Shipping charges can be especially expensive if you’re only ordering a small number of beads. I once ordered $10.00 worth of beads and jewelry supplies (seed beads) through a website and ended up paying $8.50 just to ship them! That means my cost per piece nearly doubled by the time my order was complete.

There are, however, some quality jewelry supply websites that offer free or incredibly inexpensive shipping on a regular basis, and those are online beads stores I find myself going back to more and more! Here are a few:

Artbeads.com – FREE shipping with no minimum order: I don’t know if this was always the case or not, but Artbeads.com now offers free standard shipping on any order for the United States. That means that you can buy $1.00 worth of beading supplies and, as long as you don’t mind a short wait, you’ll get it shipped to you for free! They also offer free priority shipping on any orders of $75 or more, which I’ve taken advantage of a couple times in order to get a jump start on a big craft show that I decided to attend at the last minute. Artbeads is quickly becoming one of my favorite online stores to shop at for jewelry supplies because it’s easy to navigate and has a great selection. They also offer $1.00 shipping to Canada and have some relatively inexpensive international shipping rates as well.

CreateForLess.com – Free shipping on $100 or more: If you’re buying a lot of craft or jewelry supplies, then you may want to consider taking advantage of free standard shipping at CreateForLess. They offer free standard shipping on any orders of $100 or over. This isn’t quite as generous as the shipping offer from Artbeads, so I tend to keep a list of items I need from CreateForLess and then order them all at once to get the free shipping when I can. The nice thing about CreateForLess is that they do offer much more than just jewelry and beads, so if you’re a particularly “crafty” person with a lot of different interests and creative endeavors, then you might be able to get a lot of your shopping done in one place! And don’t worry if you are primarily a bead jewelry maker: they put all their beading a jewelry making supplies under one category so they’re easy to find!

Amazon.com – Select Free Shipping on Bead and Jewelry Supply Orders: Amazon.com’s shipping policy is a little more complex than the previous two examples, but you can still get free shipping on a lot of beading and jewelry supplies. Amazon.com is famous for it’s $25 or more free standard shipping pledge, the free shipping only applies to items that are fulfilled by Amazon.com. That means that if you go to Amazon.com and order a dozen different things (a few CDs, some beads, some house supplies, a pair of shoes) then some of the items in your order may come with free shipping, but some may carry an additional shipping fee.

One bonus trick with Amazon.com: if you really find yourself in a bind and need your jewelry supplies quickly from Amazon.com, then you may be able to sign up for a free one-month trial of Amazon prime. That gives you free two-day shipping with no minimum on a variety of Amazon.com stocked and supplied items. If you don’t like the service, then you can cancel it within 30 days. If you do like the service and find yourself ordering a lot of things from Amazon, then it only costs $79 per year and it can substantially decrease your shipping costs if you regularly order things with express shipping from Amazon.

Remember that “standard” shipping is usually the slowest way to get your package, so don’t rely on the free shipping offers if you positively need something quickly. I’ve had standard shipping orders take 3 days to arrive and I’ve had them take 13 days to arrive! There are just a number of shipping factors that you can rarely control.

But for the price (free!) I would strongly recommend going with as many free or discounted shipping deals as you can when you’re order your beads. That will lower your cost of production and may, in some cases, even allow you to sell your jewelry for a little less than you normally would.

Check out this fun mixed gemstone lot!

There are actually several advantages to buying a large mixed lot of beads instead of just buying individual beads for specific projects:

First, it’s actually kind of fun to open a package or strand of beads and be completely surprised at what you get. You’ll end up with a lot of beads that you may not have an immediate need for, but in a month or two you’ll smile when you go rooting through your loose bead box and find a random gemstone that you would have never ordered but fits perfectly into the necklace or bracelet you’re working on at the time.

Second, it really is a good way to lower costs while still saving money. Sure, you won’t be able to use every single bead every single time, but most bead lots put together similar beads and gemstones so you have a pretty good idea of what kind of quality you’re getting.

