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I want one on my next paycheck.  Plan on making any kittens or do I only get my second-favorite, le dinosaur?
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Oct 5, 2011 04:46
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I would definitely do a custom order if you would like one!  Just get in contact with me whenever you're ready. I'm actually shocked that I've done a dog clutch and not a kitty one yet (I'm a total cat person).
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Oct 5, 2011 05:00
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I'm so glad this thread is still going, I caught it at the beginning and just read through the whole thing. I have a question for you guys with etsy stores that I didn't see mentioned anywhere here. I'm hoping to open a store soon, within the next couple of weeks and I'm only starting off with knits and jewelry. I plan on expanding into other crafts (art, ornaments), but I was also thinking about selling baked goods like cookies and cakes. I did some reading on etsy to check with state laws on selling food, but what I'm wondering is... Of all the people who sell food on etsy, do they really all abide by their state laws? For PA I have to cook in a commercial kitchen and be servsafe certified, so I've made that my goal for the summer. But I'm curious of how common it is for etsy sellers to just bake/cook at home to sell. Also, I've been putting off opening a store for like a month because I'm worried about some of my materials. I'm not 100% confident about how to list earrings because I'm worried that I'm going to get that one person who buys a pair and breaks out from them. Most of my hooks are stainless steel, but the rest are copper and brass "look," however, they don't state whether or not they contain nickel. Is that something I should include in the descriptions? Like, "may or may not contain nickel?" And one more: I inherited a shitload of yarn from my aunt a couple of years ago, most of which is 100% wool. But there are quite a few balls that do not have labels and I'm not sure how to figure out what they're made of. They're still beautiful, but I don't know if it would be ethical to sell items made with any of it since I'm not sure what they are. I was afraid of asking these things on the etsy boards in case a potential buyer saw it and thought, "what the gently caress is she trying to pull? no thanks." Okay, that's it for now. I've been wanting to ask those for a while, sorry for asking in a lump. One more thing: You guys are all so incredibly talented, it's absolutely inspiring. 
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Oct 5, 2011 06:14
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I loving need this octopus clutch. drat you for tempting me with your wares!  Alas, I am broke, so I will send you an invite to the goon team instead.MallcoreMotion, I'm not sure about selling food, but I know the idea of buying it on Etsy kind of creeps me out. That and underwear. Jewelry and knitwear can be very difficult categories to get noticed in, since there's so much of it on Etsy. Be prepared to market the hell out of your wares, and take good pictures. (These are things I'm struggling with too--not meaning to discourage you!) I have a lot of yarn I've acquired secondhand too, and if I don't know the fiber content, I just say so. Most people don't have a problem with this, if they like the item enough. It could be a problem if they're allergic to something like wool, but you can always do fiber testing if need be. Usually this involves burning a bit of the yarn, or soaking it in different household chemicals to see how it reacts. Might not be 100% accurate, but you can at least tell the difference between natural and synthetic fibers easily. Wool pretty much dissolves in chlorine bleach, natural fibers have fairly distinct smells when burned, and synthetic fibers just melt. It can get tricky if you have mixed fibers, though..
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Oct 5, 2011 09:11
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I bought some cookie dough truffles through Etsy. They were delicious, but absolutely smashed to bits when they arrived due to poor packaging. Lucky for the seller, they were just for me so I didn't care. But I would assume that's the sort of thing that makes a customer angry. So if you're selling food, figure out how to ship it so it arrives intact. (I can't ever figure out how the cupcake people do it.) I'm much more likely to buy food from someone who states that they have some sort of health certificate for their kitchen. Better if they have a photo of said certificate. We're running a 20% sale until this Sunday. We're celebrating our 200th Facebook like, 650th sale and a feature in an "Etsy Finds" email this week. Never, ever ever did I expect us to do this well. We just do it very, very part time and started as a hobby because I'm too cheap to buy jewellery for myself. It's coupon code WEASELWEEK for 20% off your entire order, and don't forget to tell us you're a goon and we'll always send free stuff. Edit for URL. zoecore fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Oct 5, 2011 |
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Oct 5, 2011 17:15
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I also thiink legally you're supposed to cook the food in a "certified kitchen". I think that's so etsy can cover it's rear end just in case someone gets sick or worse from eating your food. I have a cousin who's a God drat artist in the kitchen who was thinking about selling his good on etsy but backed out when he looked it up.
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Oct 5, 2011 18:33
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Thank you guys, I'll try burning some pieces of yarn. I was wondering if that would work. As for the food, my brother's girlfriend is a baker and was planning to make wedding cakes on the side so I was hoping to try working with her on getting a certification and kitchen. I know food on etsy is kind of skeezy, but I was hoping that by having an actual baker on my side, it would be a little easier. I mean, it's a goal right now, but it's not a priority. For marketing I was planning on designing business cards to post around the area, I'm lucky to live in a real touristy place, so I feel like if I pick the right places I could really get the word out. I was also going to open up a seperate twitter and facebook for friends/family to order. And flickr since I've seen that recommended... That's all I can really think of to start with.
