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Post by zed on Mar 14, 2014 10:14:58 GMT
I've only done one fair, Teri. If I could do more, I would and it'd be far easier than trying to sell online. I have loads of items 'favourited' on etsy, but I definitely think felt items sell better in real life when people can see them and pick them up. I think experience is invaluable. If you can get it I think it's really rude that people don't leave feedback, to me it's like walking out of a shop without saying thanks. If anyone does leave me feedback, I PM them to say thanks, since we can't leave it for buyers.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on Mar 14, 2014 14:22:15 GMT
Zed, I believe many folks buy on-line due to the anonymity of the experience. In other words, you choose your goods and pay for them--end of story. I know that it feels badly NOT to receive feedback, perhaps more so when your items are handmade. You put your all into your work, and then "nothing happens." I am both a buyer and seller on Etsy, and I am very careful to always leave constructive feedback and to be thankful when I receive feedback as well. However, I have stopped worrying about NOT receiving feedback. You just need to move on to the next sale.
As for "favorite-ing," it's a hobby for some folks to search on Etsy and click on the heart. Others just love to make Treasuries. Note that some of these folks have never made a purchase. I used to spend a lot of time analyzing when I first opened my vintage shop three years ago, but now I try to focus my efforts on improving photos and finding vintage objects which will be enticing to buyers.
Hope that helps!
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Post by felicity on Mar 14, 2014 14:56:46 GMT
I am very new seller on Etsy and understand that Etsy's policy about feedbacks has been changed relatively recently so that now customers can't give a feedback until some "estimated" time of shipping passed. With modern post services they usually get an item quite quickly and nobody wants to wait up to two weeks to be able to give feedback. I receive nice thanks letters from customers more often than official feedbacks.
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Post by Pandagirl on Mar 14, 2014 15:36:43 GMT
Teri, great observations. Listening and observation are great skills to apply to your marketing research. Do you take custom orders? Definitely keep track of those items people ask about and buy.
Ooh, the monster hat sounds interesting. Can you post a picture?
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Post by Pandagirl on Mar 14, 2014 15:40:37 GMT
Zed, Cathy and Felicity these are all good insights into the etsy experience. I will address this in a future marketing blog and hope I can use some of your comments for further discussion.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on Mar 14, 2014 19:05:35 GMT
Marilyn, You are free to use any of my comments!
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Post by Pandagirl on Mar 14, 2014 21:38:18 GMT
Thanks Cathy!
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 14, 2014 21:50:13 GMT
Teri, great observations. Listening and observation are great skills to apply to your marketing research. Do you take custom orders? Definitely keep track of those items people ask about and buy. Ooh, the monster hat sounds interesting. Can you post a picture? Thanks Marilyn, funny you should ask about custom orders, I have gone from never having done any to having 4 on the go at once And thinking about it, that is in part due to some accidental marketing.... I needed a guinea pig "client" to work with for my C&G course so put an advert up at work offering my services for the cost price of the materials, I was inundated with offers but limited myself to 2 clients for my course work but since then have accepted 2 more "proper" clients. I'm hoping that when people start wearing my scarves that will act as free advertising and the cycle will continue.... The monster hat is packed in a box somewhere but will try to remember to dig it out and photograph it tomorrow.
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Post by Pandagirl on Mar 15, 2014 1:48:13 GMT
Good for you Teri. It's great you are doing custom work. And the fact you limited the guinea pig clients to two as well will hopefully create more demand. Your scarves should definitely be advertisements. I look forward to see your scarves and the monster hat. Good luck. Please keep us up to date with your progress.
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Post by zed on Mar 15, 2014 10:09:28 GMT
I've tried the guinea pig thing too, sent off a load of free fibres/fabrics/embellishments etc to help me work out packs, heard nothing back Maybe the 'doing it for cost' is a really good angle.
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 15, 2014 19:18:37 GMT
The scarves are still WiP, I hope the first 2 will be finished next week but will be sure to post about them. It's been quite an experience working to someone else's specifications. Here's a pic of the "monster" hat. Personally I don't think it is much to look at, it's just a crochet baby hat but almost everyone who visited my stall in December picked it up.... I guess people were connecting with the humour in it?
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Post by Teri Berry on Mar 15, 2014 19:29:25 GMT
I've tried the guinea pig thing too, sent off a load of free fibres/fabrics/embellishments etc to help me work out packs, heard nothing back Maybe the 'doing it for cost' is a really good angle. I was once told (when I was starting out in pet behaviour therapies) that even if you put a tiny price on something i.e. a couple of pounds people will take it more seriously and take responsibility where they would subconsciously see something free as "worthless" and not worth their time. For me, I think the guinea pig thing worked mostly by making people aware of what I do outside of work, it was surprising that people I speak to most weeks had no idea that I was doing a C&G course. I guess that comes back to marketing yourself and I know I am rubbish at it, it feels forced to tell people what I do in the hope that they will place an order or check out my Etsy shop.
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Post by MTRuth on Mar 15, 2014 21:02:22 GMT
The monster hat is really cute. I can see why people were drawn to it. The design and the eyes especially give it a quirky feel.
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Post by Pandagirl on Mar 15, 2014 21:11:33 GMT
I love the monster hat, it's darling.
It is hard to tell people what you're doing especially if you're selling and are not a forward person. Sometimes you need an advocate who will toot your horn. But I've found that just being enthusiastic about what you're doing has the same effect. That's why we're all trying new things here. :-). It's catching!
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Post by zed on Mar 16, 2014 16:36:32 GMT
I like the hat I thought at the time it was a mutual favour, lots of fibres in return for feedback etc.
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