Etsy's Free Shipping Guarantee series, part 2 - aka, "Things Everybody Should be Working On Anyway"

We last chatted about why Etsy offering free shipping is a good thing. Now let's discuss two reasons why you don't have to worry about the Free Shipping Guarantee ruining your Etsy sales.

1. You don't have to turn in on. How is this a good thing? If you look over your pricing and decide it's not going to be feasible, no problem! Etsy hasn't made it mandatory. You're not going to be penalized for not turning it on. (Before you say anything about the search rankings, wait for #2.) Free shipping is a good offer as a rule, but there are always exceptions- if you've got larger items or heavy items, or items that have to be packed and shipped with extra care, free shipping might just not be possible. That's fine too! Because...

2. A higher place in Etsy's search rankings does not necessarily guarantee one shop will make sales over another. If someone lands on Etsy looking for something handmade, they are not going to arbitrarily buy the first thing on the search page. 

They'll be searching using the same method anyone uses anywhere else- search, narrow their search to something more specific, narrow their search again, then look for a brand and shop they feel fits, then choose a specific item. This is a pattern most people follow when they're shopping, even if they think they're just browsing.

It's true, as I type this Etsy is causing another frenzy with the news that you might not be on the first page at all if you don't offer free shipping, and "oh-btw-83%-buy-from-page-1". Please don't panic! Most of the people who find you will find you because of your overall marketing strategy, not through Etsy search alone.

While it would be nice to be the first thing they see on a search page, there are a lot of factors at work in getting your products noticed.

Here's one: People will see your photography before they really notice where your item sits in the search rankings. Do you have a good grasp of who your target market is? Are your photos designed to catch the eye of your target market? (I'm guilty of boring, unbranded, untargeted, photos. Working on it!)

Here's another: Have you worked on refining your SEO or are you still using random tags for your items? That has an effect on where your items fall in the search results.

And one I mentioned already, are you marketing your products well on the platforms your target market is on and keeping in contact with your email list, or are you sticking only to the platforms you feel comfortable with and neglecting the people who want you to keep in touch with them? (I'll admit, I'm sooooo guilty here too. *hides face*)

In conclusion... the good news: While being higher in the search rankings is a nice bonus, it shouldn't be what any seller pins their hopes on to get sales. Whether you decide to use Etsy's Free Shipping Guarantee or not, working on your target market, clear branding, and marketing, will put you ahead of many of the sellers on Etsy. (For example, when someone finds me, it's usually through Instagram or Pinterest, not the Etsy search. My "people" are also on YouTube, which for most Etsy sellers is a completely untapped resource!)

Next time, we'll chat about things to consider whether or not you decide to use the Free Shipping Guarantee.

In the meantime, let me know what aspect of your marketing strategy you're trying to improve on...

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My take on Etsy's Free Shipping Guarantee, part 1 - It Really Will Be OK!

It's been a while since Etsy introduced this new program but there is still a lot of division in the camp about it. Popular bloggers and YouTubers have panned the idea in very strong terms, and nearly every day I see angry comments on social media where someone thinks it's unfair, honestly believes that Etsy is trying to kill their business, or has decided to leave Etsy and try and sell on another platform.

I'm going to take the next few posts to discuss a few positive points about Etsy's free shipping guarantee, including some things to keep in mind whether you turn in on for your shop or not.

I have to admit that the negative response in many places was a surprise to me! My first feeling when I heard about the Guarantee was excitement. Offering free shipping is a win for many businesses- studies have been done that show, oddly enough, that more people are more likely to buy more items when a shop offers free shipping. For example, you're on Amazon looking for something and choose a $25 item with free shipping over exactly the same item where the price is $20 plus $4.99 shipping. Or you're buying online and spend $10 extra so you don't have to pay that pesky $5 shipping fee. It doesn't seem to make sense, yet most of us have done it!

Etsy getting onboard with offering free shipping is a good thing for Etsy sellers. Etsy wants more people to buy more things from more small businesses.

