Monday, March 21, 2011
Another Great Silhouette SD Giveaway from Decorchick
Want to win a new Silhouette SD? Check this out!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
My Etsy Shop is Closed & Artfire is our Home!
I have been gradually notifying my customers that I would be closing my Etsy shop and focusing solely on my Artfire shop. The day has finally come and my Etsy shop is officially closed. I have to admit it was a very difficult decision for me. Since I opened the shop in 2008 the business had slowly but steadily been growing. Even more important than the fact that the income from the Etsy shop was substantially greater than my Artfire shop is the fact that I had made many friends that started out as customers and I pray they come visit at my Artfire shop if not to buy to stop by and say hello and let me know how they are doing.
Come visit me at : http://pigeoncreeksoaps.artfire.com/
A few of my customers have asked me why I had planned to close my Etsy shop and I promised that I would share some of my reasons in the blog. The easiest answer would be to say that it is a financial decision and that the Artfire shop is less costly to maintain. I was lucky and managed to sign up for a PRO account during their special promotion. This was a fantastic deal where it only costs me $5.95 a month for the PRO account. I have unlimited listings (no more $.20 for each item which doesn't turn up in a search after 8-10 days) and in particular, no percentages due when I sell an item. Those are the financial reasons- not the important reasons.
I began hearing warning bells in early 2010. I began to hear mutterings about sellers being muted in the forums because of negative statements they had made about Etsy. At first I thought they must be false accusations because Etsy had waved the flag of the 1st amendment numerous times when items were flagged for being offensive, in particular this one is my favorite. Many items by this seller are disgusting and reprehensible, but when brought to the attention of Etsy they were totally ignored -that is until CNN ran this spot http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/01/07/jvm.greeting.cards.hln
Kalin's answer to this the CNN segment- "It is important to us that we allow members of the community to express their own sensibilities, and to develop their shop identity to suit themselves and their market. What is offensive to some may be intended as a statement about culture by an artist." Then he proceeded to state that the offensive items and the artist's shop would remain.
And he meant it- at least for a minute.
A website called WomensRights.Change.org began a petition asking for Etsy to remove the listings, which received over 17,000 online "signatures" and he rather quickly changed his tune.
As per AuctionBytes, "The policy has been revised to state that Etsy will no longer allow items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred toward or otherwise demean people based upon race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation, including items or content that promote organizations with such views."
In other words all one has to do to foment change is get the media involved. Bringing problems up on the Etsy forums and questioning policy will only get you muted. It seems that Etsy has developed a "dictatorial habit of quashing debate on its own users forum". There is actually a list somewhere out there on the internet. I have seen it but can't seem to find it now but I will tell you that it is immense.
These are several of the problems that have driven me off of Etsy, but I actually started making plans to leave around the 1st of October. For sometime I had been noticing that my sales were begining to slow down. This was strange since Jan. 2010 my sales had (for me) skyrocketed. I thought for awhile that it was just a minor glitch and the sales would go back to the way they had been- but they actually got worse. Then I found out why. Here is the best explanation I have found for the reason that mine and many other sellers sales have plummetted.
From http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/search/label/search
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Etsy search and categories limited to 50,000
Do you feel that? You’re getting screwed. I know I know, Etsy’s little limp noodle doesn’t make much of an impact, but your wallet sure does feel it.
Etsy made “minor adjustments” to the search pagination resulting in a return of only 50,000 results when a buyer searches for something. The reasoning:
“our data has shown that purchases drop to .000001% on item listings beyond position 50,000 for a given search”
Yeah, so why help those items sell? They’ll just keep pimping out the constant renewers
Cuz guess what, the results get returned by – recently listed date! (and check out the latest weather report - the backlog of unsold items keeps growing by hundreds of thousands)
To quote an Etsian: “This does nothing to help sellers or buyers find items they may be looking for. This does everything to line Etsy's pockets with more renewal fees, your motivation is so transparent Etsy.”
Oh yeah, and it affects browsing categories, too. So if you haven’t renewed in the last 2 to 4 weeks, your item isn’t being returned in the category when a shopper is browsing. Didn’t you pay for 4 months?
“Only 3% of the items listed in jewellery are now accessible when browsing.
That's a staggering $324,019.60 spent on listing fees for items that are inaccessible. When sorting by price, you can not browse items between $4.49-$139.”
And that thread – more than 1100 posts and no admin response. Surprised?
So rather than updating the hardware, Etsy is simply screwing all of you to get you to pay more to be seen.
Oh this is going to be a GREAT holiday shopping season!
Twit This!
Posted by The Righteous One at 4:53 PM
__________________________________________________________________________________
I know that each time I paid $.20 for an individual listing I expected to be able to be searched for the entire 4 month period that I had paid my $.20 for and I don't like and won't tolerate being screwed!
