Etsy on Sale - Application tutorial

Etsy on Sale is a wonderfully useful third party application which enables you to have a limited time sale on your Etsy shop in a few short steps. It is free for use, is the winner of the 2010 Etsy handmade code competition, and requires a login based on your Google account. Nice and simple!

Here is how to start a sale on your Etsy shop:

1. Go to Etsy on Sale and click on Sellers.
2. Login with your Google account.
3. Click Settings and select your time zone. Now click Authorize access to your Etsy account. The application will then take you to the Etsy login page, where you should login to the account whose shop items you wish to discount. Click on the Allow Access button.
4. Back on the application website, click on the banner of the shop you want to select.
   
5. Click on Sales Events and select New Sales Event.
6. Give the sale a meaningful Name then select which Listings to include, from the available sections drop down menu. You can select a specific section or the entire shop.
   
   You can create a section especially for this sale if you want, then select it here.
   
7. Select the Start Date and End Date for the sales event as well as the start and end Time.
8. You may either select a Percentage Discount Type (which means you will have to enter the percentage by which the items' price will be reduced) or Amount (which means you will have to enter fixed the amount of $ that will be reduced from the price of each item on sale).
9. Enter a Listing Title Prefix - the text that will be added to the title of each of the items on your sale. You may, for example, enter the text ON SALE to the beginning of each of the sale items (the item called "Teddy bear" will be called "ON SALE Teddy bear" till the end of the sale). This prefix will be removed once the sales event ends.
10. Click on the Schedule Sales Event and review the details of your event. Click the Go Back button to change the setting or check the I have read and agree to the terms above box and click on Confirm.
11. That's it! Your sales event is set.

You can review its details by logging in to Etsy on Sale, selecting your shop and clicking on Sales Events. All scheduled events will be listed. You may start your sale immediately, by clicking the ► button or cancel it by clicking X.

If you want to add more events, click on + New Sales Event. Et voila.

Honestly, it will take you longer to read this than actually create a sales event, it sure took me longer to write this little tutorial. I wish you all lots of glorious sales!

How to add a Facebook like button to your Blogger entries

Like many others, I recently finally gave up and started using Facebook. I really don't like it, but one has got to follow the trends I guess. Once the did was done, I had to add a Like button to my blogs so readers can share them with their Facebook buddies. There are many explanations for this on the web, so I figured, why not add another simple one. So here goes.

In order to add a Facebook Like button to your Blogger posts:

1. Go to your Blogger Design tab and click on Edit HTML.
2. Check the Expand Widget Templates box.
3. Find the <div class="post-header-line-1"> string and add the following code right after it.
   
   <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'&gt
   <iframe allowTransparency='true' expr:src='"http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=" + data:post.url + "&layout=standard&show_faces=false&width=100&action=like&font=arial&colorscheme=light"' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' style='border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:40px;'/&gt
   </b:if>
   
   
4. Click Save Template and you're done.

This is how it looks like

There are several customization possible, instructions to which you can Google. This is just the super basic option. Enjoy and do click the Like button on the top of this post

Am I still ill? Oh no

Oh yes, I am still ill damn it. A week and a half now, and it hasn't been a month since the last time. I am going to see a specialist next week in hopes of findings why I am getting bad colds so often. So I am stuck at home blowing my nose silly and cursing the minute I was born. My huge stash of aloe lotion Kleenex is about to expire and I missed God knows how many days at work. But as Morrissey says, there's a brighter side to life.

First off, I got word that Tzipi the world traveling Flutterbutt finally arrived to the UK. Her host will blog about her soon, as well as knit her a sweater (poor thing is reportedly freezing). On top of that news, a wonderful package of miniature shoes arrived from Hong Kong today, bearing among other things, a little surprise I got for Erez who is also sick as a bat these past few days. Low and behold his highness's new donkey slippers!

I better get back to coughing and twitting. It's good I can speak without opening my mouth and infecting innocent people. But before I do, one excellent new site for Etsy sellers. Cr8tivity is loaded with stats and useful tools which exceed Craftcult by far. Enter your Etsy username and see all it has to offer. I wonder how many people use it, and if it is a good idea to advertise on it. Enjoy!

What do you do with a Flutterbutt?

