William's Gift Shop On Etsy

I have to tell you I spend wayyyyy too much time in the forums on etsy. Hours that may be better spent creating stuff but then again I have to say that they are probably one of the most helpful and nice forums to be found on the web. They have certainly provided me with a fount of information that has shortened my learning curve about online selling probably by years. And I have also made some great friends, found some fabulous artists and some people who are just consistanly kind, honest and down to earth.

Having said that this shop pretty much embodies what the etsy community is all about but the reason I really noticed this shop (other than the above mentioned accolades) is the fact that she make some seriously cool asthma inhalor carriers. My son has asthma and is constantly looking for a better way to carry his. So of course my interest was immediately piqued when I ran across BeaG in the forums. Check out the great variety of inhaler carriers that she makes! Something for everyone in a huge variety of colors. She also make lip balm holders, wine bottle covers, cell phone holders and more, many of which come with a key chain so they are easy to access and keep track off. Mind you this is just a tiny sampling of the items in her shop and she not only does wonderful crochet and knit items but also has some other items for sale including some eclectic jewelry. But if you want a glimpse of those you will just have to go to her shop here and check it. Hint, Hint, PERFECT for gift giving this holiday season.

Christmas in July Sale

Just a head's up for everyone there are a group of people on etsy that will be doing a Christmas in July sale. Starting July 20th to July 31st everyone on the list will be doing some kind of a special for the sale. I will include the link to the forum post that has everyone that will be participating. You can also type in Christmas in July in the tags and that will also pull up everyone who is participating. I have about 15 items tagged at the moment but everything in my store will be 10% off for those dates. Make sure that you mention Christmas in July in the comments to seller section to get your discount. The shipping price is not included in the discount. Happy shopping everyone and I hope you all get a good head start on your Christmas shopping.

Here is the link
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5653719

Expanding My Horizons

Also known as not putting all of my eggs in one basket. Please don't get me wrong, I am a die hard etsy fan, I love the community, I have no issues with the way they run things and really believe that they do listen to their sellers and implement many of the things that we have asked for. Etsy will most likely remain my main squeeze so to speak. Having said all of that I have to say that selling jewelry on Etsy is a bit like drowning. There are sooooo many jewelry sellers there. And many of them are very under priced. (I know, now everyone is off to etsy to find great, under priced jewelry lol). And the numbers just continue to grow. I don't mind competition and I love a challenge but I have come to learn some things since I started this whole venture in July. In order to be successful you have to be seen as often as possible. And not just in one venue. I am coming to realize that I need to be seen all over the net as often as possible. Silver River Jewelry needs to come up often in the search engines from a variety of places. (I know this is not a new thought by any means but some of us are slow learners or are just intimidated by the whole thing). So with that in mind I have branched out just a bit.

I have just opened up shop on a beta site called Icraftca.com.

http://www.icraft.ca/silver_river_jewelry

If you open up shop there before March 31st you can list unlimited items free for 1 year. Here are their terms that applies after March 31st.

Registration Fee	$25.00 CAD This is a small, non-refundable one-time fee each seller pays when setting up their "Creator Exhibit". It is required in order to verify the seller's identity, ensure credit card validity and to encourage honest transactions. This preventative measure will give buyers confidence that they are dealing with serious, honest sellers.
Subscription Fee	Three available packages allow you to customize the amount of products your Creator Exhibit displays. You can add, delete or rotate your products any time you want. If your business is seasonal, you can put your subscription on hold and resume it at any time. The subscription fee is not refundable if you choose to un-list a product from your inventory. 1 to 5 Items (interchangeable) – ALWAYS FREE! Starter 5 to 20 Items (interchangeable) - $15.00 CAD/month. Every additional item is $2.50 CAD/month. Professional 5 to 30 Items (interchangeable) - $25.00 CAD/month. Every additional item is $1.50 CAD/month. Elite 5 to 40 Items (interchangeable) - $35.00 CAD/month. Every additional item is $1.00 CAD/month. If you happen to reach the maximum amount of items in your package, iCraft.ca will give you the option of adding an additional item at a set cost, or upgrading to the next available package. The choice will always be yours.
The Details	Limited Time Offer Sellers who submit inventory to their Creator Exhibit by March 31, 2008 will not be charged ANY registration or subscription fees for an entire year. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of all the great iCraft.ca benefits for absolutely NO COST. 5 Free Items When posting your products, the first 5 items are always FREE! And if you sell one, you can replace it with another right away at no extra cost. As long as you keep your listings to 5, you won't be charged. Interchangeable Items When we say that items are "interchangeable", that means you have complete flexibly to change / update what is displayed. For example, say you have 5 "summer" items in your inventory in July. When October arrives, you decide you want to update your 5 items to reflect your "winter" collection. You can do so at no additional charge, as long as you place your "summer" items on hold. "On hold" items are not included in your active inventory, and will not be counted as part of your package - only items which you flag as "live" are. It's About Quality, Not Quantity Unlike most other arts & craft ecommerce sites, iCraft.ca does not charge creators per quantity of a listing. For example, if you have a product page showcasing your knitted scarf, and you have 5 of them available for sale, feel free to list the "Availability" quantity as 5! We will not charge you any additional fees. Pricing Policy was last updated on January 24, 2008 Questions? Please feel free to Contact Us.

This is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new hand crafted site which I find quite intriguing. Also it is a win win situation since it costs nothing to try them for a year. I think this is a superb opportunity for anyone thinking about expanding their horizons. They will be going public sometime in the next several weeks I believe and will begin advertising the site at that point. (It will be nice to have someone helping out with the advertising). So, for those of you who want to try another venue in addition to where you are this is a great place to try with no risk to you or your pocket book.

I will be posting about another site that I am trying sometime it the next couple of weeks.

Round Four of my Favorite Etsy Artists

Okay so this week I am featuring two artists. One is a jewelry designer and one makes the most incredible bags... Anyway I chose these two not just for the items that they make (although they are well worth checking out) but also because of the way they respond to people in the forums. Always helpful and kind (and honest in a nice way when needed) they just really stand out as good people.

DesignedbyLucinda

Lucinda makes some really awesome jewelry ( I struggle with posting other jewelry designers on this blog , let's face it, it is competition for me so when I do decide to post a jewelry designer it will be someone I truly admire.) She has some really beautiful designs and quite reasonable prices. She stands out in the forums as well, always willing to help out the new people with good advice and is generally always patient and kind.

I have it on good authority that she has a ton more stuff that she hasn't gotten around to listing yet (although I know she is working hard on it lol) so if you are looking for something in particular just ask her she could very well have it. And if she doesn't I bet she can make it.

HerRoyalMajestyBags

What can I say? She has the most awesome collection of bags and I can't wait until I get some spending money. Veronica is from Maine and says that her husband is awesome! That alone gets kudos my book lol. Her bags are fabulous and very well made. They come in a wide variety of colors and styles so there really is no excuse not to buy something from this lovely shop. Vibrant colors and patterns that quite frankly make me drool.

She also has a lovely sense of humor and has posed quite a few thought provoking questions on our etsy forums, always geared at having people take a good look at how to improve their shops to get the most out of what they are selling. I always look forward to hearing what she has to say, I usually learn something that is to my benefit.

Well that 's it for this week. I really hope that you will check these two talented ladies out. You can find the link to their stores on the right under etsy artists.