I know this has been an extremely long "rant" but I did promise to tell you why I was leaving Etsy. I do have one more comment.
I LOVE ARTFIRE!
One of the main reasons is that they listen.
Come visit me at : http://pigeoncreeksoaps.artfire.com/
A few of my customers have asked me why I had planned to close my Etsy shop and I promised that I would share some of my reasons in the blog. The easiest answer would be to say that it is a financial decision and that the Artfire shop is less costly to maintain. I was lucky and managed to sign up for a PRO account during their special promotion. This was a fantastic deal where it only costs me $5.95 a month for the PRO account. I have unlimited listings (no more $.20 for each item which doesn't turn up in a search after 8-10 days) and in particular, no percentages due when I sell an item. Those are the financial reasons- not the important reasons.
I began hearing warning bells in early 2010. I began to hear mutterings about sellers being muted in the forums because of negative statements they had made about Etsy. At first I thought they must be false accusations because Etsy had waved the flag of the 1st amendment numerous times when items were flagged for being offensive, in particular this one is my favorite. Many items by this seller are disgusting and reprehensible, but when brought to the attention of Etsy they were totally ignored -that is until CNN ran this spot http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/01/07/jvm.greeting.cards.hln
Kalin's answer to this the CNN segment- "It is important to us that we allow members of the community to express their own sensibilities, and to develop their shop identity to suit themselves and their market. What is offensive to some may be intended as a statement about culture by an artist." Then he proceeded to state that the offensive items and the artist's shop would remain.
And he meant it- at least for a minute.
A website called WomensRights.Change.org began a petition asking for Etsy to remove the listings, which received over 17,000 online "signatures" and he rather quickly changed his tune.
As per AuctionBytes, "The policy has been revised to state that Etsy will no longer allow items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred toward or otherwise demean people based upon race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation, including items or content that promote organizations with such views."
In other words all one has to do to foment change is get the media involved. Bringing problems up on the Etsy forums and questioning policy will only get you muted. It seems that Etsy has developed a "dictatorial habit of quashing debate on its own users forum". There is actually a list somewhere out there on the internet. I have seen it but can't seem to find it now but I will tell you that it is immense.
These are several of the problems that have driven me off of Etsy, but I actually started making plans to leave around the 1st of October. For sometime I had been noticing that my sales were begining to slow down. This was strange since Jan. 2010 my sales had (for me) skyrocketed. I thought for awhile that it was just a minor glitch and the sales would go back to the way they had been- but they actually got worse. Then I found out why. Here is the best explanation I have found for the reason that mine and many other sellers sales have plummetted.
From http://etsybitch.blogspot.com/search/label/search
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Etsy search and categories limited to 50,000
Do you feel that? You’re getting screwed. I know I know, Etsy’s little limp noodle doesn’t make much of an impact, but your wallet sure does feel it.
Etsy made “minor adjustments” to the search pagination resulting in a return of only 50,000 results when a buyer searches for something. The reasoning:
“our data has shown that purchases drop to .000001% on item listings beyond position 50,000 for a given search”
Yeah, so why help those items sell? They’ll just keep pimping out the constant renewers
Cuz guess what, the results get returned by – recently listed date! (and check out the latest weather report - the backlog of unsold items keeps growing by hundreds of thousands)
To quote an Etsian: “This does nothing to help sellers or buyers find items they may be looking for. This does everything to line Etsy's pockets with more renewal fees, your motivation is so transparent Etsy.”
Oh yeah, and it affects browsing categories, too. So if you haven’t renewed in the last 2 to 4 weeks, your item isn’t being returned in the category when a shopper is browsing. Didn’t you pay for 4 months?
“Only 3% of the items listed in jewellery are now accessible when browsing.
That's a staggering $324,019.60 spent on listing fees for items that are inaccessible. When sorting by price, you can not browse items between $4.49-$139.”
And that thread – more than 1100 posts and no admin response. Surprised?
So rather than updating the hardware, Etsy is simply screwing all of you to get you to pay more to be seen.
Oh this is going to be a GREAT holiday shopping season!
Twit This!
Posted by The Righteous One at 4:53 PM
__________________________________________________________________________________
I know that each time I paid $.20 for an individual listing I expected to be able to be searched for the entire 4 month period that I had paid my $.20 for and I don't like and won't tolerate being screwed!
I know this has been an extremely long "rant" but I did promise to tell you why I was leaving Etsy. I do have one more comment.
I LOVE ARTFIRE!
One of the main reasons is that they listen.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Fabulous new Giveaway by thedesignconfidential!
This is a beauty and the blog is VERY interesting!!! Lots to learn here.
Friday, February 25, 2011
New Giveaway!
