♦♦♦♦ Alberta Street Team CHAT THREAD for JUNE, 2018 ♦♦♦♦

[#1]

Bring on June! Welcome to the Alberta Team Chat Thread for June 1-30, 2018.

It's also a super special month for Etsy because it's Etsy's 13th birthday! Etsy is doing a special sales event for it, kicking it off June 18. You can learn more about how to participate here: https://www.etsy.com/ca/seller-handbook/article/etsys-13th-birthday-sales-event/317881695718

Posting in this thread 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 (public & sharable):
https://www.etsy.com/teams/5084/alberta-street-team/discuss/18720372/page/1?ref=team_page

WHERE TO FIND OUR TEAM & PARTICIPATE:
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/AlbertaStreetTeam
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 Kalen, the Team Captain, at www.etsy.com/shop/minibytes

Previous chat thread here:
https://www.etsy.com/teams/5084/alberta-street-team/discuss/18693636/page/1?ref=team_page

[MagpieQuilts]

Etsy’s research (two rounds of surveys & one on one interviews with sellers) resulted in learning sellers were often to increases but wanted value in return. Buyer surveys say buyers find shipping prices high. Increasing listing fees, transaction fees, payment fees plus applying fees to shipping were all looked at.

Etsy wants all sellers to be able to price for profitability. Took into account where it was fairest to increase fees and where it was the greatest benefit.

Buyers don’t mind paying more for handmade but not for shipping.

Questions were asked about how it was communicated, less in the official announcement and more info in the forums. Benefits have not been clear. Response that Etsy wanted to highlight main points. Open to dialogue with sellers. Found in research that most thought fees were already charged on shipping.

[MagpieQuilts]

Team changes are coming. Just generalizations about it being easier to connect with your teams and to empower sellers with more tools to connect to others in their area or globally.

Etsy is trying to provide more individual support (and I’ll see if I can find links to some of those)

Discussion to be continued in the Canada captains FB group (it’s pretty active there).

That’s my very brief summary of 4 pages of notes on the call despite not being part of it. Hopefully this helps some.

[cindylouwho2]

Sheila, Shopify is not a venue - it is a website builder. So if you go with Shopify you are making a website. If you just want to sell through Facebook, you can import your Etsy listings there, I believe, or there are other easy options that would be cheaper than Shopify. (Not dissing Shopify, but if you don't want a website, there is no point in paying that much for one)

[cindylouwho2]

Discussion to be continued in the Canada captains FB group (it’s pretty active there).
-------
And that is the problem - Etsy is slowly moving all communication & team activity off-site, punishing the majority of the planet that is not on Facebook. So when the team leaders get info there, they are the only ones that have access to it.

I asked a specific question about whether the new teams would still be on Etsy or would require a different login - I would love to get their word-for-word answer to that question. Thanks in advance!

[MagpieQuilts]

I hear your frustration Cindy! I find the forums frustrating ways to find things out. I find the discussions on teams frustrating, checking in 3 or 4 times a day to crickets and then skipping a day and coming back to great questions and discussion and not being answered in a timely fashion. Not that I want to discourage anyone from posting here - I miss the days when we would have 4 or 5 pages of chat in a day!

I didn’t pull all the info from the notes (and thank you Jillian from the Calgary team for making them!) Most times the info we’re getting as captains and leaders isn’t any different or more than what everyone already is getting through other channels. I know that’s not much help, but it is what it is!

[WireExpressions]

I for one will NOT be signing up for facebook and likely no other app or online site either just to communicate with people on Etsy teams. I have enough trouble balancing my time as it is. Social media is an honest to goodness addiction. If it's there, I will go down the rabbit hole. So I am anticipating that I could be missing out on valuable information if this does happen as Cindy fears.

[cindylouwho2]

Ann, people are frequently getting more info than is revealed to the rest of us (although often you have to read between the lines to get it). The special talk on search is a great example, but there are many more. I thought when Kalen asked us for our questions that she would report back on what happened.

If the team reports in on Etsy news & events every day, there will be a lot more team activity. There are 6 people listed as leaders, so that's only once a week each that you would need to check in, if you are finding it onerous personally. There is news most days of the week, including new articles, announcements, tool changes, new tests etc.

Also, the team emails are a good way to see if there are any new team posts.

[SnowmanCollector]

Thanks Cindy. I realize that Shopify is not a venue but it is also not something that you have to start totally from scratch. There seems to be a lot of step by step instruction and fill in the blanks. And I guess you pay for that convenience. Like I said, I have a lot more research I need to do.

