Monthly Sale!!!

Just fyi, I run a sale on the last ten days of every month. The sale is as follows:

10% off of any purchases $15-$19 excluding shipping charges. 15% off of any purchase $20 and up excluding shipping. Cannot be applied to existing sales or discounts.

I will also be introducing gift certificates and/or coupons in my shop in the gift combo/deals section. So be on the lookout for those! I'm getting some fragrances in time for Father's Day, so I'm doing the best I can to make it a one-stop-gift-shop. Check back often because I make updates almost daily to my online store!

Customer's Patronage and the Power Struggle

So who wins the power tug-of-war that goes on between a buyer and a seller? Recently I have noticed on Etsy the growing trend of the buyers in a way using their possible patronage to almost run the shop of sellers. What in my opinion started as a well-needed way of communication between buyer and seller turned into a threat of sorts.

It started when sellers, including myself, started asking buyers what turns them off and on about a shop. This was a response to slow sales, and I believe a desire to have better customer service, and improve the viability of a shop all around. It started friendly enough, with buyers simply stating what common mistakes sellers make, that leave a bad impression, or other things that work against the seller. This was very good, as I looked forward eagerly to see just what buyers wanted and expected out of a shop. Then I could decide which of these things works best for me, and I could implement them in such a way as to be consistent with the vibe and appeal of my own shop space.

It started to take a bit of turn as time went on, when some buyers began making statements beginning with the words "I won't buy from you if......" These words are now infamous among some sellers on Etsy. Indeed I, being the person I am , just had to speak out about that. So I made a thread about it. Nothing big. It got a few responses and that was that.

Now obviously, you and I know that not all the buyers were guilty. Most people on Etsy are quite nice and helpful. Most are reasonable and very level-headed individuals. What I think happened was that people just got a bit carried away. We can do that sometimes. We get started on what we don't like, and then we start nitpicking about ALL the stuff we don't like. The buyer critique (so to speak) went from "I don't like it when sellers don't ship internationally" to things like "If I don't see my country listed I won't buy", never mind that the option of EVERYWHERE ELSE is sitting right there. One of those is a legitimate gripe, and one is a nitpick.


Here's the tug of war part. Sellers, including myself to a certain degree, began these massive shop overhauls. I did an overhaul on shipping which I think may have been long overdue anyway. I thought it was legitimate to make the shopping experience easier for people. I have no problem with that and don't believe many sellers do. Where does it end though for the sellers? How much do you take into consideration the opinions of potential customers? Do you draw a line? Where is that line anyway (rhetorical question)? Do you allow it to change your whole perspective or even your own vision for your creations, to please the customer? Or do you just make what you make, run your shop how you run it, and let the ships fall where they may?

I was stressing it before, but now I'm letting those chips fall and I ain't even watchin where they fall. I take the advice/suggestion/opinion I think makes sense to me and I apply it when and if I can. I'm starting to just concentrate on my craft and let that be that.

Paid Advertising

You know, paid advertising is the way to go if I really want to get my name out there for my store. Even though both yahoo and google have a pay per click program that is very reasonable, I still can't really afford it. Okay, if I spend the lowest possible amount, that is $1 a day for 30 days to equal $30 a month which ain't bad. However, the lowest amount I could pay per click is .10 which is also reasonable, but I wonder how affective? I mean what happens to my spot when my money is spent for the day? I suppose it's just taken down for the day. I would ideally like to spend $5-10 a day but that goes anywhere from $150-300 a month which I just don't have. So I guess I'm stuck with a the lowest amount. I don't really feel that the free advertising I do is really getting me the customer views I would like. I could go to crafter sites, but that would be spinning my wheels with people who are already familiar with the type of products I offer, if they aren't producing their own.

So how do I break the cycle? How do I really take my advertising to the next level? I know the answer lies in paid advertising like other companies do and it works. Millions of people shop online, and how nice would it be for my etsy shop to show up at the top of a search for soaps and other b and b products? To connect with potential customers who are already searching to buy what I have is always the smartest thing to do as a business. Any successful business adverts to it's market and goes where it's best prospects for customers are.

I may have to get some fund-raisers going. I can bake a mean cookie so that might have to be my ticket. My small shop pays enough for itself to replenish supplies and packaging, but not much after that. It can't yet pay for its own advertising. How many times did I use that word in this article? LOL.

I have always heard of the old adage location, location, location but never thought about how critical that is in the virtual world as well as the real world. My location on the web is key to my success or failure. Etsy is a great place to start, and I love the community there, but I need outside traffic to come to my shop. Search engine is the most used tool on the web for buyers and people shopping for specific things. I just have to get on them and make myself known.