I have a new shop!

I meant to write a post about this a while ago, but whilst preparing for the Sherwood Makers Christmas craft fair, writing blog posts sort of fell off the bottom of the very long To Do list mentioned in my previous post, in favour of other, more essential tasks.

I also wanted to write a post after the fair but before the shop actually launched, but that fell victim to all kinds of other busy-ness, not least having a nice time with my eldest niece who is over from Australia all too briefly and whose company I make the most of whilst I can.

Instead I prioritised sending out emails to my subscribers, because being kept informed about such things is, after all, why they signed up and I would be breaking my word if I didn’t let them know what was going on. If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to, you can do that here. Signing up mainly means that you get to know in advance when new things will be in my shop (with occasional subscriber-only stuff!) and also I’ll email when I actually do get around to posting on my blog!

Anyway, I have been setting up shop for a second time – and I now have a new shop!

Way back in the summer, the idea took hold in my mind that it was time to move away from selling my wares on Etsy. This was by no means a snap decision. I have been on Etsy ever since I started selling, back in the mists of 2011, after leaving my job-from-hell and getting back into sewing as a kind of therapy to help heal the trauma that said job (and the death of both my parents in the preceding few years) had inflicted upon me.

But Etsy has changed since those long ago, innocent days. Although it still sells handmade and vintage items – a lot of my friends still sell there – these days far less of Etsy’s offerings have been crafted by individuals beavering away at their kitchen tables.

After several changes of management and a somewhat lax attitude to enforcing its own boundaries, it can be hard to find the genuine handmade goodies amongst a plethora of dross. Mass-produced Chinese tat, endless “personalised” shop-bought items (“handmade” plastic water bottles? I don’t think so!), vinyl-transfer slogan T shirts manufactured in sweatshops and other stuff, that to my mind is anything but handmade. In fact, some of what is on offer (and even appears in algorithm-generated promotions) is not just rubbish but frankly weird or unpleasant and not at all what I want to be associated with.
Bring back Regretsy!

Then there is the issue of how Etsy treats its sellers.

Etsy introduced a “Star Seller” system a while ago, which might sound like a good way to reward sellers who provide outstanding customer service. But what it also does is require sellers to meet a minimum level of orders consistently throughout the year, gain consistently good reviews from (sometimes unreasonable) customers and push sellers into buying their postage via Etsy, whether they want to or not. It also lets Etsy decide to move the goalposts at any time, leaves sellers vulnerable when circumstances outside their control (e.g. postal delays) affect their ratings and punishes those who can’t or don’t wish to conform to its preferred criteria.

Etsy has also taken control of how sellers get paid and introduced additional fees if someone buys an item that appears in one of its adverts. If your sales are over a certain value you cannot opt out of this. And you have to take Etsy’s word for it that your sale was as a result of their advertising.

Another bone of contention is Etsy’s willingness to refund customers who claim late or non-delivery of goods, without giving the seller a chance to have any input into the process. This has contributed to a huge increase in fraud, encouraging non-delivery claims from scammers, who get refunded (even when tracking shows items as delivered) and get their goods for free – at the sellers’ expense.

But the final straw that pushed me into looking for an alternative was the introduction of the “reserves” policy. This allows Etsy to withhold up to 75% of a seller’s takings for up to 3 months, with those affected chosen seemingly at random, without any proper explanation as to why.

From everything I read in the Etsy support groups on Facebook, it sounded like the sporadic nature of my shop updates was entirely likely to prompt this happening to me, which wasn’t something that I was prepared to risk. I think Etsy has since backtracked on this a little, but it showed me the nature of the beast – and as a result, I no longer wanted to give that beast my business.

So the hunt began for a new online shop.

First, I tried setting up a new shop in WordPress (the platform on which this blog runs) using a plugin. I got partway through the process only to get entirely bogged down in the complexities of it all, which left me feeling totally out of my depth, as well as  somewhat incompetent.

So I asked other makers of my acquaintance what platforms they used to sell their wares online. I looked at how much it might cost. I thought about what I actually wanted out of a new online shop.Eventually, I settled on Big Cartel. It wouldn’t suit everyone, but as a small-scale seller with limited funds, in search of an easy-to-use shop setup, so far it seems to suit me. If at any point it doesn’t, I’m not tied into it with any kind of contract.

I did a little test run back in October: a very few items, offered to subscribers only, on the understanding that there might be technical hitches, so to please be kind. And yes, there were teething problems, things I hadn’t understood or not set up properly. But I learned a lot from that.

My Christmas shop update on Big Cartel has, I have to say, been more of a success than I could ever have hoped for.
I feel proud of myself for finally pushing myself out of my comfort zone and getting a new shop up and running entirely on my own, despite my lack of confidence and technophobia. Thank you to everyone who has purchased something!

As I type this there are still some items left, and the shop will remain open until those sell out, or until 17th December (whichever comes first!) and then I will close the shop until some time in the New Year and head off to Cornwall with my family for Christmas. Agnes and Remy – both pictured below – are still available as I write this.
UPDATE – both are now sold!The shop will reopen when I have a new collection of makes to sell.

Which I’m hoping will be more often, because paying a monthly “shop rental” fee means that it’s in my interest to actually sell something every month if possible. Doing the craft fair motivated me to work much harder, so having rent to cover each month will hopefully motivate me to try to at least cover the rent, rather than sticking with the current “once in a blue moon” shop update situation that has often been the norm up until now!

By the way, I haven’t left Etsy entirely, just in case I should ever want, or need, to go back for any reason. But for now, I’m more than happy with my new shop. So that’s where you will find my wares for the time being.

I would love to know what you think of the new shop – drop me a comment if you pay a visit and let me know! ♥