Choosing Product Cards

Something that I had to learn from experience for my jewelry business is to choose product cards carefully. There are countless options to choose from when it comes to jewelry cards, and the options can be absolutely overwhelming. I recently came to realize that I have 14 different cards in my arenol. That's... a lot. Each one services it's purpose, and there are multiple different factors to take into consideration.

Color: I strongly recommend picking a color and sticking to it. When I first started out many years ago I exclusively used black. After rebranding, I switched to white/gray marble printed cards. The pale colors made it easy to use a clear logo sticker on each card for branding. But not every card is available in marble, and my favorite products were discontinued, making it difficult to match one card to another. For this reason, I eventually switched to all white. White is more readily available than black, and keeping it simple with a solid color provides continuity from one card shape/size to the next. -Many of my jewelry can still be found on marble cards, because small businesses like mine can't afford to just throw away perfectly good product cards, even if they are being phased out.

Size: Wide bracelet cards with a thin slit on either end are great for thin adjustable bracelets or charm bracelets. The slits hold the bracelet in place. Whereas a wider bracelet might need an indented wide bracelet card that it won't slip off of.

Fold-under hanging cards are fantastic for beaded necklaces and bracelets that wouldn't fit on the same size card you might use to hang a chain necklace with a simple pendant, while those same fold-under hanging cards might leave chain and pendant necklaces vulnerable to damage, tarnish, and tangling.

Small earrings shouldn't be dwarfed on large earring cards, and likewise, long/large earrings shouldn't greatly exceed the size of the card they're hung on. If you're just starting out, hanging card and earring card sets are a great base to start with, but as your business grows, so too should your product card selections.

To Bag or Not To Bag: Buying product cards that come with self-sealing cellophane bags is always a great option. The debate of "to bag or not to bag" is a common one, and I've heard many arguments in each direction. My advice? Bag it! I know, I know, single use plastics are evil, we all know it, but that doesn't mean they don't serve their purpose, and if you want to keep your jewelry safe, clean, and tarnish free, do yourself a favor and bag it! Earring cards that come with their own bags typically also come with rubber earring backs, trust me, soon enough you'll have more rubber earring backs than you'll know what to do with! If the card you buy doesn't come with self-sealing cellophane, you can always purchase them separately. Whatever size your card is, round up in both height and width to find the ideal bag size. You'll need the extra space for the jewelry itself!

Additions & Modifications: Sometimes the cards you pick out aren't exactly what you need them to be. Maybe you have a necklace on a hanging card, but that hanging card doesn't have earring holes to hold the matching earrings that go with the necklace. You can purchase earring hole punches and modify the hanging card so that it can hold the earrings too. Or maybe you're putting a chain and pendant necklace on a necklace/earring card, but the chain is hanging off the card. They have adhesive chain pockets you can purchase to tuck in that chain nice and secure, just adhere it to the back of the card and tuck that chain away for safe keeping. Or maybe you have long earrings that are just far too long for any earring card you can find. Buying long necklace cards and cutting them to length could be the perfect solution. Pro tip: get a corner puncher to round out those cut corners on the bottom of the card for a clean finish.

Things to Avoid: It took me far too long to learn this from experience, but avoid any earring/necklace cards where the earring hole is also the base of the necklace slits. TRUST ME, they will be problematic. Not only will the earring be on a constant mission to escape the slit, but likewise, the necklace chain will fall into the earring holes, causing it to slip and hang loosely off the card, even with a pocket on the back to hold the chain in place. If you're going to buy two-in-one earring/necklace cards, do yourself this favor, and make sure that the necklace slits and earring holes are SEPARATE.

Another Pro Tip: Add rubber earring backs to your post earrings. Most post earring components you purchase will come with either butterfly backings or bullet shaped backings. We love a good backing for a post earring, however, that metal backing will be the bane of your existence when it tries repeatedly to escape the card it's on. Put a rubber earring back behind it to keep it in line. And of course, always add rubber backs to our earring hooks. Not only will it keep it in place, but it's good customer service to provide the rubber backings for security while wearing.