I have a feeling Etsy urges free shipping to get more people to come to the website and shop, instead of shopping through Handmade on Amazon or finding a brand through a web search. Etsy wants to be THE place to get all things handmade, so they're helping us sellers stay competitive with these other sites. They've added the incentive of placing items with free shipping higher in the search rankings, but this shouldn't worry you if you decide not to turn the guarantee on. (More on that in the coming days.)

Stick with me over the next few posts while I talk all things free shipping. 

(And let me know in the comments if you're one of the many who will spend $10 extra not to have to pay $5 shipping!)

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Happy accident!

I had to make a change to one of the new lip balm flavors after I had poured them, so I had to de-tube them (not a word). I am glad I did! One of the balms had no base! I usually check that carefully but this time around I had missed one. :-( Whatever poor person had gotten that balm would have been sadly disappointed, twisting and twisting away! I had to empty it with a metal skewer and some help from the microwave (but not at the same time, for obvious reasons).

Now that I think of the subject, here are some things you can do with a lip balm tube when it's empty. (Best idea... ever? LED Flash light.) Please Reuse or Recycle your leftover tubes!

The Power of Positive (Feedback, that is)

I was talking to a friend the other day about the reasons to leave positive feedback when you shop online, and I thought I'd take some time to talk about it here as well. Why is feedback important, and how can you make your feedback more helpful to online businesses?

Nowadays a lot of our shopping is done online, so it's convenient, but it can also tend to be faceless and impersonal. Small businesses and shops spring up every day on eBay and Etsy (to name just two major places people shop). Many are excellent, but depend on word of mouth for customers. You can have a hand in helping a business succeed and improve with your feedback!

Helpful feedback lets the shop owner know what they're doing right. Did the item ship quickly, arrive well packaged and in the condition described? Was the person you communicated with friendly and open to answering questions?  You can leave positive feedback for any one of these reasons if the service was good. If you feel like writing a quick note about the good service you received, even better! Believe it or not, the simplest reason to leave feedback (even if the customer service was just the normal amount of communication and no more) is that it lets the shop owner know you received the item. Unless the person who ships your item asks for delivery confirmation, sometimes they have no way of knowing if you got your package (besides e-mailing you). Even if you never write a note in the feedback section, that's okay- clicking the "positive" button or leaving those is five stars is still helpful to the shop.

Constructive feedback is the kind that shop owners like the most because it helps them know which direction to go in. If you liked something specific about the product you bought, great! Let the shop owner know! If you didn't really like it, but you're happy with the customer service, it's still valuable to let them know. Some people might not feel comfortable telling someone "I didn't really like...", and it's definitely a hard phrase to hear when you've worked hard on something. Both take a bit of practice. If you feel able, leave the positive feedback about their good customer service, quick shipping, etc- then also send an e-mail or note explaining what you feel the product needed. It takes a little thought, a bit of time, and a lot of tact- but a crafter/seller who wants to be the best at what they do will appreciate hearing what their customers want!

Leaving positive feedback, even if you don't leave any note, is still helpful for one very important (but often overlooked) reason: It protects the shop from trolling or abuse in the future. Yes, you can definitely provide some excellent insight for the shop owner with your feedback, but the whole purpose of feedback is to let others know how the shop measures up, right? Don't get me wrong- if you have had an awful experience with a shop and can't resolve the matter with the owner, leaving negative feedback is absolutely your right (I've done it as a last resort, and believe it or not, still got a snippy, sarcastic response from the shop owner. Wow!). But everyone has seen some poor unsuspecting shop owner get blasted by someone for something that clearly wasn't their fault, or that they are obviously trying (complete with groveling) to make right. Wouldn't it be great if every single person before that who'd had a good experience with that shop had let people know? It would make the troller's comments suspect, at the very least.

A business can only grow if it has a record of trust with the people it serves. With the "feedback" page that so many sites offer, everyone who shops can have a hand in helping the good reputation of a business. Please don't neglect to leave positive feedback when you shop online!