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Oct 5, 2011 22:07
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I would love to be a part of the Etsy Goon Team, how does one join up? Also, what does it mean to really be a part of a team? I read most of this thread, but I must have missed it somewhere along the way.
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Oct 5, 2011 23:04
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Rather Tonic posted:I would love to be a part of the Etsy Goon Team, how does one join up? Also, what does it mean to really be a part of a team? I read most of this thread, but I must have missed it somewhere along the way. Go here: http://www.etsy.com/teams/6718/goon-squad follow instructions, receive bacon? It depends on what the team does, I find it nice for discussing and promoting.
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Oct 5, 2011 23:22
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The team isn't terribly active, but we have threads where you can post your new items, sales and promotions, and stuff like that. Sometimes it's just nice to have all of that stuff in one place, especially the coupons.
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Oct 6, 2011 04:01
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MallcoreMotion posted:As for the food, my brother's girlfriend is a baker and was planning to make wedding cakes on the side so I was hoping to try working with her on getting a certification and kitchen. I know food on etsy is kind of skeezy, but I was hoping that by having an actual baker on my side, it would be a little easier. I mean, it's a goal right now, but it's not a priority. Yes, most places require that you have a certified kitchen, most etsians don't, just like a lot don't report on their taxes. However, food does really great. I do love to see that a kitchen is certified, which is why I haven't bought from most food vendors. However, just look how many sales a lot of the food sellers have. It's a hot item (a lot like soap) and something people will always need more of.
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Oct 6, 2011 06:02
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flutterbyblue posted:Yes, most places require that you have a certified kitchen, most etsians don't, just like a lot don't report on their taxes. This actually brings up another question of mine, should I report my sales and everything on my taxes even if I only make a few sales? I figure the big shops do, but I was curious about smaller ones.
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Oct 6, 2011 06:15
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MallcoreMotion posted:This actually brings up another question of mine, should I report my sales and everything on my taxes even if I only make a few sales? I figure the big shops do, but I was curious about smaller ones. If you're likely to be audited (you're self-employed, your entire income is Etsy, you get a 1099 instead of a W2), it's better safe than sorry. Really you're rolling the dice even if you're not likely to be audited, people get selected at random all the time. However, if you're making, say, under $1000 in sales a year, it's unlikely to be a concern unless you're right on a tax bracket cusp.
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Oct 6, 2011 21:12
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13Pandora13 posted:If you're likely to be audited (you're self-employed, your entire income is Etsy, you get a 1099 instead of a W2), it's better safe than sorry. Really you're rolling the dice even if you're not likely to be audited, people get selected at random all the time. However, if you're making, say, under $1000 in sales a year, it's unlikely to be a concern unless you're right on a tax bracket cusp. Perfect, thank you, that is very helpful.
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Oct 7, 2011 01:12
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Different states have different rules on reporting (I think). And there's a minimum in sales you have to make before you can be taxed, so it's just good to be aware of where the line is and report to the best of your ability. As long as you are making a good faith effort to report, the IRS can't fine you out the rear end (as much).
flutterbyblue fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Oct 7, 2011 |
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Oct 7, 2011 03:17
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Has anybody tried using the search ads to promote items? I just bought a weeks worth for $5 and it just started running this morning. Not sure if it will be worth it, but I wanted to give it a shot. Also goons get 25% off with SAMOMS and I just made a bunch of cute jewelry with crochet pieces my Mom made and passed on to me  http://www.etsy.com/shop/lealooboo?section_id=10523889
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Oct 8, 2011 13:32
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Lealoo posted:Has anybody tried using the search ads to promote items? I just bought a weeks worth for $5 and it just started running this morning. Not sure if it will be worth it, but I wanted to give it a shot. We've been using them for a week and a half now. This week we've spent $4 for 4000 impressions and 40 views. No sales from that. We have them running for our entire shop, but the only thing that seems to come up and get views is the jewellery trees. I have no idea why. I'm not too impressed with them to be honest. But since we're not spending money on renewing anymore, I thought I'd give it a go. I'll let it run for another week or two and if there's no improvement, I'll stop it.
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Oct 8, 2011 19:59
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I started a small ad campaign yesterday, and so far I have nothing interesting to report. I've had three views and zero sales from about 200 impressions. For the same 20 cents I could have just listed or renewed something and gotten actual traffic. I'm only running ads for my knit items though, so your results may vary.
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Oct 8, 2011 20:23
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I had a thought- how's SA-Mart for handicrafts and such? It's mostly people getting rid of old computer parts and stuff like that, but there are a couple threads where people do stuff like custom leatherwork or knit fancy things. I'm not exactly relying on selling my jewelry to pay the rent or anything, so I don't care all that much about exposure or brisk sales or whatever.
