Staying Positive...

I have shared on the blog how crazy the last few weeks have been. Added to the stress was an unhappy Etsy customer. She ordered a planter with a carved leaf design. She didn't want a combination of the shino and green, just the green. I finished the planter ahead of schedule and shipped it priority mail on September 4th. On September 15th, the buyer messaged me and said the shape and size were perfect but she was disappointed in the color... it wasn't green enough. Was there anything she could paint it or glaze it with to make it greener? I was a little baffled that it took her more than a week to say she wasn't happy, but long story short, I said she wouldn't be happy with her planter if it were painted and that she could return it for a refund. 

This is how I received it...

It's definitely not how I shipped it! The newspaper wasn't even packed tightly. I am not sure if she thought that little bit of extra paper inside the planter added protection. Luckily it was a planter and not a piggy bank, believe it or not, it did survive the trip. I learned a couple of lessons from this transaction.

1. Be sure to include in your shop policies, and in conversations with buyers, that all returns are to be shipped in original packaging, as originally delivered.

2. Shop policies are a good thing to have in your Etsy shop, but the bottom line is if the customer files a claim with Paypal or Etsy, you will most likely have to give them a refund even if the return is past the return policy date.

I ended up refunding this woman's shipping as well as the price of the planter, even though my policies state that the buyer is responsible for return shipping. I consulted the Etsy forums (there is great information and experiences there) and learned that you are better off to refund everything or risk a complaint... even if your policies state no refunds on shipping. Paypal and Etsy most always side with the customer.

I really shouldn't let it get to me. This has been my only return since selling on Etsy. I felt a whole lot better yesterday, when I received an e-mail and feed back from two very happy customers.

Focus on the positive.
Let go of the negative.

So to end on a positive note, here are a couple of new mugs out of the kiln yesterday...

and a super cute pig that is a custom order...

Have a happy Thursday.

Focus

Today we had our first shipment of bubble wrap and boxes for 2014. Now to find a way to squeeze them all into our storage room! We use a lot of free priority boxes from the post office but we have some items that just don't fit into them, although we have been known to be very creative in combining two small boxes to make larger ones. These bundles of bubble wrap are gigantic and we have been going through them rather quickly which leads to the subject of this post.

FOCUS

As 2013 was coming to an end, Jeff and I looked back on our business practices for the year.

We are very happy that we followed through with our plan to focus on selling our pottery through Etsy. We set goals and surpassed them. Yay! 2014 will be even better.

Then there are shows... we don't do that many and this year we are dropping Festival in the Park in Charlotte, and looking for something to replace it. There are a couple we are considering. Not sure I want to do anymore shows than we have in the past, but if something looks promising we may consider it.

The biggest decision we have made, going into the new year, is to discontinue our membership in the local co-op gallery. Our sales were down, despite our best efforts to figure out what would sell there.  When we did the math we realized that with the annual and monthly fees we were taking home 50% of our sales AND working three days a month. It just makes sense for us to send more work to the consignment galleries that take 40% of sales. The time commitment to the co-op was to cutting into my studio work. With three extra days a month I can make quite a few more piggy banks to sell on Etsy!
We will miss being part of the co-op. Belonging really gave us a sense of community and we will miss that, but it was time to move on. Our term will end on February 28th.


2013 had a very happy ending for us, and I am looking forward to 2014.

count down to Christmas...

The holiday open house weekend is behind us. Sales weren't spectacular but we had some past customers come in for new pots and I am sure we acquired some new fans as well. The weather was so warm that it seemed almost silly to be serving hot chocolate, at least the chocolate chip cookies went over well!
If we were slightly disappointed with gallery sales, our Etsy sales and special orders certainly made up for it. We fired the kiln over the weekend, unloaded this morning, and shipped many of the pots out today...

I had set a goal to double my Etsy revenue this year and I exceeded that goal last month. I finally feel like I have the momentum going now. It seemed like a lot of work at first, but once you get it down it's much easier... way easier than packing up to go to a show. Since Jeff and I have separate shops, we have a lot of fun with healthy competition and cheering each other on. This is what people that don't have cable or satellite TV do for entertainment!

6 more sales and I will finally be at 100, maybe these new ornaments will help to get me there...

Online selling

I set some goals for myself this year, and one was to double my sales on Etsy. I figured it was attainable because I really hadn't sold all that much in the past, mostly due to the fact that my interest in it came and went.
This was the year to get serious.
I am getting close to my goal and I figure with the holiday season coming up, I might even surpass it. Don't get me wrong, I am not making tons of money through the site, but Etsy has brought in money that I otherwise wouldn't have in my pocket. To make a living in clay you need to be selling work in a variety of places and venues. Compared to craft shows, Etsy is a piece of cake... but we won't stop doing them. As a matter of fact, this year we have kicked it up a notch and are doing a few more shows... check out my events listing on the right side of this page.
Tracey Broome did a blog post the other day about Big Cartel. I hadn't even heard of it (where have I been??). Tracey already made a sale through the venue! Since you can give it a try for free, I am considering jumping in.

In the meantime, I have been adding some new items to my Etsy shop...

as always, pigs are the #1 sellers!