Chat Thread

[#1]

Here you go. Private and all.

[hooknsaw]

Good morning ladies! Last I chatted, I was on my way to a dentist appt. Two words you never want to hear while they are working on your mouth are "oh, SHOOT". This then led to a surgical extraction and a couple of painful days at home.

Welcome Lucille. This is our chat thread and we discuss everything and anything but also a lot of crochet tips, business experiences and crochet and knit. Your little flower hats are adorable! If you have specific questions, there is usually someone on the team that can answer or help.

Debra, some of your customers are unbelievable! I've had two conversations in the past month that I didn't even respond to. The requests were outrageous and I didn't want to engage the person in any type of additional conversing. Might be poor customer service on my part.

I've been looking at the new layout and I like it overall. I think it will be more buyer friendly. I don't have a smartphone and cannot do updates, so I may need to change that in the future. Also, I don't like the template policies etsy has added. The wording could be more professional in my opinion.
I'm not going to use a banner or cover photo as I want our items front and center. Also with selling a mix of items I have a hard time trying to brand specifically.

Sarah!!! Yeah, your back! Have fun with your garden! Everything is blooming here which has my allergies starting already! When I farmed I loved the farmers almanac! It was usually very accurate for the year with weather expectations!

Jessica, do you have any of your husbands items on etsy yet? Would love to see them!

Melissa, I'm sorry to hear that Winter has had a rough year! Congrats on continuing your schooling with your schedule! Fingers crossed that this year is easier for you and your family!

Crochetgal, I hope you are feeling well! Hugs to you and your partner!

Mary Alice, I hope you and family are well! Is Olivia getting excited for Easter? Izzy has been hiding the eggs that I got her (from Lauren) and then has fun finding them again. She has declared she is now Princess Izzy when wearing a dress. If she doesn't have a dress on she is Isabella. She also corrects us if we call her by the wrong name. I can't believe she is going to be 3 in July!

Kitty, how are you doing and how is your Mom?

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We had the kids over yesterday and I am hoping to spend a relaxing weekend at home!

[HowCuteAreYou]

Good Morning!

Lucille ~ Welcome to the team. We have a wonderful team of women who converse daily, weekly or whenever we have a moment to share, vent or help with business. Jump right in!

Lisa~ Tooth pain is the worst, there is no escaping it. Sorry you went through that and I hope you are feeling better.

Princess Izzy is a blast. What a little character she is.

I hope your family is doing well after your loss.

I hear you about not answering the convo. I am tempted so many times to just hit delete.

I have a customer, I am dealing with now, who is contacting me about an order she wants to place in October. She has questioned me about fonts, styles, colors and discounts. She wants to know if I can come up with any fun sayings for cousins to be.

I finally had to tell her that when her time is closer to announcing a pregnancy, (she's not even pregnant), that we can discuss fonts and messages along with colors. I finally had to tell her I do not send my ideas to potential customers and will help her once she purchases.

That takes the cake!! I should send her a trophy for oddest customer in 6 years.

About the new shop layout ~

I did notice that Etsy is no longer calling the FAQ section just that but has changed it to read Additional Policies/FAQ. Etsy had stated that if a case arises between a customer and your shop they will not take into consideration your answers to FAQ's.

I think Etsyians were extremely upset by that since Etsy also stated that if you don't use the new Etsy policy format it would not necessarily hurt your ranking in search results but it wouldn't help. So basically you have to use the new policy template to get better search results.

So, the problem came up that there wasn't any place for policies that might be specific to your own shop.

I am not sure if Etsy has changed their position on FAQ's as policies but by changing the title of the section I think they might have.

Sarah ~ Our shops are going to change significantly.

For some, like Lisa, the larger cover photo might not work. If you choose to use the same banner you have it will just look smaller on the new page. Plus, it will not show up on the smart phone app.

If you choose to go with the new cover photo then it will show up on the phone app.

You can view how your current banner looks in the new shop format by clicking on Preview My Shop.

I didn't like how my banner looked, very small and cramped. So I will be going with a new cover photo.

Here is my new cover photo.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/HowCuteAreYou/neu


Have a good day ladies!

[Former_Member]

Deb, I love the new cover photo! Very minimalistic- gorgeous.

I spent two hours today taking still life portraits of an old iron and a pear. I just tell myself that any creative work is possibly staving off dementia, so it's okay. My thumb and wrist are so sore I can't crochet anymore until tomorrow.

