I just hope it happens soon as this is dire at the moment! Though I have heard people saying its the time of year?
In fact I have stopped making jewellery! I still have items to list but am doing some dog coats and bunting. My jewellery making is relaxing though, kinda catch 22!
Anyone else feeling the squeeze?
It is quiet at the moment and although I’m selling a few Christmas things I have found the rush usually starts in the last week of September and carries on until the week before Christmas 
I hope it’ll be the same for you too
My Christmas rush is happening on Facebook but unfortunately not here, hence why I’m not listing at the moment. I might take a year out on here.
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My christmas rush didn’t start until mid nov last year and even then it wasn’t an online rush but did last until 20th Dec when I had to shut up shop as I was going travelling. Hoping to have more of an online rush this year as I’ve gone for some British Crafters promotion in Nov. Keeping busy with commissions and making stock for all the christmas markets (and planning my next buying trip).
Sasha
Glad it’s not just me. I’m beginning to think the whole handmade thing is a bit over. People just don’t want to pay for beautiful hand crafted things when they can buy mass produced for next to nothing. Very dispiriting!
I have to admit I do mostly sell on the auction site we don’t mention and over on the dark side, but I have had my shops there a couple of years longer than on here. But having said that it does pick up at Christmas here too 
Christmas started mid October for me last year, but I had a bumper order last week on the other side which the customer said were to be gifts so perhaps things will kick off earlier this year.
Elaine
Usually when I make something new I like to show it off on FB first. I don’t always put a price or size. If people like what they see they will either comment under the item or send me a message via FB, I sometimes say if you would like a custom order then you can also message me. Then if someone is really interested I ask them for their email address so that I can send them a PayPal invoice. I find that really works well.
Hope that’s answered some of your questions @Amberlilly.
Just to add I’ve had 17 orders on Facebook since May and no sales on here since November last year.
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Things are pretty dire for me, it’s been a really poor year for sales as was last year. Last year’s Christmas rush was non existent for me. I’ve pretty much stopped making now as I have tons of stock, I just make one new thing a week to keep things fresh. I’ve put all my jewellery in my clearance sale as I’m going to stop making it but it’s still not selling… I’m slipping into a pit of despair!
I’m yet to do a Xmas on Folksy. But I have done 6 Xmas’s on another site and I have found that customers are buying later and later. So 6 years ago for example, steady Xmas orders started to come in mid September and now I find that steady Xmas orders start to come in mid October instead. I’ve had to adapt the way that I work to compensate for customers buying later as I make ‘made to order’ items.
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It’s been keeping me on my toes all those orders coming in. As soon as I’ve received one I have literally got on with it. I have 3 more orders in which I need to make a start on tonight.
To be honest it’s never really taken off the way other peoples have. It’s taken me 4 1/2 years to get all those sales! So I’m not really in a position to offer any advise.
I also asked the question recently about why things have got quieter. For the last two years I have had sales in August, which were Christmas presents, but not this year. September has also started quieter. Something seemed to change last Autumn that made it quieter. I still promote and list just as much but fewer sales.
There are more sellers now, so sales have to be spread around more thinly.
It might be a little bit too early for Christmas sales to start in earnest. I had a really busy July and August but so far September is a little quieter. But that seems to be the general pattern for my shop. I don’t know about you but my views have certainly been increasing steadily across the board on all of the sites on which I sell … it sort of feels like the calm before the storm!
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My Christmas/autumn/winter rush doesn’t start until the middle of October and lasts until the end of March. Personally, I’m not even thinking about buying Christmas presents yet, I’m still hoping we can eek out summer for a little bit longer and I’m sure many other people feel the same. My quiet times every year are from April to the end of September, so I use those months to make sure I have 3 of (nearly) everything in stock, so I don’t have any panic knitting times when the orders come through (that’s a LOT of handknitting!).
I don’t know if you do craft and Christmas fairs at all, but now is a good time to start researching them and getting them booked in and stocking up for them. Also, it will help you feel more productive and keep your mojo going if you do this whilst it’s quiet.
You’ll get there, don’t worry!
Natalie x
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I think Folksy depend too much on its makers to advertise for them on twitter, FB etc. I don’t recall ever seeing a click through ad for the site, never heard an ad on local radio, never seen anything in the press. I don’t think it’s fair to expect us to do all the work because it is sooo time consuming to the point where (for me) I don’t have enough time to actually make stuff, which is kinda the point no?!
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If you rented a shop on the high street would you expect them to advertise your goods? No. So why would you expect an online shop to do that for you? You are basically renting a shop space on the Folksy site, like you would rent a high street shop. If you went to a huge shopping centre they might advertise, but you would be paying through the nose for the privilege - so if you want that kind of service sign up for somewhere like NOTHS (but you will be paying a LOT more money out than you’ll ever pay out on Folksy).
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I think that’s about hit the nail on the head. If you haven’t got the time to create and maintain your own website, then somewhere like this is perfect to host a your shop and deal with your payments for you. Otherwise, I would get your own website because you won’t be paying fees. But you’ll have to sort out your own layout of the item pages, banners, checkout systems, stock control, etc, AND do your own promotion. Here it is all hosted for you, you just need to worry about the promotion side.
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I only use pinterest as a way of advertising my shop and I have done quite well for sales. I have had a lot of returning customers who have been pleased with the product and customer service, so in a way your advertising your own shop that way. For what I pay for the plus account and what I get in return from Folksy I think is very reasonable, so I don’t expect them to advertise my shop too.
But you don’t seem to realise that the majority of sellers aren’t asking for more to be done - just the vocal minority on a forum where probably less than 5% of Folksy’s sellers are active.
And to be honest, if you had a good enough product you could choose a shop in a quiet location as people would travel to find you and buy from you - I’ve seen it done. However, that would only apply if you had a really desirable product, not something that’s produced by many others.
The fact is, every so often a little group of sellers will keep consistently moaning to each other, they drag down the atmosphere of the forums and give a very negative image of the sellers on here to members of the public (after all, it’s not just a sellers forum, anyone can visit and read all the threads). Who wants to buy from people who are moaning all the time?
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