How do I close down for the Holidays?

[GracefulRosaries]

I am getting really swamped with orders, and am worried about making the deadlines for holiday shipping. What should I do? Should I just put my shop on vacation mode? I was thinking of putting up the following shop message.

"Orders placed after the 16th of December may take 3-4 days for processing and are not guaranteed to arrive by Dec 25."

Also, I want to take the 19th to the 30th off to take a break. Should I put my shop on vacation, or will it actually work to tell people the following,"

"orders placed after the 20th of Dec will not ship until Jan 1".

I always hate to lose orders by putting my shop on Vacation Mode. It seems to take a while for things to start moving again.

What is everyone else doing to handle this issue?

[Former_Member]

If you stay open and decide to notify your customers, put info EVERYWHERE. Use the beginning of EVERY listing (people don't always visit your shop, let alone actually read the shop announcement), in the shop announcement, in the message to buyer. Another helpful thing is to change your avatar and/or banner but it's not always possible for everyone.

I'm going on vacation from the 18th through to January 2nd but I'm not going on vacation mode. I'll have access to my shop so I'll be able to check up on things but I won't have to start any custom orders or ship anything ready made if I don't feel like it. I'm changing my banner to reflect this information. I'm also adding a sentence to the beginning of each listing and changing my message to buyers.

[GracefulRosaries]

That's is AWESOME advice. I too will have access to my shop, so I can remind customers after a purchase of the shipping delay.

Thanks again!

[SlightlySprightly]

This is great advice. I'm only going to be out of town for 5 days, but I don't really want to shut down everything for just a handful of days. So glad to hear what others are doing!