Wild As The Wind On Etsy… *Or not?

Wild As The Wind On Etsy… *Or not?

I’d really appreciate your feedback on this! It’s possibly one of the most important decision I will make in 2019.

I would especially appreciate your feedback if you have had issues with the Wildasthewinds Etsy Shop…

Especially, those who have tried to communicate with me via the Etsy messaging facility, and not got the response you expected… I explain why in this article!

What Is Etsy?

If you don’t know what Etsy is I have very much written this article for you!

If you think you know what Etsy is then be prepared to view it from quite a different perspective…

The Short Answer:

Etsy is a sales platform that is not too dissimilar to Facebook.

The longer Answer…

It is possible for a small business like Wild As The Wind to create a shop on Etsy instead of paying a lot of money to turn their website into an eCommerce website. (An eCommerce website is simply a website that can operate as a shop and accept payments from shoppers.)

eCommerce websites are expensive. There’s charges for all sorts of things that apply to each sale that take place, as well as monthly fees for a whole bunch of other facilities an online shop are obliged to provide.

Small Businesses Often Use 3rd Party Online Shopping Platforms

Etsy is only one of many third party online shopping platforms… but, it’s the one that was created for artisans who hand make their products. This made it the obvious choice for me, as I hand make everything…

Integrating the Wildasthewinds Etsy shop into the existing Wild As The Wind website has been a long drawn out process… and not one that I will ever look forward to repeating…. BUT!

Some people are confused by the Etsy store, and believe that the Etsy sales platform is actually the Wild As The Wind website.

This is generally not a problem until someone decides to message me about buying a product that’s not available in the Etsy Shop, (because they want me to make something specifically for them, for example), and I am unable to reply to them in the way that I would like to, and actually need to…

Etsy Is Algorithmic

Etsy is continually monitored algorithmically. This means that Etsy software flags up words and phrases, in the correspondence between buyers and shop owners, which helps them to monitor an abuse of the terms of service of Etsy platform.

So, the regular messages I receive via Etsy asking to buy products which need to be bought directly from Wild As The Wind, are a real problem…

I can’t respond to these messages by overtly saying anything that’ll trigger the Etsy algorithm… This would instantly result in the software accusing me of breaking the conditions of use of the Etsy platform… but, unfortunately, the only response to these emails that would make any sense, are ones that would definitely be viewed as an attempt to employ abusive practices within the Wild As The Wind Etsy shop.

This is made all the more frustrating because all of the visitors to the Wildasthewinds Etsy Shop that have messaged me in this way have been delivered to Etsy from the Wild As The Wind website. And, most of them think they are still on the Wild As The Wind website!

In other words, the visitor I am rendered unable to give a plain and simple answer to within the Wildasthewinds Etsy shop would have never found their way to the Etsy platform in the first place, if it weren’t for me and the Wild As The Wind website.

And, of course, the terms of use have been set up to protect the Etsy platform from vendors who use it to find new customers and then try and sell stuff to them without paying the Etsy platform commissions.

Etsy only gets paid for transactions that take place on the Etsy platform… but because all of my customers are found via my website, and not Etsy, this is a very real bone of contention!

Etsy Isn’t Cheap

And, Etsy is pretty expensive… So I’m paying a premium for a service that isn’t meeting all of my, and my customers, needs.

There’s quite a few fees levied by the Etsy platform, a lot of which can be applied repeatedly on slow selling items.

Shop holders are essentially charged a monthly rent for their online real estate. And they are also charged a fee for every single sale, and more fees for payment processing as well as re-listing an item etc…

Etsy Isn’t Always Easy To Use

Most of the purchases that occur within the Wild As The Wind Etsy shop are made by non-members. These buyers are termed ‘visitors’ by Etsy.

A lot of these visitors find it difficult to conclude their purchases as they aren’t familiar with the format.

But, perhaps the thing that everyone seems to have a problem with is feedback on Etsy.

I always ask people to supply feedback on Etsy, as it increases the visibility of the shop. But, I have lost count of the people who have emailed or messaged me via other means to let me know that they weren’t able to figure out how to supply feedback on the Etsy platform.

But, Etsy Has Just Improved Our Green Credentials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=qq3wGeYzzsg

Converting the Wild As The Wind Website Will Take Time & Money

Converting the Wild As The Wind Website into an all singing all dancing eCommerce Shop will take more time and more money than I can afford at the moment. So, this has been the over-riding factor in my decision making so far.

But, if Etsy is proving too difficult for too many people to use then I am going to have to try and find the time and the money to do it!

I would very much appreciate it if you would share yours thoughts with me.

Thanks.

Wild As The Wind Can Easily Carbon Offset Without Etsy

Some of you may be aware that I set up projects in India for Trade Not Aid. I lived and worked in Southern India within the Disabled Unit at SCAD.

These days SCAD, (Social Change & Development), are a lot bigger. They’ve even set up large colleges in Southern India, and they provide carbon offsetting for people like Alastair Sawday in the UK.

When I worked at SCAD I stayed with the Directors, Cletus and Amilie. It would be privilege to assign SCAD the task of carbon offsetting for Wild As The Wind.