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Oct 9, 2011 00:26
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Ambrose Burnside posted:I had a thought- how's SA-Mart for handicrafts and such? It's mostly people getting rid of old computer parts and stuff like that, but there are a couple threads where people do stuff like custom leatherwork or knit fancy things. I'm not exactly relying on selling my jewelry to pay the rent or anything, so I don't care all that much about exposure or brisk sales or whatever. It's pretty good. I used to sell custom avatars there before the existence of the Avatar Market thread in GBS. I've also sold a couple of prints, and there's several fairly active ones selling knitwork and crochet work and custom drawings. My dream is to be fast enough at what I do to have a thread there someday 
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Oct 9, 2011 15:58
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I've done really well selling on SA Mart. Be prepared for lots of people who don't necessarily want to buy directly on Etsy (which might be OK but it's a little hard to keep track of). Also, if you have an alternative to Paypal that is great, since many SA-ers in particular have a dislike of Paypal.
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Oct 10, 2011 17:41
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Rather Tonic posted:I've been making these hand sewn and embroidered clutches for a while. I just put them all up on an Etsy site recently, and I'm pretty excited. I haven't sold any items yet, but I have my fingers crossed (and it's fun anyway). My shop's called Threadstory because it jut seemed right. I got my clutch in the mail today and seriously, it's awesome. You guys should go buy these before Rather Tonic realizes how great they are and ups the price.
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Oct 12, 2011 05:41
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flutterbyblue posted:This one was not so hard to make, but yay sugar skulls! Yay! I got it yesterday. Have a mugshot!  I put both in at once for comedy value and the big one was like wearing a little hat.  What amazed me was how light and well balanced these clips are. They don't hurt your head or drag out your hair like most big hair-clips would.
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Oct 12, 2011 14:10
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I'm glad you liked the clips
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Oct 13, 2011 02:48
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I just started a shop a few days ago. That's not true actually. I started a store back in 2006 around the same time I had a concurrent thread running in SA Mart - then life got too busy and custom orders took too long and I just wasn't making the sales at Etsy that I saw others doing. So I closed up shop. But now it's 2011, and I'm trying again. With a new store, since having a store that's 5 years old with only 4 sales doesn't instill buyer confidence. So check out my new digs: http://www.etsy.com/shop/micheldevon
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Oct 13, 2011 16:27
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Can you do a Who notebook? Will also accept Munsters. Possibly both. I wouldn't need them until whenever before Christmas.
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Oct 13, 2011 21:31
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Starting an ad campaign for my etsy. I'll be curious to see how it goes. I'm moving closer to 75 sales after just a bit more than four months. I'll be curious to see how the holiday treats me. http://tails32x.etsy.com
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Oct 13, 2011 21:51
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Captain Stinkybutt posted:Can you do a Who notebook? Will also accept Munsters. Possibly both. I wouldn't need them until whenever before Christmas. If I can find one at Half Price Books. Any album in particular?
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Oct 13, 2011 23:44
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Kruxy posted:If I can find one at Half Price Books. Any album in particular? No, not really! My stepfather would be thrilled at just about any album cover from them. I must admit my personal favorite is The Who Sell Out though. http://www.thewho.com/images/media/albums_large/03-67-the_who_sell_out.jpg
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Oct 13, 2011 23:45
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Kruxy posted:I just started a shop a few days ago. That's not true actually. I started a store back in 2006 around the same time I had a concurrent thread running in SA Mart - then life got too busy and custom orders took too long and I just wasn't making the sales at Etsy that I saw others doing. So I closed up shop. What sort of flexibility do you have for the wallet designs? I lovelovelove the Tijuana bible ones but I have a friend in mind who isn't as keen on naked ladies as I am. The interior layout is perfect (she actually carries fortunes from cookies around with her until they come true!). Specifically I'm thinking sugar skulls. Is this possible?
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Oct 15, 2011 07:57
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Greetings, fellow etsy lovers! Inspired by this thread, I've been rooting through etsy, finding a totally awesome parasol that I absolutely must have (great deal, even with the shipping) and went to check out. It won't let me. I'm paying with a credit card (no paypal account. I've heard horror stories)and it keeps saying that I can't use the card for that item. So what gives? Is it because the seller is American and I'm Canadian and it won't recognize the card or something? Is it an issue with my card? I've emailed etsy and haven't heard back yet. Have any of you heard of this before?
