Made to Order? Or not?

[Former_Member]

Hi all! Question for you...

Many of our items are made-to-order, but some we have ready to ship. The ones we make to order, we can make very quickly and they usually ship out within two days, if not the very next day. However, sometimes we get backed up and it takes a little longer to get the items out (just a couple more days, not a month or anything).

I've seen shops where the seller states in the announcements and the descriptions that items are made to order, and it will take 1-2 weeks, etc, for turn-around. I'm contemplating on putting something like that in our shop announcements - but more like 2-3 days, up to a week... that kind of thing.

I'm looking for some feedback from you all - do you have ready-to-ship items or made-to-order? Does it hurt your shop if items are made-to-order and might take a little longer to ship?

And finally, when you list an item, it asks you when this item was made, and there's a "Made to Order" option. Does this show up anywhere on the actual listing? Because I can't find it if it does.

And if you're wondering why we get backed up when we've only had 8 sales... it's because this is our 2nd Etsy shop and it's brand new! :) Our other shop is www.organiluxe.etsy.com, and I have the same questions for that one.

Thanks! :)

[Former_Member]

I honestly feel like the more the better when it comes to descriptions. 2-3 days, or a week is not very long to wait, especially if you ship it as soon as it's finished. Also I feel like having something made especially for me is an added bonus to buying handmade, it gives it a more personal feel. I have been adding more and more to my descriptions as I come up with more ideas.

[Former_Member]

Some of my items are ready-to-ship and some are made-to-order. I'm a brand new shop so I'm not sure if it hurts the shop or not. I have that custom orders can take up to two weeks only because I might have to order jewelry parts. And since I'm a new shop, I haven't ordered a ton of things yet, until I get some actual orders. So I figured up to 2 weeks time should cover me. And most likely it will be a shorter time than that anyways. I'm also not sure about if the "made-to-order" option shows up. Hopefully someone else can answer that for the both of us!

Very cute shops!!!

[StuckOnSilver]

Absolutely adorable work!! I would suggest completing your policy section and mentioning there that items will be handmade upon order and that they will ship in 1-4 business days.

[ConcertinaPress]

I would say "one week" because then if you get it done much earlier, people will think "wow! they did it so fast, just for me" where if you put "2-3 days" and you ship it on day 4 they'll think "wow! Why'd it take so long!".

If it's true though that like 98% of your orders go out in 2-3 days then by all means put that, and then those that are going to take longer, just send those people a message so they know what's going on.

[Former_Member]

Great feedback, thanks!

Bev - I'm so glad you posted! I had totally flaked out on our Policies section! I can't believe I had it all blank!!! Thank you, problem corrected. :)

[DingandKennie]

I have made to order and already made items in my shop. When I have a custom order I usually have it ready and mailed the next day. It seems that my buyers don't mind waiting and are thrilled I got it to them so quickly. I do have in my policy and announcement sections whatevr my turnaround time is on custom orders.

[DianeTurpinDesigns]

I think it depends on the item. I do tons of personalized Christmas stockings and tree skirts. During the holiday season, I sometimes get backed up two or three weeks. I state it very clearly on my made to order item's listing and in the auto-generated email after the sale. Some people have not ordered because of this (I know because they convo me about shipping dates) and some order regardless. I do try to be as upfront as possible and I try to meet my shipping dates or be a few days early. If I run into a problem, I notify my customer immediately and I always offer a refund with my apologies. I work a day job so my turnaround is a little longer than some, but I try to make up for it with top quality work! :)

[Former_Member]

At this point I like everything in my shop to be ready-to-ship. For me, its because the time I can spend creating varies greatly day to day and if I were to get several made to order requests as once, I think it would frazzle me. I also like to be able to ship the next day after I make a sale. But if my schedule was more consistent I would consider made to order. And I think giving customers a timeline for when you aim to complete your orders is great and most people don't mind waiting a few days or a week to get their items. I think its whatever works best for you as long as you offer customers a clear idea of what to expect.

