This Blog

Just in case you were wondering, I do not promote this blog. I'm not trying to get an audience here. I just like writing about selling on Etsy. So don't expect much. I'll write when I can.

Who knows

Birds

Last week I woke up at 5.30 AM because birds were screaming their heads of in the bushes outside my window. So I got up and banged on my window [directly nearby]. They did not fly away or shut up. So I sat there... so tired.... and then I put on my bathrobe and went outside and actually banged on the bushes with my hands. Uff da. I was reminded of that when I saw this print by badbird.etsy.com:



He/she wrote the funniest thing in the description, "This bird has had it up to here with you people!".

The Forum
I finally learned today [I'm a slow learner] that people just do not read anything you write, even as the thread starter. Therefore, you have to say something in as little space as possible. You may not even be understood then. I also learned that [some] people just will not read anything on a thread. NOTHING. It's so frustrating. Especially when threads get so long because people with nothing to say, say that fact. Ha.

Do most internet forums have recently posted to threads pop to the top? I think it sometimes irritates me. Like if someone starts a thoughtful, or good discussion Q, it gets bumped out by the seventeenth "Wow! Postage rates are sooooo huge" thread. And then no one can even participate in a good thread.. because they never know it's there.

Stats
Clothing items: 16,369
Jewelry items: 153,636
Art items: 58,316

clothing is the size of %10.6 of jewelry

Myself
I did a forum search today on myself. It was pretty nice. Everyone said nice things about me. I even had some people start threads in my honor! Wow! That makes me pretty warm and fuzzy inside.

"The Hump"
In my mind, I have this thing called "the hump". When a seller is over their hump, they have sold waaaaay more items than they will ever have listed. Like GemmaFactrix is definitely over the hump [41/2091]. It seems that lately there are a lot more people over their hump. That's good. Lots of sales. There is also a phenomenon that I call "dwindling." If a seller just can't keep up with demand, and sell everything except a scant few things, they dwindle. And dwindling is not a bad thing! StopsAndStarts is a dwindler. Her shop has dwindled ever since she took the Etsy job. I am definately not a dwindler, and I am definately over my hump.

Things that are not clothing... in the clothing section

I'm sure Im not the only one irritated at some peoples either complete lack of understanding of tags or their exploitation of more popular categories. So lets have a laugh about it. These are things I have seen in the clothing category, and keep in mind, there IS an accessories category!:

Menstral Pads
Hair ties
scarves
Neckties
Headbands
Belts
Socks

This entire shop is toooo cute: sockmonkeycards

Planning a Project
The one thing I despise about sewing is that you can't improvise as you go along. Not really. You *can* but... it will either take twice as long, or three times as long, or it will just suck. One just has to plan out everything ahead of time, or you just seam rip the whole time. I hate seam ripping. Passionately.

For example, today I made this bag. I started thinking way too late, maybe I should put a pocket in somewhere. Well... I would have to undo major seams to do that. Almost start over. But with *this* bag, it'll do fine without pockets because it's reversible and for shopping. And if one needed pockets for shopping, then they would be on plastic and paper bags, wouldn't they?

I'm not good at that plannin business. I *hate* planning projects. I guess it's kind of weird, but now that I think of it, I really just think of the things I do right before I start... of course, I'm generalizing tho.

Shipping
The postal service is starting to piss me off. I actually like the postal service more than most. I really like the people that work at my closest one. But.... I'm trying to not go to the PO every freaking day... so I want to figure the online shipping out [I should have done this a year ago]. It appears that the PO will not entertain the thought of printing shipping labels for first class. Just first class. Just the only thing I ship with every day. I suspect this isn't because they can't, but because it coerces people into buying priority. Well priority shipping on a 3 ounce parcel is stupid and that's what I do all the time. I would rather not charge an extra 2-3 dollars shipping for items that are only worth $10-20. It is my opinion that buyers figure shipping into the total cost. Therefore a dollar saved in shipping will either bring me more sales because my items are cheaper, or will give me more profit because I could raise my prices that much more just to be the same cost.

I know some people disagree with me, like Mr. UPS. He would think it's just totally normal to do priority, tracking, insurance, and delivery confirmation. And that "people want that". Do people really really want to sit at home and check how far their package traveled in a day? Do they also want to pay for that? Does it seem reasonable to insure something that I have never lost in the mail, and only costs $10 if it went MIA anyway? Shipping my way: 87 cents. Shipping his way: 4.60+1.65+.65=$6.90 So... you tell me...

Fabric + Drawing
Are there any good permanent pens [or something like a pen] that you can draw on fabric with. I know sharpies look good until you wash it. So that's not gonna work. I'd like to just draw stuff on clothing sometime.

Etsy Labs
I get the uneasy feeling sometimes that the Etsy Labs is trying to teach people how to become my competition. I wonder how the book binders felt when they taught everyone and anyone how to do book spines. Isn't it also kinda weird that Etsy sellers would go to Etsy labs and teach people how to do what they do? I mean, do you really want other people to know how to do your art/craft? They will just become your competitors.

And what is with them doing everything that I already thought of myself, but hadn't done yet :P I had written in my profile that I was pretty excited to be screening my own fabric, and now "customfabric" is a hot topic in the labs. I haven't even remotely started screening my own fabric, but now I feel I would be percieved as totally lame and unoriginal if I did. I've been demotivated. This pre-emptive business has happened more than one time. BTW, I do think it's all just a coincedence.