My Flutterbutts or Puppet Mobiles (though many of them have escaped their mobile cords throughout the years, and are roaming the lands free of attachment) tend to fall short of hitting a specific market. Some are cute and silly, some are pretty and decorative, they look like a children item but they are not (I almost never design with kids in mind, plus I don't have CPSIA (the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) testing capabilities.

So who are they for? What do they do? Why must you get one for yourself (and trust me, you do)? And how do you choose the right Flutterbutt for you?

Decorate your home or your child's room

My Puppet Mobiles are Flutterbutts hanging on a transparent wire decorated with assorted beads - Czech glass beads, Swarovski crystals, plastic beads, glass beads, handmade beads, and more and more. The type of beads is one of the element that determines the price of the mobile.

Some of my Flutterbutts are simple, clean, and colorful (and usually cheaper too) and will fit perfectly in your kid's bedroom or playing area. Others are much more expressive, delicately embellished and fit a grownup taste and surrounding.

HRH Elizabeth I Fluttrebutt

Accessorize your bag or keys

Some Flutterbutts have a lobster key chain attahced, so you can use them to decorate your bag or old your keys for ya!

Hang them in your office

Want to liven up your dreary cubicle? Do like some of my customers do, and hang a friend to keep you company throughout the day (don't try this with friends who are not made of foam!!). Not only will it brighten your working space, but you can also share your onions of your boss with it, it is sure to take your side.

This little guy is hanging in a high-tech company cubicle in the US

Play with your Flutterbutt

Are you a silly grown up who likes to play with dolls? What you need is a stand alone Flutterbutt (i.e. a not in mobile form). These soft foam creatures will get softer as you use them, and can stand on their own (thanks to their long skirt of shoes). You can use them to tell stories, annoy your friends, or make yourself and everybody around you laugh. the fun never ends with a good Flutterbutt around, like my beloved Pinky whom you can see right below.

Communicate

Puppets are a wonderful means of communicating and channeling. I use puppets for my spiritual work, to help relieve the sometimes loaded mind of my mom (who is sick with lung cancer). We laugh together with Pinky, watch TV with him (he loves to dance to the opening theme of CSI Vegas). When my dad was dying of cancer a few years back, he loved playing with me via my puppet Nick. Those are some of my best memories of his last year - me, him, and a silly puppet doing merry singalongs while he's lying in bed. You would not believe the things people are willing to tell a silly looking puppet. And don't get me started even on the work I am doing with my Mini Me Flutterbutt..

Custom made portrait Flutterbutts

Looking for a one of a kind birthday gift for your loved one?
Need a unique wedding topper or decoration shaped like the bride and groom?
Want a little look alike of your favorite movie or music star?
In search of a mini me for your spiritual work or life coaching process?

Order your very own portrait Flutterbutt (with or without a mobile cord) today!

My mini me enjoying a nice dinner in front of the TV

And these are only a few of the reasons you need a Flutterbutt. You can see all of my currently available Flutterbutts by clicking here.

Updated shipping

Last night I worked on updating my shipping prices for both Raisinlike and Ribbonzella. With the latest increase in shipping process and decrease in US Dollar, it was due.

For two hours (two hours!!) I summarized new shipping costs in tables, converted to Dollars (with the kind help of Google), weighed my items, created new shipping profiles and batch updated shipping on both my shops.

So now, my shipping is not only updated - It is also cheaper for many items.

I created my new profiles based on weight and packing material (box, envelope, or bundle) and invested a lot of thought (and calculations, which I hate) on the secondary shipping costs.

Also, before I only had Israel and Everywhere Else, and now I have separate shipping each of the four shipping rates of the Israeli Post Service, plus shipping to Israel. Everywhere Else is now based on the highest rate, so if you are from an unstated country, you can convo me to ask for specific shipping rate to your country (or better, I can refund people for shipping differences, that is always good for service!).

So there you have it, buying at my shops just became even more worthwhile! Who would have thought?

Common courtesy, Etsy style

Boy, I am furious. Full of rage. As I already wrote before, I am bombarded by non payers and approaches that end up in disappointment. I just canceled another sale on Etsy 2 minutes ago..