[MrsFullersAttic]

Hello, I am Kim Fuller and I am a newbie here. My shop is Mrs Fullers Attic and I sell my hand made crochet items as well as vintage items. I wanted to ask how long it took you guys to start selling crochet items. I have been on here 3 months and have sold 1 crochet item. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, i.e. prices too high, too low, pictures not good enough, wrong titles and/or tags, etc. Would like to hear from some other people selling crochet items and get some input.

Thank you and nice to meet you all.

[hooknsaw]

Debra, love your cover photo! Ties in with your shop and photos, beautifully! Thanks for the info on faq's. I haven't started the edit process yet and had not seen that. I will probably procrastinate until later this month with the changes. Etsy is notorious for more changes and I try to give them time to tweak the buggy issues.

Sarah, you could next paint your still life:)!

Hi Kimberli, welcome to the team! It took us until our first Holiday season to start selling crochet items well (about 6 months). Our sales (after almost 5 years) are still seasonal. They improve a little each year, but our busy months are August through January.
We spend the slow month making inventory for the Holiday season.
Etsyrank.com is a great tool for fine tuning titles, tags and descriptions.
I think your photos could use some work. I like your photos with the model, but some of your baby dresses are hard to see.
You have good sales for only being open a few months! Depending on what you sell, etsy can be extremely slow during the spring and summer months.

Have a great day everyone!

[hooknsaw]

My daughter sent me a shop icon to try out. So I now have one edit added! Maybe if I tweak one thing a day, I will be finished by the roll out on April 5th!

[craftykittycrochet]

Hi everyone, I'm still alive lol! Sorry for not keeping in touch! I didn't read back too far in the posts but saw enough of the last page to make a few comments....Lisa, what a doozy of a dentist trip! Hope you're relaxing and recovering now! Deb, talk about planning ahead on orders lol!!! I don't blame you for telling your potential customer to hold off a bit....who knows what could change down the road?! In the mean time you're spending a lot of time and effort pricing out and planning a "hypothetical" order. Gotta love some customers lol! Sarah, I love your new shop! The cowls are so brilliantly colored and look so soft and comfy! And so glad to see some newcomers - welcome Lucille and Kim!

I was also a tad confused about what exactly is changing with the new shop format? As far as I could see it looks like we need a bigger banner and we have the option to do slideshows now? Or was that always there? Sounds like everyone is making great progress revamping their shops!

Speaking of revamping, I put my shop on a temporary vacation. There's been a lot going on lately - I ended up taking a new job recently! It's only part time but goes to more full time hours in the summer. It's at an After School program and so far I absolutely love it! It has put me a bit behind on orders though, and I'll admit that I just need some time to revamp, rephotograph, and rekindle my shop a bit! With all the pressure of being delayed, etc. on orders it has just taken all the fun out of it for me. I think I'll try to stock up and do mostly "Ready to Ship", in addition to raising my prices, to take some of the pressure off!!

What's new for everyone? I've missed you all so much! Hope all is well!

Happy Sunday! :)

[MrsFullersAttic]

Lisa and Don, Thank you for your input. I am working on changing all of the crochet item pictures. What, exactly, is hard to see on the baby dresses? I ask because I want to know what the buyer sees and their impression. Is the newer pink dress better than the bright multi-color one? I appreciate your opinion on this.

I have been told by a couple of people that the crochet stuff only sells during the holiday season. I am just going to keep adding and tweeking. Eventually they are bound to sell - right? :(

Thanks

Kim

[hooknsaw]

Kimberli, the dresses look fuzzy to me, the detail seems blurred and at a glance, I cannot tell if they are crochet or fabric. On your multicolor dress, the 4th photo is my favorite as I can see some stitch definition, color separation and even the cute scallop edge on the hat.
I use a piece of wall paper to photograph on which gives a more cohesive look to our shop. Granted my photos need work, but using natural lighting (no flash) at set times during the day takes some of the guess work out of it.
Some crochet items sell well year round. Retail in general is slower during the summer months (whether on-line or in stores).
Our best seller is our scarves so we are very seasonal.

Debra, you brought up International recently, have your International sales slowed down with the USPS price hike? Ours are flat lined. I had a sale to Norway a couple of days ago with an immediate conversation to cancel the order. The shipping prices are unreal!

