Deactivate or not?

[LauriesGiftsBiz]

I've posted in my shop announcement that tomorrow is the last day I'll be taking orders for things that need to be sewn. I noted that I'll be shipping ready-to-ship items until the 20th, but because of the number of orders I'm working on-- there just aren't enough hours in the day to take on more... You would think that announcing your cut off date would be enough, but I've already had one customer order something-- and even though the listing and her receipt said it would ship on the 24th, she of course sent me a note that wants it before then...

I understand that people are busy buying gifts and they may not always notice the processing time. But in years past, there have always been the customers that are like "I see that your 'widget' takes 7-10 days to make, but is there any way that you could make this tomorrow and get it in the mail to me?"

How would deactivating more than half of my shop affect my standings? (You work so hard to get your shop found, I would just hate to do something that would affect my shop negatively.) I was hoping if I deactived all of the custom listings and things that need to be remade, I could avoid the whole issue... I've heard that putting your shop on vacation can hurt your standings, but I don't know if deactivating so much of my shop would be better than vacation mode or not.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Former_Member]

I'm interested in hearing what others have to say about this as well!

[Former_Member]

Hi Laurie! I deactivate all of my listings about every month for a couple of weeks. This isn't my full time gig so as soon as I hit a backlog of a certain number of orders, everything gets deactivated so I can catch up and maintain my sanity. Now, I've done it both ways - vacation mode and 'deactivation mode'. I've found it was harder to recover from vacation mode than deactivation, but I also found that your shop falls off the map while on vacation. I hate that because I have so many return customers.

Deactivation mode is my preferred method. You'll find that most customers (and other shop owners, as I'm learning) do not read shop announcements at all, or the receipts, or the listings. Your best bet is to deactivate all made to order and keep up ready to ship. You can also put as the very first line in your listing 'WILL NOT BE READY TO SHIP IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS', but good luck with that. Seriously, people just don't read anymore. When I reactivate all of my listings, it's like I never left. I renew a couple of things and just keep adding new listings about once or twice a day for a week and it's back to (crazy) normal.

[Former_Member]

I would just put a note in the shop announcement and then take on any case by case situations and if they do order and do not see the announcement just send a friendly note of the announcement and ask f they still want to continue with order even tho it will not be shipped for a bit and not get there in time for Christmas. I have a feeling that deactivating custom orders may hurt your standing and plus anyone else who wants to order and does not care of it comes after the holiday

[Former_Member]

i would deactivate them. it´s only 12 days until christmas and after that you just reactivate them. i don´t think that your shop will not be seen just because you deactivated some listings

[Inugurumi]

I deactivated about four fifth of my store on the 3rd of December, because my schedule was already filled up. My views and sales have of course dropped, but still getting sales every now and then. Not 7 to 10 sales a day, but 1 or 2 every other day. I know I could have just left everything on my store and let the customers know that it's not going to arrive before Christmas, but like you said, people don't really understand how long handmade things take or they don't read the announcement. I just didn't want to deal with any angry customers on Christmas day, so I decided to deactivate the listings. I'm glad I did though. My hands really need some rest!

[Former_Member]

Interesting! I have never deactivated nor gone on vacation mode, so I'm not an expert here. However, at the end of December I am going to put a shop announcement up stating that I am on vacation for the week (so that I can re-claim my sanity, like you said! as well as get my shop geared up for the upcoming year). Best of luck with your decision!

[LauriesGiftsBiz]

Thank you all for your advice! Glad to hear that deactivation could very well be less detrimental to my shop than vacation mode... I really think this could help me keep what's left of my sanity, too. (Or maybe it's a little too late for that? LOL) I'm so very thankful for the busy Christmas season, but I'm ready for a little rest, relaxation, and Christmas cookies!!! =)

[Former_Member]

I would deffinetly NOT deactivate.... most poeple 'get' that they can't get something this close to Christmas, but they may want to buy it, print a picture & give that to the person. It's what we did a LOT at the jewelry store I worked at.... Christmas rings being sized, mother's day rings, etc. I think only a few people were fussy that they couldn;t have the product right away, but most were giddy that they found the 'perfect' gift and not having it on the actual day was secondary.

