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Hey shopowners do you guys send out like a receipt or anything with your items? Just like a slip that has your shop name on it or something? I'm trying to decide what to send with stuff I ship out, because it would seem weird to just send the item without my shop name on it anywhere.madjackmcmad posted:I want a bird! I want a bird. Let's bird. I have sent you details via Etsy. Bird time aw yiss! 
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Dec 4, 2013 05:28
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Radio! posted:Hey shopowners do you guys send out like a receipt or anything with your items? Just like a slip that has your shop name on it or something? I'm trying to decide what to send with stuff I ship out, because it would seem weird to just send the item without my shop name on it anywhere. I had little thank you notes but my printer was having some issues. I've just included my business card in the last few orders.
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Dec 4, 2013 05:32
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Radio! posted:Hey shopowners do you guys send out like a receipt or anything with your items? Just like a slip that has your shop name on it or something? I'm trying to decide what to send with stuff I ship out, because it would seem weird to just send the item without my shop name on it anywhere. I ordered business cards and business card magnets from Vistaprint, and I put a magnet and a card or two in each order. I hope that the customer loves my crap so much that they give a card to a friend! Vistaprint can be super cheap, especially if you can grab a groupon.
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Dec 4, 2013 05:47
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I print a receipt (I use shipstation, it's great) and include a business card - also from Vistaprint. Definitely hunt for groupons, coupons, and then after you order you get offered 500 more business cards for a few dollars more, hurry now, expires in 15minutes!! (That cracked me up).
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Dec 4, 2013 06:43
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I just finally ordered some business cards, but I haven't put them in any orders yet, I keep trying to convince my self it's not wasteful. Honestly after 4,000 orders and I've never included a business card or receipt and I haven't gotten any complaints yet. I think I am like this because I order fabric a lot from Etsy and often times it comes all wrapped up in string and bows and tons of business cards and stuff and honestly I just throw it all in the trash, and so I kind of just don't really want to be wasteful. =/
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Dec 4, 2013 07:18
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Anyone here do craft shows?
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Dec 7, 2013 00:55
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Not Etsy sales, but I just finished my brother's Christmas present and I'm super excited about it so I have to show it off (and can't on facebook 'cause he'll see it. Fallout First Aid Kit (edit to fix HTML)
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Dec 8, 2013 23:21
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I will be more than happy to send  for a banner ad, if that is still a thing. My girlfriend has put a ton of beautiful handmade jewelry items up for sale. Her shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MilkBerries
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Dec 9, 2013 23:32
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Stultus Maximus posted:Anyone here do craft shows? I do conventions, does that count? I bought some cheap fancy paper and printed up cards with my logo and contact info that I throw in with everything I sell. I think it's good to include that at least for handmade items but I wouldn't want to burn through business cards that way.
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Dec 10, 2013 13:12
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unabaumer posted:I do conventions, does that count? I was just curious about peoples' experiences selling at shows, especially concerning how much inventory and range of products to produce.
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Dec 10, 2013 14:31
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Hey Etsy Goons! I wanted to show you my shop, but also to ask some advice on custom orders. I sell belt buckles that I make after I'm done drinking beer. Or whiskey. https://www.etsy.com/shop/DirtyWest I've been doing this off and on for a couple years now and one of the problems that I've run into is that if I make all the labels I have into buckles then I have hundreds or thousands of dollars sunk into materials that may never sell. If I don't list what I have available then people looking for something specific may never find me. I had this idea of making the shop far more custom order oriented and making a listing for everything I currently have label for. Scan the label, make a listing with instructions on what I need to know and the lead time and all that. Only problem is that if I make a listing with a scan of the label then once they purchase it I can't add in a picture of the finished product. I could have sworn Etsy had a way to make a listing that wouldn't be finalized immediately, but I can't find anything like it. Is there any way to deal with this situation? I want to show people what is available in a way that that gives them a visual (and lets me show up in searches) but also lets me show off the finished products in my Sold orders tab.
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Dec 19, 2013 02:34
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Thanks for all the sales, goons (and it's mostly guys buying gifts I assume - if not, we need more guys in the nail thread :P)!Stultus Maximus posted:Anyone here do craft shows?