Third, I’ve actually had some luck creating similar bracelets and necklaces using the beads and gemstones from a mixed lot. They didn’t match exactly in color, but I was able to build a whole series of pieces that I advertised as “Unique!” while they all were still clearly made from beads of the same size and shape, just with different and complimentary colors.

If you’re looking to buy some great affordable beads and gemstones at a discounts, and you’re adventurous enough for a little surprise, then buy a mixed lot of beads and get ready for some creative (and money-saving) fun!

Together we helped raise $110.34 in the month of October for the Susan G. Komen Foundation!

Thank you to everyone for participating and please remember that you can always use your jewelry making skills to raise money for this and other causes at any time of the year through many different means!

I was going to turn this site all pink, but I decided to try to help people in a different way: I will give away a portion of all my jewelry supply sales for the month of October to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Here are the details:

100% of the Jewelry Making and Beading Commissions I receive from Amazon.com will go towards breast cancer research during October 2009!

Amazon’s Beading and Jewelry Making Store – 100% of all my commissions for jewelry supply and beading items sold through the above Amazon link will be donated to a national breast cancer awareness organization! Yep, that’s for all of October 2009! Just use the link above to see the thousands of beading and jewelry making items at Amazon and to get credit for your purchases. Amazon.com’s selection is great, their pricing often beats the local craft store and you can sometimes get free shipping on jewelry making items.

I’ll donate $10.00 to breast cancer research for every sale of Bead Manager Pro in October 2009!

In addition, I’m going to donate $10 of every sale of one of my favorite bead jewelry business tools: Bead Manager Pro to fighting breast cancer. I’ve written about several different bead jewelry software programs before, but Bead Manager Pro is what I use because it’s relatively affordable, it’s easy to use and it does everything I want it to do. If you’ve been thinking about buying beading and jewelry inventory software and want the chance to have some of that money go towards fighting breast cancer, then October is the month to go for it!

Sure, Amazon’s affiliate program doesn’t pay much, so a $10.00 pair of bead crimping pliers may only pay about 60 cents in commission, but every little bit helps – especially when that 60 cents could help fund educational campaigns about breast cancer or even fund research to find a cure!

I’ll post a grand total for October’s donations at the end of the month. You can also always makes your straight out donations to any number of different local or international breast cancer awareness and empowerment organizations, and I strongly hope you do!

In most stores you’d expect to get nothing more than a few kid’s jewelry beads or a little bag of plastic seed beads for a dollar, but I actually found a lot more than just that in the dollar store. For a single buck I could get a bag full of some sort of turquoise looking glass beads, a large bag of some very nice wooden beads or a fairly good sized package of silver colored seed beads.

They also had a small collection of metal pendants with an oriental look to them and there were a bunch of bags of mixed charms and trinkets of various shapes and sizes. The dollar store even had some off brands of jewelry wire, but I refrained from trying it. I did pick up another cheap pair of wire cutters and pliers that I could keep handy for when I wanted to put together some bead jewelry while I’m working a craft show.

You might have better luck finding some deals on cheap jewelry supplies and beads at the national dollar store chains as opposed to the local mom and pop dollar stores. Some of the chains even offer bulk buying, so if you need a case of wooden beads or want 10,000 seed beads for next to nothing you may be able to buy them directly from the store! Buying this many beads at one time for such a low price almost feels as though you’re buying your jewelry beads wholesale!

Dollar stores are great places to get jewelry supplies and beads at a discount but you still have to be careful about overpaying for things, even in a dollar store. I’ve found that you still have to consider the cost-per-bead to really make sure you’re getting a good deal. Sometimes you can still get some better deals on your jewelry supplies using online coupons and I’m always amazed at the cheap beads and jewelry making supplies you can find at Amazon.com.

