Do you send your linesheet to retailers?

[Former_Member]

How did you research for retailers to send to?
I am wondering how to get myself found on Etsy wholesale and I saw someone say that they send their line sheet to stores they like. I haven't had any orders so far so I am wondering if this is a way to go, thanks!

[Former_Member]

Hi Breann! I am new to wholesale (published on EW end of Jan) and I have sent quite a few emails out to local boutiques with my guest pass link. Only one seemed excited & interested, now I'm waiting for her buyer to take a look...not sure what happens next...
I also pitched my line to a few boutiques I found from Etsy on the grid, followed up but radio silence from all of them...
I guess I don't have the best advice since I'm new, just hoping someone will love my pieces and want to carry my jewelry.
I've read a ton here in the forum & also the guidelines, blogs, really everything I can get my hands (eyes) on, hoping I'm doing everything right & patiently waiting (well getting a bit antsy now honestly)
Perhaps someone will have some good experiences to share with us! :)

[Former_Member]

I know everyone is sick of hearing this from me because I mention it every 8 seconds, but I look for retailers on Instagram. I can get a pretty good idea of their customer base, price range, etc. from their posts and then I go to their website and either fill out their submission or "contact us" page (if they have one) including a linesheet link or if I can find an email for the manager or buyer, I send the linesheet link in an email. Sometimes the online submission forms seem like black holes but they do respond.

I haven't done this nearly as much as I need to (how the heck do people balance all this?!?) but from what little I have done I've had pretty good responses. Certainly no avalanche of orders, but enough to make it worthwhile and enough positive responses (without orders) that I don't feel skeezy doing it.

The other thing about Instagram is that once you follow one boutique a little list comes up of other things you might want to follow along the same lines - so one store leads to another.

keep on truckin'...

[sherrytruitt]

I do send the link. I Google accessories shops in areas I don't have a accounts and then send the link. I also, like Hummingbird, find them on Instagram.

If it's a store I really want to be in, I also send my print catalog (line sheet stuck in back) and offer to send a small sample of my work.

I've gotten a number of accounts this way.

[ContempoJewelry]

I have sent a guest pass to stores that are a good fit for me and I have gotten a couple of orders. Still working on my pitch and building relationships, practice makes perfect!

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone! Did you stick to local shops or did you pitch outside if your area?

[ShopIdeable]

I agree with Hummingbird...IG is a great way to look for potential buyers. Although, I haven't yet had a need to cold call/send out my linesheet...I have received several wholesale inquiries, etc. from IG.

It's been said in the forums here before, but I thought I'd throw this in there for anyone reading the thread that may not know to do this....thoroughly vet the shops you would like to send your linesheet to before you send access to your linesheet via your guest pass. EW *does not* vet any buyers when they purchase from you through your guest pass.

[sherrytruitt]

@Breann, I don't have any wholesale accounts in my local area. They are spread across the country and even in Japan.

[pluckykid]

Wow, I didn't realize that the guest pass could be used for purchases--thought it was a "browsing" tool only. Good to know.

Does anyone have ideas as to why a buyer would choose not to enroll in EW, given that it is free?

[pluckykid]

Can anyone suggest a quick and dirty way to "get" Instagram? I joined a while back and for whatever reason, find it difficult to grok. How does it work, exactly? Last week I added a Shop Update to my retail shop, and when I uploaded the photo to Instagram I discovered customers had posted a few comments here and there, several weeks ago, and felt bad I hadn't acknowledged them, but also wondered how they found me in the first place, since I'm not very active. I fumbled around a bit but find the site frustrating and "closed"-feeling, like all the action is elsewhere and I'm trapped in the foyer, blindfolded.

I feel so old! :^P

[EricaDiPaoloDesigns]

Hi Randy- I also am feeling a bit of a learning curve. I had an agent selling my cards for the past 7 years and she was very strict about our having any online presence other than hers. Now I feel like I'm really behind and trying to catch up.
I do love Instagram, my only advice is to keep plugging away and posting pictures and following people you are really interested in. I am going to follow this thread, good advice going on here! Thanks everyone!

