Butterfly Chic Boutique Blog

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Items featured will be changed throughout the day.

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http://butterflychic.etsy.com

Thanks for reading and I hope this post was worth the wait!I was going to save this post for the last in the series as before spending time and money on promotion and advertising, your shop should be in tip top shape, but I have had several request to go ahead and post it, so here you go :0)

Do you like pushy car salesmen? You know the one’s I’m talking about. The ‘I can get you in this new car you don’t need and can’t afford TODAY’ they play the ‘woe is me, my kid needs braces, my wife lost her job, my mom needs surgery’ card to tug on your heartstrings and try to get sales.

Don’t be like that. And yes, there are Etsians like that. They are so desperate for a sale because they haven’t made one in one day, two days, 2 weeks or 4 months, doesn’t matter how long, it’s always too long. But when you look in some of these shops begging for sales you see dark, blurry pictures, no measurements in the description, no details about the materials used…you can’t expect your promotion to work if your shop isn’t up to par. As Etsy grows, this is going to become increasingly important.

Promotion is not screaming “LOOK AT MY SHOP!! I have JUST what you need. I know you’re looking for a crocheted hat, but here are a pair of my earrings you might like. Not your style? Ok, well what about this painting I did?”

Q: So what do you do to promote and advertise your shop? What are your questions about way to promote and advertise you’ve heard of?

A: I list/relist/renew often. Several times a day in fact.

• I’m sure you have noticed it has not been working as well over time, as Etsy grows and more and more people are doing the same thing, it becomes more and more useless and a waste of time, effort and money. While it is still a good option in some categories with less items, it is already pretty useless in the larger categories such as jewelry.

A: I post my newest or most relevant items in several promo threads a day. Plus I start my own promo thread some days.

• Ever notice how quick your promo thread sinks? Like the jewelry category, it is overwhelmed with sellers trying to be seen. How often do you go to promos to find what you want to buy? How often have you bought from a promo thread? If you have bought from a promos thread, what percentage of your buys have come from seeing someone in a promo thread? Most sellers are in the promo forum to promote their own shop, not to buy. Most of the time, you are going to be missing your target audience by posting here. That section of the forums should be renamed ‘fight to the death for a sale’

A: I spend all the time I can on the Etsy Forums, in all the forums.

• It’s great that you aren’t spending all your time in promos, but you are still putting all your eggs in one basket, it’s just a larger basket than the previous answer. The only potential customers you are reaching on the Etsy forums, are other Etsians. People who already know about the site, most likely have already bought a few things, and people who might already be loyal to one of your competitors. As Etsy grows, it is becoming more and more important for sellers to bring their own customers into Etsy, instead of relying solely on Etsy’s existing users.
• The exception to this rule is people who sell items geared toward other sellers. Etsy banners and avatars, seller supplies, craft supplies, such as beads and paper, your customer base IS other Etsians, and this is a great option for promotion, although it still should not be your only form of promotion

A: I buy a showcase as often as I can.

• You know, I spend a lot of time on Etsy, shop there, browse there, sell there, I lurked and window shopped long before I started BCB, and to this day I have yet to look at the showcase. I’d venture to guess I’m not alone on this. Nothing against Etsy or Etsy admin, or anyone who has bought a showcase spot, but it seems rather silly to me to PAY to advertise on the very site you pay to sell on and can advertise in other ways for free on that same site. It seems to me, your advertising dollars would be much better spent outside of Etsy.

A: I have a blog.