Lots of people sell beads and jewelry supplies through online auctions for a few different reasons. Sometimes other jewelry artists just have a lot of extra supplies hanging around and want to sell them off just to clear out some space in their own jewelry studios. Some bead stores and independent art and craft stores will sell their extra supplies and beads through online auctions because it allows them to quickly sell their older inventory without worrying about finding the exact price point. Here are some great online auction sites where you can get the best deals on bead jewelry supplies.

eBay – Sure, it’s one of the oldest online auction sites around, but it’s really gone downhill in the past several years. Lots of eBay sellers are leaving and the network has had a lot of lawsuits regarding scam artists and lack of buyer protection. That being said, you can still find lots of good and reliable people selling jewelry supplies and beads, well-priced vintage jewelry, estate jewelry and other jewelry pieces. I like to browse for all sorts of old jewelry, costume or otherwise, which can all be taken apart and plundered for beads and other jewelry pieces!

Auctionbeads.com – How about an online auction site that’s totally dedicated to buying and selling beads and jewelry? That’s the main goal of AuctionBeads, an independent online auction site that has a ton of cool features including an ad builder, spotlight auctions, a “BeadRadar”, referral program and more! It’s a little less polished than eBay, but it has some nice features and a fairly wide variety of sellers and buyers of beads and jewelry that seem to be using it.

AtOncer Buy and Sell – Here’s craft and jewelry supply auction site that’s pretty useful because it has fairly easy navigation and easy to follow categories, allowing you to drill down into a particular interest or type of craft supply you’re looking for. Because it’s relatively unknown (compared to eBay) the prices are pretty good, though you can’t always find someone selling the exact beads or jewelry pieces you’re looking for.

Obviously, this works both ways. You can also sell your extra beading supplies on these websites and quickly make a good profit on items you weren’t going to use for jewelry making. You can then take that money and buy more jewelry supplies that are more useful to you.

If you’re going to use these auction sites, you might want to consider signing up for a free account through PayPal. It’s simple to use and it makes sending money and receiving payments much easier than any other online method out there.

If you like buying and selling your jewelry and supplies at online auctions you might want to try to increase your business and profits picking up a book or two on eBay and other online auctions. Most of the advice that’s written for eBay can easily be transferred to other online auction sites as well.

Online auction sites are not only great places to find discount bead jewelry supplies, but they also add an element of fun and surprise to the every day process of buying your beading supplies online!

Here are some links and coupon codes I sometimes use to buy cheap beads online:

Amazon’s Jewelry Making Beads and Supplies Sale – I’m including Amazon.com in this list because their prices are often so low and their selection changes so often that you don’t usually need a coupon code to get great savings. The Amazon beaded jewelry and jewelry making supply pages often contain great deals on beads, jewelry making tools, gemstones, pendants, pins, earrings and more. I have to admit I’ve bought whole jewelry pieces from Amazon for next to nothing only to take it apart and use the clasps and even beads and charms in some sort of beaded jewelry piece I’m making to sell!

Cheap Bead Coupon Links

Artbeads.com is one of the best places to buy cheap beads for jewelry because they actually offer weekly coupons,free shipping with no minimum order, have a great “learning center”, offer Swarovski crystals beads of every type imaginable and they have an overall huge selection of beads that rivals just about any other online bead store!  There really isn’t too much they don’t offer.  You can use the coupon to the left to immediately start saving money on all the beads you buy online!

I’m going to present you with two different online coupon links for Pugster, one of the more fun and fashionable online stores for buying beads and charms for jewelry! You don’t have to write down the coupon codes, you just have to click on the coupons. The first coupon is good 15% off any charms or fashion jewelry you purchase online and the second coupon is good for 15% off any Murano glass jewelry you come across. There are lots of different aspects to Murano glass jewelry and it’s gaining in popularity because it’s beautiful, simple and can be worn in a number of different ways. I have also listed some Pugster bead coupon codes in the next section.

