Etsy Selling Mommas Tribe - Page 28

[Artichokie]

Originally Posted by lilyka

you would know if you had the necessary saftey statement. Tell her no and see if she is still interested. I am not sure when all the new saftey laws are kicking in and who all they effect......I am pretty sure they do not offect home crafter selling direct but do effect rtail establishments.

i believe everything intended for a child under 12 must have a label?

I know i had to buy and attach labels to all of my items.

[savannah smiles]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm

I'm trying to do more with my Etsy shop these days...did great with it over christmas with me wine charms and stitch markers. I'm trying to up it a bit. I participated in a sampler box in November and got mediocre results. Thinking about doing it again or trying another one.

Has anyone had any luck with them?

I did The Little Black Box once and the Spotted Box once, neither with any success I could trace back to them. I put a coupon code in w/ each of my items so I could track any sales that came in from them but none did. Some folks, however, get really good results so you never know.

[ma2maya]

Originally Posted by amandaleigh37

Help??

I got another message today from someone inquiring about wholesale, and I have no idea what this means (I'm brand new to all this remember...)

"Do you sell these wholesale or at a discount so I could retail them? Also, do you have the necessary safety statement that is now necessary? I thank you in advance!"

What "necessary safety statement"??? I've had items listed for a week. This is a wooden puzzle that she is asking about.

I believe the "safety statement" referred to is the 3rd party lead and/or phalate test results. That being said, certain items are currently exempt from testing b/c they naturally contain less than 100ppm of lead and don't contain phalates. These include unfinished wood and fabric. In addition, certain wood finishes i.e. beeswax and natural shellac are covered under the exemption. Fabrics that are colored with dye and CMYK inks are also exempt. Screenprinting inks are not.

Though these exemptions were slated to end on Feb. 10th 2010 they have been pushed back again to 2011.

I'm trying to locate the 64-page report but the cpsc website is a clusterf***!

[amandaleigh37]

i believe everything intended for a child under 12 must have a label?

I know i had to buy and attach labels to all of my items.

That seems right, from what I've read today... (could this whole thing be any more ridiculous though?! Ugh!)

So I am thinking of just woodburning the web address and month/year on the back corner of my items to cover the "label" thing.

That being said, certain items are currently exempt from testing b/c they naturally contain less than 100ppm of lead and don't contain phalates. These include unfinished wood and fabric. In addition, certain wood finishes i.e. beeswax and natural shellac are covered under the exemption. Fabrics that are colored with dye and CMYK inks are also exempt. Screenprinting inks are not.

Yeah I was reading about this today.... the only things I use on my wood is watercolors, which are already labeled as AP Nontoxic... so I don't have to worry about that right?



BTW, I'd love to check out any and all of your shops Feel free to PM me your address. Thanks mamas

[ma2maya]

Originally Posted by amandaleigh37

Yeah I was reading about this today.... the only things I use on my wood is watercolors, which are already labeled as AP Nontoxic... so I don't have to worry about that right?

Just because it is labeled non-toxic does not mean it is exempt from testing. Most quality water-based screen printing inks are labeled nontoxic. However, they are not exempt from testing. The pigments are probably what would contain the offending lead or phalate.

[twogreencars]

My 2010 goals?

To sell everything I've got AND

To sell my successful Etsy and online business! (it is really successful but it's time to put my energy elsewhere )

[Dillpicklechip]

I am starting to feel really discouraged about the Etsy shop my husband and I run. It's been successful, I guess--we've been there for one year and made 471 sales. But the thing is, we work SO hard, and have made almost no profit at all. All the money we've made goes to buy more wood, or sandpaper, or packing supplies, or new tools, or to replace a tool that's broken, or whatever...

My husband loves this business, he is fine with spending almost every free minute he has in the workshop. But I feel like working this hard, especially when our kids are young and we could be spending time with them, is too much of a sacrifice to make so little profit. I mean seriously, I know it's not as much "fun" to have a real job, but if my husband had been working with an hourly wage the past year instead of spending those hours in the workshop, we would be in SUCH a different financial situation right now. Well I guess that doesn't matter because he's been in school the past year, so he couldn't have worked full time anyway...but he's worked full time hours in the workshop on top of school, and from what I can see we have pretty much nothing to show for it but a few more tools and some extra piles of wood.

Sorry, I'm just feeling down today.

[raingyrl]

hi pickle,

how long have you been in business on etsy?

my husband is a woodworker also, and it is really frustrating to quite frequently see all of his profit go back into tools...and if you don't buy the decent tools, you spend more in the long run, etc...

my dad (also a woodworker) did trade shows for a while, and said that the first 2 years were all about building his business = no profit.

[lilyka]

pickle - I know you have sent me a link to your shop before but could you send me another one? Are you sure you are selling your stuff at a high enough price? 400 sales in one year is really good. very very good. it makes me think your prices might be too low. especially if you are not making any money. are you keeping records? income verses out-go. if you are having that many sales you should probably be keeping close records and reporting income. might as well start now to se exactly what you are making. if you are not making much or if you are loosing you may need to reconsider why you are doing this. I do not make a lot at what i do but part of the reason I do it is because I truely believe people, all people should be able to buy and own handmade, ecologically responsible things. Even people who are low income. which concequently means I do not make a ton on my stuff. enough to make it worth it for me but not what i make at my real job. not even close. and I put in roughly the same number of hours.