• Blogs can be a great way to promote your shop, if you use it right. Most people don’t use it right though.
• Don’t blog about every cute little thing your kids say and do, while it might make a great read for grandma or aunt Becky, most people aren’t dying to read about every little thing your kids (as cute and sweet and funny as they are) do.
• Don’t rant and rave and throw a temper tantrum on your blog about something everyday. Especially not other sellers, your venue, competitors, suppliers, or customers. No one wants to read a blog daily where the writer does nothing but bitch about life (we all have our own problems) or berates others or their work. This is a very unprofessional approach that won’t work for business.
• Don’t make your blog all about you, your shop, your site, your designs, your craft, your products, your listings, your ideas, your art, your…..get the picture? It gets old when it’s all about you. If someone wants to see your new products, they can look at your shop, they don’t need to go to your blog daily to see what you listed in your Etsy shop that day. Posting about your own shop/products is fine, just don’t ever do it.
• Do feature other artists, crafters, sites and items on your blog. It’s a great way to network. It also often turns into a return feature on their blog, or a thank you post on their blog with a link back to your blog and or shop.
• Repost other peoples posts/articles/advice/quotes with their permission. A great example is the post on branding here on BCB blog. I had every intention of posting one about branding and was actually working on the rough draft when I went into the forums and saw a fellow Etsian, who works in marketing, had started a thread on branding. Her post was much better and went into more detail, and, obviously, her words held more weight than mine would. I immediately convo’d her and asked if I could repost it here, giving her credit and linking back to her shop. Most people are excited to be asked if you can repost their words/works/advice if you ask permission and give them a link, it’s free advertising.
• Do share your knowledge. Etsy is full of people who have had their own business or been selling online for years and people who know nothing about computers and just signed up for Etsy yesterday and have no idea what PayPal is. Some people get most of their business from wholesale orders, others have never done wholesale. Some signed up after years of craft shows or doing consignment, others have been selling online for years and are just starting craft shows and consignment. Plus, in our time selling, no matter how long or short of a time, we all learn different things. Some people may have a non-paying buyer their first month, others may not have one for a year. Share what you know with those who know less, or don’t know the same things you do :0)
• You can use many blogs blogger, wordpress, typepad

A: I’ve been thinking about getting a Flickr account to promote, but I’m really sure how that will help my sales…. and is a pro account worth it?

• Many people think Flicker is just about posting your photos and hoping someone sees them and likes them and stumbles into your shop, but it’s much more.
• Post your photos, spread them out. Use your title, tags and descriptions just as if you were posting them on Etsy.
• DO NOT put your shop link anywhere but your Flickr profile. DO NOT put it in your photo descriptions. It is against the rules and your account can be shut down if you do.
• Make friends, the more friends the better.
• Join groups. Not just Etsy groups either. Joining only Etsy groups will only expose your photos to the same people as posting in the forums or chatting or buying a showcase. You’re still only reaching people who already know about Etsy. Join groups for shopping, handmade, colors, you craft (not Etsy specific) The goal with all these outside sites, is reaching people who haven’t heard of Etsy yet. When you join a group, post pictures to them, check out the discussions and mingle.
• And yes, a pro account is worth it. With a pro account you get unlimited upload and unlimited storage (you have a monthly upload and a total storage account limit of about 100 photos with the free flickr account) and you also get unlimited sets to seperate your photos into with the pro account (you get 3 with the free account) and you can get a Flickr pro account for only $24.95 a year. Also, a new thing to Flickr pro accounts is stats, stats come in VERY handy.

A: I have a MySpace page, but I haven’t gotten any sales from it.

