Stocking Vendors

Here’s a blog I wrote about a month ago and didn’t, I believe, ever post.

Written 24 October, 2007

Stocking Vendors

A while back I created a line of turquoise and silver jewelry.

Why?

Because I couldn’t find such jewelry— or at least any I liked— in Second Life.

I made two belts, two bracelets, three necklaces, and three types of earrings. They turned out well.

They turned out so well, in fact, that Sweetie suggested I recreate them in Jade. I did. And then in Malachite. And then in Lapis Lazuli. And Onyx. And I’m considering doing them in citrine, since I made a great seamless texture And Sweetie thinks an abalone texture would be nice. And why not aquamarine or topaz or amethyst?

Sweetie also suggested some of the stones might look good set in copper or bronze.

You get the idea.

Yep, permutations and combinations.

17 pieces in each set (the bracelets, like the earrings, come in pairs, and I made the belt in two sizes) times maybe 10 stones times maybe three metals in the setting. That’s, let’s see, 17 x10 x 3, and that equals…

A lot.

To sell my new creations properly, they must be put in vendors. And to do it right, they should be boxed. That means each item must be put in a container with a landmark and a notecard about how great Chey’s Fine Jewelry is and I must take a careful photo of each piece and import the photo into SL. The photo must be put on both sides of the box (my “box” is actually a shopping bag I created long ago) and the box taken into inventory and then put into the vendor. It’s important that the names of all the items be consistent because it’s essential (for most vendors, at least) that names of items in the vendor match names in a notecard.

And I should make bundles or sets of items, as well, so customers can buy a complete set at a lower cost than the price of the individual items.

All of this makes for an awful lot of work!

I’m not even THINKING about how I could expand my line to include armbands and ankle bracelets and studs for the navel and hair ornaments.

Well, I AM thinking of it, but I’m trying not to!


Photo: Vendor in the Gardens