CreateForLess always has some interesting and affordable beads that I’ve never seen anywhere else. Their selection of beads for jewelry is large but not excessive and they also have some pretty good prices from time to time. I’ve offered two different online bead coupons for them. The coupon on the left shows you their weekly specials on all their craft supplies, including making bead jewelry. The coupon on the right is for their super 70% clearance sale. If you’re looking for beads you can visit the clearance coupon (it might take a moment to load) and then use the “Beading and Jewelry Making Supplies” link on the left. A nice feature is they tell you how many clearance items they have in each category. Today they have 301 Beading and Jewelry Making Supply clearance items on sale!

Customize Your Own Diamond Jewelry – If you’ve ever looked for real diamond jewelry in a jewelry store and couldn’t quite find what you wanted, then Anjolee Jewelry is for you. They’re a diamond jewelry customization service which makes diamond jewelry exactly the way you want it. You get to choose metal types, styles, gemstone size and a pretty much build a piece of jewelry from scratch on their website. You can zoom in, rotate and really check out exactly what type of jewelry you’re building, all online.

Don’t worry, I remembered that this is a blog about getting discount jewelry supplies. Almost all of their jewelry can be designed and built with Cubic Zirconia of different sizes and weights, too! So if you want to make some custom bling without making the cash register ring, this is a pretty cool site! I have a friend who is going to try to design a few pieces to her liking and sell them at shows for a small mark-up. I’ll let you know how she does. When you’re done customizing your jewelry pieces online you can order your customized jewelry right there! You can save even more by using the coupon code at the right!.

Cheap Bead Coupon Codes

You can enter these codes when you check out for a variety of savings.  These codes expire at times, so there’s no guarantee as to which ones will work and which won’t!

FireMountainGems.com Coupon Codes
save30: Save a whopping 30% off your order (may be expired   )

Brightlingsbeads Coupon Codes
d100-5: 5% discount on bead orders of $100 or more.
d250-5: 10% discount on bead orders of $250 or more.

EEbeads.com Coupon Codes
BPM52: Free beads with any order.
CV9V2: Free beads with order and free shipping on orders over $20.
They also offer monthly coupon codes if you sign up for their mailing list!

Pugster.com Coupon Codes
CJ15PUGT2: 15% off your total order.
BRH3OFF: $3 off the sale of any brooch.
TOE3OFF: $3 off any toe ring.
CJCUSTOM3: $3 off any custom photo charm.
FREECUSTOM1: Free shipping and free custom photo with order of $35 or more (expires soon!)
Pugster changes coupon codes on a regular basis so your best bet is to visit their website to see the latest offer!

Using coupon codes and coupon links to buy discounted beads online is a great way to save money and keep your costs down, especially if you’re making and selling jewelry with the beads you buy!

When the economy hits the skids and traditional jobs begin disappear a lot of people begin getting creative with ways of making bead jewelry without paying out the high prices for lots of jewelry beads up front.  One great way to get cheap beads and keep your beading supply costs very low is to actually make your own beads!

Make Your Own Paper Beads: The ultimate way to make cheap beads is to make your own out of paper!  You can use any sort of paper, though colored paper, patterned paper or any sort of paper that has an interesting pattern are often best if you’re going to use these super-cheap beads for jewelry.  There are several different ways to make paper beads, from strips of paper into long colorful beads to making newspaper beads in boiling water.  Many people make paper beads out of old candy wrappers and junk mail, which is the ultimate way to have a never ending supply of practically free beads at your disposal!

Make Your Own Polymer Clay Beads: Polymer clay beads are popular and relatively inexpensive to make, though it’s one of those skills that may take a lifetime to master!  There are lots of great books and resources on making polymer clay jewelry beads, but Carol Blackburn’s Making Polymer Clay Beads and Grant Diffendaffer’s Polymer Clay Beads are both books that get rave reviews! Making your own clay beads is obviously not quite as cheap as paper beads but you have a lot more flexibility and design options open to you.  Like paper, there are lots of different ways to make cheap clay beads for jewelry that are durable, colorful and downright fun!

