Focus on Artfire

After much consideration and comparing, I have switched my main focus to Artfire. Every way Etsy drops the ball, Artfire picks it up and does it right! I've made one sale already and know more will follow. Artfire's latest app is the new Check In feature, where the seller can mark that they have been in their studio that day. This will help assure buyers that the seller is active and on hand to help them with their orders. This will cut down on buyers wasting their time on abandoned shops. It is a great feature!

Pimping Artfire

After the latest devastation caused by Etsy Admin, namely the huge privacy breach of the past week, I have opted in on Artfire's Pro upgrade for $5.95 for life and even split my shop so I have 2 shops there now. I have never put much effort or work into Artfire and have never made a sale. I believe if I put the same amount of work into Artfire as I have Etsy that I will make sales. I really want Artfire to work out. It is painfully apparent that ETsy does not care if their sellers make sales, Etsy make its money from listing and renewing fees. Artfire on the other hand goes out of its way to help its sellers do what they are there to do, namely, SELL! I will keep you all updated on this experiment of mine.

The Etsy Image

Resellers and mistagging have gotten so bad on Etsy I am loathe to refer anyone to Etsy except to my shop with ample warning that the general site is now full of resellers and one practically has to have a degree to tell if their wanted item is truly handmade. Etsy is becoming an embarassment to me. I would hate it if someone I referred to Etsy got took by a reseller, buying mass produced crap that is overinflated in value when they thought they were buying a premium handmade goodie. And search on Etsy is deplorable, full of mistagged items. Etsy is definitely going down. And it had such promise. How disappointing.

May Sales Recordbreaker!

After no sales at all in February and March, and thinking I might just have to let my items expire and close up shop, May was a recordbreaker for me. Home sales popped, direct sales from a group forum I belong to, and Etsy sales! Woo hoo! Just goes to show you need to cover all venues and there is no pattern to sales really.

Primo's Pawtourage Featured!

We've been featured, check it out! Thank you Kathleen!

Got a small business grant!

Like many on Etsy my sales took a nosedive for a while, I had not made a sale since January then this month I have made 3 sales by the grace of god. A week ago I took a real hard look at my shop in my efforts to improve upon it and decided I just did not offer enough variety in scent choices for my soap. I screwed up my courage and composed an application for a small business grant from my counselor. I was not sure I had a chance in heck but I tried anyway and I found out today that I got it! Just goes to show that even when things look grim, have a positive outlook and aim for new goals, you just might succeed! I have been truly blessed and will be in soaping heaven soon! I've asked for supplies to branch out and offer 4 new scent lines in keeping with the Spring season: violet, magnolia, sands of morrocco and masculine musk, from Wholesale Supplies Plus, my main supplier, 2 scents for women and 2 for men. I am so excited! I love fragrance!

Forum Sales Fairy Strikes again

I've had a bad sales slump....no DEAD in the water since January, then 2 weeks ago I filled a custom order for an entire batch of Primo's Power Wash Dog Soap with Emu OIl and the next week a home sale popped up! Last night I was chatting in the Etsy forums passing the time. I love the forums there, I learn so much and have made some good friends too and it is entertaining. Then boom, one of the forum chatters bought a bunch of soap from me out of the blue! Talk about perking me up! Just goes to show you never know when a sale will happen, it can occur jsut from something that you say in passing. So many vent their frustrations so angrily in the forums you just never know who is reading and what kind of impression you are making matters. I feel real blessed that someone was impressed enough with my Medieval Fantasies soap line to buy from me. A very nice way to end the night indeed!