[BuytheHook]

I would like to thank you for being so welcoming. Your support and encouraging words give me the boost I need.
Even though the shop has been technically open for quite a while, I've only recently been more aggressive in my efforts. I still do a lot of crocheting for charity, so I need to devote more time to work on my site. as well as quantity of items. Any suggestions or helpful criticism offered will be met with appreciation. I need to learn in order to succeed.
I have been to many Esty shops and see so many talented artists. I am impressed by the quality of work and the professionalism. It shows in your layouts and your photos. I'm so happy you made me a member of this team

[HowCuteAreYou]

Sarah ~ Sometimes photography is so relaxing. I love to go our a local everglades park and wander around taking photos. To me, its very creative trying to get the exact right image. Have fun!


Kimberli~ Welcome to the team! It took me a good year to find my stride and items I was passionate about crocheting. Baby hats sell year round since babies always need them, especially newborns.

I think with crochet item details are extremely important. So the clean, sharp photos are good. check out other shops selling crochet dresses to see how they do their photography. I always love to see little dresses hanging from pretty hangers against a nice neutral background.
Good luck!

Lisa ~ The policies are so far down on the page that you have to stroll all the way to the bottom, past a lot of other shop info. to see them. Since policies are so important I feel they should directly under where the listings scroll stops. I hope Etsy tweaks that issue. I did send in my suggestion but who knows!

Hey Kitty!! So glad you stopped by. You have been busy! Good luck with the new job. Sounds perfect being that it's part time for now.

Hope your mom is doing better.

When your shop ceases to become fun then it's time to change it up.
Maybe new items and photos will get you right back into the swing of things. Overload on orders, though great, is very stressful.

I'm spending my Sunday boxing orders, not much fun going on here. Oh, and we have to get to Walmart for dog biscuits. This is a totally not fun Sunday.

The new shop format is larger photos, only 3 across, new huge cover photo and template policies. The template policies are very easy to read but not sure how our own policies are going to be covered.

Etsy hasn't been doing a great job of addressing that issue in the forums.

Videos have been something we can add for a few months. For your about page, instead of photos, you can have a video of your shop or your process or a little something about yourself. I am thinking of asking my nephew, he's the cameraman and photographer at the local news station to help me out with that. I was thinking of filming myself crocheting a bootie and then run it fast motion for my about page.

Have a good day, off to box booties and Walmart....yuck!!

[MrsFullersAttic]

Thank you all for your input. I am in the process of reworking the photos on my crochet items and all of your ideas are very helpful.

[craftykittycrochet]

Hi everyone! Happy Monday!

Kimberli - there are a few of your photos that are really awesome, like the ones for your adult slouchy hats! Maybe if you took photos of your dresses and other items outside, no flash? Getting good pictures is a never ending battle for all Etsy sellers, I think! I agree with the ladies that some crocheted items sell well any time of the year, but things are always busier during the fall/winter. Have you considered maybe making some Fourth of July themed baby items? Or summery baby items, like those super cute watermelon dresses that are floating around Pinterest? Those can help with the summer lull!! Good luck and don't give up!

Lisa - international has flatlined for me too! I only ever get orders from Canada now, and that's mostly from the areas that are directly above me lol. The price increases are nuts!

Deb - thanks so much for the welcome back!!! I missed all you ladies! My mom is doing okay, she got a good report on one of her tests but is still waiting for the results of another one that she's a bit nervous about. Thanks for the encouraging words on my shop! I'm really looking forward to playing with some new ideas, new photos, etc. You're so right that burnout demands a change up when it comes to a handmade business!!! Looking back on it, I'm kinda surprised it took me this long to burn out lol!

Hope boxing orders and the Walmart trip went well!!!

Thanks for the info on the changes. How cool that you can have an awesome professional video thanks to your nephew!!! That would be perfect!!

Lucille - good for you for doing so much crochet for charity! That's one thing I hope to do more of if I can ever get my schedule under control lol.

Have a great day ladies!

[HowCuteAreYou]

Lucille ~ I know you will enjoy being a member of the team. It's a great group.


Kimberli ~ Good luck with the photos. It's not an easy chore. Neutral backgrounds and natural lighting work really well for me.


Kitty ~ Best wishes to you mom, I hope all of test results come back just fine.

I had extreme burnout when I was crocheting blankets. I remember that a friend asked if I would make one for her and I started crying at the thought of crocheting another one. That was an extreme wakeup call to change it up!

Let us know when you are back up and running. Looking forward to see your new direction and shop.


What a not fun weekend when Walmart is my highlight!

Off to bed so I can get up early and do it all over again.