• Have a profile layout that matches your shop. Whether you generate your own layout, or use one of the many premade ones, make sure it matches the feel of your shop. If you are very gothic and you sale little girls hairbows, you don’t want a black profile with gothic images on it, someone looking for a hair bow for their 2 year old is going to pass you by. Keep it professional. I chose to have a seperate business and personal MySpace, but it is a matter of choice.
• Don’t fill your page with slideshows, flash, videos, music, lots sparkley flashing graphics and other things that slow down a page loading. Remember, some people who might very well be a potential customer, may be on dial up on an older machine, you don’t want your potential buyers leaving before they even see your page because it took too long to load. If you must have something, pick one thing, let the rest go…. (I have music on mine)
• IndiePublic, Facebook, We_Love_Etsy and others- these sites are much like MySpace, MySpace just seems to be the biggest market. Use them all or pick one or 2 of your favorties that best suit you and your shop. Again though, the we_Love_Etsy site, is gearing your promotion at people that already know about Etsy, so don’t let that be the only one you use.
• Add friends. Search MySpace for people in your town, people with the same interest, people who graduated from the same schools you did, add friends like they are going out of style!
• Join groups. Just like with Flickr, join groups that are geared toward your target audience, not just groups about handmade, Etsy, crafting, card making, jewelry making. You not going to make a living selling your jewelry to other jewelry makers.
• Use the bulletin board. Don’t over use it posting sales and new listings, people will remove ‘pushy car salesman’ types from their friends. Once a week or so is fine, gets your name out there, but you aren’t like a corny commercial that makes you want to flip the channel.
• Always post a “thanks for the add”comment to new friends. I do these in batches about once a week or so.
  • You can get free graphics by searching for them, but these don’t say a lot about your shop.
  • An Etsy mini will work, but it won’t make you stand out as everyone is using them now. If you do use an Etsy mini, don’t use on that has 25 of you items. use the thumbnail view and 2 across at most, so you don’t blow up your new friends comment section and make their page look all ugly, and 4 items doesn’t look too pushy, but will show off your featured items and your newest listing.
  • A custom graphic is best. One that is no more than 300 pixels wide (that page bomb thing, ya know) It should represent your shops feel and have either what you make written on it, or even better, have a picture or two of your work on it. I sell these in my shop for only $5!! (Hey, it is my blog, and I am giving all this great info, I can pimp my own shop a bit if I want! LOL)
  • Always link your graphic to your shop or website. You can mess with the code to do this if you have your own graphic, but should not do so with the free graphics, those are set to link back to the site you got them from and should remain that way.

A: What is a plugboard and how do you use it.

• So glad you asked! Plugboards are FREE advertising. There are pay to plugboards and there are different size plugboards, but the most common are teeny tiny graphics, that are usually animated, and are easy to do. You upload to your photobucket or flickr account, then find plugboards and simply copy your plug URL, paste it in the plugboard and type in the URL you want people to go to. (another shameless promo, I sell animated plugboard ads starting at $5.75 email me at sales@butterflychicboutique.com )

A: I’ve thought about buying ad space on websites and blogs, is it worth it?

• Yet another wonderful question. Yes, I personally think it is worth it. Some don’t think so, but I have my own website and I can see where my visitor come from, so I know which ads I buy work, and which ones don’t. Like I said, stats are VERY handy. I have a few on other Etsian’s blogs and a few on other non Etsy craft related sites. Some work, some don’t. The main question you want to ask when buying ad space isn’t “how much?” it’s “how many” you want to know how many unique views/visitors/hits) that site averages per day. Unique views/visitors/hits means each person that visits, no matter how many times they visit, are only counted once.
  • For example, one day last week on my blog I got 969 page views (or hits) but it was only 402 UNIQUE views/visitors/hits So while my blog was viewed 969 times, it was viewed 969 times by 402 different people.

• You want to think about where your target buyers would be online, and buy ad space there. Buying ad space on a site about frugal living if you sell high end art, probably isn’t a wise investment of your advertising dollars. But if you sell beads and jewelry findings buying ad space on a blog about how to start your own business selling handmade jewelry is a great fit!

A: I post my link everywhere, does this help?

• Yes, Yes, YES!! The more people that see your links or ads, the more people will actually click on them and visit your shop, the more people that visit your shop, the more sales you make. It’s not unusual to have hundreds of views of an item before it sales. I’ve sold things that have gotten over 1000 views and I’ve sold things that have gotten under 10 views, it’s all about the right person viewing that item. The more people you get into your shop, the more likely that the right person will come along. Drive traffic to your site anyway you can, then make sure your items, photos and descriptions keep them there for a while and hopefully, they buy.
• Putting your shop link or graphic (with a link) in all you email signatures is a good way to get people into your shop.
• Putting your shop link or graphic (with a link) in forum post siggys is a great way to drive traffic to your shop. I get a large percentage of my hits from this method. Probably my best free advertising. If you frequent a non craft related site, something you’re into, whether it’s breastfeeding, cars, music, religion or whatever, if you have something in common with these people, there is a good chance they might like your shop. Plus people are more likely to click on a link an ‘online friend’ posts.

A: Is project wonderful worth it? Is it expensive?