[Former_Member]

All of my items in my shop are ready to ship. I also do custom orders, mostly for weddings. Right now, custom orders are taking 2 weeks to turnaround. Most of my buyers are fine waiting 1-2 weeks for their order to be completed. I think communication is key to a successful experience.

[Former_Member]

Mine say "may take up to two weeks."

[DaisyCottageDesigns]

Almost all of my items are made to order. My turn around time is always at least 1-2 weeks but right now it actually says 3-4. I'm 32 weeks pregnant, working on 15 hats this week, and working on potty training my 22 month old. Life is crazy! Not to mention we're leaving on Sunday to visit my husband's family out of state.

In reality, my items will probably take more like 2 weeks to ship but I'd rather under promise and over perform. I have found that my customers are happy as long as their items are shipped within the window and we keep communication open. I offer rush orders for $5.00 and have recently had several people take advantage of those.

[Former_Member]

Everything in my shop is ready to ship.
"The Only One....T.O.O." my philosophy for everything I create.

I take some special orders for gift boxes but right now I'm booked out.

[Former_Member]

We're print to order, there's no need for us to have extra expenses/inventory unless we're stocking up for a market/fair :)

[Former_Member]

i did primarily made to order for a long time, and now try to keep everything as ready to ship as possible. i have a tendency to get backed up too, and have found that ready to ship has not only significantly reduced my stress level, but customers love seeing "ready to ship" on listings.

[Former_Member]

I have a mix of ready-to-ship items and custom orders. For custom orders, they mostly take a few days to finish. However, I put my turnaround time down for 7 days. There have been a few times when things came up that it did take me the full week to get the items out and it's a lot less stressful that I have that bigger window for myself. I think 1 week is a reasonable time for a custom order. If you "under-promise and over-deliver" customers are usually happier that you completed their order much sooner than they expected.

I've recently changed my shop announcement to reflect "Production time: 1 week". I'm HOPING to get busier and noticed this style of announcement from several other shops and it would be easier to change that 1 thing in your shop announcements vs. for every listing.

The "made to order" DOES show up on the item listing. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the item listing and you will see "Show item details". Click on that and you will see the "made to order" in the "About this item".

[SilverLilyJewelry]

as a consumer i love when there are more option's available to me so definitly keep made to order
I am in jewelry and for me to custom work the process begin's with getting supplies from my suplier which can take up to a weak on it's own so 2-3 week's work's for me you should give yourself an additional day or two so in rush times you don't have grumpy customer's!

[Former_Member]

I enjoy having a combination of both. Because there are those "immediate gratification" customers that need/want an item right away and there are others that will wait either because they dont need the item right away or want a special custom order.

[Former_Member]

Thank you everyone for your feedback!!! It's great to hear what everybody else does. I've gone through my shop and labeled anything that we have on hand "READY TO SHIP" and everything else I've marked as Made to Order and I state how long they should expect to wait in the description and on my policies page.

I feel a lot better, because it's now clear to the customer and I don't have to worry that they're going to expect it the next day and it might take us four days to make it. Whew! It didn't take me long to do this shop - I only have a handful of items so far. But our other shop - www.organiluxe.etsy.com - has over 100... and I need to do the same thing there.

So I guess I know what I'm doing today! :)

[Former_Member]

When you add a new item it asks when the item was made... The made to order option is not active yet. That is a new feature that Etsy is going to start using but not yet. I think that the items that are samples only you should say... Picture sample only. Your order will take so and so many days and people will be fine. Just don't do it as a store I bought from here. I purchased the item on January 6th and on January 16th I asked her about my product, she got upset and put shipped in the status of the item and just today in the morning January 26th she emailed me the tracking number and she just shipped today. blahhhhh.

[seemomster]

Mine are all ready-to-ship...but my policy page says I'm happy to do custom orders as well...