is it a coupon or a Sale ? ? ?

Language is meant to make communication clear and easy however, in today's world we have reached epic levels of failure in that department.  Many people do not communicate clearly and a lot of it is because people seem to have forgotten that words have meaning and are not interchangeable.  I know I'm a crazy picky grammarian stick in the mud, who's all caught up on the semantics at times but that's because people have become so imprecise with their use of language that words are beginning to lose meaning. 😕

It is both sad and somewhat scary because it makes communication difficult and it means that very often things are misinterpreted or misconstrued because the party reading what was written applies their own meaning to words and that is likely not what the person who wrote it actually meant.  

My pet peeve of the day is now "coupon sale" because a coupon and a sale are 2 totally different things. 😒  A "Sale" means that prices are temporarily lowered for instance a "Labor Day Sale" would mean that Labor day weekend prices were 20% off regular retail.  Whereas a "coupon" is a contingent discount that requires the use of the "coupon" to get the discount for instance you have to have the piece of paper for the clerk to scan or in the case of Etsy you must enter the code in the shopping cart to apply the discount.  "Sale" prices are automatic at checkout while "Coupons" must be applied. TOTALLY different things. 

This is only one of a million things that make me concerned that we are in fact going backwards in our evolution, when words lose meaning and language becomes meaningless we end up back to pictographs and grunting at each other. 😟

I have in the past offered "Coupons" and very few people actually remembered to put the code into the shopping cart. 😔  So my "Free Shipping" in November is a Sale and should (provided that Etsy functions properly) be automatically applied to qualifying orders at checkout.  I still have active coupons so if you have a "thankyou" coupon or a friend code you can still use those, they will still work.  😉
  

~YAY~ I got it . . .

Etsy has made the "gift wrap" option available for sellers to set up. ~yay~  I turned it on and set my price $3 and uploaded my photo of "sample" packaging, writing the description was not easy due to the limited number of characters they allowed.  I'm not used to the twitter-esq 150 character stuff, it makes full sentences and proper grammar difficult to say the least. 😉

Unfortunately, I can't see what it looks like because it's still in set up and preview mode so buyers can't see it yet.  😕  It should be fully rolled-out by the end of the month and it includes multiple changes.  "Gift wrapping" as a new option for a fee, "gift messages" which are free, and a new "packing slip" so when things are marked as gifts or include gift messages it will print without prices and messages will be included on the packing slip.  The last time I had someone mark something as a "gift" and include a message it went in the "notes to seller" box which does not print on the packing slip so I had to copy/paste it to notepad and print it out separate.  Not a big deal, to me, honestly it's not like I'm swamped with orders. 

However, I am considering for the holiday season that I might not always use the packing slip option for gifts mainly because it will likely say what is in the pretty box making the concept of gift wrapping pointless.  So if it were a "Gift" and included a gift message and was being shipped straight to the recipient I plan to print that message on one of my hand-colored Christmas cards and not use the official packing slip so as to not ruin the surprise. 😉

 They are nice heavy card stock paper and I colored them with gel pens so they are all shiny and glittery and super pretty.

 Also the hand colored every one is unique thing really fits with my whole shop being handmade and unique items.

I am all set for the season with pre-wrapped gift boxes, pile of pretty cards, plenty of inventory on hand.  I really hope I get some orders that choose the "gift wrap" or "gift message" option so I have a chance to use this stuff.  😇

Available soon. . .

Etsy has said the "gift wrap" option would be available before the end of the month, so in my head I'm like tick tock, tick tock, I wish I could set this up already.  

