♦♦♦♦ Alberta Street Team CHAT THREAD for December 1 - 6, 2015 ♦♦♦♦

[Former_Member]

Hello and welcome to the Alberta Team Chat Thread for December 1 - 6, 2015. Posting here counts towards your team participation and is the main place to get up to date on what we are doing as a team!

Post your New Listings in our promo thread:
https://www.etsy.com/teams/5084/alberta-street-team/discuss/17138087/

Post your Treasuries or social media links here (posting in this thread counts toward your team participation):
https://www.etsy.com/teams/5084/alberta-street-team/discuss/17138095/

WHERE TO FIND OUR TEAM & PARTICIPATE:
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/AlbertaStreetTeam
TWITTER: twitter.com/etsyalbertateam #EtsyAB
PINTEREST: www.pinterest.com/ABStreetTeam/
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/etsyalbertateam/ #etsyalbertateam

If you have any questions about the team or how to get more involved please contact Ann, the Team Captain, at www.etsy.com/shop/MagpieQuilts.

Previous thread:
https://www.etsy.com/teams/5084/alberta-street-team/discuss/17100604/

[WireExpressions]

Ooooh!!! Never been first before! Welcome December! Only 25 days to go! Yay!🎄

[lampworkbyjulie · Accepted solution]

Exciting beginning to the new month! There's an annual flameworking event that I've been attending the last few years in Whistler. Registration opens at 7 am today. Last year it sold out in 48 minutes. Fingers crossed that I get in again this time!
Touch wood I've never had issues with Etsy shipping labels. Hope it didn't effect too,many here! That said, I've written myself a little tutorial on shipping with PayPal and thought I'd share it here. Although it's easy peasy to print a shipping label if the purchase was made through PayPal, since they changed things up, it became increasingly a PITA to figure how to print one if the purchase was not made with them. Here's my way (disregard if ya'll know something I don't)

Click on any of your transactions that says 'Canada Post PayPal services'.

This will take you to 'transaction details'.

Scroll down and under Shipping information', click on the shipping label in blue.

Now scroll to bottom and click on 'ship another'.

At that point, you can go in and edit all the shipping label information; ship to information, shipping information - select service, dimensions & weight, etc.

Hope this helped anyone that gave up on Canada Post shipping with PayPal. I know you can also just use Canada Post's site, but I like using pp cuz it's easier to pay....

[Former_Member]

Thanks, Julie. I used the PayPal shipping a lot; I was so frustrated when they took away "shipnow" function. I'll give this a try today!

[Former_Member]

Yikes! I read about the Etsy shipping issue and then quickly went and checked the tracking on the packages I mailed last weekend - all good!

The Truck holiday market I attended as a vendor this last weekend was very very slow - just no traffic coming through. But I did make some good sales so it was worth it for me. I think just too many big markets going on every weekend - plus the gallery doesn't have great parking, isn't very convenient to get to, and I'm not sure what all they did for advertising outside of Facebook. Anyway, good things to note for next year. I'm so glad that Make It was so successful. I'm done markets for this year so now I get to work on the custom orders I have and then relax. And I'm very much looking forward to having 3 weeks off of my full time job - cannot wait!

[Former_Member]

I have been packing and taking my (two in the last two months!) items to my friend at Shoppers Drug mart and letting her do the hard work. Donna, you paw is on its way to you.

happy new month. where did this year go?

[NotJustAlpacaCrochet]

Good day all! I am a little old-fashioned and still prefer to mail my packages via the post office. I have learned to calculate the prices better using the find-a-rate feature, a practice I should have started BEFORE I spent more on shipping an item than I made selling it. Oh well, lessons learned. Plus, the staff is generally pretty good at coming up with ideas to save on shipping by suggesting alternative packaging.

As for markets, I usually book a local one in December - but not this year. With being away for over a week and wanting to make more for my shop, I decided to take a step back from the market and go as a shopper this year.

I wish everyone a successful holiday season in terms of your shop, and a Merry Christmas to you and your families.

[MagpieQuilts]

Anyone in Calgary looking for a last minute market, Dec. 16 in the evening at the Canada Music Centre. The main theme of the evening is the Christmas concert from a group of musicians, but they are wanting it to be more of a mix & mingle event than a sit down concert & are looking for a few vendors - tables are free. Contact is Holly holly.decaigny@me.com

[cindylouwho2 · Accepted solution]

Julie, that will send emails to the original customer, about the new shipment that has nothing to do with them - that could be quite confusing or even upsetting. They also get the address of the new shipment, which by Etsy rules you aren't allowed to release to anyone other than the involved parties. I strongly recommend against doing that.

If you want a replacement for the Paypal Ship Now link, you can send your non-Paypal email address (or the email address of someone you know well, like a spouse) an invoice for $1. If you send it to yourself, you must pay the invoice with a credit card other than the one you have attached to Paypal. Once that is paid, you can ship again & again on that transaction link, altering the info each time, & the notifications will all go to that same initial email address. You thereby avoid breaching Etsy rules & privacy laws.

[cindylouwho2]

Hope everyone is doing well! I am only slightly stressed out about orders LOL

[junquete]

uggg I"m still sick and can't talk. Writing notes to my husband. He had his time due to health and now it's my turn again. Since my flu shot this is the second time I've come down with the flu or I think it is. Hubby is happy I can't talk to him -smart ass! lol

I've had to refund two orders in a row for extenuating circumstances. It's actually heartbreaking to do that. lol But I had no choice.

