One thing about having my own blog is, I can complain if I want to.

I made the mistake of going into the forums on Etsy. I click to open a thread to see what the discussion is about and it's a seller complaining that she had FOUR sales last night and not one customer used the coupon code she had in her shop announcement to receive a discount. She continued on to say she went and convo'd each buyer to let them know she was running a sale and refunded the discount to their PayPal account anyway.

I have several problems with this that have me fuming.

1. I can't believe she's complaining about her customers. I wish I had four sales last night. My sales are just next to nothing, so I am not happy about hearing her complain when she does get a sale.

2. Why would you put a coupon code in your announcement?

3. Using coupon codes, to me anyway, is asking your customer to do your work for you. It's no different than having to use a shopper's card in every single store you go into these days. For crying out loud, put the items on sale. You do the work, not the customer. I hate those shopping cards, they weigh down my purse and I just don't understand why we need them. Again, PUT the stuff on sale and stop wasting my time!

4. If you are running a storewide sale, then just say that and refund the discount to the customer.

I think I have the only grocery store that doesn't require me to have a shopper's card in order to get a discount. They have my business. Every drugstore, grocery store and just about anywhere else I can think of make you carry those cards in order to take advantage of a sale. Then, they can send you all kinds of crap in the mail and now at your email address. So, I go ahead and fill out their forms to make them happy but never give them the correct email address or my home address, I get enough junk mail from Capital One alone, don't need it from anyone else. Thank you very much.

Just do a sale and stop expecting your customers to do your work.

Team ESST Weekend Extravaganza

Beginning on Saturday September 5th at 12:00 AM EST, the Etsy Supply Street Team is hosting another "Weekend Shopping Extravaganza." This months event will be held Saturday, September 5th & Sunday, September 6th, 2009. ALL ETSY SHOPS - HANDMADE, SUPPLIES AND VINTAGE - are invited to participate by placing an announcement in your shop and joining in with promoting on the "Official" Promotional thread in the Etsy Forums.

This will be a “Shopping Event” similar to a Public Marketplace. There will not be a "Overall theme" since Etsy is a Global Marketplace hence, the seasons, cultures, holidays, etc. can vary quite a bit. Although not required, we do strongly encourage shops to have a feature, theme or sale as this can pique interest and help you to draw people to your shop.

You do not have to participate for the whole weekend simply join in when you can on the Promo thread in the Etsy Forums. You can search for the official thread - “SEPTEMBER WEEKEND SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA SEPTEMBER 5TH & 6TH”. Here is the Promo thread in the Etsy Forums:
Thread link will be posted at 12:00 A.M. September 5th!

The only requirement is that you have a shop on Etsy and help promote by joining in and bumping the thread throughout the weekend. Talk about your shop and what you have to offer our shoppers.

Those of you who blog or twitter can post and/or tweet about it and promote to people that are off Etsy to visit us. It will provide the Etsy community with publicity, making our shops more visible, and hopefully creating a monthly event shoppers will look forward to.

If you have any questions please convo the Etsy Supply Street Team.

More Thrift Shop Finds

First item is the Trivial Pursuit game that is like new! I think I'll use the cards and make thank you notes from them.

Two cute metal flower pins! Remember these?

Okay, this is strange! At first, I thought it was a pin, but it's actually 8 celluloid buttons that someone has cleverly wired together for an ornament!

Back:

This is a hard sided piece of luggage. I have a project in mind for this. If it works out, I'll let you know, if it doesn't work out the way I expect it to, you will never see this again! LOL!

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

This years YART sale will be held on Etsy from Wed., June 10 through Sunday, June 14 and I can't wait!! It was fun last year and I believe will be even bigger and better this year! See the storque article, it will answer a lot of your questions!

Etsy :: The Storque :: How-To :: Ya Gotta Yart Plan ahead, get things ready to go and have a great time!

Make sure you put YART in your tags so you can be easily found in searches and above all, have fun!