What to do if Etsy Mini doesn't display on your blog

Found a solution thanks to Sarah Mitchell from TheSmitchell- to quote her post directly:
 

I figured out a work around for Etsy Mini that Adblock won't block! Here's what you do:

1. Open the Etsy Mini javascript. It's the web address inside the quotes after scr= in the first <script...> element.
* If you're displaying items from your shop, go here: www.etsy.com/assets/js/etsy_mini_shop.js
* If you're displaying items from your favorites, go here: www.etsy.com/etsy_mini.js
2. Copy EVERYTHING you see.
3. Paste what you copied in the Etsy Mini code inside the first set of <script> </script> tags.
4. Delete the src='...' property from the first <script...> tag.(Your opening tag should be <script type='text/javascript'> )
5. Save your widget or webpage or whatever.

This *should* work. I did it on my blog, turned adblock back on, and everything was still displayed. Now, if Etsy ever makes changes to the Etsy Mini widget, you'll need to re-do this to get your widget to work like the new one. But this should get you around that pesky adblock issue until something else is done about it.

Thank you again, Sarah! 

Public service announcement: Check those old passwords!

We noticed last night that our bank account got charged for two Microsoft items (to be exact in case anyone googles this: MICROSOFT ONE MICROSOFT W 08003865550 WA ) and did a little digging to try and find an answer as to why it happened. We wanted to post the information we found out in case it can be helpful to anyone who goes through the same thing- what we found helpful and what we would suggest avoiding.

After we noticed the charges, we called Microsoft right away. This is something that we would NOT suggest doing. (The most common phone number you'll get when you search on the internet is 866-672-4551. This is the phone number for their billing department- more specifically, the department that handles subscriptions.) It seems like others have also tried this route and have had no success getting the problem solved. The first thing the representative did when we tried to explain the situation was ask for our full credit card number. Our reaction: "Wait, what? Someone just committed credit card fraud and now you want us to give you our full number?" They told us something about how the credit card information is not stored (which does not make sense, because then why would they want the full number? The rep had no explanation.). We tried another number for Microsoft and just got transferred back to this billing number, and got told the same thing. It seems like all roads when calling Microsoft about fraud lead to this department, and they don't have any answers. The second rep admitted that the credit card number would be on file, but not your security code or the expiration date of the card. We still did not feel comfortable giving the credit card number out.

Our second call was to the bank, to dispute these charges and have them send us a new card. (If this kind of fraud happens to you, it will probably not be due to a lost card. Your poor card will probably still be sitting safely in your wallet. Call the 1-800 number on the back of the card to talk to someone.) The rep was able to see the charge right away, and the full information about where the charge came from, which is not something you can always see when you're just checking your statement online. In any case, at least we have the peace of mind knowing that the random person who bought the two things can't do it again.

Our third call was just as helpful, and we think that after you call your bank, it should be your next call. We gave up on getting help through Microsoft and got more specific- we called XBOX support. (The direct number there is 1-800-469-9269.) If you call you might be a bit intimidated by the huge menu, *lol*, but just make sure you get to the part where you can speak to a real person. I think we went through the billing department, and the first (and only) person we spoke to was incredibly helpful, sympathetic and understanding, not only fixing the problem on their end but also explaining how it might have happened in our case. We each had different questions, and so this patient rep ended up talking to almost every member of our family in turn to answer them. He could see on our account exactly what the person had tried to do, and gave us reassurance that the matter was being investigated, and told us how we could keep up with that investigation (it takes 25 days to make a full investigation, but they restore your account completely and put everything back the way it was before the fraudulent charges were applied.)

Even if you don't even have an XBox, but someone does this to you, we would still suggest calling the Xbox support number. (Whenever we've had to talk to Microsoft support, we've had negative experiences- but whenever we've had to call XBox support, we have come away with glowing praise for the reps. Haven't been able to figure that one out.) At the very least, the rep can ask you questions to try to find a link between the charge and your recent activity. The rep we spoke to asked very specific questions (including the last four digits of our credit card number as confirmation, which we are completely okay with) to see if there was any way that someone could have taken our credit card number or hacked our computer. Like I said, I've noticed from research about this problem that it's even happened to people who don't even have an Xbox or Microsoft account of any kind, but calling can still, at the very least, let them know that there is a problem, and they can give you some suggestions.

