Here I go again. . .photos

I am still working on transferring listings to my newest platform, there is no easy magic button.  There is an import process but it's a process and it does not transfer ALL the listing info and it would just lead to a ton of editing and messing with them after, so one at a time creation is the method I've chosen. 😏   It is slower doing them one at a time but I get to decide what order stuff goes up in, I get to pick and chose which things get transferred, and I get to customize the listings as I create them.  

I've been doing them in groups by sections mostly and there are some things that will not get moved like my "clearance" section on etsy, yeah not putting "clearance" in a brand new shop on a brand new platform. 😉  Basic math says I cannot move everything, my etsy has close to 300 listings and my new goimagine shop has a 250 listing limit currently.  There is a larger plan but it's a 1000 listings which seemed like overkill to me.  ~LOL~ 

So there will be no clearance section, no leather jewelry section, and I am considering ways of re-working listings so that I can combine some things.  In some ways this is the exact opposite of what I do on etsy.  On etsy you cannot put a listing in more than 1 category, so sometimes I have more than 1 listing of something like a necklace bracelet set will have a listing for the set and another listing for the necklace by itself.  Also on etsy people seem to like cheap prices, they are looking for "bargains" so the low price points of the leather and clearance draw attention there but that is not a strategy I want to employ on goimagine.  😇

So as I am approaching the half way mark with moving things over, I have hit a bit of a snag, in that I cannot find some of my older photos. 😏  My etsy shop is 5 years old and way back then I had a different laptop and I often edited my photos on my old desktop.  Now neither of those is really alive anymore or easily accessible at the moment.  ~LOL~  You know life happens. . . I got a new laptop, now I'm not entirely sure where the old one is. . .when we were moving out of NY I think the old desktop computer got gutted so somewhere is a drive in a box but who knows where and then you'd still have to re-install it in something to access it. 😌  

Then I realized that those really old photos were not that great anyway and the backgrounds, yikes!  So I am planning a massive photo shoot to take new updated photos for almost all the earrings and necklaces and basically any listing with photos so old they have weird backgrounds.  😉  Now I just have to shuffle through and sort out my entire chainmaille inventory to make sure everything I plan to list is in stock and make lists and piles of stuff to photograph. 😇  I am also considering trying some photos of my walls of art, where I can take 1 photo of a wall and then put it in multiple listings, since I hung the canvases in groupings by style I think I can get away with that.  

I have plenty of time, I have been applying the "slow and steady" wins the race approach because technically goimagine is still in "beta". 😎  The plan is to have my shop fully stocked in a few weeks and the site's plan is to "launch" with PR and advertising shortly after that, so back to school time-ish.     

Maybe next month. . .

I think I'm going to "Resume business" sometime in July.  

The state of Indiana plans fit that timeline, although festivals/fairs and such large events (ya' know the kind I sell at) are in the final stage of the re-open plan. I have been looking to schedule things for fall but I dislike trying to plan months in advance in such an unpredictable time, especially since many of the events are now having a no refund policy on booth fees, even if events are cancelled.  😕

I have still been working on filling up my store on the new platform, which I have not named, linked, or advertised yet. The site is still in beta and although things are going well and improvements are happening every week, many sellers are getting orders already. Actually, on the whole the site has had tens of thousands of dollars of sales already, so I think it's going great for just starting. They are planning for their public launch and to start the PR and advertising for the site in July, I believe, so that aligns with my plans. 😇   

Hopefully, things will continue to stabilize and improve in the next 30 days and I'm not just planning for the fun of it. 😏

Quarantine is boring. . .

I know everyone is bored with staying home, I know I'm bored. 😏

I've also been not so well. 😟  I have had headaches, stress migraine style and then I got a toothache.  Last week dentist's offices weren't allowed to be open so I was stuck with the toothache for several days.  I finally got the tooth extracted yesterday and while it doesn't hurt anymore I'm right back to stress migraine. 😢  

It's hard to create when one is in pain and can't think straight. I haven't even made any progress with adding listings to the new marketplace. 😕

Hiatus time. . .

Ok, I have tried to just keep going as if nothing has changed but there is a global pandemic going 'round. 😔

I have not had a sale since Valentine's day. 
Traffic is low and dropping every day.
I tried to order supplies and they will not be delivered until late May. 

Now I could just keep renewing and pray but that's not really a solid "business" plan so I have decided to take a little hiatus.  I am deactivating my listings and will put my shop on vacation mode for a while. 

I do hope that the world gets back to something like normal soon. Stay home, stay safe, stay healthy. 😇

Imagine that. . .

