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Okay list of things we need on Folksy

  1. The ability to offer postage according to total of an Order, ie if over a certain amount to offer free P & P as other stores do such as Boots, John Lewis etc.

  2. Ability to have a video loaded to the listing as they do on E…y. So a customer can see in more detail what is on offer. Stills are not the same.

  3. More promotions advertising sellers not asking for more people. We need more on sm. I get a Waitrose as and JL about every other day, clickable straight to the site and ore item.

Any more folks? I will add them on this thread to keep it all together.

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All posts which do actually promote us as sellers and not to attract more buyers need clickable links Immediately. Not 4 to 6 hours later. Nobody is going to go back later to see if a click is there and 99.99 % will not try to find the item if the click is not there. Why oh why would you schedule a post for 7 am if you know you can’t add the links until 11am.
Change the post schedule. Easy …

An example … today’s post 6 hours ago… Not a clickable link in sight and i just love the first line of the post in the circumstances… Made me :rofl:

@Caroleecrafts have you spotted that you have the honour of appearing in this gift guide… twice i think on page 4 :slight_smile:

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I need to do this, although that said I’ve tried to unsubcribe from Planet X (it’s cycle supplies, not a dodgy website :sweat_smile:) multiple times and still get several emails per week!

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Yes had an email, very chuffed.

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An email to say you were in the gift guide ? Never had one of those :slight_smile:
I check my shop activity when i think of it and occasionally find something has been added but never had a formal notification. :slight_smile: You are as you know blessed :slight_smile: :slight_smile: I award you a slice of my very nice indeed M&S Chocoate swiss roll (filled with whipped fresh cream And chocolate goo) :slight_smile: xx

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Thank you @JOYSofGLASS you are correct that I sell fine on other platforms but not here. E… is up 200% on last year so people are still buying

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Thank you @VioletFlameGlassArt :blush: I promoted my shop here for 9 months last year, to the point I had to stop doing it before I made myself bad.

I’ve started adding more listings and looking at current listings after last weeks webinar

@Caroleecrafts I agree with what you put.

Personally I would prefer some of the fees to go into advertising rather than all the webinar things. I’m sure there are sellers that really appreciate them but they are always when I’m at work, then you forget to go back and watch them. I can’t say I’ve found them helpful - the ones I’ve watched.

The listing one I did manage to listen to most of whilst working. That is the most useful one so far.

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I started to watch one Webinar a while back and tbh felt it was trying to teach me to suck eggs, very boring. I agree May suit some newer sellers but as been doing this since the early 80’s have made my mistakes and learned from them. The pricing one got me the most as telling us not to sell cheap as wrong, you what? I do what suits me, thank you very much.

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I agree with you.

If I can’t get sales on here for the prices I’m charging what hope have I got if I use minimum wage for an hourly rate

Cardigan newborn takes 4 hours x £11.44ph, plus yarn - who’s going to pay that :thinking: let me think…

NO ONE!!

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I got advised about the guides on the email from the robot and activity in my shop.

Ah I am probably not subscribed to an email here or there :slight_smile:

RE sucking eggs and grandmas. Absolutely agree with you. Facebook and I have grown together over the last 15 years and I feel I am as experienced as most sellers in using it for promotion. I DO know that there is little point in sharing my work on social media without clickable links attached… so can see no point in taking social media advice from others who do not understand this pretty basic principle. :slight_smile:

I see the links were eventually added an hour after my comment above. Too late sadly for all those people who saw that post before 2pm. :rofl: :sob:
I have raised this topic before about 2 months ago i think and was advised it would be looked at…

I can understand people’s frustration about not getting sales. As creatives we put our heart and soul into things, as well as time and money. I believe the ethos of Folksy is that collectives of makers are stronger together, and I think this is true. Rather than being scattered to the wind, all of us contribute to making the site more.

I have looked at a webshop before and a lot limit you as to number of items, photos etc., because of the cost of server space. You want more, you pay for more. I can list as much as I want to here which makes me more findable.

And then there’s Google to negotiate. There’s a saying: “The best place to hide a dead body is on page two of Google”. 91% of people don’t search beyond page 1, and getting on page one is pretty difficult. Folksy has come up on page one for me a lot of times when I’ve been searching for things, and I know that’s something I’d find hard to achieve in a crowded marketplace, and for that alone I think it’s good value.

I think the team here are friendly and approachable, they do take on board feedback in a way a lot of businesses don’t, and they work hard on our behalf. I think there’s a webinar coming up with tips from top sellers which will be interesting. I have found stuff of value in all the webinars I’ve watched. I appreciate more experienced sellers may know a lot of things, I have found them positive and empowering for me personally.

I had a shop here briefly some years ago, selling jewellery. And I have been through the frustration of trying to sell stuff, getting upset and it affected my wellbeing. That’s why when I came back, and I wanted to come back here because I love the vibe of it, I knew I had to take pressure off myself, for my own good. So I can empathise. I do think on the whole we are all better together and it’s hard to find the friendly support there is here anywhere else.

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But it’s not just a craft to me and I am sure also to many others on here.
It is my Small Business of which I am inordinately proud. . And a business big or small needs income to stay as a business and that income is reliant on having customers.
At the very least a business needs to remain stable and ideally it needs to grow.
If I want to chat crafts I can go to my WI crafting group for a couple of hours every fortnight.
If I want income from my craft because I am a business then I need to sell which is why I have shops, into which I have invested a lot of love, time and passion.

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Selected for the gift guides again. This week, happy dance. 2 weeks running lucky girl.

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I agree with just about everything you are saying there Emma.
I think Folksy is amazing value for money and they listen to and act on our feedback way more than many other businesses might. I also like that we have such a diversity of sellers, from those who want just a hobby and a little fun like myself to those who craft and sell full time. And because of that the webinars are going to be useful to some people and not to others, they will be a waste of time for some and life changing for others. I say good for Folksy because they obviously believe it is the way to go.
And the dead body on page 2 of Google made me laugh :joy:!

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I’ve had a couple of items in the gift guide recently. I was really chuffed. But unfortunate no sales again. Nothing for ages.
But I have changed my post to 2nd class. It’s not helping with first class large letter being a ridiculous 2.10.

I agree with what you have said.

It’s matter of just keeping plodding on. People are making purchases, but not so much.

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I think the cost of food has a significant impact on a lot of people when it comes to having money to spare. There’s only two of us here and the grocery bill has climbed quite steeply. Around me they’re late being able to get crops in, due to weather, so there could potentially be a shortage of wheat and other things which doesn’t help. If anyone has seen the price of olive oil recently, that’s also weather related. And apparently cocoa is going to rocket in price in a couple of months, so now is the time to stockpile chocolate!

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