Deborah Thuman on sun 8 jun 08
I've just opened my etsy store and I've sold one item so far. I use a
paypal account for accepting payment for purchases. This allows the
customer to pay by credit card or debit card.
Shipping: take the pieces to the post office and see what size
Priority Rate boxes the pieces fit in. Next, take the box and piece to
the automated postal center and see how much it weighs. That will tell
you the postage or if the flat rate is a better rate than the regular
rate. I send thing priority mail (except jewelry - my jewelry pieces
are modestly priced and I just can't see asking someone to pay $5 for
postage and insurance for a $10 pair of earrings). With etsy, you can
choose to only ship within the country in which you live, or ship to
other places. I've put an announcement on my etsy store saying that if
you live outside the US and want to purchase my art, e-mail me and
I'll find out what the shipping costs.
Personally, I like internet selling. I have a store, but I don't pay
rent for the real estate (etsy charges $0.20 per item to list and
takes a 3.5% commission). I'm running a business from my home but
don't need a variance because no one can tell from the outside that
I'm running a business. Both the studio and computer are inside the
house and no customers come to the house.
With etsy, I can inactivate an item if I want to put the item into a
show. If the item sells at the show, I can delete the item. If the
item doesn't sell at the show, I can reactivate the item at no
additional cost.
Personally, I think online shopping is only going to get more popular
- especially with the price of gas. When I wanted to buy a carpet
shampoo machine, I did all my comparison shopping on-line. Saved me
time and gas. I found what I wanted and found the best price. Then, we
got in the truck, drove to one store, bought the carpet shampoo machine.
Deb Thuman
http://debthumansblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5888059
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