Make Beads Out of Recycled Items: Let’s get back to the really free and cheap beads you can make!  A lot of people have learned how to make cheap jewelry beads by using non-traditional materials and even “junk” in their jewelry with some startling great effects.  I’ve seen people make coffee bean bead jewelry, bicycle jewelry, jewelry from pencils, beads made out of washers and lots of beads and bead jewelry made out of all sorts of recycled materials.

If you have a little creativity you can find lots different things to make your own inexpensive beads from.  And by making jewelry out those items you are not only creating a beautiful and wearable piece of art, but you are also increasing the profit you make from the bead jewelry you sell!

Some of the sales on craft supplies include up to 70% off certain yarns, 25% off all ribbons, 50% off floral items, 50% off baskets (great for displaying your handmade bead jewelry at a craft table), and 50% off Swarovski Crystal beads at all Michael’s stores!  I’m guessing that AC Moore and all the other retail craft and bead stores are having sales now, too, so it’s a good time to get out and shop and stock up on inexpensive beads while they last!  Also, please remember that Swarovski Crystals do have some lead in them and they should be treated accordingly!

If you want to get some cheap beads online then I recommend you visit one of the best online craft stores that I’ve found recently: CreateForLess.com. They don’t have the largest selection of beads online, but they do offer some great clearance prices on inexpensive beads and they’re having a sale right now, too, so it’s worth trying them if you haven’t before.

Because it’s the beginning of a new year and the end of an old one a lot of art and craft stores, like Michael’s and AC Moore, are having clearance sales.  This is an excellent time to get a jump on your holiday beading supplies for next year if you have the storage space.  By buying your holiday craft supplies a year in advance you’ll have the opportunity to offer some unique beaded jewelry at the craft shows next year and you’ll be able to realize a much larger profit when you sell your jewelry pieces.

Good luck at all those bead sales clearance events!  If I see you there I’ll try to leave a few good cheap beads for you to buy, too!

This is not to say that regular retail craft supply stores and bead stores are not a great place to buy high quality, unique and premium beads, but for a majority of the regular beads you use in most of your handmade jewelry pieces, the convenience and pricing of online bead stores simply can’t be beat.  If you’re running your own bead jewelry business, then the prospect of buying discounted beads online, from a store or anywhere else is obviously very appealing.  The larger the discount you get on your jewelry materials and beads, the larger the profit will be on your jewelry sales!

You may need to try a couple different online bead stores before you actually find one that can reliably deliver high quality and inexpensive beads.  The best way to find a cheap bead store online that you actually like is to place a few different small bead orders with a couple different online stores.  You can even purposely order the same or similar beads from each online store to test shipping times, quality of the craft items you order and how accurate the photos are on their craft supply website.

One of the best cheap online stores I’ve found to buy cheap beads from is www.CreateForLess.com.  They have a huge selection, offer regular specials and sales on beads and jewelry making supplies and they always have contests and plenty of free craft and even jewelry ideas as well!

Another way of getting cheap beads online is to look at some of the online auction sites.  Sites like eBay offer a wide selection of jewelry making supplies and affordable beads you can buy online, including hard to find beads from online stores, cheap handmade beads and even large lots of cheap beads from jewelry artists who just want to clean out their closets by selling some of their old jewelry making supplies  online!  This last seller, the jewelry maker who is trying to sell some of her beading supplies online, is one of the best ways to get super cheap beads!

So when you’re looking for inexpensive beads and jewelry supplies, don’t forget the many different ways you can buy discounted beads online.  Once you find an online bead store or two that you like stick with them and order all your beading and jewelry making supplies and materials from them.  Many online stores offer discounts you buy a lot of beads or jewelry materials all at once, so it pays to place one or two big bead orders instead of placing a bunch of little bead orders with most online jewelry supply stores.