I wondered if anyone is taking part. This is the first year I have put any kind of effort in. I know a lot of small businesses don’t like to take part but this year I really need the sales and want to reward my customers. Also want to have a nose around some of your shops. If you want to have a look at my shop you can get 20% off anything until Tuesday. Please pop your codes below if you are taking part.
Use the code BLACKFRIDAY20 in my shop.
You can use the shop announcement feature to display your discount code at the top of all your listings (if you want to) rather than just on your shop front (the shop announcement can be found in your shop settings on the dashboard). Also I think folksy were trying to get people to tag things with ‘black friday’ to make it easier for them and shoppers to find items that were discounted. I think they were planning on doing some promotion of things that were part of black friday - they certainly did last year - so putting the tag in might help with that. (also tweeting about it and putting their hashtag in so that they can retweet it might be a quick way of spreading the word - not sure what their hashtag is though)
I won’t be taking part in black friday/ cyber monday - I have lots of craft fairs etc lined up where I can sell items at full price based on previous years experience so don’t feel the need but I hope it goes well for you.
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Thanks Sasha. Couldn’t find the shop announcement part to change but have used the tags in some of my listing. Yes I normally do craft fairs at this time of year also but due to ill health was to late to book them and also unable physically to do to many. I have managed a few but only have one left so putting most of my stock online. Looking on the positive side and trying to focus more online and trying out new things. Good luck with your shows, I am sure you will do really well x
Thank you Sasha just found my shop announcement 
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I’m at a Christmas Craft Fair all weekend, so not much point in selling my stock at a discount the day before
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Same here. No reason at all to discount my glass (when my margins are so low anyway) at my busiest time of year.
Makes no sense to me but of course I’m not in America and I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving and for that reason I dont ‘do’ Black Friday either as a seller or a buyer.
I just don’t think that sales of this kind have any relevance to handmade arts and crafts.
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Good luck with your fair. Your work is beautiful so I am sure you will do well
I understand what you are saying. This unfortunately isn’t my busiest time of year. I start to get busy for Valentine’s day and then it carries on to Fathers day. This year have had to take 3 months off and it was during my busiest time of the year. My profit margin are good so I can afford to do it. Yes I am not based in American but I do sell a lot to the USA on the other side I have done the same discount and wanted to offer it across both my online platform. Sales don’t suit everyone’s business but like I say I am trying something new. Your shop is full of beautiful items and I am sure you will do very well. Thanks for sharing your opinions
I’m not taking part in any sales on Folksy or on the other side, I know it started as an American thing but I think it’s here to stay.
I worked in retail way back in the 70’s/80’s and the department store I worked for always had a Pre-Christmas Sale around this time, it was a way to clear shelves ready for the big Christmas push.
It’s a lot bigger now because of the online element and I hope every small business who takes part does well. 
The extra advertising some shops are doing can only be good for Folksy, it may bring new customers to the site which is always a good thing.
Happy sales to everyone xx
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Thanks Jan. I worked in retail to, I agree. I think it does help with exposure for folksy and that’s not a bad thing. I am trying it this year it maybe will not work but I won’t know until I try. On the other side I have set a limit on what you spend before you can use the voucher. I am getting lots of views and sales not using the voucher, so I would say it is working. I started this thread to see if anyone else was taking part and to look at their shops. You have to do what is right for you. At the moment I am building my business back up and this is one of many things I am trying. I like you, wish everyone success and lots of sales 
Black Friday! The day when all the large retailers…Put the prices back to the levels they were at in August and hope nobody notices.
Sorry that sounds very cynical, but much of the pre-Christmas promotion, including the truly vomit inducing Christmas adverts, is indeed even more cynical than I am.
The danger for people like us is that (if we aren’t doing the craft fair circuit) everybody spends their budget on awful tat from the big companies this weekend and doesn’t have a brass farthing to spend on anything else.
Promotion-wise, I can’t compete with the barage of e-mails and online ads so the question is whether or not to even bother promoting this weekend to shoppers who are (like me) sick to the back teeth of being pestered about Christmas.
Bah Humbug.
Sam x
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same here, my margins are low so why discount! In fact I might start creeping some prices up 
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No deals in my shop this year. I didn’t notice any difference the couple of times I tried it before. People buy throughout the year even without discounts. I certainly hope there is more traffic in the next few days!
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I am giving it a punt on Folksy. My sales on the other side have picked up and I have no markets or fairs going on now (the last few weeks have seen set backs on my making anyway).
I’ll see if I get any nibbles with 15% off.
My views have tailed off in the last few weeks anyway with Christmas looming so I doubt a raft of sales are coming my way via Folksy.
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Normally I am with you Sam after years of working in retail, Christmas starting in September. I never really did much for Christmas when I started my business. This year after thinking I may not see Christmas I have embraced it and decided no bah humbug this year! So I am the annoying one that I used to hate. I even have been singing Christmas songs while making. It has started to work for me and sales are coming in so maybe Christmas will start to be my favourite time of the year. I don’t think my singing helps, I really can’t sing!
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I hope you gets lots of sales. It is worth a try
This is what we’re doing for Black Friday this year - we’d love you all to join in!
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Have just tweeted using this hashtag! Down with Black Friday-Join the Revolution 
Sam x
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YES! Let’s all join the handmade revolution 
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Would you like one of these? 
Seriously though, I’m with you. I don’t “do” Black Friday discounts, I’m #celebrating_handmade instead!
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