DTEAM thread for August

DoBats Blog made it up on Handmadeology!
www.handmadeology.com/lessons-learned-from-a-firstalessons-learned-...

Posted at 12:35pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT

nerdJERKnerdJERKnerdJERK- I just like sayin it...

Anyway, I need to go take a shower and go to the post office to ship Lizbeth her orderrrr!!!!

But I'm also lazy... Ugh, here I go...

Posted at 1:12pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT

Hi everyone. Welcome to our new members.

I decided to just put my home party selling ideas and learnings on our ning site since I don't have a blog right now. : )
~Jodie

etsydlist.ning.com/forum/topics/my-home-partyopen-house-tips

Posted at 1:36pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT

Jodie: That was great! Thanks so much for all of your awesome tips. :D Love the pictures as well. :D

Melindotty: You're silly. :D I actually still like saying my name too. Some organizers of Market SF said it back and forth to each other when they got home one night, making each other laugh. I'm glad it's memorable. :D

Good luck on your work everyone! I've gotta try to make 1 gagillion pieces by Saturday. :D Wish me luck!

If you don't hear from me, at least I went out crafting. ;D

Posted at 1:57pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT

woohoo!! Thanks, NerdJerk, for letting me know that they accepted my blog post! ... uh, but they got my shop name wrong. Twice! (Do Cats Etsy Bats... wtf?) Do you guys think it would be rude for me to email them and ask them to fix?

Posted at 2:04pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT

Hope you don't mind Jodie, but I am posting your party info here. The ning is going away soon and I wanted everyone to have a chance to read it, and have a place we can reference back to later. It is great info and as introverted as I am Im excited to give it a try.Thanks for sharing!

Posted at 2:05pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT

Here is onetimestwo's tips on having a jewelry party at home from the ning:

I had a successful and fun open house jewelry selling party over the weekend and here are some of my tips and learnings...


Mine was a 2 hour open house style (no “presentation” needed) on a Saturday afternoon. I had some wine (of course) and some snacks and cookies, so no huge food prep. Guests could just pop in during that time and look around and socialize.



Invites

- add your etsy address so guests can check out your stuff beforehand. Many of my guests had visited my site prior to the open house.

- I just used a cute pre-printed letterhead sheet from Staples and matching envelopes. Ran it through my printer with all the info. Also added a hand written note at the bottom of each.

- ask for an RSVP but know that some will come without letting you know, and some that did plan to come will not.

- I was only accepting checks or cash. I stated this on my invite. I got mostly checks at the party.

- Encourage guests to bring friends! Don’t we always spend more money when shopping with friends?


Display

- I thought if my display looks really great, the perceived value of my jewelry would go up.

- I used different sizes of picture frames bought at the thrift store as my starting point. Took out the glass, and painted them all white (with old paint I had in the basement). Then covered foamcore with plain fabric to use as inserts. I basically used these as trays to display my jewelry on. Super cheap but gave me a really great surface to show my stuff.

- I also used some serving trays and antique linens to help give a little more inspiration to the whole display. Repurpose things you may already have.

- I grouped my jewelry by color, style, etc. Some people like to buy matching sets, so I tried to set those together.

- Have mirrors if you are selling jewelry.


Pricing

- I streamlined this. I have lots of different prices in my etsy shop, but I tried grouping similar items and just making little signs for pricing of those. Some pieces I may have sold a few dollars cheaper than my etsy site, some a little more. I needed it to be simple.

- Variety. I had a ton of $10 items, on up to $60.

- Make sure everything is marked. My trays were destroyed and things moved around everywhere at the end. My stuff is kind of OOAK so people picked it up and carried it around with them until they decided.


Gift Season!

- So many people were buying holiday gifts! Most of my earrings that sold for gifts (or overall for that matter) were on earring cards that I got from a seller on etsy. I don’t know if it looks more professional to have it on a card if you are giving a gift, or what the perception was there.

- I made tags with cardstock run through my laser and a round cutter scrapbook tool to make tags for other stuff.

- I placed little boxes with ribbons on them around the display as gift giving reminders. This is how I typically send my orders on etsy anyway, so I already had the supplies for this.