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Dec 19, 2013 02:44
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Noricae posted:Thanks for all the sales, goons (and it's mostly guys buying gifts I assume - if not, we need more guys in the nail thread :P)! Credit cards are easy these days. Get a Square.
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Dec 19, 2013 03:13
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Fayez Butts posted:Credit cards are easy these days. Get a Square. Wow I've been looking for something like this but didn't want to pay out the rear end for one. Can you give me a little synopsis about your experiences with it if you have one? I'm very skeptical about 'IT'S FREE, WE JUST GET A PERCENTAGE OF YOUR SALES.' It seems way too easy and too good to be true.
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Dec 19, 2013 06:26
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I think you need a merchant account for those (still don't have a real one) - or do they have their own (higher percentage) merch acct?. And I have a windows phone (ok, it's 8+ yrs old and it's time to upgrade) but that looks awesome!
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Dec 19, 2013 06:38
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NewcastleBrown posted:I wanted to...ask some advice on custom orders. I guess I could just sell them as is and re-list with the image of the custom order as one of the images. Still, I'd rather there was a way to sell a custom order and attach an image of the finished product once it is done.
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Dec 19, 2013 07:14
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NewcastleBrown posted:I guess I could just sell them as is and re-list with the image of the custom order as one of the images. Still, I'd rather there was a way to sell a custom order and attach an image of the finished product once it is done. Is there a way you take the label in and out and just not seal it up? I can't really tell how the buckle blank works from the picture. If that is a possibility then just take pictures without them being sealed up, set the item to made when ordered, and make them when they sell. For my shop, I make everything once, and then as it sells out I change the listing to state that it takes 1-2 weeks for me to make, and I've had zero issues with people waiting for me to make an item. That could work if you have duplicate labels as well.
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Dec 19, 2013 18:10
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Amaya posted:Wow I've been looking for something like this but didn't want to pay out the rear end for one. Can you give me a little synopsis about your experiences with it if you have one? I'm very skeptical about 'IT'S FREE, WE JUST GET A PERCENTAGE OF YOUR SALES.' It seems way too easy and too good to be true. We're living in the future dude! I got my reader but haven't used it yet. It looks like the caveats are that 2.75% transaction fee and the fact that the money doesn't get immediately deposited into your account (1-2 days). That said I've seen people using these card readers everywhere and they seem like a popular, trustworthy way to do business.
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Dec 19, 2013 18:16
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Craft shows really depend on your product, and if you are reaching your target demographic. This is my experience of the first time of doing a higher end craft show: I've been invited to many craft shows before, but I am extremely picky about them because I need to make sure I am reaching my target demographic, and also location/finances play a big role in it, so honestly I've never done a show before this. This one I chose recently was part of a huge church's Christmas event. There were over 3,000 women in attendance, plus it was only $40 for a booth so I jumped at the chance. Since I sell light switch covers, I really have to work at displaying my product (people have no idea what it is when they see them), so I built a mini display showing the covers in action, and a larger display that is eye catching as well. The biggest issue I have is that people have no idea what kind of light switch covers they have. They can't even remember if they have a single or double light switch cover. This means pretty much all I can do is hand them a business card and hope they follow through online, but that was a week ago and no sales from local places. Another issue I had is that I took all of my current inventory, which is all stuff that is listed, but hasn't sold on Etsy. All of my popular sellers are long gone, because of the way I run my online shop I only make an item once for a picture and then everything else is made to order. I didn't have time to prep any extra inventory of my best sellers for the show. For being there all day, I sold 7 light switch covers, and I only handed out probably 20 business cards. Not really worth it because I could easily have stayed home and made $300 worth of inventory that would sell online. I used the Paypal Here card reader for one transaction. I like that the money goes directly into my Paypal account because that is the account I use for my business as far as buying supplies/paying Etsy fees. The lady near me sold out of all her inventory which was these large 20x30 size fancy frames with a chalkboards in them for $45 each. So you really need to know your target demographic. Personally, I would not be doing another craft show at this point because my product is really better suited for selling online (I can easily sell 5-10 a day) I've been tempted to do one of the LA Renegade craft shows, but the fact that booth fees are $200+ last time I checked, it just doesn't seem to be a good deal for me after paying for gas/childcare/etc.