• ProjectWonderful is a great way to pay for advertising on a budget! You search for sites that fit your criteria, and you may be able to get ad space for free, but often it is for pennies a day. You bid for a spot to advertise on that site, and can even set up a spending limit so you don’t go over your budget. You ad stays up until you reach your budget or someone out bids you on the space.
• Site or blog owners sign up for ProjectWonderful and place a ProjectWonderful ad box on their page. The specify to project wonderful how many and what size graphic they will allow on their page. They are standard web size graphics. ProjectWonderful offers ad space in 7 sizes. (guess what’s coming now? That’s right, I can design all 7 ad sizes for you! email me at sales@butterflychicboutique.com and no I’m not just trying to sell stuff, search project wonderful on the Etsy forums and you will find many sellers who don’t sale graphics rave about projectwonderful)

A: What does it mean to ’stumble’ someone or to be ’stumbled’?

• This is referring to StumbleUpon. StumbleUpon is a great way to get hits. It is a site you join, then download a toolbar (works with FireFox and IE) and if you find a site you like (even your own) you click a little button to rate it and it is added to the stumbleupon base of websites. Now when you have this toolbar, you can set up your preferences and you can “stumble” other sites and this is where your hits come from, others who use stumbleupon can click stumble, and if your site fits their preferences, they can randomly be taken to your site. Your own website, your blog, Etsy shop, or even a specific listing. A great way to bring in new traffic.

A: What do you get out of joining a streeteam? How does that help promote my shop?

• Well, it depends on the street team, as each is run separately by Etsy sellers, not Etsy admin. But joining a street team can help in many ways.
  • Some teams have dues and purchase ad space as a colaborative, you use that street teams tags in your listings and when people come to Etsy and search that tag, your shop is one of the ones that pop up.
  • Some teams are done by locality. This might increase your sales to other local Estians who don’t make the same craft as you.
  • It’s good to talk with others who make the same craft as you to bounce ideas off of and tolear from each other the things that help increase sales for your specific craft.

A: What do people mean by sending out promos? What are good promos?

• Promos is a promotional item, it can be anything with your website on it.
  • A business card is a promo in it’s simplest form.
  • Earrings
  • Key chains
  • Magnets
  • Samples
  • Bookmarks
  • Cell phone charms
  • Mini Note Cards
  • Stickers
  • Pins/buttons
  • Soaps
  • Matchbook notepads
  • Pens/Pencils
  • Lip balm
  • Post cards
  • Tags
  • Mirrors
  • Candy
  • Use your creativity! Samples aren’t possible for every craft, but they are for many.

A: Should I promote my online store offline?

• YES! Just because you have an online store doesn’t mean you are bound to selling only online. There are many great ways to advertise offline, whether the person buys offline or you direct them to your onlilne site.
  • Hand your business card to EVERYONE you meet. The cashier, the gas station attendant, people you wait in line with, other people you meet in the craft store, your mailman, PO workers, your bug man, your coworkers (if allowed) your child’’s teacher or coach, anyone you speak to.
  • Leave your business cards laying around where someone will see them (great if you are too shy to hand it to them) leave on in public bathrooms (yes I actually do this) with the tip you leave your hairdresser, waitress, nail artist, leave them in the craft section at walmart, leave one on a table at starbucks, leave on one the pump at a gas station, if there is a flat surface or a push pin, magnet or clip, stick a business card there!
  • Use/wear your craft. If you make jewelry don’t go out of the house with a pair of your earrings in your ear or one of your bracelets on your arm, if someone comments on it, tell them you made it, you sell jewelry and whip out a business card!
    • ok, this is probably really bad, but I have went so far as to go out with a friend and when people are within earshot she will say “ooo, I love your earrings, did you make those yourself?” It gives strangers an opening to approach you if they like your work…. I’ve made 2 sales like this! LOL
  • Wear or carry something with your URL on it. It can be a shirt,a tote, a purse, whatever, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve handed out a business card when people see my “I love Etsy” tote.
  • Buy a vinyl cling with your URL on it for your car. I think it really helps to spend the extra money for aline about what you make if it isn’t in your URL (like JanesJewelry.etsy.com does need a lot of explaining, but JanesShop.etsy.com would benefit from having a line saying ‘handcrafted jewelry’ above it’
  • Look into a local newspaper or radio ad. Some are cheaper than you might think.
  • Ask local business owners if you can leave a stack of business cards, brochures or post a flyer in their establishment. I have a stack of business cards in the lobby at my local HoJo and Super8.
  • Offer to supply some freebie promo items to a local business with your URL on it. Maybe your local bakery could use napkins with your shop name on them, or your local dry cleaner could give a mini candy bar wrapped in a custom label (like you see for weddings and babies) out to every customer.
  • Try to find local business that have the same target customer as you and promote each other.
    • Like if you do jewelry, call your local formal wear shop and florist and offer a discount if you shop at all the places. Make custom pieces to match one of their dresses and leave it or a photo of it in the store, hand out each others cards and brochures, switch small photo albums with each other to share with your customers, offer them a link on your website or blog.
    • If you make pottery plates, see if a local bakery will let you advertise or consign some of your plates there.
    • If you make baby clothes or cards, talk to the hospital gift shop
  • • Find your nearest tourist attraction and see if you have anything to offer a local shop in that town.

