How to deal with hurtful emails?

[Former_Member]

Hello, I started my little jewellery shop last April and 99% of the time, I have had really nice support from people. But today I have received an email saying (sorry to put it crudely) "Stop selling Chinese sh*t as being handmade by you." and I wasn't quite sure how to handle it. I wrote back explaining that sadly, most days the charms and pendants people admire, and at a affordable price, are from places like China as that is the largest manufacturing country in the world right now, and in the UK they just dont make tiny charms like they do :( But my feelings are hurt and I feel a bit disheartened about my little shop. A lot of my items are very much handmade by me (shrink plastic and plating bracelets) but the rest I order in small charms to put on charm bracelets for my customers, which they all seemed to really like. Have any of you received emails like this, or negative feedback, and how did you deal with it? ~ Grace

[KeepingItNatural]

I have, just one. You somehow have to focus on the 99% and blow off the other one. Some people love to argue and there's nothing you can do. Don't convo her back if she convos you again. Sorry you got hurt by this.

[ScrapendipityDesigns]

I know it's hurtful, but don't let 1 single negative outweigh all the positives. Obviously a lot of people love your items (so much so you opened your own off Etsy site for them), that's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of positive feedback (the positive being that they took the time to spend their hard earned money with you). Not every craftsman makes every single piece they use in a project. I didn't build the editing software I use to create my patterns so does that mean my stuff is crap next to someone that hand draws everything? You shouldn't have to defend your items, you make what you make and people obviously love them. If they didn't, no one would be buying.

Something I have learned as I have gotten older is that it's really easy for people to cut us down, it takes only one sentence. This is because their words prey on our own fears. How come you didn't have this guttural a reaction to all the people who did buy your items and loved them? Because negative seeps into all of us so much more than positive. I would not have even responded to that person. It's one out of hundreds. Call them an a** in your mind, delete the email, and continue doing what you do and continue making hundreds of sales to people who do love your items.

Cheers!
Rachel

[Phoebedreams]

Hear hear to everything Rachel just said.

Take a minute to read through all those good comments in your feedback. Boost yourself.

Btw - your shop is empty? Hope that isn't due to the horrible email...

[Former_Member]

Oh Grace, that sucks.

Was this person a seller of jewellery also...? It sounds to me a bit like the green eyed monster. Hurtful as it is, I suspect that they are jealous of your success.

Try not to let it get you down, and good luck with your new shop! :-)

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much everyone :') this has helped, I love the lovely people here in this team. And @Lesley I have my own website at the moment to deal with all the orders, but I am putting my jewellery and art back on Etsy very soon :D xx

[heartsabustin]

If they sent that through Etsy, you can report them to abuse@etsy.com.

[DrawstringOrganzaBag]

Hi Grace, Dont let it affect you. You can try forgetting it as a bad dream. I too had a case where a lady gave a feedback saying " Big scam and dont buy from this shop blah blah blah" for my other shop. Reading this after you put in 18 hours doing everything on your own makes one really sad. But I feel we need to move on. I have around 402 sales in my other shop and I have lots of customers who are repeat customers and reading their positive feedback really helped. So you can Read your positive feedback for sometime and you will feel better.

Thanks @Erin for putting that mail id so that we can atleast raise the issue with etsy.

[AdamRabbit]

Sorry someone sent that to you, just blow it off and don't respond. You don't owe a random troll on the internet an explanation.

[AuraRosesTreasures]

What great response! I suggest everyone remember all of this positive input for a time when a negative response comes up. The negative response is mostly inside myself - as Rachel said, the negative preys on your innermost fears.

[Former_Member]

With 450 sells to your credit? I can't imagine why you'd be put off by silly negative emails.

Your shops stats stand for itself. People buy your products. You have nothing to be sad about. There will always be people ready to judge.

And maybe perhaps, this person has emotional opinions about foreign retailers, but those are their feelings.

[PiecesofMeCardsnMore]

I would have taken the high road and not even responded. They were trying to rattle your cage (and they did). Brush it off and move on.

[SageNThymeDesigns]

Have a nice glass of wine and a bubble bath- it'll all look better afterwards. If not, have another half a glass

[MetalRoosterOrganics]

I had something similar happen to me in my old shop, and this person was unrelentless on how negative she was towards my tiny startup shop. When I got rid of my shop, I took all my pillow stuffing, I have it in a nicely handmade, sewn with care giant bag and if I get angry I put a stick figure face on there with the words mean people in the middle of it and have now used it as a punching bag to get out my negative energy or if I'm in a rut and can't fight myself free. Idk, that and I will watch copious amounts of Doctor Who and think about how he would handle the situation. Don't let all that bad energy get you down. You have done an amazing job and people like that are just mad and jealous that they don't have skills like you, so they just want to make you fall down to their level, which is never fun.

[Former_Member]

Every company, website, owner, and artist has received critics. It's all apart of putting yourself out there for the public to view your work and scrutinize. Some people will love your work and others will hate it. Nobody wants to tell you you're perfect, they want to find something wrong! So, with that being said, embrace your little shop again and keep creating. One person's opinion, is just that...an opinion.

[Former_Member]

Agree. Ignore it. Also, work on your perspective. Some peeps are never satisfied. I have a friend I've made 3 hats for. Always something wrong. I'm done. 99% is what anyone selling anything would wish for!

[Mollymoojewels]

Hi Grace

This is just awful! You have had great success, so just focus on that and put this small minded, idiot out of your thoughts. Wishing you all the best :)