from all over the country to visit them, even from Belgium.
But then, they do have special crystals you can hardly get anywhere ,they work from the heart, they know the crystals, can intuit and connect with them. They only buy high vibrational crystals and you can see and feel that. That's why people come from afar to them. That's their specialty. Even wholesalers in USA, Germany, Madagascar and so on hold on to the best pieces for them because they know the proprietors sell from the heart and their clients buy from the heart.

By which I mean to say: if you have something that is special, people will come. It will save you a lot of hassle (packing, post office etc). But... you'd need a space to have a shop.
These people started out small, 1/4th of a barn. Also just an interest and passion for them. Now they use almost the entire barn and it's getting to small yet again, lol. And I think They could very well be the most specialized crystal shop in the entire country. I know another one with only high vibrational crystals, but they haven't got nearly as many different ones as this ship. I mean, 800-900 different types!
They make a living of it with all 4 proprietors and recently they need to employ some 3-4 extra people because they cannot keep up on their own anymore.

So yes, you could make a living out of it, but of course it requires investing too. Start small, make sure you don't lose your passion for it. Do it on weekends only (opening shop) so you can keep your day-time job. Maybe only open on Saturdays even. And see where it goes from there.
If this is what you're supposed to do, it will sort itself out. Trust the Universe.

StrandedSnowMonkey · #5 06-03-2018, 07:05 PM

You can start by learning the geological names, and more about how they're formed/terminology etc. The most memorable piece I have seen was a small tourmaline one with small crystals of different colours :)

Lynn · #6 07-03-2018, 02:25 AM

Hello

Where I live there is a Metaphysical shoppe run by consignment merchandise only and readers that sit there for a fee. I had a chance to take one over a few years back but it consumes your time. You have to really know yours stuff and know how to spot fakes.

It does not take long to get a bad reputation if you sell something that is fake. With there being so much on line shopping now I feel that is the way its going to head.

I got a lot of crystals from a Flea Market vender and he knew little to nothing about his stock items, put trust in the reps that sold items to him. Was in it for the buck not the passion. That is what is lost in most shops now days that human touch. Its all about $$$$ in most places.

Lynn

Crystal canuck · #7 07-03-2018, 08:44 PM

Thanks for all the input and replies, you guys are great !

Lynn makes a great point about fakes, it's really important to maintain integrity, even if it's not intentional to profit from a fake. For my biggest love, which is the raw large crystals, this is not so much of a problem, but for smaller crystals, especially cut and faceted gems, this could very well be an issue. I would like to think I am fairly good at identifying, but a cut Helidor can look an awful lot like citrine, and a synthetic emeralds can be virtually impossible to distinguish with natural ones.

Fairycrystal you make a great point about catering to a certain type of customer. In my city you can get many small crystals but hardly ever large ones like the ones I collect....hmmm

Also I think there might be some money in it because I can source stones for 100-200 dollars that I have seen similar ones in stores for 800-2000 ( however very rare because like I said not many big ones in town. )

FairyCrystal · #8 07-03-2018, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crystal canuck

Thanks for all the input and replies, you guys are great !

Lynn makes a great point about fakes, it's really important to maintain integrity, even if it's not intentional to profit from a fake. For my biggest love, which is the raw large crystals, this is not so much of a problem, but for smaller crystals, especially cut and faceted gems, this could very well be an issue. I would like to think I am fairly good at identifying, but a cut Helidor can look an awful lot like citrine, and a synthetic emeralds can be virtually impossible to distinguish with natural ones.

Fairycrystal you make a great point about catering to a certain type of customer. In my city you can get many small crystals but hardly ever large ones like the ones I collect....hmmm

Also I think there might be some money in it because I can source stones for 100-200 dollars that I have seen similar ones in stores for 800-2000 ( however very rare because like I said not many big ones in town. )

Follow your intuition in this, but it might be a thought to buy larger pieces and try to sell them to practitioners for their work space, workshop place or treatment room. Crystals with a good energy can be very helpful in such places, plus someone who has a practice (=company) can likely afford a more expensive crystal. These are usually called 'room pieces'.
You could even use your expertise as a salesman to do this.

If you want to cover a somewhat larger market, you could invest in some smaller crystals too for people with interest and money to spend, but not hundreds of dollars. You got to think return sales, or whatever it's called. If people can buy more affordable crystals from you, and are happy with what you offer, they are likely to come back quite soon for more. If, however, you only got larger pieces, they might buy one, then not come back for another 5 years because they cannot afford such large/expensive pieces often, nor will they have the room for it. I would maybe get one large piece, but not 300+. And I do have 300+ crystals. Do you want one sale, or 300 smaller ones?
You're a salesman, you'll catch my drift.
But by all means, follow your heart and do what appeals to you, because that is likely to pay off and make you happiest.

As for fakes... on good mineral fairs for companies only you often find miners themselves selling their crystals and stones. I doubt there'll be fakes there. I think a good fair would ban them forever.
If you on the other hand side purchase online and/or from China, you will stand that risk. And you can't always tell, or not easily, certainly not from a photo. Even experts get fooled by certain types of fakes.
But I guess when you're into larger raw crystals you won't get fakes either, except for heat treated citrine maybe, but you can always tell if that's the case by the colour.

Gem · #9 08-03-2018, 12:03 AM

. .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gem

Mind your own business

Crystal canuck · #10 08-03-2018, 08:42 AM

You bring up some good points FairyCrystal ! I have thought about getting some smaller pieces for sale, because of some of the points you have mentioned. Making $ 30 hundreds of times is way more profitable than making $ 300 dozens of times. I have seen some nice 2-8 LBS specimens that would be good coffee table/nightstand type displays, with good profit margin ( buy for 20-60 dollars sell for 50-150 dollars )

Also good point about not having enough room ! I'm starting to run out of room for my displays, however a little creative shelving and I think I could get about 5 or 6 more !

Yes, most of my contacts are from China, but I think I could almost make a complete business from them alone, you wouldn't believe the prices some of them are offering for fluorite and quartz. There is many types of quartz as well such as pink, black, green, but most of the large ones you see are citrine or amethyst. ( at least at shops anyway ) They also have some unique opportunities for things like coral specimens but I'm not sure if my morals allow me to explore that, I'm still on the fence.

The crystal shop you describe sounds amazing ! That must bring a lot of joy and satisfaction to it's owners !

The metaphysical shops around here are kind of lame. I guess we have some great ones if you like smaller and especially polished specimens. We have nothing like what you describe, even though there is about 8 or more metaphysical shops in Victoria BC where I live. Actually this city has quite a lot of spiritually grounded individuals/hippies and it's even one of the biggest spots for black magic and wicca activity in North America. This is why I especially think there is opportunity here.

Very fitting signature indeed Gem !