Friday, December 2, 2011

Happy Holidays

Alright, so we all survived Thanksgiving and the Black Friday-Small Business Saturday-Cyber Monday rush.
Or should I say lack there of for my shop at least. Well, I can't say it was a total bust but I didn't do half as well as one would think. It seems that since the holiday season has officially begun, my views have plummeted to near nothing! During the four day discount shopping extravaganza I offered free shipping on all domestic orders in my Etsy shop. I made two sales and one was an international customer so they didn't even use free shipping. On a quick side note, this was my very first international order so I was pretty excited about that. They bought a sweet little purse all the way from Australia. I had my husband run it off to the Post Office for me, which turned out to be not such a great idea. He shipped it First Class with no insurance (the opposite of what I asked him to do) simply because he was not paying attention when I explained to him that the customer had paid $15 in shipping so cost was not an issue in this case. Anyhow, I ended up refunding most of the shipping to the buyer as a result. I'm hoping they get their package in time for Christmas. Lesson learned: never let someone other than myself ship my mail for me!
Needless to say, those two orders were the last my shop has seen every since! I just completed a custom order for a toddler hat that has been two weeks in the making! My supplier was out of the yarn I needed which meant I had to order it online, which caused a huge delay in the whole creative process. Luckily this customer has been a really good sport about it. I normally like to get custom items completed and shipped within 3-5 days of payment. I also aim to ship out all of my "ready to ship" items the day of or next day from the time payment is received.
I've also recently completed a custom order for three hats that I received through my facebook profile. I'll upload those photos later in this post. It's for a mother, father and baby matching color scheme set with skull appliques. I was REALLY excited about this order because I have been wanting to create my own crochet skull applique for quite some time and just hadn't had a moment to get to it. They came out even better than I envisioned. I will definitely be doing more hats like these...
 Mother's Hat
 Father's Hat
Infant's Hat

Okay now for my current promotional situation. I am offering 15% off on all orders placed in my shop www.luvbuzz.etsy.com by December 20th! The coupon code for this promotion is "XMAS15" or "XMAS2011". Just enter either code in the little box at checkout.
I'm hoping that all of my fellow small business owners and Etsy sellers are having much more luck with the holiday sales rush than I seem to be so far. And I'm still feeling optimistic that my traffic will pick up within the next couple of weeks.
Right now, I'm off to make some special items for a few family members and perhaps a little thank you gift for the kind and very patient customer who's been waiting two weeks for her toddler hat!

Until next time...Happy, Happy Crafting!!!

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