shop critique

[JustLeatherGR]

Hello! I need a shop critique. The shop stats are falling rapidly. Could you please help me?

[NanaLetha]

Post under shop critiques not technical issues.

[JustLeatherGR]

I am so sorry but i cannot find the section. Something has changed here.

[JMOldeVintage]

@JustLeatherGR  - On the 26th Etsy made changes to the forums & now to see all the forums a shop owner must be logged into their account.
The only forums they left open "to the general public" were the Announcements & this, the Technical Issues forum.

Obviously you are logged into your shop since you were able to post here. But you should also be able to see all the forums & post in them.
You'll need to contact Etsy about this issue. 
An Etsy moderator did post in a thread earlier this week & stated the problem had been fixed for those that had posted in that thread. So the corrections that need to be made may need to be done on an individual shop basis - there may not be a 'blanket' way to do it. 

[JustLeatherGR]

Thank you for the explaination.

[PlatypusDream]

Prove you make your own items.

Anyone can hire a hot young model to put clothing on and take pictures.

Not everyone can actually make their own shoes.

There are so many resellers and drop shippers on Etsy that resell from factories where workers are underpaid and work under unsafe working conditions that you have to prove you are not.

[JustLeatherGR]

Thank you! You are right! I already have this in my mind.

[CoquetteBath]

definitely need provenance that you are the maker.

secondly, your shop name doesn't indicate that a lot of shoes are made from velvet.

Perhaps a thought about a name change?

and...you can ask admin to switch sections, if you wish. And I've provided these suggestions because you asked.

[JustLeatherGR]

Thank you! All the products are made by leather. I have some designs that i make them by leather and velvet. The lining is leather. I will make a change to the sections as well.

[Natalya1905]

Your shop title says "Handmade Women shoes and Leather bags", but the first thing I see on your banner is Birkenstock sandals, And you use the tag "Birkenstock sandals".

Your "Personalizaton" message says "IMPORTANT: Please enter your telephone number... this is not for personalisation, we use it to collect your telephone number only."

Do you resell mass produced shoes?

[CoquetteBath]

I, for one, am not providing a phone number to make a purchase. Not.

[JustLeatherGR]

Hi! Thank you for your time that you gave me a critique. I make the shoes, sandals and bags in my workshop in Greece. I have made this banner about flat sandals which are best selling products. 

I have added this personalization because the shipping company ask about the customer’s phone number in order to facilitate the delivery.

Thanks again!

[JustLeatherGR]

To

CoquetteBath

Hello! If the customer doesn’t want to give the phone number it totally acceptable and understandable. She/He can write just a 0. I don’t pressure the customer give me her/his personal information. 

I just want to facilitate the work of the shipping company.

[Natalya1905]

@JustLeatherGR 

"I make the shoes, sandals and bags in my workshop in Greece."

Do you make Birkenstock sandals in your workshop in Greece? 

[JustLeatherGR]

TO

Natalya1905

Of course not Birkenstock sandals. A kind of sandals that are similar to Birkenstock. Did you see on the sandals any stamp of "Birkenstock".

[Natalya1905]

@JustLeatherGR 

The design is strikingly similar, and you use the "Birkenstock sandals" tag. 

After all, it's your shop, and it's up to you what to do. 

[PlatypusDream]

@JustLeatherGR 

You can't use a famous brand name to sell your products - it would make your items illegal counterfeits.

Remove the Birkenstock name or risk your items being labeled illegal counterfeits.

[TinTeddy]

The shop says "We" and "Us", but there is only one person declared.

"REFUNDS, about free shipping items, you will be charged the shipping costs that we paid to ship your order."  EU countries must refund the initial shipping fees.  And if you sell an item as "free shipping",then you are saying there are no initial shipping fees, so you definitely can't hold them back.

"RETURNS, must be sent back within 14 days of delivery."  EU sellers must offer customers at least 14 days to notify they want to return an item, then a further 14 days to actually do so. That is up to 28 days after delivery.

"Items with a discount of at least 50% are non-returnable."  I am pretty sure that EU sellers still have to offer returns on sale items.

"Concerning orders that include more than 2 pairs of shoes, buyers are not able to return all the pairs, but should keep at least 1 of them."  You definitely can't enforce this! Buyers have the right to return on all products.

[CoquetteBath]

yeah, that's a definite no bueno situation for me.

I don't like...I don't keep.

[JustLeatherGR]

Hello! Thank you very much for your critique. It is much appreciated.

I write "We" and "Us" for politeness. I believe that this is more kind instead of writing constantly "I", "Me", "My" and "Mine".

I just follow the policy which the most shops have with same products like me. And they have much more sales than me.

Thanks again for your time!

[CoquetteBath]

@JustLeatherGR 

and I won't shop with them, either.

AND, honestly, even if you have that policy, it won't hold water. Someone wants to get a total refund...their credit card will do a chargeback on you.

so you won't likely win on this and you're alienating potential customers.

you do you.

[BagmakerSupply]

@JustLeatherGR: You should discuss this with a qualified intellectual property attorney, but while you might be allowed to use another company's trademark in a comparison scenario, using their name with no qualifiers (such as in a tag) to sell your products is an outright intellectual property infringement.

Strategies that compare similarities between an item and its trademarked competition are more likely to be found to violate Trademark law than comparative advertising highlighting the differences. Birkenstock could file a complaint against you for counterfeiting, etc. considering the way that you are using their trademark.

"I just follow the policy which the most shops have with same products like me." A lot of shops on Etsy (and elsewhere) do things that are against the applicable terms of service and / or outright illegal. That you saw some other shop with the same wording is not a defense if you are caught. You need to become familiar with the rules and regulations not just of where you are but also of every place you ship to. Particularly since Greece is in the EU so you need to comply with their rules about refunds.

[BriarMoonBeads]

1000% on board with the comments saying you need to push your 'handmade proof' to the front. There's quite a lot of very, very similar shoes here on Etsy, and they're easily seen at the bottom of your listings. Showing clear evidence of you making your stock is going to prevent you looking like just another factory. Declare all your workers, show photos of your workshop; the About page reads like the vaguest publicity speel written by AI, make that much more personal. It's also a place where Google learns what you sell, and not once do you mention women's shoes.

[JustLeatherGR]

You are right! Thank you!