[cindylouwho2]

Ok, sorry if I misunderstood! There are some good options that are also pretty simple and are cheaper, so it just depends on what you want to do with the site once you have it.

I went with Squarespace, but if you don't have more than 200 unique products, the Indiemade Pro option is a good affordable one:
https://www.indiemade.com/pricing
You can import your Etsy shop, it has a blog, no final value fees, and it was designed with independent sellers in mind.

If you go with Shopify, they have a team here that provides a 20% discount:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/teams/24120/shopify-handmade-vintage-independent
you have to use their payment system exclusively if you don't want to pay a FVF per sale (beyond the processing fees, of course) so it can add up if you want to offer Paypal or other processors.

I don't hear as much about Big Cartel any more:
https://www.bigcartel.com/pricing
but I know people who have used them & liked it.

I found Squarespace a little difficult to set up at first, so it may not be for you, but I'll add it to the list anyway because they have different pricing options for folks who want something simple:
https://www.squarespace.com/pricing/#websites
they have 10% off your first year:
https://www.squarespace.com/coupons/

I think I am missing a good option but I can't quite remember it right now - I'll come back if I do. Even though you aren't planning on doing it right now, this should get you started, research-wise. Good luck!

[SnowmanCollector]

Thank so much Cindy for all the info. You are always a wealth of information! If you found Squarespace a little difficult to set up, then it is definitely not for me! But I will absolutely check into Indiemade Pro.

[ASecondTime]

To reiterate....Shopify is a not a venue. It is your own website. I use it because it has was easiest for me. They do have some good tools and it is a similar back end set up to Etsy which is likely a reason why it is popular with Etsy sellers. However, you have to drive your own traffic, etc which is a LOT of work. Etsy drives lots of traffic to Etsy and thus potentially to my Etsy shops so I choose to drive all outside traffic and any FB traffic or other social media traffic to my own website. There are apps on Etsy that will integrate your listings to your Facebook page just as they is a Shopify app that will do the same.

[MagpieQuilts]

The questions about what the changes to teams and forums have always been answered by really general statements with no specifics as to what they will look like. The facebook group I mention is for leaders of Canadian Etsy teams and probably 90% of it is about the Made in Canada events (which hasn’t been a focus for our team). The rest has been about building up our teams and local communities and encouraging sellers. Our Alberta team is a diverse bunch, from small shops that have just opened to those who have made this their full time gig. Many of us are juggling our Etsy shop with a full time day job, families, health issues etc.

I’m so thankful for those who are sharing their experiences with off-Etsy platforms and with Etsy in general.

[cindylouwho2]

Ann from MagpieQuilts says
The questions about what the changes to teams and forums have always been answered by really general statements with no specifics as to what they will look like.
===========
Yes, I know that, which is why I asked a very specific question. If it was asked word for word, they would have had to have answered it in a way that would give us some facts.

While frustrating, dealing with Etsy admin can be quite fruitful if you know what to ask! They can be pinned down, but when they refuse, the exact wording of their evasions usually tells you everything you need to know.

[cindylouwho2]

I do agree with Joan that a standalone is a lot of work & money for nothing if you aren't going to actively drive traffic. I do well with Google SEO, but don't have much time to work social media & my email list the way I should if I wanted to make the website really worthwhile. What little I do in those areas pays off, but I have been building my email list for over 7 years, & my business Twitter for 5, so I didn't have to start from scratch there. I don't do shows, but that would obviously be another way to drive traffic to your website, especially if you get a lot of repeat buyers.

Lately my blogging is driving most of my website traffic, with a view to putting more of my ebooks etc. solely on the website eventually. But as Ann says, with my health issues & multiple family issues, the 3 hours a day I can physically work at anything really slows down my progress LOL So the website is paying for itself, but isn't being fully utilized yet.


Anyone thinking of going this route eventually should buy their domain now & direct it to Etsy, then put that domain address on all of your business cards, link to it from social media etc. Then once you start the website, the address is already out there.

[SnowmanCollector]

Well at least I have done one thing right! Lol. I do have my own domain name directed to Etsy.

[myCorabella]

Hi all! I've been keeping up with the discussion but you haven't seen me much because we're busy restoring another fixer-upper.
Coasting along with my Etsy shop the way it is for now for the supplies side. For the jewellery side of the business, maintaining my own website and booked extra shows before Christmas.
This year we are doing AirBnb as well - in the last house we reno'd we made a self contained 1bdrm suite. (Deer Ridge SE Calgary - convo me if you'd like the link).