Sales tax season. . .

Welcome to January, now get those taxes done!  

I know personal income taxes aren't due for months, but in my state businesses licensed for sales tax that file on an annual basis must file by January 31st.  So for me it's year-end bookkeeping catch-up and getting all my paperwork in order for my sales tax filing.  😉

I will also been working on re-working listings, changing out tags, prepping for Valentine's Day, updating shipping charges in preparation for the next USPS increase, ya' know the constant state of work of an online business. 

I have been painting and making new wire trees but I am falling behind on listing new stuff. I have several paintings finished that are not listed.  I still have some rubber chainmaille patterns that are not listed.  I have several new sets of fridge magnets not listed. 😕

The Pre-Valentine's Sale is already scheduled and I need to make new graphics, banners, and online signs for facebook, instagram, etsy, etc.  I guess I could use last year's but people might notice. 😁

Although I do still love this one. 😎

The ODR nightmare. . .

I am not a fan of the new ODR system on etsy.  

I understand that they are looking for ways to make the site and sellers seem more trustworthy and judging customer service and setting standards seems like a good idea.

However, as a low volume/small shop I have to point out the incredible unfairness of the current system and standards and why it's not fair to judge everyone the same way.

Let me start with the basic it's on a rolling 60 day time-frame that is 30 days behind, so it's not exactly a "current" thing, which can be both good and/or bad depending on the situation. 

In the case of my shop, end of September was when etsy screwed up PL converting it to "advertising" and I turned it off, the month of October was completely deadsville.  😞  So currently my ODR is based on a single order, if that 1 person were to complain my ODR would go from zero to 100%.  😵  Think about that. . . .

Now I have had orders since but only like 5, I think, between Black Friday and Christmas, again I am a small/low volume shop.  So even if it were 1 complain out of 5 orders mathematically that's 20% still incredibly high in percentage form.  😨

Now I am currently safe because if you look at the 3 criteria :

For shops otherwise compliant with Etsy’s policies and expectations, warnings will only be sent if a shop meets all of the following criteria:

• The shop’s Order Dissatisfaction Rate that is 1% or higher
• The shop has three or more orders with a case or low review since its first sale
• The shop has two or more orders placed within a 60 day evaluation period that resulted in a case or low review 

I have never had a single case or low review since my shop opened years ago, but I can understand how other shops have not been so lucky. 😕😢  So that middle criteria of as least 3 issues since first sale is currently saving my A$$.  However, one day that may not be that case and at that point of course my ODR will be above 1% because mathematically for my shop it's completely unrealistic, I will never have the volume of sales to offset an issue.  😐

Holiday season wrapping up. . .

As the 2019 year is coming to a close I am trying to think of things to improve for 2020.  However, after doing this year end review and planning for next year multiple years in a row I am running out of new ideas.  I will have to continue to work on re-doing photos, my least favorite thing but I still have older listings that have yet to get their new photos. 😕  I plan to expand the barrette selection, hopefully in sizes and chain patterns.  I want to try a few new designs for hat pins, broaches maybe. 😏  

Since A.C.Moore stores are closing I plan to ditch that marketplace, I am seriously disappointed in their lack of advertising, their social media efforts are pretty lame and I totally suck at it so I know. 😅  I am thinking of keeping zibbet as a channel and as soon as it becomes available get rid of ACM and swap in something else, because I paid a whole year up front.  

Oh the irony. . .

For years I have been reading in the forums as many sellers advised each other to just move out the ship date when cancelling an order to prevent the buyer from leaving negative feedback.  😕  I have seen many many many sellers advise this many many many times over my years on etsy, it is pretty standard advice, sadly.

I, however, have always had a bit of an ethical problem with this advice because regularly the seller asking how to stop the bad reviews is purely focused on maintaining their own perfect 5 star record and not at all concerned with what went wrong, why the buyer is unhappy, why their customer service sucked so bad the buyer asked to cancel.  Not that I think all cancellations are the fault of the seller, many of them are the buyers doing, not reading processing times, not reading descriptions, not providing personalization information needed to complete the order.

