Sick over raising prices, part II

[Former_Member]

I started a thread some time ago about struggling with the realization that I was going to have to raise my prices. Not just raise them, hike those babies! After TONS of encouragement from Etsy Success team members, some calculations and careful considerations. I finally did it!

I revamped my look (banner and avatar), packaging/presentation, did some work on my descriptions and SEO.

Thanks everyone! I love this team. We'll see how this goes :)

[BeMyBee]

Awesome! Have you seen any changes in sales/traffic yet?

[Former_Member]

Marcia- In the last few minutes? No, not really :) LOL I, quite literally, JUST raised them.

[Former_Member]

Great! Nice Job! Good Luck!

[Former_Member]

LOVE the new banner! The old one was cute too of course, but I really like this one. The higher prices make your products look much more professional, and your photos support that.

Following your progress, and anxious to see how well you do with higher prices. :) Good luck!!

[beatroad]

Hope it goes well for ya. I'll have to go back and try to find your thread.

I went through and used an actual FORMULA to re-calculate my prices this past week. I was shocked to see how low I was actually selling my items for. I'll be curious to see how much it affects my sales for the rest of the year, but at least now I'll be making an actual profit from each piece.

[TOMgirlApparel]

Looks great! LOVE the new banner!!!

[BeMyBee]

Ha! Ok, we'll give it a minute for the changes to take place. Your shop looks awesome btw!

[Former_Member]

Lloks good! Your photos are amazing by the way.

[Former_Member]

Great shop.

[Former_Member]

Ooh wasn't your shop featured somewhere yesterday? Lovely products. Your prices seem more than fair to me.

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone!

Samantha- waiting on professional photos was key so thanks for that boost of confidence :)

Danielle- Here's the original thread. It got lots of attention, surprisingly. I was (and still am) very appreciative of everyone's encouragement.

http://www.etsy.com/teams/5002/etsy-success/discuss/10407052/

Natalie- Thanks! I can't take credit, save a few. My friend is a professional photographer so she helped me out BIG TIME!

Jennie- I won the EtsyKids Team monthly design challenge for June... could that be what you're thinking? Otherwise, I have no idea! lol

[WintergreenDesign]

Good for you Nicole! I recently had to do the same (raise prices)... hopefully it will work out well... fingers crossed

[greengrass2]

Well done for taking the plunge and increasing prices. They still look very reasonable to me! Hang in there and wait until after the holiday season now to see if it has any effect. It can be tough waiting for the next sale after you've raised prices. Good luck!

[AnneLondezGlass]

Even after the raise, your prices look very reasonable to me. And I love the pics of the hats on sticks, the hats look really good this way.

[Former_Member]

Nicole - your shop looks great, love the banner! The prices seem totally reasonable, best of luck!

[QuirkyUniverse]

Wishing you much success. You're shop looks great.

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone!

Liz- I think I timed it beautifully because most of my things are for colder weather. I wanted to get this all situated before Fall and the Christmas shopping season. So yeah, I'll be curious to see how it goes this year too. I only started really listing items last November and my shop has come a long way since then. We'll see! Hopefully I'll strike a happy medium- not too busy where I'm pulling my hair out but not sitting around twittling my thumbs either (as if any of us ever have time to sit around and twittle our thumbs!).

Thanks Anne! I'm still working on the hat display... I need a mannequin head but I don't want it to look cheap. I've got some ideas though.

Thanks Kelly! I still cringe a little bit at the prices but maybe I'll feel more at ease when I start making sales (hopefully!).

Thanks for the encouragement, Lori!

[FarmAndSimple]

Good for you, very brave! I remember you - there's that darling reversible jacket :-) Your shop could not be cuter. You're worth every penny!! (Not to say that it's easy, I'm shaking in my boots right there with ya)

Best of luck, I hope it's a smashing success!

[Former_Member]

I think you're prices look great! I don't know what they were before, but they look reasonable with a hint of good quality behind them. Let us know how it goes!!!!

[Former_Member]

Keep us posted!

[RFSArtisanJewelry]

It's weird. Last year I did a brisk business. Even at the beginning of 2012, sales were climbing upward. Not that I was selling like crazy, but it was very steady, and I was shipping every week. Since the end of May-nothing. Nada. I have believed my prices to be reasonable. Have been thinking about packing up and moving on to an antique mall or something. I am seriously discouraged, y'all. Any vintage folk out there struggling with lagging sales??

[Former_Member]

Nicole, you're shop looks great!

I would say that your prices are extremely reasonable - on par with local stores but with much cuter items. Most of your items fall well within an "impulse buy" range. I bet once we get closer to autumn and temperatures start to fall, your sales are going to climb. :)

[Former_Member]

Nicole, I did not see your shop previously, but I think it is very eye-catching. I am looking forward to see your other ideas for display.

Dara, summer is traditionally an extremely hard time to sell from what I understand.

[RebeccasSoapDeli]

Your shop looks great and I don't know what your prices were before but they all seem reasonable to me.