[Dillpicklechip]

Originally Posted by raingyrl

hi pickle,

how long have you been in business on etsy?

my husband is a woodworker also, and it is really frustrating to quite frequently see all of his profit go back into tools...and if you don't buy the decent tools, you spend more in the long run, etc...

my dad (also a woodworker) did trade shows for a while, and said that the first 2 years were all about building his business = no profit.

1 year. Yes, it is frustrating the cost of woodworking tools...my husband initially tried to save money by buying the less expensive tools and that was a bad idea because pretty much everything broke...now he is buying more expensive tools that come with warranties and while that's a good thing, it's expensive!

On an intellectual level, of course I understand that many businesses don't make a profit for a year or two or even longer...but on a purely emotional level sometimes I just feel like what the heck are we working so hard for, you know? When everything just always seems to get sucked back into the business.

Sorry, I know I'm being negative, it's just the mood I've been in lately. My one year old has been sick and has not been letting me sleep at all...

[kitikatuka]

Hey Dillpickle,
Sorry to hear you are feeling so down on the whole business thing - it can be so frustrating sometimes. It does sound like you are doing extremely well with sales (!) and my first thought is to echo lilyka on your pricing. I don't know what your pricing structure is like right now, but it does sound like you should consider raising prices - they should cover not only the cost of materials, labor, and fees (etsy & paypal) but also include an hourly rate for your time, and your overhead (cost of supplies, tools, taxes, utilities...). Here's a link to a good article on how to determine what to charge. It's geared toward freelancers and self employed folks - and doesn't include anything about handmade items, but the formulas mentioned might be helpful to start figuring out where you want to be. (If you haven't already done this already). It's so important to factor all that minutia in.

Make sure too that you are getting all the tax benefits that come with running a business out of your home. I have a studio in my home and I was able to deduct a certain percentage of all our monthly utility bills because of it - I ended up hiring an accountant to handle my taxes because it got so complicated, but it has been absolutely worth it.

You may have already looked at all these things, in which case, this is not very helpful information, but I hope it might help a little - or, at the very least - you'll know that I agree with you - it can be so hard, and you are in a much more scary spot than many since you are doing this with your husband as your full time job! Money stuff just stinks. Hope your little one is feeling better very soon!

[lilyka]

if you are worried about losing sales from raising prices you can do it gradually. I had something i was charging 18 dollars for. I took them off my site for a while (several weeks) and when I brought them back they were $20. sold out. the next round was $24. no one even batted an eye. they sold out quickly. That is the price i am sticking with for now. but if I needed to raise the price again I would go up a couple more dollars and see how people responded. Raising the price $5 likely won't be enough to deter people from buying and may not even seem like all that much of an increase in profit to you but on 100 sales that is $500 EXTRA. I also raise my shipping prices a little every now and then. Be sure you are covering your shipping, materials and if you ship internationally the time you spend dealing with that is valuble too. Cover all of that in your hsipping and handeling.

[Dillpicklechip]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'm sorry I don't have the energy to post more, but I do appreciate it.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Hi, everyone! After screwing around for a year, I have finally listed items in my shop! I'm hoping that Easter is good for me, a lot of my felting is spring related, and I feel that it's my best group of products.

I'm just sorry I didn't do anything sooner, it was so easy to get it up there! Now I just have to wait and chew my nails nervously waiting for a sale. How long was it before you had your first sale?

[Dillpicklechip]

If I remember correctly it took us two weeks to have our first sale. The first couple months after that were fairly slow, and then it kept speeding up over time.

[ian'smommaya]

di agreed with dpc, it could take a while. do you market your shop? facebook, blog, etc?

[MissMommyNiceNice]

I did it! One sale already, how exciting! :

I did buy a bunch of days on the holiday featured items showcase. I'd like to try one on the main or spring page before Easter if there is one left.

Okay, now I know I can do it!

[Dillpicklechip]

Originally Posted by MissMommyNiceNice

I did it! One sale already, how exciting! :

I did buy a bunch of days on the holiday featured items showcase. I'd like to try one on the main or spring page before Easter if there is one left.

Okay, now I know I can do it!

Congratulations! That first sale is so exciting isn't it?

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Yes. I have a feeling though that there is going to be a last minute crush of shoppers forgetting that there is no post on Good Friday. Well, one can hope, anyway!

[ma2maya]

MMNN- Congrats on your first sale! Checking my Esty it appears that I had my first sale after a little over a week. Though, I had been selling for a while on EBay before that.

You can also get yourself out there by blogging, setting up a FB FanPage, and a twitter account. I also advertise on Craftcult. I think a top scrolling ad for specific Easter products would be great right about now.

You could also check out Project Wonderful for ad spots on blogs. Timothy Adam Designs has a good little tutorial/video to get you going.