Just a quick note to let you know that Drakestone Primitives is holding a giveaway of a wonderful Sweet Bear. I have fallen in love with it. It looks like an old expensive Steiff bear. I would love to be lucky enough to win this one. Check it out friends! http://www.drakestoneprimitivescountrycabin.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Great Giveaway from One of My Favorite Blogs
I read Perfectly Imperfect every day no matter what is on my schedule. I have been known to carry my laptop to bed with me just because I haven’t had time to check out her blog that day. No she is not another soaper or a cosmetics maker or even an herbalist. She is a decorator with fantastic ideas and great taste and a super sense of humor.
CSN is giving a $45.00 gift certificate to use in one of their over 200+ stores online. Shaunna is reviewing this beautiful lamp for CSN. I am green with envy!
Pop on over to Shaunna’s blog and sign up for the gift certificate. The address is
http://www.perfectlyimperfectblog.com/2010/11/csn-review-and-giveaway.html#comment-form
CSN is giving a $45.00 gift certificate to use in one of their over 200+ stores online. Shaunna is reviewing this beautiful lamp for CSN. I am green with envy!
http://www.perfectlyimperfectblog.com/2010/11/csn-review-and-giveaway.html#comment-form
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Catching Up and Asking for Help!
This is just going to be a short blog to catch you up on what is going on here at Pigeon Creek Soaps. The 2010 Farmer's Market season will be over soon with our last dates being Oct. 22-23. I have to admit that this has been the longest and most difficult season that I have ever worked. Plus the most costly due to losing 2 tent canopies. Part of the reason it was so difficult was due to the extreme heat and partly because I have been going to 2 markets this year instead of just our regular Downtown Evansville Farmer's Market.
To be honest, some of the difficulty may be just due to age creeping up on me. Honestly it was much easier to lift and carry heavy tubs of soap 20 years ago. I hadn't thought much about gettin older until yesterday. My birthday is coming up on the 12th of October and my husband was cracking jokes about my being an "old" woman this month. Normally, age has never been a problem but I realized that I am going to be 60 this year and it hasn't been that many years ago when I though that 60 was ancient.
This ancient soapmaker has a couple of weeks more of the Farmer's Market and then the plan is to buckle down and concentrate on my new Artfire shop, writing for the blog, working on promoting the Artfire shop and working on my not so secret passion of refinishing furniture and a variety of small crafts.
I have started playing around with small sewing and painting projects in honor of the season. I started them for my own family's use since Halloween has been our family's most favorite holiday to decorate. My daughter Seanna, who has William's Syndrome, is 31 this year and still loves dressing up for Halloween parties and trick or treating.
Here is where I would like to ask for your help. Do you have any suggestion for what you would like to see in this blog? Would you like to be a guest writer for the blog or do you know someone who might be interested? The topic does not have to be on soapmaking or toiletries. If you have noticed the original name of the blog and business was A Scentsible World, so anything that makes sense in the world around us is an appropriate topic. Tutorials would also be great. If you are interested or know someone who may be interested please email me at bjrussell@insightbb.com Be patient please. My computer is down so I am having to share with my husband until he gets my computer fixed or I get a new one. (Fingers crossed)
Also, before I forget I wanted to let you know that I took up Artfire on their offer on their Pro Account and I am in the process of making Artfire as my main sales venue. Please check it out at http://www.pigeoncreeksoaps.artfire.com/
To be honest, some of the difficulty may be just due to age creeping up on me. Honestly it was much easier to lift and carry heavy tubs of soap 20 years ago. I hadn't thought much about gettin older until yesterday. My birthday is coming up on the 12th of October and my husband was cracking jokes about my being an "old" woman this month. Normally, age has never been a problem but I realized that I am going to be 60 this year and it hasn't been that many years ago when I though that 60 was ancient.
This ancient soapmaker has a couple of weeks more of the Farmer's Market and then the plan is to buckle down and concentrate on my new Artfire shop, writing for the blog, working on promoting the Artfire shop and working on my not so secret passion of refinishing furniture and a variety of small crafts.
Here is where I would like to ask for your help. Do you have any suggestion for what you would like to see in this blog? Would you like to be a guest writer for the blog or do you know someone who might be interested? The topic does not have to be on soapmaking or toiletries. If you have noticed the original name of the blog and business was A Scentsible World, so anything that makes sense in the world around us is an appropriate topic. Tutorials would also be great. If you are interested or know someone who may be interested please email me at bjrussell@insightbb.com Be patient please. My computer is down so I am having to share with my husband until he gets my computer fixed or I get a new one. (Fingers crossed)
Also, before I forget I wanted to let you know that I took up Artfire on their offer on their Pro Account and I am in the process of making Artfire as my main sales venue. Please check it out at http://www.pigeoncreeksoaps.artfire.com/
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