I WOULD, however, post over and over that all orders will not be sent prior to Christmas, that estimated shipment date is 1/1/2013 (or whatever date). Put it in your announcements, your note to buyer, your about page, even your listings. You might even include a new posting for a custom gift wrapped picture of the product that somebody purchased for a small fee. Say, for $10-15 you will print a nice photograph of the product they bought, put it in a picture frame (Wal-Mart has some nice cheap ones), wrap it with a bow and send it to the recipient.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

Learn to say no.
It is not an insult, it is just a professional answer.

[JoArtyJo]

Yeah, leave them up I say.
Last year I had lots of orders after my shipping deadline (I'm in the UK). I contacted them all and not a single one cancelled the order. People do still buy for themselves at this time of year, and as mentioned above, some will happily wait and give the gift a little late.
Definitely contact everyone who orders and make sure they are happy though just to make sure, I know it's extra work but I guess it's worth it for the sale :-)

[Former_Member]

I am noticing lately that we are becoming a culture of people that will try to get what they want no matter what is written down or said. For example... you could write your shipping times and policies all over the place, and people would still ask to have the rules bent. For many people, policies are not guidelines they are challenges to overcome. I work in technical support and we see it many times a day.

I have a fairly low volume of sales still so this week I have been messaging each buyer letting them know that there is a chance it won't get there before Christmas (from Canada to the U.S.). I have had good feedback from doing that but I don't imagine that is feasible for a store with a high volume of sales. If you need time to catch up I wouldn't be afraid to put yourself on vacation for a few days... you might hurt views, but the effect won't be permanent and your views will pick up after you reopen your store.

[Former_Member]

I would not deactivate. Anything deactivated that has been featured anywhere, like a treasury, will completely disappear from where ever it was being featured.

Plus, like BeaG said, just say no.

If I had deactivated all of my custom listings, I wouldn't have made a sale a couple days ago for a baby blanket needed by January 10th...

[cushncovers]

Hi Laurie,
I agree with BeaG from WilliamsGiftshop....just say no.

I had someone ask me if they could get a custom cushion made in time for Christmas....all my listings use their own fabric, it has to be shipped to me, I have to order the foam and wait a week for that plus the shipping time and not to mention my time needed to make it. I told the customer that maybe Santa could perform this miracle....and made sure I added LOL and "smiley face".

It's alright to say no and more people will respect your honesty than not.
I would never deactivate anything, nor do I ever have my SHOP go on VACATION, but leave my shop open for browsing when I am away. It takes some time but not only do I add an announcement when I am away but I "copy and paste" a note on every listing (not realistic if you have over 40 listings!) that I am on vacation from DATE - DATE and will return messages when I get back.

The more items they can VIEW while you are gone the better. Just seeing something in a different fabric may entice someone to buy if you have a shop like mine. Otherwise, I could just have one or two listings for my entire shop as ALL are MADE TO ORDER in their specific fabric.

No worries....just say NO.

[AnneLondezGlass]

I have never used the official vacation mode but every time I take a few days off, which means nothing new is added for a few days, my shop drops off the radar.

[LauriesGiftsBiz]

Well, now I am reconsidering the deactivation plan... You all make very good points! I guess I will just have to get better at saying no. (Not very good at that... I always try to do whatever I can to make the customer happy....) But seriously, if there's not enough time for me to make it-- that's just how it is. As long as I do everything I can to get the information out there, I supposed I'll just have to hope that everyone understands.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

From now on you'll always try to do whatever you can to make YOU happy.
And have customers respect you at the same time.

[Former_Member]

I deactivated all my custom listings for the same reasons you described. I'm still getting ready-to-ship sales. To me it's worth taking a little time to get back into the swing of things after Christmas when I reactivate to avoid the stress of multiple convos and stressed out or disappointed customers.

[Former_Member]

great discussion...thanks!