General Questions & Discussions

[Former_Member]

Please post any general questions, comments, or discussions here when they don't fit in other discussion threads.

These are my questions:
As a courtesy, when you notice your customer has not downloaded their file, do you message them with a reminder of their order and its availability?

I have purchased some digital downloads for commercial use and noticed many digital sellers do not specify use limitations. Do you feel the uses should be very clearly stated in the shop policies and a general statement in the "about shop" section.

Have you experienced issues with graphics that people find do not fit or "crop" correctly for the site they are trying to upload it too?

[work2gather]

21 JAN 2016
Been checking my digests and discovered this thread. Really nice idea to have a discussion space.

My issues with digital products, versus professionally printed and sold, is the amount of ink required to create a decent frame-able copy, the color quality, how to make sure the item you are trying to sell is what the customer wanted and paid for... etc.

And the idea of overuse, unauthorized uses, and theft of the material (designs) through recreating and/or minimal changes, etc. - with a global audience to contend with and only national copyright protections.

I haven't found any place on Etsy to discuss these issues in a deeper way, with easy referencing. I am wondering if this team discussion thread might be that place.

Has anyone already worked through these issues?
How did you deal with them?

[ThreeCornerGraphics]

No answers from me yet, as a new seller of digital goods. But FWIW, I share your concerns.

[work2gather]

What is "F W I W" ???

[work2gather]

I was checking my email digests and decided to enter a post here! GREAT idea to have a conversation thread... and it has also made me wonder if there is a BIZ TIPS thread for members........because.... I wanted to share that when new posts to the threads are delivered in the digest, it is just the link that appears U N L E S S you put in some descriptive text about the listing. I also think it is wise to list one item per post unless they all apply to the text you write about the item.

I hope you will check out the difference it makes.

I have reduced my team digests to the three main topics I want to follow right now, so I can read them, decide if there is something I want to look at further, and then delete the email if there isn't anything I need to refer to later.

Sound like an improvement to me !! My 2016 goal is to reduce the clutter and focus on what is most important to my goals.

I hope this helps all of you to sell your products to other team members who might see the thread posts. :-)

May this year be the best for all of us... and that trend continue until we no longer exist !! :-)

[ThreeCornerGraphics]

Oh, sorry: FWIW stands for"for what it's worth".

[work2gather]

24 FEB 2016 -- Just checking in... thanks for the definition of FWIW :-)

I am trying to decide what kind of digital products I want to focus on, and am beginning to discover resin activities. Do a lot of digital sellers create designs for resin jewelry items?

I know there is a lot of digital art for single page printing. I am trying to find out what else would be a good digital product to try for.

Any suggestions?

[work2gather]

Thursday, 3 MARCH 2016
I am looking for handy hints for SELLING artworks. I posted this at another team and decided to share it here, too.
=========================================
I am just checking in and wanted to share that I have been getting inspired to create my own art because of the art I see as I browse... I have been debating and debating with myself what to try to sell in artwork topics, what to make new... I have finally purchased enough paper to experiment with, have frames to put art in (and have decided it may be better to frame everything to sell like it would be sold in a gallery), finally have a small camera I hope will work well until I can get a better one, and am carving out the time to spend creating. I still need (and pray for) better work spaces, but have to make this do for now. I am wondering if there are any other mixed media / paint / drawing artists on this team with some good advice about actually getting some art sold. :- ) I haven't really thought much about selling art to live on the income, and want to build this option for the remainder of my life. Convo me directly and/or answer me here... I watch the Team Digest for what is happening here. :-)

[work2gather]

Thought I would re-post this at other team threads...
Hope you read it and like it. Deb
==========

Monday, 18 APRIL 2016
I read a great blog post about building a successful craft business and I thought it would be something you might want to read. I finally found the right link again - be thankful for that ! :-)

www.createandthrive.com/10-things-you-must-do-to-have-a-successful-...

If I remember right, she is in Australia... and creates jewelry for her craft. The blog I am sharing, however, is very generic toward all craft business types.

[Former_Member]

Hi Brenda and everyone! Hope you are having a good 2016. Yes, it's good to have a chat thread and I will try to answer some questions. As for your OP....

I have noticed this and I have sent a message to my buyers as a courtesy. One in particular was months ago and STILL says they haven't downloaded their files. I sent a message to my buyer but didn't get a response. I hope it's a glitch or error on Etsy's part because how could a buyer just walk away after buying something? Anyway, because of the nature of these kinds of sales are beholden to the technology we depend on and because of the way Etsy's case system is set up, I would highly recommend to any seller that you follow up on all digital sales, at minimum, with a message to your buyer.

Not that I've ever had a case opened up, but the thinking is that by keeping a communication 'paper trail' on Etsy, I can at least cover myself on my end if there is ever a problem.

As for use limitations, I think all sellers should be specific on what you can and cannot do with commercial graphics. I try to be clear in my listings but sometimes you just need a second pair of eyes to read your policies to make sure they make sense to the average buyer. Etsy Success team is great for this kind of feedback, or even just asking a friend or spouse.

And for your final question, yes I am struggling to keep up with the ever-changing sizes and formats on Etsy and elsewhere. Etsy just changed their banner requirements and I was left scrambling to change 25 listings to fit their new cover photo size. And the placeholder graphic size has changed. It seems like a full time job just to keep up with all these changes. When this happens, it can be embarrassing because we graphics peoples are supposed to know-all, but you fix the error and know for next time.

I think it really depends on what it is. If it's a graphic for Facebook, for example, I try to stress to my customer that it's not going to fit all social media, like twitter or a blog, so you have to make something for each site, unfortunately. But with the new cover photo on Etsy, the size is similar to Facebook and twitter. I haven't tried it out yet, but has anyone checked to see if you can use your cover photo across other sites as well?

[MyArtPlace]

Does anyone use SELLFY to sell your digital images? Just joined and am curious to know other's experiences.

Do you use other digital selling sites besides Etsy?

[MyArtPlace]

This is the link to my SELLFY page. I only have one item so far. Let me know what you think about this site.

https://sellfy.com/OUTOFTHEBOX