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Dec 19, 2013 18:32
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NewcastleBrown posted:Hey Etsy Goons! I wanted to show you my shop, but also to ask some advice on custom orders. Everything we sell is a custom item, so we just take a nice photo of the product as our listing photo (cutting boards in this case) and start a convo with the customer. During the convo phase we send them a proof image of what their board will look like. It's usually something simple we work up in our software. We'll then do a custom listing and put that proof photo of the item they are considering buying. Here's the listing photo:  Here's the proof image when we actually convo the customer:  I would put a shameless plug of our shop in this post but we're currently on holiday  Maybe make a vector/photoshop file of your belt buckle and just setup a "labels" layer where you can easily swap out images of different logos to give the customer an idea of what it will look like? Ultimate it would be one huuuuge file that has a ton of hidden layers with a ton of different logos and you just un-hide the one the customer is interested in. Check it: 
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Dec 19, 2013 18:41
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Rathina posted:Is there a way you take the label in and out and just not seal it up? I can't really tell how the buckle blank works from the picture. If that is a possibility then just take pictures without them being sealed up, set the item to made when ordered, and make them when they sell. The different buckle blanks I have have different sized/shaped inset areas and the labels are cut to size. If I set up an image with one I wouldn't lock up the buckle blank (the main expense) but I would be locking the label into that specific blank style and placement. It would also leave my listings showing un-sealed buckles, which often look very different from the finished product. Rathina posted:For my shop, I make everything once, and then as it sells out I change the listing to state that it takes 1-2 weeks for me to make, and I've had zero issues with people waiting for me to make an item. That could work if you have duplicate labels as well. This sounds like what I'll end up doing, probably. I'll end up with a number of sold listings that just show the scan of the label but once one sells I'll re-list with the picture of the previous finished product and a note on lead-time and variations. That is, unlesss johnnyonetime is on to something I'm not... johnnyonetime posted:Everything we sell is a custom item, so we just take a nice photo of the product as our listing photo (cutting boards in this case) and start a convo with the customer. During the convo phase we send them a proof image of what their board will look like. It's usually something simple we work up in our software. We'll then do a custom listing and put that proof photo of the item they are considering buying. Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure I understand your process, sorry if I'm being dense or don't know how Etsy works. Bear with me, please. It sounds like all your customers see a generic listing and then contact you instead of buying the listing itself. Is there a way to set a listing as "custom" in such a way that it forces the customer to start a conversation instead of taking them to checkout or are you putting a disclaimer requesting that everyone "request a custom order" instead of purchasing the listing? If there is a good way to ensure people contact me instead of actually making a purchase on the spot that would be fantastic. johnnyonetime posted:Maybe make a vector/photoshop file of your belt buckle and just setup a "labels" layer where you can easily swap out images of different logos to give the customer an idea of what it will look like? Ultimate it would be one huuuuge file that has a ton of hidden layers with a ton of different logos and you just un-hide the one the customer is interested in. Check it: I have dreams of a web interface where people can select a buckle and a label and drag things around to make their own proof, but this is really just a hobby and I'm no web developer! Proofs aren't something I've had to worry about with my custom orders. People either request that I make it like some other one or tell me what features of the label they want me to include/center and let me go to it. They generally don't see anything until I'm completely finished. My main concerns are 1) having every label option I have available show up in search/on my shop, and 2) showing off the actual completed pieces I make. NewcastleBrown fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Dec 19, 2013 |
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Dec 19, 2013 19:27
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NewcastleBrown posted:Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure I understand your process, sorry if I'm being dense or don't know how Etsy works. Bear with me, please. Well it can go either way  , they can just buy the listing and message us afterwards about what they want and we start the conversation that way. We re-list the item and it's ready for the next customer.OR They can click on "Create a Custom Listing" (I think that's what it says) on the left hand side of our store page when it's active, which is a little scripted thing in Etsy where they convo us and tells us what we want, we create a proof and attach to the convo. After it's agreed it creates a "custom listing" in Etsy - they purchase their specific custom listing and we go from there. Why this works for us is we just set our pricing flat no matter what the customer wants (within reason) so it's a wash whichever way they decide to purchase. I know you said you want the customer to contact you before making a purchase but in our experience you don't want to put up roadblocks for customers wanting to plunk down cash. Make the process as easy as possible, get the cash in your account and you can hash out details afterwards. If it turns out to be a total mess just refund the money through Etsy instantly. No fuss.