I think the most valuable piece of advice we came away with today was to check and make sure that any passwords for old e-mail accounts are still secure. It happens all the time in this busy world- we get an e-mail address, then suddenly months or years pass and we haven't checked it or even thought about it because we have another one that we use more. But hackers get better all the time- and nowadays even the big companies are getting hacked (Sony, Google, Microsoft, and many more!), so if you have any old "straggler" e-mail accounts, they may not be secure either. And if any of those old e-mail accounts are linked to your online activity, you are susceptible to fraud (or at the very least, privacy invasion!). We believe that this was the link to this charge in our case- one of the "big guys" got hacked (MSN) and we were one of the "little guys" whose information is now out there somewhere. And it's just a good policy anyway to keep your passwords up-to-date and secure- can you imagine how insecure your passwords from a few years back are when we are now being encouraged to use capital letters, more numbers, and special characters? Check those old accounts or close them, and make sure that you change the passwords often (one site suggested every three months).

Okay, well, I'm sorry if that was long-winded, but I hope you can learn from our experience and prevent this from happening to you. :-)

Centering your webpage when you've got a full size background

I just finished fixing our website so that when your browser isn't fullscreen, it will still look nice, and not all smooshed to the left side of the screen. My eyes are so crossed right now...

Here's a link to the page that I found the most helpful in my quest to center my poor webpage:
http://simplebits.com/notebook/2004/09/08/centering/

It looks perfect on our resolution of 1024x768, but I don't dare check it out on any other resolution... that might mean more coding! *gasp!* I got out of the web design business 10+ years ago, so I am completely out of date with my HTML skills. (I'm glad I chose soap as a business instead. It's stayed relatively the same for how many thousands of years? *lol*)

Note to self: when you're done uploading your changes, hit F5 before you freak out because they don't seem to have taken effect. No, just hitting 'refresh' won't always do it... I didn't think the last bit of coding I tried worked so I was ready to start all over again with another piece of coding, but then I heard my I.T. brother's voice in my head: "Diiiiid you hiiiiit F-fiiiiiiive?" (You know when Luke is stranded on Hoth and he sees Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan says "Uuuuuuuse the foooorce, Luke..."? Like that.) I've learned the whole "have you tried turning it off and then on again?" thing, now I just need to get that drilled into my brain. ;-)

If you're having problems seeing images on Etsy.com...

...here's something you should try-

Go to etsy.com in a new tab, then go to your AdBlockPlus options (this is easy in the newest version of Firefox, since ABP is a little red stop sign at the top of the browser. Just click the drop arrow next to it.) and click "disable on etsy.com".

Out of the blue about two days ago, half the images on Etsy stopped working for me. I didn't think it was anything I did, because it was half of all the images, not just half of my images. I also hadn't changed any image filters or anything- but I had forgotten that ABP checks for updates on its own. And like all the best programs, it was a bit "over-helpful" in blocking what looked like ads. ;-)

I noticed while doing research to try and fix the problem that most people say that the only images affected are on (or loading from) Etsy.com, and that if they have two browsers, all the images work just fine on one, but not the other. If you're having the same problem, I hope you'll give this quick fix a try.

Craft Show tips from Dirty Laundry

I wanted to be sure I shared Jeanee's blog posts about preparing for, attending, and cleaning up after craft shows. All three are excellent reads for anyone who wants to sell their crafts at a show (or farmer's market, or open house...) and have the minimum amount of stress, while having the maximum amount of fun and, of course, being professional. Or, anyone who wants to "ooh" and "aah" over a lovely display and adorable products! ;-)

Part one: Before the Show

Part two: During the Show

Part three: After the Show

Thank you, Jeanee, for sharing your years of experience! I came away feeling much more educated, prepared and confident- I gleaned so many tips that I will put into practice when we do sell at craft shows in the future!