There are things I know I have missed or forgotten to put in this post. There are so many ways to promote your shop. More ways than most people use or even realize. I know it sounds corny, but you do have to spend money to make money. Do your market research and plan where to put your advertising dollars. It will be worth it in the end, when you have repeat customers who found you through an ad or promo.

In slow times, buy another ad space or two, had out more business cards, try a new venue for advertising and wait for sales to pick up. :0)

One of the hardest thing for many sellers is pricing. Many things on Etsy are servely under priced in hopes of getting sales. This doesn’t always equal sales, as many shoppers equate a low price with low quality product and will pass your shop on by. If it does sell for the low price, once you add in PayPal and Etsy fees and overhead and supplies, you don’t really make any money.

There is an art to pricing. It’s called a formula.

So many times people ask, “how’s the price on this?” This tells potential customers you aren’t sure of yourself, your product, your skill, your talent, or your price.

Let’s look at an example. You might see that you took $5 worth of supplies, made it into something, list and sale it on Etsy for $10. You think you made a $5 profit, right? Easy math! They math is easy enough, but the formula is flawed. Let’s take a look:

• You list it and Etsy then takes their $0.20 listing fee $9.80
• You sale it for $10 and Etsy takes their 3.5% equaling $0.35 leaving you with $9.45
• PayPal takes their fees equaling $0.59 leaving you with $8.86
• Minus the $5 for supplies you are left with a $3.86 profit, correct?
• You spent $0.04 each on business cards and, like any good seller put 3 in the package totaling $0.12 leaving you with $3.74
• You put your item in $0.10 Organza bag or cello bag leaving you $3.64
• You wrapped your item in $0.05 worth of tissue paper and $0.20 worth of bubble wrap leaving you $3.39
• You then place your product in your $0.10 mailer and tape it up with $0.10 worth of shipping tape leaving you with $3.19
• You then use a $0.08 PayPal Label and say $0.05 worth of ink to print it leaving you with $3.06

So you took $5 worth of supplies, sold it for $10 and spent 30 minutes assembling/creating and 5 minutes to photograph it, 5 minutes to edit photos and 5 minutes to list it. Then you go on the forums and spend 5 minutes promoting it in various threads and another 5 minutes blogging about your new creation.

So for an hour of work you made $3.06…..would you take a job making $3.06/hour???

3 Simple things to consider when formulating your prices:

1. Materials
2. Labor
3. Overhead

Sounds easy enough, right? Think you got it down? Check the detailed list below.

Thing based on each product:

• Supplies/Materials
• Labor
  • Actual production
  • Photographing
  • Listing
  • Promoting
  • Emails/Convos
• Packaging
  • Cello Bags
  • Tissue Paper
  • Bag
  • Tape
  • Business Card
  • Tag/Label
  • Box
  • Ribbon/String/Raffia
  • Card
  • Mailer
  • PayPal Label/Printer Ink/Address Label
• Selling Fees
  • Website Fees
  • Etsy Fees
  • PayPal Fees
  • Market/Fair Entry Fees
• Including Shipping in Price

Yearly overhead costs to be evenly divided between all products you make:

