How Do Come Up With Your Prices?

"Spexton customers, by default, are very much indeed Trend Leaders."

This is a great question, and one that comes up now and then so I'd like to take some time to talk about it. The short answer is that you're paying for our existence by buying our jewelry. For the past 4 years, every dime that has come into our account is from selling our jewelry professionally so I'd like to break it down a bit for you by comparing what we do to a few steel jewelry types and some major jewelry designers.

It is important to understand that Spexton, unlike virtually ALL other stainless steel and titanium jewelry, is made with manual tools, not computerized ones. That is why we call it "handcrafted" or "manually fabricated." This means that everything you buy from us is an original with no two being exactly alike. We are basically carving our jewelry on a manual lathe, and then hand sanding and polishing it. We as artists have spent a lot of time on your jewelry.

When you see a stainless steel ring in a store for $10-$20, that ring was mass produced on a computerized lathe in China or India with little to no contact with human hands. There are a few steel jewelry houses here in the US and Canada that hand polish, but they too use computer controlled lathes to do all of the work. These items often have much sharper edges than Spexton, and overall, have a contrived or "cheesy" appearance. They are purchased by wholesale buyers for around a buck a piece, and then marked up to that $10 range--a pretty good profit for a retailer in a low-end gift shop, body jewelry store, etc.

Designer steel companies from Germany like Xen and Teno use the same types of mass computer controlled production, but upgrade the items by adding gold, diamonds, etc. Although I don't know for sure, I'd pretty much bet my life they're using the same Chinese or Indian manufacturers. The difference is in the advertising they buy to promote their brands, and thus the higher cost. The last time I checked, a full page ad in Dwell magazine, for example, was $30,000 for a one-time insertion. Teno consistently runs full page ads in magazines like GQ, Architectural Digest, among others. This obviously factors into the price you pay as the end buyer. Furthermore, Teno is distributed in the US by a parent company who buys it at a distributor rate, who then marks it up and sells it to wholesale buyers, who then mark it up and sell it out of their retail stores to end users like yourself.

David Yurman Jewelry is another great example. When they first began they touted themselves as a completely made-in-America brand. Now they have started outsourcing to factories in China. This is because they have to keep their production costs as low as possible so they can spend scores of millions on advertising. A simple $350 David Yurman sterling silver chain has MAYBE $10 or $15 worth of silver, but you pay for the Name, and the Name exists because of advertising, which leads me to one of the most important points: Intrinsic Value.

Ask yourself, why would somebody spend $350 on a chain they could get for $30? Why would someone spend $2000 on a handbag? Or $500 on a pair of Jeans? The answer is simple: Status. And what is Status about? FITTING IN. Today a customer came on the chat and was confused by some pricing on our website. He thought a necklace was $150, when it was in fact $250. When he realized the correct price he told me it was "too expensive for me, I'm going to get a David Yurman instead." David Yurman offers no products less than $250, so what he really meant by saying it was too expensive was this: "I'd rather spend the same amount and get the made-in-China-by-the-thousands-name-brand. That way, when I go out people will notice I have on the brand that is popular, which is much more important to me than having a one-of-a-kind-made-by-hand-in-America-purchased-directly-from-the-artist item." That is because this potential customer is a trend follower, and not a Trend Leader. I'm by no means knocking him, there are way way way more followers than leaders. I just want to give you an example of how pricing plays into the emotional value of our jewelry and how we factor that in when we decide on a final price.

Trend Leaders stay ahead of the game simply by doing things differently. Had that customer purchased Spexton, I would once again bet my life that when he went out wearing it he'd have gotten a LOT more attention from our jewelry than any other brand because nobody else would have it but him. In other words, you pay us to make you stand out from the crowd. Spexton customers, by default, are very much indeed Trend Leaders.

So, what do you pay for when you buy Spexton? You pay for the rent on our retail store, rent on our jewelry studio, utilities for both, insurance, accounting services, web hosting, internet connection, mass email marketing, online chat, raw steel, raw titanium, raw leather, magnets, sand paper, buffing wheels, lathes, mills, just bought a new air compressor today, jewelry displays, 800 number, phone lines, merchant account fees, office supplies, part-off tools, end mills, drill bits, coolant, abrasives, gold, silver, copper, diamonds, photography equipment, computer equipment, travel expenses, Print Advertising, Internet Advertising, shipping costs since we don't charge you on the website, mileage on our work truck, and on and on and on. ON TOP OF THAT you've got the amount we've got left over to feed, clothe, and insure myself, my partner, and his daughter and I'm sure I'm still leaving a ton of stuff out but you hopefully get the point.

In conclusion, the cost of Spexton is the cost that supports the modest lifestyle of a talented, hardworking couple who've turned the dream of self-employment into a reality by creating the finest, most unique steel jewelry product on the planet.