I found it really ironic reading the forums today to see a long time seller, that I know has given this advice before, complaining about poor customer service from other shops and not being able to leave feedback during a cancellation because the shop that is failing to ship has pulled this "move the ship date" BS to prevent the review. 😏  Then the ensuing discussion about why cancellations don't factor into the new ODR (order dissatisfaction rate) and how etsy needs better/more accurate reason selections for cancellations. The discussion included some saying "well at least shops like this will be caught out by the new ODR" but in reality they won't because cancellations don't count and moving the shipping date to prevent reviews means no negative reviews to count, and cancellations prevent cases too.  

So while the new ODR is meant to improve customer service, I suspect that it will only increase some sellers bad behaviors and those sellers who pull this ultimate BS move will have no problems while honest sellers who try to work with buyers will end up being the ones punished.  😔

Since cancellations do not count in the ODR and missing shipping dates and being over-due does not count, really the only thing that does count are cases and reviews, which is in no way a complete picture of a shops customer service. 

I just can't do it. . .

I simply cannot craft every day.  

RainbowMaille, art and making things is only 1 facet of my life.  I have husband, and a house to keep clean.  I have 3 cats begging for attention, play and lap time.  I have to do all the grocery shopping and meal planning, which with my gluten free diet does take considerable time and energy.  

Yesterday, I considered painting because my easel is clear but I had a list of other things to do first, paying bills, balance checkbook, ship order, grocery shopping, etc.  So I did all the other things which included making multiple batches of gluten free noodles to freeze, baking the last of the chocolate chip cookie dough and a bunch of cleaning.  😏  Not a creative day, but a productive day. 

Today I plan to work on a wire tree I have in progress, but I doubt I'll actually get it finished because it's a 7 inch and I can only hold the awkwardness with the wires sticking out all over for a limited time before my hands cramp up.  😕  

Blue and silver and butterflies with a cute little fairy door in the trunk and a bit of a double canopy, I think this one will be really cool when it's finished, in a few days. 😉

Ok, so I'm doing it all wrong. . .

I'll start with a confession. . .  I am a social media flop.  😏  

The most likely cause of this is I am actually anti-social by nature and have social anxiety mental issues, but at least I know it.  😉

Unfortunately for me business these days is all about marketing and marketing these days is all about social media so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage, but at least I know it.  😌

Etsy used to promote the idea that our about sections and descriptions should help buyers get to know the artist. So when I made my instagram I decided to show multiple facets. According to some my approach is misguided, while great for making friends and finding other interesting artists apparently my lack of "focus" seems to be a detriment to the business promotion aspect.  

I see others with thousands of followers on facebook and instagram and wonder how they did it, but in spite of reading, researching and asking directly I can't seem to make progress.  😓

Perhaps my inability to understand and follow the advice I've found is that most of it seems to contradict itself. One place says only post product related, only post really great photos, focus and be prefect. ~sigh~ Well first that's not me, second if I tried that then I have the inability to post consistently.  Others suggest the rounded approach post anything as long as you are consistently posting.  Well that's what I've been trying but it's not really working because there are times I just cannot get a great photo (my hands shake) or I get semi-depressed and just don't post for periods.  

I don't use the "Stories" thing mostly because I don't like my face and shooting video of myself seems weird to me.  I've tried but in spite of having hundreds of followers my stories are only seen by a handful of people.  😕

I post gluten free food stuff because my diet is a part of my life and has had a pretty big impact on my overall health which greatly impacts my ability to craft things. However, I can see where without a lengthy explanation no one is likely to understand the connection. 😐

So I am going through the archive process again and cutting back on the food posts and the pet posts and some of the general randomness.  I will try to focus and get better photos but I am disheartened and somewhat frustrated because I do not think I will ever be able to do what some others do. 

And now I've over-thought and made myself depressed and migraine headache-y.  😔

Black Friday Sales. . .

Yes, I am having a Black Friday sale and while the 25% off that I am offering may not seem like much of a discount next to the 60% 75% off offered by the big box stores perhaps a little small business perspective for y'all.

The handmade one of kind things I sell are not mass produced like DVDs. 😏  

My prices are based on a time + materials formula so when I offer discounts it is my time I am discounting, as the materials were already paid for at a set price. 😐  

As a small business my supplies are purchased in small amounts not exactly wholesale pricing. 

I have always tried to keep my prices reasonable, normally a 10% or 15% discount is all I offer, so actually a 25% discount is pretty substantial for my shop.  😇

Happy Holidays y'all