Look, I myself approach sellers about trades and sales that don't eventually come through. Everybody does. The question is how you turn people down. So instead of sitting here enjoying my heartburn and expecting a heart attack at my tender age, I decided to share my view on how to treat sellers and approaches with courtesy even when you are not interested in further communication.

1. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you
   This is indeed the golden rule. Calm down, and think how you would like to be treated if you were the sender of the undesired offer, then proceed to step 2.
   
2. Always write a short and polite reply
   Never leave a message unanswered, it can really hurt the sender. Got a trade offer from a shop you are not interested in? Send a nice reply saying "no thank you". Got a convo telling you you are in a treasury? Thank the sender. Got an offer you are not interested in? Reply and say "thank you, but I am unable to accept at this time". Remember, nobody can read your mind or guess you taste, even with the best intentions. So be nice to people who took the time to tell you they appreciate you. You don't have to get into debates, or promise things you don't mean. Just..
   
3. Say what you mean (and don't say it mean)
   Never leave people hanging. If you asked for an offer for a custom listing, and didn't like what the seller suggested, just tell them so politely and thank them for their time. If you asked to reserve and item, and find you cannot afford to buy it this month - let the buyer know ASAP so they can release the item for other potential customers. If you are not interested in a trade, just say no. You don't have to say "your shop is so ugly I couldn't find anything I want". Just say "thank you, but I am unable to accept at this time" (I repeat this phrase, make it your mantra).

I think that's about it. See? I managed to turn my disappointment and rage to something positive. I would love to hear what you have to add to this list.

And now if you excuse me, I have to start smoking.

How to create a long section name in your Etsy shop

I just posted this in the Etsy Israel Hebrew blog, and thought I should share with my English readers as well!

רוצים עוד טיפים וטריקים לחנות שלכם? תוכלו למצוא את המדריך המתקדם ל-Etsy בעברית בחנות שלי. חדש חדיש ומחודש!

So.. A few days ago, I came about this beautiful shop and found it has the longest section names. I just had to find out how he did that, and convoed him immediately complimenting him on his new shop and bagging him to share the secret, which he did!

So, in order to create a long section name:

1. Make sure you have a free space for a new section (remember - you have a 10 sections limit on Etsy). If necessary, delete one of your existing sections. It will not delete the items, and you will you able to assign them to a new section later.
2. Create or edit an item you would like to assign to the new section. Proceed to Step 3 of editing.
3. Click "Add to a new section".
4. Enter you new loooong name in the "Section Title" field (no special chars though).
5. Click the button and continue editing the item till you are finished.
6. This is it! You just created a new section with a nonstandard loooong name.

You may now repeat this with other sections. Remember to assign items to the sections once you are done!

How to (lose and) get a boost in sales for summer

May and June are annoying months, economically speaking. Also known as "the months of renewing annual car expenses" (insurance and test, with an overall of about 1250$) they always seem to get me anxious for some extra income. Ahh, where are the happy days of leased high-tech cars. I always miss those boring Mazdas this time of year. Add to that the idea of a little Etsy get together near Glasgow in July and you get a Sharona who worries about money 100% of the time.

I don't like worrying about money 100% of the time. It doesn't leave me time to stress about other things I like to stress about and that stresses me out even more.

The obvious solution to this issue is increasing sales on my Etsy shops. That should be easily done! Selling more in the hardest months of the year, where no holidays are anywhere in sight, people are stressed about their taxes, and global economy is in recession. Oh yes.

I have a lot of useful ideas how to (not) earn more during these months. Each of these ideas will hurt my income directly or indirectly. Here are just a few:

• Offer free shipping on both my shops for a month
  Free shipping is the worst sales boost you can offer. It eliminates your only fee free income, one you make no profit on to begin with. It's like sweeping a rug from under my own feet. Not to mention the fact my shipping expenses eliminate any incoming on my ribbon shop.
• Offer huge discounts on items on my shop
  Nothing ever sells on sales, from my experience, plus it will only decrease my income. I may reduce prices as much as I like, but my investment in each item stays the same. Right? right.
• Plea with people to help me out by buying my stuff
  The most embarrassing, degrading way of finding customers. They may buy from me, but I will feel guilty and ashamed.