I have been accepted to a new marketplace platform, which shall remain nameless for now because I haven't got my shop set up yet. 😉  Plus as a brand new site it's still in a beta testing phase so I want to let them get the kinks and glitches out before widely promoting it and really driving traffic.  

I was excited like this last year when the zibbet people announced the deal with A.C.Moore and I thought it would great but it did not turn out that way. Zibbet never got their shit together and ac moore went out of business so the whole thing just kind of flopped due to lack of advertising and commitment. 😞 What a huge disappointment for me after spending not only $100+ on the year long subscription but really an absolute ton of hours on importing, editing, and setting up listings.  😕  My time runs out there in about 3 months and I plan to remove everything and leave because I have not sold a single thing, heck half the time there isn't even any traffic. 

So while I am ~woo-hoo~ excited about this I am also trying not to get my hopes up too high.  Although, this seems to be off to a better start with people who really want to work at it and make it work which is a good sign.  I was starting to wonder if I would get in because I have been waiting for nearly a month for approval of my application, BUT at least there is an application approval process unlike other places where any one with an internet connection can create a shop.  

One of the love/hate things I've always had with Etsy is that there is no screening of anything really.  There is a certain appeal and fairness to anyone can open a shop but there is also a downside, like anyone can open a shop. 😏 Yes it's super easy for single moms and grandma ladies to open a shop and sell their knitting and soaps but that also means any scammer can open a shop and re-sell imported junk as handmade. Also etsy's lack of screening process means there is tons of counterfeit merchandise and illegally produced infringing items, and general intellectual property theft that etsy cannot and will not do anything about because they don't want to act and give up their immunity and suddenly become legally liable for all the crap they have turned a blind eye to for over a decade. 😐

So the fact that the new place has a screening and application process that includes 20 questions and requires links and proof and photos is great. They are talking of limiting the number of sellers in each category so as to not become overwhelming to buyers like etsy's 65 million+ listings where nothing can be found. Also they are talking of enforcing intellectual property rights so no one can pop up and start selling knock off disney stuff or unlicensed superhero stuff which I find a refreshing notion, ya' know enforcing right. 💪

Now, I have lots of work to do setting up shop and getting things lined up and spiffy lookin' once I have everything listed, squared off and ready I'll start sharing links and let everyone in on the secret.  😇

Damn POD people. . .

I have noticed an odd visitor in my etsy stats recently. . .well first it's odd when etsy gives you an actual traffic source.  I mean I only have 4 for all of last year.  So, when I noticed it a couple weeks ago it stood out and when the same one appeared in my stats multiple days in a row it became suspicious. 😒  I looked up the name and a google search basically says they are thieves and scammers. 😶

It's called dmmspy and basically they steal people's art and images to make t-shirts. It appears they are scraping images all over the web and offering them to others for POD shops. For those unfamiliar with POD people no I'm not talking about aliens I'm talking about people who use "Print On Demand" services to reproduce art that may or may not be theirs to use, AKA dirty rotten IP thieves and for those who don't know IP stands for Intellectual Property. 

The rainbowmaille.blogspot.com is from this Blog

The bit.ly is from the shortened links in my other social media posts

Now I would not care normally who looks at my etsy listings, all traffic is good, normally. 😕  But known images thieves looking at the same painting 5 days in a row is creepy and annoying and makes me think they plan to steal my art.  I wish there was a way I could block them from my listings.  I wish etsy had better security and did not allow right click image theft. 😠

I swear if my art ends up on a t-shirt I see for sale I will sue their pants off. 

Welcome to March. . .

Well, it's March and spring will come soon. . . I hope. 😎  I could really use some daily sunshine.  

I did manage to hit my 250 listing goal for my etsy shop, but just barely. 😉  Of course etsy has announced it's next ridiculous change and made me regret it but that's life on etsy you just never know what moronic over-reaching BS they will come up with next. However, cost vs. benefit when you consider traffic, options, etc., I will just have to put up with their crap I guess. 

I do not really want to go back to a stand alone site, constantly having to adjust, code, maintain crap, especially with payment processing compliance, security certs, privacy policy, liability for credit card fraud, sales tax, etc.,  😞 I will research current options as things have changed rapidly in the last 10 years, 5 years, heck even 2 years.  Everyone seems to like the idea of shopify but I'm not sure about it, honestly everyone seems to love amazon handmade but I do believe that amazon is evil and will be responsible for the destruction of our planet so I flat refuse to go there. 😏  And I felt that way before I read that horrifying article about how amazon sellers attack their competition and hijack other's listings and pay for fake reviews to get other's shops closed.   Prime and Punishment dirty dealing on amazon  😦 

Right now on a rainy Monday all I want to do is curl up in bed with my cats and nap the day away 😊 although I won't because that doesn't get things done and I have many many things to get done.