my rookie mistake

As promised, this installment will be more productive...or at least I hope it will be helpful to anybody just starting out.  I'd like to retell the story of "my first mistake" with my shop...I'm sure there will still be many, many, many more to follow!

So back in May of this year, I set myself up with my shop etsy account...I picked out my shop name, I was hard at work making a banner, taking pictures of my items (the first set of pictures I took could be considered another mistake!  They were not some of my best work...).  I already had tonnes of stock...I had been making the pendants for while with the intention of opening an etsy shop, but it took me a bit of time (and prodding from my husband) to actually take the plunge and put my work out there for the etsian world to judge.  I don't know if that feeling is the same for all first time shop starters...but for me, even though you get to hide behind a cloak of anonymity with an online store, it still took a bit of nerve to actually put myself out there with my art/craft.  What if people don't like it?  What if people don't buy it?  What if people love it and they buy me out of all my stock right away...I won't have time to make more for a while!  (yah, well, that certainly didn't happen...who was I kidding?!?!)  But these are the thoughts that ran through my head.

But once I took the first part of the plunge, and actually set up my shop, then I became impatient to list things...big surprise...I was impatient  ;)

So as soon as I could, I listed my first set of items.  Only thing was, I was going to be out of town for 2 months straight...I couldn't very well have a shop with items and be gone for 2 months!  How would I ship all those items I was going to sell??  But, there is this fabulous thing called "vacation mode" on etsy for just that reason.  So, great!  I thought, well, I'll list my items, then just put my shop on vacation for the next 2 months and carry on when I return.  And that's what I did...and that was my mistake.  Doh! 

I didn't really take into account that when you search on etsy, the default for sorting items is by date.  So listing/relisting is a way to get items at the top of the search list.  By listing items, then putting my shop on vacation, my hard earned "top spot" on the search list was gone!  You can't find a shop that is on vacation.  So when I got back after 2 months and my shop returned to a searchable state, those items I had listed were WAY back in the page count.  They never even got the chance to be in the top!  Needless to say, I had to relist.

So, do as I say, not as I did...if you are about to go on vacation, don't waste your listing fee by putting up new items.  Wait until you are back to list those items and keep that top spot on the search!!

ttfn