I do have some good ideas though, that are based on generating more traffic to my shops. These include:

• Promos
  I already took advantage of Moo's special offer, and ordered two packs of mini cards for both my shops. These will turn into a large batch of promo packs which I will send to other top-selling Etsians to ship to their customers upon purchase.
• Create an independent website
  Work is already on the go. First draft of the website is prepared (and I mean a beautiful bilingual Flash website designed by a pro, as opposed to the old website made by me). This will also help attract Israeli buyers who are not comfortable with the English Etsy interface.
• Buy ad space
  There is no way to go around this. I need to get paid advertising space. I think it's time to check Project Wonderful and other advertising opportunities.
• Making freebies for my customers
  This may be a good way of giving an added value to shopping at a specific time, most needed for me, and still not losing or bagging. I can make a batch of a special edition item that will be added to every (?) purchase on my shop during the problematic months. Will that be a sales boost?
  
• Start an ad exchange
  You put an ad on my blog (or website, when it is ready) and I put one on yours. That is a good idea, in websites that generate traffic and blogs with a lot of followers.
• Start selling tutorials
  This is am excellent way to boost sales, just ask Yoola.
  

I think it's time for a poll. I will post one on this blog in a little while. I will also love to hear ideas, your past experience, promotional opportunities you are aware of at this time, and so on. Let your voice be heard! Mama needs a new set of wheels, and she wants to buy them in the UK.

Shop makeover Wednesday

My new ribbon shop, Ribbonzella, had only three sales and halted. I have great expectations from this shop, so it was obvious something is wrong with its setup (advertising and promotion will be held after shop makeover is done).

I did some research and asked people for advice, and finally came up a plan which includes:

1. Adding a second item image, showing the actual spool (people commented the primary images are brilliant, but don't show the details of the ribbon).
2. According to the advice given on Danielle's latest "Etsy success" email, I did the math to realize what minimum price I need in order to return my investment (it's easy with this shop, cause have all the ribbon is already at hand).
3. Changing the price for the majority of the items, mainly increasing the amount of ribbon from 3 to 5 meters.
4. Changing the banner to match my shop styling (will be done soon). Pitty, cause I like the current banner which my friend made for me..
   
5. Find more unique ribbon to add to the shop.
6. Notify my potential customers of these changes.

I thought I would take advantage of this, to show you guys how to improve your item iimages. I am a very poor graphic artist, so if I can do it withouht even using Photoshop, so can you!

I took photos of my ribbon spools, in natural daylight (on the roof, as usual) on white background. I got horrid images, since I had to use low exposure, or else the picture would turn out "burnt" from all the white.


I edit it in MS Photodraw, but you can use other tools, such as the wonderful free online editing tool Picnik). First, I turn the image into a square, since Etsy shops a square thumbnail, and I want it to show the entire spool. I crop it, to remove as much as possible of the dark background.

I place the item in the middle of the square, and fix the tinting, to make sure the color pallet is correct. I want the white to be as white as possible.

Now, I start fixing the brightness and contrast. My goal is to eliminate the dark background, and make the spool "pop out" of the screen. I increase contrast and carefully play with the brightness till I reach the point where further brightening will hide the details and change the actual color of my ribbon.

Now I use a faded erase tool, to get rid of the left over dark spots. The fading edges will eliminate deleting parts of the actual spool, and will leave a nice shade which helps to highlight the very bright item.

And here it is - a nice crisp item image. Who would have ever believed it used to look so bad to begin with?

Pink organza ribbon with red hearts available at 3.60$ for 5 meters (5.46 yards)

My main problem remains that shipping price makes the ribbons less attractive to the buyer, while I cannot reduce them without hurting myself. Any ideas to go around that will be most welcome.

Shop improvements and a big sale

This week I attended an online tagging workshop as well as a shop critique session on the Etsy virtual labs, hosted by the lovely and bubbly HeyMichelle (who is, without a doubt, my favorite Etsy admin). There were some great tagging tips - the main one, I think, was to use your tags as an upsell opportunity by suggesting additional uses for your item.

Michelle also critiqued some shops and items, during which she commented on one of my items and several items on other shops which gave me an excellent insight on how I should be shooting my items. Mainly - shoot the item on a contrasting colorful background, so it pops out of the screen.

So I took the weekend, full of remnant coughing and headaches, and the wonderful much anticipated summer day time (there is still enough light to shoot outside at 19:00!) to take some new pictures of items that should have been sold long ago. I think these two before and after shots will help make the point clear.

