E-Bay and their DSR Syster.

I just read a complaint on e-bay from a buyer about sellers who don't leave feedback.  I always leave feedback as soon as I ship the item which is the next business day.  I also give refunds on any shipping charges that are over what the actual shipping cost is.  (E-bay does not credit me on the shipping fee charges either).
 I just had a lady who ordered a crochet hanging towel which almost everyone know is a half of a kitchen towel--she said it wasn't what she expected and was small--even though it was the same as all that I have sold which is in the thousands in person and on the internet on selling sites.  She left one positive feedback and one neutral.  When I saw this I offered her the money back and that she could just donate the towel to charity--she refused and said don't worry about it--The damage was already done by her,  she left terrible dsr's.  I had all 5's on my dsr for 3 months and 88 sales--now they have gone way down,  from 5's to 4.92 that is on 89 transactions.  Think how low they would be if I didn't have as many transactions and if I hadn't had all the 5's.

I know there is nothing that e-bay will do about her, but some sellers who really try to do their best run into a buyer (very infrequent buyer her feedback in only 10).   

E-bay should eliminate the dsr's.  Some Buyers like her take advantage of them.

Also some advice for buyers--if you have a problem, contact the seller before you ruin their record--they may be willing to do something to make it right or at least compensate you.

Haven't written anything in a long time but had to get this off my mind--no sense in complaining to E-bay they wouldn't do anything anyway. 

Kids On Etsy

Well it has been a really long time since I have written anything here, but I came across a treasury put together by a Grandmother.  She had just helped her 5 year old granddaughter open a shop on Etsy, so she decided to put a treasury together of kids under 12 and their artwork and crafts that have shops.

What a wonderful thing to encourage children.  Just think how thrilling it is to sell your own project, for children it has to be a wonderful feeling. 

The treasury has some really nice items in it and it would be nice for people to view it and click on it and if possible promote it on other venues. 

Children are the future and with a lot of the schools not being able to promote art because of economic reasons it would be nice if we all tried to help  all of these individuals.

I will try to feature different individual shops of these children as I have time, which I know as you do is very limited.  But as a start, here is the link to the treasury:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTU2MjN8MjcyMjY5MDQ3NA/kids-create-on-etsychildrens-art?ref=pr_treasury

Thanks you for reading this and let's all promote the kids.

Etsy Coupons

On twitter today I found a web site where you can publish your Etsy Coupon code.  I do not know how it works but I did put my Christmas in July sale coupon on the site.  Here's the link  http://etsycouponcode.com/coupon.php?id=6506   

I do also put my coupon on Twitter and Facebook and the "My Etsy" on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_181122541737. 

By the way, my coupon code is cijs2011 and is 10% off any items in my shop.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/mishap1165

Also put my coupon on the Indie discounts which is another place to publicise your coupons. 
http://indiediscounts.blogspot.com/

Just a couple of places to use your coupon code.  If anyone has others, just leave a comment.

History of Crochet

I have just seen an fantastic article on Crochet.  It has some of the history of crochet and also many of the different types of crochet and references as to where you can find the instructions on how to do the many variations.  I found it because the author used one of my items in her article.  It was the Irish Hearts Doily made using the technique of Irish Crochet but with a thicker thread.  Here's the link to my item.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/67549072/crochet-cotton-doily-irish-lace-irish?ga_search_query=Irish&ga_search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_5335297

This article is very well done and had a lot of thought put into.  The author has a booth on Etsy and is also a member of etsyhookers team and the wwwg team.  Here's a link to the article:
http://www.squidoo.com/crafty-creative-crochet

Here's a link to her shop on Etsy
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MountainsideCrochet

She has some very interesting items in her shop, but whether you crochet or not her article is very interesting because it displays so many of the different areas of crochet.

Miss the Promotion Thread on Etsy?

Do you miss the old forums on Etsy?  Well a web site known as "Unofficial Etsy Forums".  They have numerous topics to post under similiar to the old etsy forum topics.  I especially like that they have a Promotion thread where you can list new items, your blog, sales etc. 

I used to post in the Promotion thread whenever I added a new item.  Miss looking at  the sales and items being added all the time.  The nice thing about the promotion thread a buyer does not have to look under every team to find what they might be interested.  Not every buyer will check each team.  Posting a new item on your team probably will not generate a buyer (which is really the object) because they make the same things.

This new place to post has the old format promotion thread.  Here's the link
http://unofficialetsyforums.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=promotions

So whether you are a buyer or seller take a look at the unofficial Etsy Forums.  Hope it is very successful.

As you can see I don't usually have a lot of time, and haven't blogged in a long time but thought this might be helpful.

Also there is an Etsy Member that recently had a tragedy--Here's the link to the information

http://unofficialetsyforums.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=announcements&action=display&thread=1581

I have added both links to my tweeter, thank you to the people whom started this site.

Crochet Patterns, Then and now

Recently I have been working on a lot of vintage patterns along with some new designs.  What I find interesting is how much the designers have improved the way they write the patterns.  Some of the vintage patterns a very hard to determine exactly what you are suppose to do and takes a bit of trial and error.  Here are a couple of examples

Pot holder  http://www.etsy.com/listing/48422432/crochet-dog-pot-holder-or-trivet-white

Pot holders  http://www.etsy.com/listing/48213333/pair-of-pot-holders-panties-and-shorts

There are other examples of vintage in my shop.  The way they are written are more in paragraphs rather than rows.

The modern patterns are much easier to read and understand for the most part.  For years I have done patterns by a designer whom I think does excellent patterns with unique designs.  She doesn't do just the ordinary designs expecially in her doilies.  She has designed for many years, and no I do not work for her nor does she pay me.  I have just crochet a lot of her doily patterns.  I enjoy them because some of them are challenging with the way you stitch them.  Following are two of the patterns I recently worked on

Pineapple Halloween doily  http://www.etsy.com/listing/51760626/crochet-black-and-orange-pineapple-doily

Butterflies, roses, pineapples and hummingbirds  http://www.etsy.com/listing/52279162/butterflies-pineapples-roses-and

What is really nice about Ann White's patterns she includes photographs of exactly how the stitch is to be made and where it is to go.  She is a very talented designer and makes her patterns very easy to read and follow.  You can find her designs on this web site:

http://www.bellacrochet.com/

Just thought I would pass this along to all of you who love to crochet, and might be intimidated by some of the complicated designs, Ann makes them much easier to understand.

Christmas In July Sale

Well it is July again and many of the shops on Etsy are having "Christmas in July" Sales.  They can be easily found by going to http://www.etsy.com/ and then searching for Christmas in July http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=Christmas+in+July&search_type=handmade or CIJ. http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=CIJ&search_type=handmade

My shop,  http://www.etsy.com/shop/mishap1165 has 20% off of every item in the shop.  You can convo me and I will relist the items for you or if you purchase it, I will refund the 20% through paypal. 

This Christmas in July sale in my shop includes all items, I have Halloween items like this dancing skeleton towels to numerous Christmas items.  There are also a lot of machine embroidered lace bookmarks http://www.etsy.com/shop/mishap1165?section_id=5573134 and other machine lace to use as appliques or scrapbooking.   http://www.etsy.com/shop/mishap1165?section_id=5571752

Christmas in July gives us all an opportunity to shop early while in the Northern Hemispere the weather is still nice and a head start.  With all the great sales going on both on Etsy and in Storefronts it is a good time especially in this economic time to start our Christmas Shopping.  This time of year are the best sales.