Sales and coupons

[Former_Member]

Do you think that sales and coupons can ruin your business? For example you run one every month wouldn't that make people only want to buy from you during a sale? I know that can help on slow months to a point but then you will not be doing any full price business.

[Former_Member]

Depends how much attention they pay. I do summer sales, and it seems to help the "slump" effect. The solution is to do what companies like Vistaprint do. Their "full price" is actually more than they really want to sell for, and they have offers and sales all the time.

[Former_Member]

I think as long as you are still factoring for your costs, wage and profit, sales are probably fine! You may end up with a customer base that does only buy when things are on sale though.

[AlbinaRose]

"Their "full price" is actually more than they really want to sell for, and they have offers and sales all the time. "
............

I think you have to be careful here. Unless you sell the items at the "full price" for a certain amount of time, they call that deceptive pricing. While it may not be illegal, if customers realized it, it could damage your reputation and credibility. But I am not well-versed in this area.

I have only offered a sale once and will not do that again. I may reduce the price on certain items to a discounted price, but that isn't often either.

I do offer coupons for a percentage off discount to my repeat customers though. None have used it yet. And several have come back. When I brought it to their attention, they said they preferred to pay full price as support for me as a handmade artist. I really appreciated that!

[OpenVintagePreserve]

Sylvie, that is nice to hear from a customer!
I had a Fourth of July coupon code, but I wasn't selling much at the time, and only one person used it.
What do etsy folks do for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Anything?

[AlbinaRose]

I have never tried either. What I have found is that jewelry (or maybe it's just my type of jewelry?) is not a go-to item for holiday gift giving. I did one holiday show a couple of years ago and realized the same thing at that time. Most people buy my jewelry for themselves and most of those shoppers were looking for gift items.

I do not plan to participate this year either but I know there are many sellers who do well. I think it's hit or miss for many people.

[FiveLittleGems]

black friday and cyber monday, and most sale coupons for that matter, really only work well if you have a decent size twitter, blog or facebook following where people will actually see that you're having a sale. i don't bother with those sales anymore. it was always so much more work than it was worth, and i get sales even without having a promotional sale during those times.

the coupon codes that i use now are the first i've ever done that work really well. i'd say about 85% of my customers use them, and buy more things because of the offer. i have them listed in every item description. i give 10% for bridesmaids multiples from $50-$149 and 15% off for $150 and up. and because i'm making multiples of the same items - assembly line fashion - it really cuts down on production costs and time for me personally, so the discount is well worth it to me.

[Former_Member]

I have a grand opening coupon that I will be giving out when I finally have listings in my shop. The only people that will end up getting it will be friends and family though so I don't mind that. It'll maybe help ease them into paying for my art instead of just asking for it? lol

I don't think I want my shop to rely very heavily on sales. If it takes a while for things to sell or I notice some things seem to be consistently not selling, I might take another look at what I'm charging for regular price and just not renew certain items.

[AlbinaRose]

I really like your idea of the coupons within the listings, Holly. Your shop is beautiful. I remember when you made the transition to the bridal jewelry (reading some of your posts in the forums). Fantastic move and beautifully executed!

[Former_Member]

Thersa C from MiniContour says

Do you think that sales and coupons can ruin your business?
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They may not 'ruin' your business but its been my experience that if you are constantly running sales or offering coupons that people will wait until your next 'special' before making a purchase.

For example, I have one supplier that I purchase from on a regular basis. But since they tend to offer a discount at just about every 'holiday' (St Patricks day, Columbus Day, Mother Day, Father's day, etc) I won't ever place an order at 'full price' but rather I'll wait until their next discount comes around. A 5% discount plus free shipping may not seem like much but when I'm placing an order that 5% adds up over the year and the free shipping saves me about $750 per year.

I've found that having good prices to start with excellent customer service can be worth much more than having a sale in the long run.

[Former_Member]

At the moment, with this shop I opened just a few weeks ago, I have marked a specific set of items as SALE
mostly because I haven't yet had time to really sit down and figure out how much they are actually worth... so, it's actually both for customers and for me that I have made a deadline for this sale, so I need to sit down and calculate the real price that will take place after July.

after that, maybe I'm adding a clearance sale section to my shop, for items that maybe have in the future been re-newed several times, so only way they may be selling is lower price. But that will be in the future so I don't know how that works. As a buyer I most likely click the shops Sale section, or if it's shop I visit regularly, the new listings section.

[SparklingSistersJS]

I don't run sales. I'd rather keep my prices low and make my items as affordable as possible on a day-to-day basis so customers keep coming back. I do offer coupon codes for 2 levels of bulk order discounts. That's only for customers who are purchases larger amounts of supplies. But no sales. I believe if a shop often runs sales, there is no reason for customers to purchase from you until your next sale. And if I see a shop that has a large sale of 20% or more, I know their prices are too high to begin with so I won't purchase from them on principle.

[FrankAKadar]

First week of July sale! 25% off everything. The sale ends July 6th.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/174728501/batman-collection-print-pack?ref=listing-0
https://www.etsy.com/listing/178018376/x-men-phoenix-rachael-summers-original?ref=listing-4
https://www.etsy.com/listing/101236338/batman-arkham-asylum-fan-art-print?ref=listing-7
https://www.etsy.com/listing/177106363/deadpool-the-super-avenger-original?ref=listing-8
https://www.etsy.com/listing/175310592/tomb-raider-lara-croft-original-painting?ref=listing-17
https://www.etsy.com/listing/174732404/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-painting?ref=listing-21

[FrankAKadar]

First week of July sale! 25% off everything. Use code JULY4 at checkout! The sale ends July 6th.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/174732404/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-painting?ref=listing-21
https://www.etsy.com/listing/174744763/the-x-files-original-painting?ref=listing-22
https://www.etsy.com/listing/175321125/shirley-manson-garbage-version-20?ref=listing-9
https://www.etsy.com/listing/174947624/the-batman-original-painting-11-x-17?ref=listing-10
https://www.etsy.com/listing/177106363/deadpool-the-super-avenger-original?ref=listing-0

[SparklingSistersJS]

I thought we were not supposed to spam promote our shops/products on this team? I really don't like spamming!

[nuttypatterns]

25% OFF SALE FOR 4TH OF JULY
COUPON CODE : 4THOFJULY2014

NUTTY PATTERNS new generation crochet patterns pdf

[BelovedDollDesigns]

Guys,

This team does not allow promo threads. There are other teams that are specifically designed for this type of manner whereas this team is focused on the business end of running your craft business.