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Dec 19, 2013 20:39
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Thanks for the clarification. I think I'm worrying a little too much! I'll make a shop section for custom listings and most will have label scans and the ones I've sold similar buckles in the past will have old pictures. When a label sells I'll take my picture and add it to the listing for the next one.
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Dec 19, 2013 20:51
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I have done custom orders via the Etsy clicking link AND also have a listing that is just for custom orders. I charge more for the special orders because it usually means I have to go find special fabric for the project. I just use a picture of my cat wearing a tie and also some special order options I've done before. For your listings you could just make a list of available labels/Have people ask you about specific labels they'd like to use. https://www.etsy.com/listing/88806409/made-to-order-cat-or-pet-tie
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Dec 20, 2013 17:35
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This is the picture I use for custom orders:
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Dec 23, 2013 18:38
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Any US sellers have experience shipping to the UK? I got a convo from someone who's interested in buying that crazy expensive monster hunting kit, but she's in the UK. I've shipped small gift items to friends there, but nothing like this - is the VAT and such the buyer's responsibility? The shipping price on this thing would be like $65, but I guess if she really wants it...
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Jan 5, 2014 15:24
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RazorBunny posted:Any US sellers have experience shipping to the UK? I got a convo from someone who's interested in buying that crazy expensive monster hunting kit, but she's in the UK. I've shipped small gift items to friends there, but nothing like this - is the VAT and such the buyer's responsibility? VAT would be the buyers responsibility, yes, at customs. Customs will use the value listed on the package to work out how much to charge for Customs + VAT. Lots of packages get through with no extra, but some do get stopped and charged. If you want to be nice to the buyer, you could tell her you'll list the total cost of materials as the item cost on the package so VAT is minimal. e; and that's only £40 shipping, which is pretty reasonable for a wooden case coming from the states. mehall fucked around with this message at 15:42 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 15:40
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mehall posted:VAT would be the buyers responsibility, yes, at customs. Makes sense. I'll let her know it's doable 
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Jan 5, 2014 17:11
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RazorBunny posted:Makes sense. I'll let her know it's doable Yeah, my sisters friend was sending a japanese style doll thing (i can't remember what they're called) from somewhere in asia, and listed the original RRP instead of the actual price paid. (Limited edition item. RRP: £80 ish, actual price paid somewhere near £500) It did get caught by Customs, so doing that saved my sister around ~£150 in VAT. EDIT: The other option is that you overcharge, try to cover those costs yourself, and then reimburse any excess, which is what amazon US does to ship to the UK, but as a private seller, I'd just send it and hope it gets through customs unnoticed :P
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Jan 5, 2014 17:18
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The materials were about $80 and I'm asking $200, due to the labor involved, but I'm okay with putting the "value" as $80 if that will help her pay lower fees.
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Jan 5, 2014 18:37
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RazorBunny posted:The materials were about $80 and I'm asking $200, due to the labor involved, but I'm okay with putting the "value" as $80 if that will help her pay lower fees. Just keep in mind that lying on customs forms is illegal and should they choose to, they can fine you up to $10,000 and/or 5 years in jail. I mean it's not likely to happen or anything, but it's still not legal.