I spent time the other day practicing and actually pre-wrapping some of my gift boxes in a way that they are really pretty but the contents are still accessible.  ~yay me~

By keeping it simple and not using actual wrapping paper I was able to decorate the boxes in a very "present" gift-y looking manner without actually sealing the boxes.  😇

So one can order items "gift wrapped" but still be able to check, confirm, and examine the contents and put it back without effecting the look of the gift wrapping, at least for most things.  I still have to figure out a solution for trees 7" inches and up, I have gift boxes that will fit the 3", 5", and 6" versions it's just the larger ones.  I bought some boxes like standard shirt boxes that will hold the larger trees but they are all rectangular and over-sized so may require some modification or extra stuffing of tissue paper to hold the tree in place inside.  😏

I can't wait to get this set up. . .I really hope I have orders this holiday season and someone opts for gift wrapping, otherwise I have 8 over decorated boxes. ~LOL~ 😜

Gift wrapping for the holidays. .

Finally an announcement about a new Etsy feature I can get behind. 😇  

GIFT WRAPPING FOR THE HOLIDAYS !!! 

I am not only OK with this being an option I kind of like it.  

I have always liked wrapping presents, I'm actually pretty good with wrapping paper and ribbons, I have plenty of supplies on hand.  Heck I already pack most of the jewelry in little gift boxes so a ribbon on the outside is no big deal at all.  The wire trees would take a bit more effort but I like a challenge and the little 3" inch ones fit in the bracelet boxes anyway. ~LOL~  

Looking at the screen shots in the announcement I really like that they have added some definition/expectation to the "mark as a gift" option.  I am really liking the "add a gift message" and that we will be able to print those on separate page. I've only had 1 person ask me to add a note to a gift package but she put the note in the order in the notes to seller section which doesn't print on the packing slip so I had to copy/paste it into notepad and print it out separate, it was kind of a pain with all the extra steps so simplifying that will be great.  I also bet with the holidays coming people will like the perks.  And since we can set our own prices for this additional service I am really fine with it and plan to make it available in my shop. 👍

I've seen some other sellers not so thrilled with the idea afraid it will not be profitable for them, concerned that the extra gift wrap adding weight and increasing shipping cost, blah blah.  I use priority usually flat rate boxes so a few ounces of weight will not effect my shipping costs at all. 😇  

I can't wait for this to become available so I can get it all set-up, they are teasing me with "hey look at this cool new thing you can't have yet".  😏  So I'm passing that on. 😛

Tick tock. . .

Time is running out on the Birthday Sale it ends on the 22nd, better get shopping before you miss out on the 10% off everything. 😇

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RainbowMaille

Shifting focus. . .somewhat

So after last weeks somewhat whiny post I actually got a sale for a piece of chainmaille. LOL  Wish that worked every time, I'd whine more often. 😏  

I have noticed I sell more of the wire trees than actual jewelry so I think I'm going to back off making more chainmaille and make more art instead. 

I think I'm going to set up the easel and try painting again.  Not sure what I'm going to paint, I like the space-scape I did last time but I'm considering a simple wild flower meadow so I can ribbon embroider over some of the flowers and add that 3-D effect.  Although, my husband has some really cool glow in the dark powder paint stuff so if I do another space scene I think I'll try out some of it to make glowing stars. 😍  

I'm not giving up on RainbowMaille and I'm not changing the name I'm just shifting my crafting focus a bit.  😉  It's not the chainmaille is going anywhere, I have a ton of it already made and all the rings and supplies to make just about anything anyone could ask for.  I'm just not going to spend my time making more, more patterns, more styles, more colors, I have a million ideas but limited storage.  LOL

Of course, if I paint a bunch of canvases and they don't sell then I'll have a whole other storage problem.  😛

up hill battle. . .

I'm so sick of fighting the up hill Etsy battle and getting no where.  

I have redone photos, I've tweaked listings to all grade A SEO, I've added listings regularly, I've done everything they say you should do and it still gets me basically no where. 😟 I've got this blog but no one reads it, I've got an instagram but it's hard to get followers and even harder to keep them and no one clicks through to the Etsy, I've got the Facebook page I even pay for ads but zero results zero sales.  😩

I am actually depressed and I am seriously considering just giving up, not that anyone cares. 😑  It's really frustrating, I don't know what else to do, considering making everything $5 just to try to get rid of it.  😖  What else am I supposed to do with hundreds of pieces of  jewelry?