Misc.

- Have business cards.

- I had a raffle for a pair of earrings, but didn’t do any other promotions. Wanted simplicity.

- Like anyone on our team who does craft shows will say, the more items you have the better. I thought I had a ton of stuff, but it looked really picked over at the end.

- What sells online may not sell at the party. Best sellers on my etsy site were duds at the party.

- Custom orders- I got a few of these at the party. I wish I had made a simple form I could fill out for each order. I was super crazed and just scribbled them down on a scrap of paper.


You should all try this if you haven’t in the past! It was really fun.

~Jodie

Posted at 2:07pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT

Thanks for the tips... glad it went well for you!

I live out in the boonies, getting people to come over is hard... plus I think it would work better for Jewelry anyways.
I need to get signed up for a few more craft shows around town for the holidays... sometimes it's hard finding the good ones though!

Posted at 2:07pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT

Here is onetimestwo's tips on having a jewelry party at home from the ning:

I had a successful and fun open house jewelry selling party over the weekend and here are some of my tips and learnings...


Mine was a 2 hour open house style (no “presentation” needed) on a Saturday afternoon. I had some wine (of course) and some snacks and cookies, so no huge food prep. Guests could just pop in during that time and look around and socialize.



Invites

- add your etsy address so guests can check out your stuff beforehand. Many of my guests had visited my site prior to the open house.

- I just used a cute pre-printed letterhead sheet from Staples and matching envelopes. Ran it through my printer with all the info. Also added a hand written note at the bottom of each.

- ask for an RSVP but know that some will come without letting you know, and some that did plan to come will not.

- I was only accepting checks or cash. I stated this on my invite. I got mostly checks at the party.

- Encourage guests to bring friends! Don’t we always spend more money when shopping with friends?


Display

- I thought if my display looks really great, the perceived value of my jewelry would go up.

- I used different sizes of picture frames bought at the thrift store as my starting point. Took out the glass, and painted them all white (with old paint I had in the basement). Then covered foamcore with plain fabric to use as inserts. I basically used these as trays to display my jewelry on. Super cheap but gave me a really great surface to show my stuff.

- I also used some serving trays and antique linens to help give a little more inspiration to the whole display. Repurpose things you may already have.

- I grouped my jewelry by color, style, etc. Some people like to buy matching sets, so I tried to set those together.

- Have mirrors if you are selling jewelry.


Pricing

- I streamlined this. I have lots of different prices in my etsy shop, but I tried grouping similar items and just making little signs for pricing of those. Some pieces I may have sold a few dollars cheaper than my etsy site, some a little more. I needed it to be simple.

- Variety. I had a ton of $10 items, on up to $60.

- Make sure everything is marked. My trays were destroyed and things moved around everywhere at the end. My stuff is kind of OOAK so people picked it up and carried it around with them until they decided.


Gift Season!

- So many people were buying holiday gifts! Most of my earrings that sold for gifts (or overall for that matter) were on earring cards that I got from a seller on etsy. I don’t know if it looks more professional to have it on a card if you are giving a gift, or what the perception was there.

- I made tags with cardstock run through my laser and a round cutter scrapbook tool to make tags for other stuff.

- I placed little boxes with ribbons on them around the display as gift giving reminders. This is how I typically send my orders on etsy anyway, so I already had the supplies for this.


Misc.

- Have business cards.

- I had a raffle for a pair of earrings, but didn’t do any other promotions. Wanted simplicity.

- Like anyone on our team who does craft shows will say, the more items you have the better. I thought I had a ton of stuff, but it looked really picked over at the end.

- What sells online may not sell at the party. Best sellers on my etsy site were duds at the party.

- Custom orders- I got a few of these at the party. I wish I had made a simple form I could fill out for each order. I was super crazed and just scribbled them down on a scrap of paper.


You should all try this if you haven’t in the past! It was really fun.

~Jodie

Posted at 2:07pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT

DoBats NO... it isn't wrong for you to ask for it to be corrected. It is your shop and publicity too! It shouldn't be a big deal. I mean don't be rude or anything, but they should fix it pretty quick.

Posted at 2:08pm Aug 16, 2010 EDT