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Oct 16, 2011 19:08
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13Pandora13 posted:What sort of flexibility do you have for the wallet designs? I lovelovelove the Tijuana bible ones but I have a friend in mind who isn't as keen on naked ladies as I am. The interior layout is perfect (she actually carries fortunes from cookies around with her until they come true!). Specifically I'm thinking sugar skulls. Is this possible? Currently I'm working on having more flexibility with my wallets. I'm trying to find a better method/supplier/way of getting the layer of artwork there. But I also have to try and deplete the stock I have already cause I have a lot more than what I've listed, but they're all the same designs. Sugar Skulls sounds totally doable though. I'll work on a design to accompany all of the other ones I'm working on. If anyone has any ideas though on an inexpensive way to get screen printing done on 4.25"x9" pieces of vinyl let me know. Most things I've found require a run of 100 or 250, but I needs smaller run numbers right now.
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Oct 16, 2011 21:04
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Kruxy posted:If anyone has any ideas though on an inexpensive way to get screen printing done on 4.25"x9" pieces of vinyl let me know. Most things I've found require a run of 100 or 250, but I needs smaller run numbers right now. We found someone on Gumtree (the UK equivalent of Craigslist) who does runs of things out of his house for cheap. If you're in the UK, let me know and I'll give you his details. We get shirts printed in runs of 20-50. Maybe try looking for someone on Etsy or SA Mart? It's not too uncommon for people to have screen printing equipment. We have the stuff as well, just not the time to do it.
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Oct 16, 2011 21:27
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wildlifeatlas posted:Greetings, fellow etsy lovers! Inspired by this thread, I've been rooting through etsy, finding a totally awesome parasol that I absolutely must have (great deal, even with the shipping) and went to check out. It won't let me. I'm paying with a credit card (no paypal account. I've heard horror stories)and it keeps saying that I can't use the card for that item. Sometimes the checkout system seems to have hiccups. Try again later? Also it wouldn't hurt to e-mail the seller if you keep having issues and ask if they'd reserve the item while you try to figure things out, especially if you're really really set on getting the parasol. Paypal wouldn't let me use our credit card because it was a joint card and already attached to my husband's account. For what it's worth, I've never had any issues with Paypal, but it's probably just because I'm lucky. You can also go get a prepaid visa gift card with the amount you need on it and use that. That way it's a one off card and you don't even have to worry about your cc number getting stolen or something.
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Oct 16, 2011 22:19
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zoecore posted:We found someone on Gumtree (the UK equivalent of Craigslist) who does runs of things out of his house for cheap. If you're in the UK, let me know and I'll give you his details. We get shirts printed in runs of 20-50. Unfortunately, I'm in the US so that guy wouldn't be very cost-effective. I had an idea that I could take a lot of wallet designs and just tile them onto a huge Illustrator canvas, and then take that single file to some place like Austin Graphics and have them print me a single 10 or 13oz vinyl banner with lamination. Then I could get a lot of designs done without having to pay multiple setup fees. Then I could take the banner and just slice it up into individual pieces for sewing. I need something more heavy duty and lasting than what I'm using now.
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Oct 17, 2011 17:31
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RatherTonic I want the little dino who goes "Rawr" so much! C'mon, payday! In other news, we're finally sorted from the move and the shop is back open. I've added a few new yarns and have more on the way. http://www.etsy.com/shop/TwoSiberiansFiber?ref=si_shop
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Oct 18, 2011 01:29
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Oh man I just now read this thread? I've been missing out on so much awesome! madlilnerd you've been <3'd, and Threadstory is pretty amazing. EDIT- Flutterbyblue,not madlilnerd, my bad  Time to spend irresponsibly! Oh and here's my shop, hope you find something you like. http://www.etsy.com/shop/QueenieBoo?ref=seller_info Queenie fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Oct 18, 2011 |
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Oct 18, 2011 05:59
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Queenie posted:madlilnerd you've been <3'd, and Threadstory is pretty amazing. Time to spend irresponsibly!  Pssst, I think you mean someone else (flutterbyblue?) because I don't have a shop. Yet.
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Oct 18, 2011 13:05
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Ah, thanks for that! You can bet when you have a shop up that it will be fave bombed too
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Oct 18, 2011 16:22
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There's so much stuff in here! I can't remember if I posted a link to my shop a couple of years ago when I first started it up, but after taking a break I'm re-opening it so I figure that it should be OK to repost it. Plus I've added a lot of really cool new stuff! http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChellesandSparklesAmbrose Burnside posted:I had a thought- how's SA-Mart for handicrafts and such? It's mostly people getting rid of old computer parts and stuff like that, but there are a couple threads where people do stuff like custom leatherwork or knit fancy things. I'm not exactly relying on selling my jewelry to pay the rent or anything, so I don't care all that much about exposure or brisk sales or whatever. I did pretty well a couple of years ago for Mother's Day posting a thread and buying a banner ad that linked to it. I actually am in the process of trying that again here. I posted a thread yesterday and plan to have a new ad up by the end of the week. I'll let you know how it works out.
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Oct 18, 2011 20:33
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