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Jan 6, 2014 03:29
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It's not illegal to put an item's value down as the cost of materials or replacement. Unless there's some specific set of laws about sale prices of things, homeowner's insurance would be a loooot more expensive. Edit: Should something happen to the box in transit, RazorBunny gets $80 with which to craft a second kit. If the other party still wants it, no more money needs to be exchanged. If they don't, she refunds the $200 and still has the money to replace it for sale. This is exactly how this is meant to work. NatashaQuick fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 03:36
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I think you're thinking insurance NatashaQuick, and not customs. I don't believe a customs form is any sort of security toward getting your money back if a package is lost. However, if you declare a value of one amount and insure for another, you'll only get the declared amount back. You're supposed to list the exact price the customer paid for the item. Quote from a woman claiming to be married to a customs official: If you don't declare the true amount on there could possibly : seize the product, make you pay the proper tax/duty, fine you, and possibly shut your company down for violation of the law. Also, link to an etsy thread discussing this. tldr: tons of people fudge/lie on customs forms, but you could get in serious trouble for it, and I'm always paranoid that it'll come back to bite me in the butt, especially if I were ever to be audited so I will not lie and say so in my policies flutterbyblue fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 23:26
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flutterbyblue posted:tldr: tons of people fudge/lie on customs forms, but you could get in serious trouble for it, and I'm always paranoid that it'll come back to bite me in the butt, especially if I were ever to be audited so I will not lie and say so in my policies Pretty much this. Also, I understand that if you put the cost of the materials down then you could potentially get that back via insurance to remake the item. However this doesn't take into account the reason why you're charging the $200 as opposed to just the $85 in materials--your time and creativity is worth something and you should never cast that fact aside.
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Jan 7, 2014 03:28
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Well, she came back and said she can't really afford to do it right now, so I think it's a moot point. Your arguments make sense, though - I hadn't really thought about it in those terms. At some point I would like to make smaller, less intricate (and less expensive) versions of the item, and I told the gal as much. Hopefully if I can get that off the ground she would be able to purchase one of the less expensive sets and the VAT and such would be cheaper anyway.
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Jan 7, 2014 04:48
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Well thanks for correcting me, I honestly didn't know that wasn't ok. I've never shipped anything worth that much internationally but also didn't consider the insurance is seperate from the customs form itself (even though I know that). Of course I'd put the same thing on both forms.
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Jan 7, 2014 04:50
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https://www.etsy.com/shop/Makerboards I started a shop today to get some of my electronics and 3d printing projects out in the wild. *And to make some money as I'm recently in need of some* I'm new to the selling aspect of Etsy, so at the moment I only have up one of my projects, so at the moment I only have one product up there which is an Arduino shield and another PCB that attaches to it, allowing anyone to make accessible PS3 or PC gaming controllers... or just really awesome controllers, like a FIFA interface that allows the player to kick something to shoot. In real life the PCBs I'm selling can also be used to give you 16 more GPIO pins on an Arduino, and is a lot more versatile than it appears to be in the contexts other than video gaming.
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Feb 10, 2014 06:49
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Had a special order for a Grumpy Cat Hat and had good response so I put it up on my Etsy page. https://www.etsy.com/listing/179131381/grumpy-cat-hat 
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Feb 12, 2014 04:30
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Yeah don't ever fib on custom forms. It's not hard to find horror stories from small business owners who tried to make customers happy by either saying the items were a gift or severely undervaluing them. It's all well and good until you get caught and fined. About a year ago a woman had a thread on etsy about how she was fined in the neighborhood of the thousands and blocked from using that shipping company. I came in here to bitch about something else though. Has etsy always taken a cut of your shipping fee? It seems a bit dumb since I charge exactly what it costs to ship the item and then I have to pay more money to etsy from the profit off the item.
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Feb 17, 2014 03:59
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Queen Elizatits posted:Yeah don't ever fib on custom forms. It's not hard to find horror stories from small business owners who tried to make customers happy by either saying the items were a gift or severely undervaluing them. It's all well and good until you get caught and fined. About a year ago a woman had a thread on etsy about how she was fined in the neighborhood of the thousands and blocked from using that shipping company. I do all my shipping and labeling through Etsy/paypal. They don't take a cut of my shipping fee as I just charge what Etsy/paypal charges me. If you don't ship through them directly then you should be able to just "mark as shipped" and not pay anything. Funhilde fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Feb 17, 2014 |
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Feb 17, 2014 07:23
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