[BuytheHook]

Well, it looks like it is going to be a very nice day here. Cold, but that's fine. The sun is shining. Looking forward to seeing my grandchildren over the weekend, Have there baskets just about finished.

Thank you Debra, I already feel like one of the family, and it's only been a few days. I love your shop.

Melissa, the charity "Loving Hands for Babies" is what brought me back to crocheting. I just never seemed to have the time. Now that I'm retired I'm still busy, but with things I enjoy.

I also love that you support one another, I see many have been to my shop and excited every time I see shop activity. Thanks.

I'm working on a new hat, and I hope to post it soon.

[craftykittycrochet]

Hey everyone, Happy Tuesday!

Deb - thanks so much for the well wishes for my mom! I'll keep you all posted. :) And thanks also for the encouragement about my shop! I remember how toiling those blankets were!! I don't know how you did it!!! I'll definitely let you all know when I set my vacation mode to "off"! I'm almost done clearing out orders and then I can take some time to revamp things a bit.

Lucille, glad you feel welcome here! It really is an awesome group!! We are always trying to help/support each other and it truly makes all the difference when you're a shop owner to have that kind of support. Thanks for the tip on the "Loving Hands" charity - I recently took over the knitting ministry at my church and I'm going to let everyone know about them!

Have a great day, ladies!!

[Former_Member]

Hi, everyone-

Lisa, that is the worst word ever to hear from a dentist- how are you healing up?

How is spring where you guys are? We had a week of strangely warm, like, early summer, then back to the usual windy and cool- but today looks sunny so hopefully we can get outside. It's rained so much here I was afraid the grass was a goner but it appears to be making its annual comeback.

I've been playing around with some ideas for my shop and the new format- I have the perfect weight of a winter blanket- 2 strands of alpaca merino and one of cashmere merino, Tunisian knit stitch using an M Tunisian hook- it is so thick and warm it's like being wrapped inside a teddy bear. Of course it uses so much yarn I would have to price them to the moon and back to make a profit at all- but using three strands means very cool colorwork. I have some ultrafine lace weight on the way so I can experiment with multiple strands of very thin to make a summer weight throw- I must be simple minded- I keep learning new stitches and patterns but then I keep coming back to my favorite- simple knit stitch, rectangles. Or squares. Deb, I think you're right- we just have to work through ideas until we hit the one we love to keep making.

How is the shop revamping going for Deb and Kitty? Have you guys made any plans?

I was thinking about the Trading Posts out west- they have a little bit of everything- for the very isolated people that come in every month or so- they are the coolest places to dig around- you can find onions and potatoes, fresh mutton, a blue enamel coffee pot, a Navajo rug, a piece of tanned elkskin, a bag of Doritoes, needles and buttons, sneakers, etc. I've been feeling a bit homesick for Navajo country.

[HowCuteAreYou]

Good Morning....time for coffee and a chat.

Kitty ~ I checked out your little mobile yesterday, I saw it in your sold items. It is SO adorable!! You have been busy! Good luck getting caught up.

Sarah~ We're having the same kooky weather. Last week it was in the 80's and the last two days are jacket weather. Tomorrow is supposed to be back up in the 70's.

Your blanket description sounds wonderful. Wrapped up inside a teddy bear...perfection! I've seen some very expensive handmade blankets here on Etsy and they do sell.

I am getting the wanderlust vibe from your post. I know you have a special affinity to the west.

I saw a fun episode of House Hunters last week, it was all about tiny houses. They now have them on wheels so moving is really not an issue.
They can be pricey but some of them seem to be really decked out.

Anyways...I thought of you when I saw the episode.

My kits are almost ready, the muslin bags have been ordered and once received I can start photographing. I have the photo layout in my head but the hard part is getting that to translate to a good listing photo.

Lisa~ How are you doing? Hope you are recovering nicely.

Crochetgal~ Hope you are doing well. Were you able to get your treatment?

Have a good day ladies!

[hooknsaw]

Good morning!
Lol Debra, to the walmart comments! I really need a few things from walmart (as there is no where else in our area to get them), but I am dragging my feet about going.

I hit burn out with my Jack Russell scarf a few years ago (after making 80+ for one buyer). I now enjoy making the design again... only took a couple of years to get over the burnout!
With Don cranking out the scarf lengths on the addi, I have been excited to crochet just the design part of the scarves. It has helped to get my creative side working again.