• Tools
  • Computer
  • Camera
  • Craft Specific tools
    • Printer/ink/computer programs
    • stamps/pens/ink
    • brushes/brush cleaner
    • pliers/bead board
    • storage/organization containers
    • Button machines/sewing machine/cutting machines
    • glue/adhesive/tape
• Studio/workspace Rent
• Electric/water bill
• Internet Connection
• Phone Bill
• Office Supplies
• Printing
• Accounting Fees
• Advertising
• Insurance
• Display Costs
• Subscriptions/Dues/Memberships
• Travel Expenses
• Taxes (usually 25-35% for small businesses)

Now that you’ve considered everything, you have to put it together. There are tons of formulas out there you can use, here are just a few….

• (supplies + packaging) x 4 + Labor + 10% = Base Retail Price
  • 10% is for overhead, normal overhead is 10-20%
  • x4 is your value factor, lower for wholesale raise for high end fairs
    
• 2 x (supplies + labor + overhead) = cost of sold goods
  • Wholesale price: 2 x ($2 + $3 + $1) = $12
  • Retail price: 2.5 x $12 = $30

I’m not a big fan of these formulas, but if you don’t want to put a lot of time and effort into it and are not doing your Etsy shop as an income, I and other sellers like me who do this for a living would much rather you use one of these simple formulas than to price $5 worth of supplies at $10! :0)

• Labor + Materials x 3 = wholesale
• Labor + Materials x 4 = retail

Formulas that use percentages are best as they are easily adjusted to fit your venue as some venues will allow a larger mark up than others.

You overhead should be adjusted to fit your needs and your hourly wage should fit your craft, Jewelry makers can easily charge $20/hour while someone who crochets or quilts could not.

My hourly rates are as follows $10 for paper crafts, $15 for graphics and $20 for jewelry.

The above formulas won’t work for everyone in every field, but they are a great place to start. Try them out and compare your prices to fellow Etsians selling the same items and adjust them to suit your needs.

The easiest thing to do is set up a spreadsheet in Excel (or buy one off Etsy) and use it to simply input your data, adjust your overhead, hourly wage and value factor and let the spreadsheet do the work for you!

To calculate Etsy and PayPal Fees http://etsy.ppcalc.com/

To calculate paypal fees without Etsy fees (if selling elsewhere) use http://ppcalc.com/

Have a different formula you use? Email it to me and I might add it to the post. If I do I’ll give you credit!

Many people who are new to online buying and selling are scared of PayPal. If you’ve never used it before and know nothing about it and happen to stumble across one of my favorite websites http://www.paypalsucks.com/ the thought of entrusting your money to this evil company could be enough to terrify The Terminator himself.

Now many large companies such as PayPal have hate sites built about them buy former customers scorned. Hell hath no fury like a paying customer scorned! Just ask anyone who has ever worked in retail. You have to take these sites with a grain of salt. Yes, PayPal probably did wrong the site builder in some way shape or form but as I always say there are 3 sides to every story, his side, her side and then what really happened….

While some stories may be totally 100% true, others will contain half truths and outright lies. But when you think about it, as long as PayPal has been around and as often as it is used DAILY by so many people they do pretty good.

There are some things to consider when signing up for PayPal as a small business or online seller, even if you aren’t a ‘business’

• If you plan to sell online, you must hold a business or premier account.
• PayPal can (and will) freeze any account at any time for any reason they deem fit.
• PayPal can (and will) freeze your checking account tied to your PayPal account to do an investigation
• Consider PayPal fees (and any Esty or Mindt fees) when pricing your items. This can really affect your profit on small ticket items without you realizing it. (that’s a WHOLE ‘nother post)
• Consider having your PayPal account tied to a separate checking account that isn’t tied to anything else, and that no bills are paid out of, to protect your money from PayPal freezing it.
• Consider keeping your PayPal balance to a minimum to avoid losing money in the event of an investigation.
• Consider a PayPal debit card to withdraw your money from PayPal or pay for purchases in the ‘real world’

With few other options out there, none of which are supported by the checkout process at eBay orEtsy, PayPal is a necessary evil, but there are steps you can take to protect you and your money. In all the time I have been selling online (at a rate of 1-2 sales per day for almost a year) I’ve only had a handful of people ever choose or ask to pay any other way.