In the first example, Apple Flutterbutt was shot in front of a pale gray background, which made her look blend as well. I shot her on a new background, this time more colorful and with colors that compliment her pale color scheme, to make her pop out.

The second is a little different method of creating the same effect. My Blushing Flutterbride was shot on a rose pattern paper I had, which I thought matches her character and scenery. I didn't notice, though, how she gets lost in that background. Today I took new pictures of her, this time against the pale wall of our roof garden, with the first of the new spring roses (still so weak and small and pale, on the dry thorny branches). I used a low exposure, to make the image dark and edited the image to give a little extra contrast to the rose, which made her white wedding dress and vail pop out. It even managed to keep the original romantic vibe I wanted to convey in the original picture.

Now, for some shop news - I am having a huge weekend sale on my main shop, since sales have been low thanks to the "terrific" state of global economy. Some of the items are down by almost 50% and the sale lasts till Sunday the 29th. It includes some wonderful magnets, mobiles, paper goods, home decor, and jewelry. If you wanted to buy from my shops, but wanted to save money, then this is a great opportunity. Especially since I am emptying my shop for a fair next weekend, and what you want may be gone after that.

All prices on my sale section have already been revised. You can see the original price and new one on the item descriptions. Barack and Michelle O'Flutterbutt, for example, cost 50$ instead of 62$ is that a deal or what?

Creating the illusion of life

The other day I was coughing about when I got an SMS from my friend saying "I didn't know you have a puppet in a movie". I SMSed right back "neither did I". He then sent me a clip from a 2006 Israeli kids movie titled "Little Heroes", which indeed features a puppet I made and sold, having no idea it will star in a film (lawyers already advised).

More than not knowing, more than not being credited or paid, I was shocked at the horrible way the poor puppet was operated. No wonder it looked so blue. Time for a puppet operating and handling 101 boys and girls, based on all the errors made in the movie clip my friend sent me.

Here we go - watch and learn.

The errors are:

1. Poor thing is being operated from the.. well.. butt.
   God (or me, in this case) gave your puppet an operating opening at the back of the neck. Use it! No need to sodomize your puppet, or hurt your arm. The operating hole is placed at the best place to provide optimal control of the mouth and head, and minimal harm to your wrist.
   
2. The puppet is not focused.
   His eyes are all over the place, which ruins the illusion of a real character talking. The eyes of the puppet, and therefore, the point which should be facing the audience, are on your knuckles. Make sure you are holding your hand with the knuckles facing straight and slightly downwards. Practice in front of the mirror, to make sure your audience, be it many or or a single person, feels the puppet is looking and talking straight at them.
   
   
   
3. He is moving his mouth too much
   The puppet's mouth is moving non stop. If you look at yourself speak in the mirror, you will realize much of the speech is pronounced with a closed mouth using your tongue and teeth. The puppet should not move its mouth more than twice per word. Practice your puppet saying "toilet sit" (or אזדרכת in Hebrew) while moving its mouth only twice.
   
   Check Erez singing Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix for reference. I'm moving his mouth way too much in this clip, but still it is about half the times the blue one is moving in the movie. This is, after all, opera!
   
   
   
   
   
   

In conclusion, here are the three golden rules for creating a successful illusion of life:

1. Use the tools the puppet designer gave you. Learn the advantages and minuses of your puppet, and the proper way of operating it. And practice practice practice.
2. Keep the puppet focused on its audience.
   
3. Move the puppet as little as needed. Mannerisms are nice on a puppet, but only in the right measure. Do not make it look as if it is possessed.
   

If all this made you long for a puppet of your own, I will gladly make you a small or large one.

The importance of being balanced

Today I saw the light, and it looked so much better than before, I just had to share!

Being horrified at my latest listing's photos (which I shoot inside, at night, with flash) I was looking for reading material on how get more out of my world most horrible camera when I stumbled on this how-to article on the Storque.

Oddly enough, my disaster of a camera does have a white balance setting, which I knew nothing about till this afternoon. And more - it really does a world of a difference, look!

I was so happy, I re shot some of my hamsters whose images left something do be desired (mainly, a better image).

For example - before

And after!