Kitty, best wishes for your Mom. I'm glad you are taking a short break and giving yourself time to relax a little!

Sarah, it is getting hot here and today the winds are supposed to hit 50+ mph. No moisture in over a month which means by this afternoon it will look like a solid wall of dust outside (and rolling tumbleweeds). NM is always better in May than in March or April!
My mouth is healing well, but I have another appointment next month and will need the time to talk myself into keeping the appointment.

Are you going to list the high end blankets in your shop? I have crocheted mural blankets and rugs over the years, but for personal use only. I couldn't price them or bear to part with them (other than gifts for close family members).

I hope everyone is having a great week!

[SandyCoastalDesigns]

Welcome Kimberli and Lucille. And WELCOME BACK Sarah. I just thought that I would pop in today so the new members would know that I occasionally show up. Lucille when I first started Etsy I made items for babies. I loved the cuteness of them. But I decided after a while that there are just too many sizes for baby things and they out grow them so fast and I would drive myself crazy trying to cover all the sizes. So I kept searching Etsy to find anything that struck me as something I would want to work on. The headbands were a hit and they don't require different sizes (just add an extra button for that). Since then I have added many more onesize fits all type of things. BUT it seems that whatever you get known for first will forever be your reputation (referring to the headbands). Unless you work REALLY hard to get another product line. Those shops that focus on one style or one type of item do the best in my opinion. But I can't concentrate on just that type of shop. I get bored too easy. Plus you never know when you will hit the "sweet spot?" again.

It seems that I have lost the drive for my Etsy shop especially with all the new changes. It just overwhelms this technology challenged old lady. I feel like I don't have control of my shop any more. Etsy and their changes to format, search, policies, checkout, etc. has taken over and is standing over me and watching my every move. I haven't decided if this will be my last year here yet. If they change the item placement (as I have heard), that will be the last straw. I am referring to the comments that say that when you renew or renew sold items they will not move to the front of your shop page but will stay in the place they were when the change takes over in April. What is the point of renewing when you have 500 items and can't easily move their placement to be seen? Supposedly only brand new items will appear on your first page of your shop when you list them followed by the old listings. Rearranging is supposed to be a hassle the new way with no shop pages to use. Just load all your items up and shuffle them around one at a time through all the listings. I am too busy during "season" to do that.

Oh well, as you can see, I'm not adapting well to this new way of doing things. I'll get in a panic the closer we come to the deadline for this to be the way it will be (until they change again). I'll have to decide what to have in what order.
Luckily, working with yarn you can always "frog" it (undo it) and use the yarn for something else.

Cheer up Sandy, you can do it. That's me patting myself on my back.

Gotta go and look at some more new cover photos that people are making and posting. I made one but am not impressed with it. The fine arts and jewelry shops have the most impressive new cover photos, I think.

[SandyCoastalDesigns]

Question...Sarah and Lisa.....How do you get your icon for the forums to be an item from your shop and not your shop owner photo??? I used to have it that way but when I created an about page with the photos it changed. I have always hated having my photo taken and seeing my face in the forums is the worst for me. I can't figure out how to change it.

[hooknsaw]

Sandy, it took me a minute to find it. Click on your profile and the edit is there. (click on your name under your avatar on the home page). Small button on upper right hand corner to edit the profile (avatar) picture.

[SandyCoastalDesigns]

Got it. Thank you Lisa.

[HowCuteAreYou]

Lisa~ Glad your on the mend. Yuck to the follow up appt.
Hope it goes well.

Sandy~ Lots of changes coming down the Etsy pike. I am trying to roll with it since I am not quite ready to throw in the towel. I am confused about a few things but I figure in time I will understand what is now a mystery.

I had a customer from Italy purchase booties yesterday. She is sending a check. I hadn't had any conversations with her previous to her purchasing. So, now I have to wait for her check and then wait for it to clear before I can ship her order. By the time all this happens the baby should be born!

Has anyone ever had a check come from overseas? I am perplexed!!

[SandyCoastalDesigns]

Debra......I added one of your booties to my cart and when I went to purchase I see you have check or money order as one of your payment choices. Was that intentional? I was just checking for you as to why you were receiving a check.
I used to receive e-checks and had to wait until Etsy said they had cleared before I shipped, but not an actual check. Does she have your address?? I ask because there is a thread in bugs that our addresses were pulled from our credit card info and auto populated to our shops info. I have deleted mine several times and the delete doesn't stick, so I'll wait and see if things change.