There are upsides to PayPal, printing of a shipping label without entering any info other than package size/shape and weight, increase in sales as opposed to NOT offering PayPal, Easy, online records of you income and expenses , customers credit card info never been in your hands (this protects both you AND your customer)

In the end, PayPal makes the world of ecommerce go ’round and there isn’t much you can do about that fact, but you can educate yourself and protect yourself going into it.

I have been frequenting the Etsy forums quite a bit the past few day. The forum is open to anyone to read, whether they are signed up to buy and sell or not. Sellers use the forums frequently and from reading, many buyers only don’t post much but do read often.

Something I have noticed on the forums is a LOT of drama. Unprofessional behavior. Rude comments. People fighting, name calling, rants….

Many people leave the forums because of all this commotion, others seem drawn to it.

It seems some people don’t understand that this is a business, and you are the face of your business. Many people get a false sense of courage with the internet stand between them and others, but when you are running an internet business, it is only your attitude standing between you and potential customers.

Whether you have a B&M store or an internet shop, you should conduct yourself the same…professionally.

In my internet business, I have a philosophy, I don’t post anything on forums I wouldn’t say in front of a store full of customers and other local business owners if I were in my own B&M store. I don’t say anything in emails or convos I wouldn’t say to a customers face in the real world.

If more people would run their business like this, I suspect there would be a lot less drama on the Etsy forums.

So what do people see as the face of your business?

This is not my first business venture. I have had an online shop selling my handcrafted goods before. One of the problems I faced in my first online business venture is one I think many small business owners who ship packages face, what to do when a package is lost/stolen/damaged.

A recent thread on the Etsy forums (Etsy is ‘your place to buy all things handmade’ an eBay for only handmade items and craft supplies if you will) brought this question up. An Etsy seller Classic Designs by Theresa Mink started a thread asking what to do about a string of lost packages.

What is a small business to do? You sell an item. You package the item and you pay the USPS to ship the item. But what if the item never makes it? Or what if it’s damaged when it gets there?

It’s easy enough to say put delivery confirmation and insurance on every package, but it’s not always feasible when shipping international. If you’re selling a$800 product, the buyer probably wouldn’t blink at international shipping that includes insurance, but when you ship a $5 or $20 or even $50 item, charging $23 for shipping can put customers off.

How cost effective is it to insure the package verses sending a replacement, or issuing a refund? Well that depends on the price of the item(s) and your profit margin.

For me to ship a 5 oz package valued at $50 to California will cost me:
$1.48 for first class postage and $1.65 for insurance and $0.65 for delivery conformation. for a total of $3.78

For me to ship that same package to Australia it will cost me:
$4.50 to ship first-class international postage and $1.50 for a certificate of mailing and $10.15 for registered mail for a total of $16.15

So what am I paying that $10.15 for??? Well, according to the USPS website

Registered Mail™
	Registry service provides security and limited indemnity protection for First-Class Mail® International and Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelope items. Items bearing an address in pencil or any erasable format are not accepted as Registered Mail. This optional special service is not available with Priority Mail International flat rate or variable weight parcels, or Express Mail International® services. Registered items can be sent to all destination countries except the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Federated States of Micronesia, Iraq, and Republic of the Marshall Islands. All destination countries have an indemnity limit of $43.73 and a registry fee of $10.15. For detailed information about Registered Mail, see the International Mail Manual. Effective January 2006 the addressee is the payee on claims for registered items delivered in damaged condition or with contents missing, if addressee accepts delivery of the item. If addressee waives their right to payment, in writing, or the item is returned to sender, the sender then is eligible to file a claim.

“

Or, I can send the same package priority international and pay $21 plus $2.40 for insurance for a total of $23.40

So what is the small, home based, run by one person who makes and sales and ships all their own items and works a full-time job supposed to do?

Some would say a lost or damaged packaged should be replaced in the name of good customer service, part of the costs of doing business. But is it? Should it be? Once we place the package int he hands of the USPS, shouldn’t it be THEIR responsibility? Shouldn’t the a package they lose or damage, be part of THEIR cost of doing business? Lose sales by not offering international shipping?