Has anyone ever done a show at the genisis centre? What an incredibly beautiful building. Packed with people with kids doing all sorts of sports. There is a library and the YWCA and three soccer fields a pool field hockey volley ball I think it was. There was also a graduation ceremony going on. It has so many events going on from morning til night. Not a lot of buyers but lots of cards taken and some asked if they could skip the shipping and pick it up. I said yes to five people that I could meet up with them in Calgary. So fingers crossed.

This bug has to go away. I have three shows coming up all paid for so have to do them

[lampworkbyjulie]

Thank you for that information Cindy. I did have that happen once where the old shipment receiver got an email about it. It wasn't a big deal for them once I explained.
I never use this 'system' for shipping anything sold on Etsy; I always use Etsy shipping. I just use it for things I sell privately on fb. From now on, I'll just use the same 'old' shipping label that has no email attached to it. (my SIL)

[Former_Member]

Thanks, Margo! I'm excited to get it. Lots of fun stuff should be coming in the mail this week. Too bad that a lot of it is going to other people, not being kept by me. :)

[Former_Member]

Cindy, thanks for they extra information on using Paypal shipping!

[MagpieQuilts]

I received my last payment on a custom order I've been working on since last summer. I'll be happy when the tracking on that one says delivered! And then one more baby quilt for a repeat customer & I'm going to concentrate on personal stuff & Christmas with the grandkids.

So the question is, when do you decorate? Have your decorations been up for weeks or do you wait? Christmas songs? Skip the whole deal? My decorating day is usually Dec 1 or 2 and Christmas has been playing on my speakers for a few weeks already.

[minibytes]

I try to hold off on decorations until Dec 1st - but saying that we're going light on decorating since half our stuff is still packed away in boxes in the house we're reno'ing.

According to the thread Cindy posted it looks like Etsy is saying that the shipping issue was just specific to that one sellers post office. Guess we'll see if there are any other updates to prove that's the case.

I've put the shop in vacation mode - I was booked solid up until my shipping deadlines with Etsy orders and wholesale orders so figured I may as well take a break. Very excited to work on my own projects for a while :D

[FlameTouchedGlass]

Happy December !!
lol I am totally not stressed about orders ..
Make it was just amazing this year !! Absolutely killed my last sales record ..so happy to now be a "makie"
Now a few weeks to restock my etsy shop !! Hope the festive season is just that for everyone ..No tree up here yet maybe the weekend ..I am a bit apprehensive with the new kitten AHHHH my glass ornaments!! but well ..

[Splurge]

Melissa, congrats on the success at Make It! I have never been but always intend to go. It seems that December has snuck up particularly quickly this year so I have only been to one show locally and that was for about 45 minutes. I must get shopping!

[quirefly]

Ann, thanks for the info on the Music Center- I will be in atendance, and enjoy a lovely evening of christmas music too! Market prospects aside, I am really looking forward to it.

[Former_Member]

Good morning! I seem to be waking up earlier & earlier these days. The pottery show/event was pretty nice this year. Looking forward to the spring event. Wish I could take the Music Centre spot on but I have to stick close to home that week.

[Former_Member]

Hey team!

We're all heading into our last leg of 2015, just remember that you get to relax in 25 days! haha that's what I keep telling myself. 3 markets down, 1 more to go. Make It was NUTS last weekend, they had record breaking numbers, and I know it was a record breaking weekend for me for sales. Don't get me wrong, it's A LOT of work, the days are long and there's 4 of them, but it's so worth it. So now I'm working on custom projects and prepping for Market Collective Dec. 18 - 20. Hope everyone is doing well!

[Former_Member]

I just tried the shop updates with the sell on etsy app. Anyone else use this?
Here is what I posted. Sure hope it helps with sales.
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/CeramicFixtures/updates

[Former_Member]

Happy Wednesday. The start of the work holiday festivities is today. December's almost a wash for us - each team does a party, the business unit does a crazy gift exchange, and the institution gifts us all with days off between Christmas and New Years. I love all the fun, but it's tough to get real work done when everyone's in party mode. I know, I sound scroogish, don't I?

This weekend is my big market weekend - two different markets this weekend. Then one private show next Sunday then I'm done - unless I decide to do a very last minute open house. I'm not sure that will happen, tho'. Fingers crossed for lots of shoppers with open wallets.

Then over the holidays I'm going to start apartment hunting (finally!). I'm having trouble narrowing down my target area. It's a toss up between being closer to work in the north or being closer to my friends in the south. If any of you has a place to rent in Calgary or knows someone who does, I'd be interested in connecting.

TTFN!

[Former_Member]

I haven't done my Christmas decorating yet, but we're going to pick out the tree on Thursday and then I'm decorating Friday night (we get a real tree). I'm excited! And I may have also started playing some holiday tunes these last few days!

[Former_Member]

we put up our tree on the 1th. we have a small house and it gets in the way. it is a pre lit beauty and sometimes it gets decorated sometimes not. this year likely not since we are going to Las Vegas on the 28 to celebrate my parents' 0 anniversary on New Years Eve.