I have still tried to keep up my stock for the Etsy store. I have given up on selling jewelry on Etsy, as the market is way too congested. I may leave the washer necklaces online longer, as they do gain some interest and exposure, but we'll see. I have found that the real seller items are the menu boards.
It is always a surprise when I find a sale on Etsy. Of course, I had two sales occur the week before school started, when I was drowning in things to do. I sold the jewelry frame and then this menu board the next day. Besides my own board, this was the first one I made. Of course, I had taken this frame to replace the broken one I sold. So I scrambled around the night of the sale to texturize and spray paint a new frame. All this was in vain; I realized I had the grocery board frame I could use for this sale. There was quite a bit of frame swapping.
Sale on August 6 to New Jersey
I had a custom sale request in the third week of August. She wanted a grey and white chevron pattern. Understandable - the chevron pattern is in right now. I figured there must be paper at Hobby Lobby that fit this description. NOT AT ALL. I picked up some vellum paper and hoped my crazy idea would work. I had some chevron fabric that I had bought for journals. I combined the translucent paper with the fabric, and luckily, it looked good. This went to a teacher, who started a wonderful conversation with me about teaching. This is one of the reasons I love working through Etsy - it becomes so personal.
Not the best picture, but I just needed to capture the basic idea of the frame. I didn't need to sell someone on the product, so I did not get fancy with the picture. This sold on August 20 to Michigan.
Another custom order sent me looking for paper again. I had started to deplete my scrapbook paper and wanted some more options. That's when I found the chevron pack of paper. This was what I was looking for! This customer wanted something to match her burgundy and brown kitchen. I used a red wood/chevron pattern and she liked it. I was so eager to put it together and package it up that I forgot to take a picture. I didn't make this into a custom order because the customer purchased one of my other boards before I could create the custom order. Otherwise, I would have remembered (or been required to) upload a picture. This custom order sold on September 17 to Wisconsin.
Surprise! I had a double order shortly after for the pink and purple board.
These sold to Texas on September 20. Luckily Texas is close because they shipped in two days.
After the first sale of the week, I began stockpiling frames with the new chevron patterns. I was able to post many of these on September 20. They have been fairly popular.
I had someone ask about a frame on the same day someone else purchased it. It was a strange coincidence.
This sold to Texas on September 25.
This past week has had the most activity - three sales.
Sold on October 10 to Florida
Sold on October 11 to Australia! I learned that I did not charge enough for shipping (at least to Australia) and paid the $3 difference. I have since changed all the shipping prices!
After this shipping hit (not the first one), I closely examined my cost to profit ratio. Based on the supplies and the time, I decided to increase the price of the frames by $2. With the cost of creating stock, I decided I needed a little more out of it. Plus, my shipping costs have only covered shipping, not the price of bubble wrap and packaging material. I need to start addressing all my costs and cover them adequately.
Sold to Texas tonight. I will have to get a box to ship it tomorrow.
It is funny that I have received three sales this week, because I am trying to save my inventory. At the end of October, I am participating in a community sale at school and I'm hoping to make some good sales. I have at least 15 frames stockpiled that I have not even bothered photographing. I want to see how they do at the sale. I have the jewelry, journals, and frames, and have also started making school spirit Christmas ornaments to sell. I think they will go over well in the community.