[ShopIdeable]

Hi Randy....as far as buyers not wanting to apply to be a buyer on EW when being sent a guest pass, there could be several reasons. But, who knows, maybe after a successful, positive buying experience via a guest pass, they decide to enroll. It is free to be a buyer on EW, however, EW vets buyers and not all buyers make it through that vetting. So, it is possible to apply, and not be accepted. Just like if you were to vet a buyer yourself and they did not meet the criteria you were looking for.

For IG...Google how to use IG and you will find a lot of helpful tips. My Mom is 76 and she googles everything to learn how to do something. She was on IG before I was.

For shop updates, I actually do not use the shop updates with my social media. I just use that feature for my Etsy shop.

[pluckykid]

Thanks for the tips, guys! I decided to just ask one of my nicer FB groups to clue me in, and everybody was so helpful and sent me their IG addresses. So far it's fun! I was only planning to post shop-related content, but I wonder if I should put some personal stuff in there (so I don't bore my friends to tears) as well, or if that would seem unprofessional to prospective retailers. (I'm not going to post any pictures of my dinner, but a few shots of my workshop, maybe? The family dog?)

I do wonder why anyone who is a legitimate buyer would not enroll with EW, since the platform is designed to protect everyone and runs fairly seamlessly.

[sherrytruitt]

Randy, not all stores want to be vetted and give information to Etsy that they consider private and proprietary.

I have two different wholesale accounts that were not comfortable with that and one purchased from me via Etsy retail and we did the wholesale order that way. The other uses my stand alone website where I do the bulk of my wholesale orders.

They are both great stores and have re ordered fro ma number of times.

eta: There is alos a seller who posts in the regular forums now and then who owns a B&&M shop. When she applied to be a buyer, she was turned down and doesn't know why.

[HelloFlytrap]

How do you guys find the stores on Instagram?

[ShopIdeable]

Jen....I have not yet had to contact any stores that I have found through IG. However, I find stores in a couple of different ways, but the main way is finding one store, then looking at who a store follows or who follows them. I know that seems rather intrusive, but that is one common way to do it. You can also find stores by searching hashtags, although you have to filter through a lot of different things that way. There's probably other ways as well that I do not know about.

The stores that I have found, I follow them and occasionally comment on their posts or like their photo's. These are genuine likes & comments as I would not follow them if I did not like what I was seeing. I also like to follow stores to see what they products they carry, and how they display things, etc.

[IdentityPapers]

Hi Randi, I have just followed you on IG. I love your Etsy shop. I'm accepted for EW but not taken the plunge yet as I'm UK based and would need to start listing in USD which would be a bit odd for my domestic sales. I do feel I'm getting some up-front learning by following these threads ready for when the time is right.

[IdentityPapers]

BTW Randi, you can grow IG by suggesting to your retail or WS customers to post images of the pieces they have bought from you, tagging you in.

[pluckykid]

Thank you, Linda!! :^D Yes, this team is so helpful. I would be lost without all the great advice and wisdom I have found here.

I began following the shops who bought from me and discovered one of them has posted a photo of the merch! Thrilled! Also realizing now that hashtags are something I should be adding to pics. I will get the hang of this eventually.

[Former_Member]

I just sent my information to a bunch of stores that I found through Etsy Local, I just searched an area in a city I was interested and it shows you a bunch of shops who have sold Etsy sellers before and they are members of Etsy Wholesale. I then found their websites and their submission emails!

[domesticaprints]

Search tags to get a jumping-off point when looking for peeps/shops to follow on #IG. Don't be shy about posting a photo of a creation and announcing you have a wholesale linesheet here. Ask people to please refer you their fave shops if they think it's a good fit. Offer an extra card or two, a discount, or even an IG shout out (if you have a decent following) for orders placed w/in a certain timeframe when shop owners mention that follow your IG account.

[Former_Member]

**sherry from sherrytruitt says

eta: There is alos a seller who posts in the regular forums now and then who owns a B&&M shop. When she applied to be a buyer, she was turned down and doesn't know why.**

This is so strange to me. I've had buyers with nothing more than a semi-active Facebook page as their business, absolutely nothing else, and they have somehow been approved to be a buyer on EW. It's a mystery to me how their vetting process works.