We have been on Folksy since April which isn’t long.. We would really appreciate some fresh eyes on our shop. We particularly interested in postage costs for small items. Everything is weighed to get a accurate cost but the smaller items comes close to the price for the actual item and whether the overall presentation, product range, photography and pricing look clear and consistent from a buyer’s point of view. We are getting views but thats as far as it goes.. we know it’s early days for us — we are just interested in what other Folksy sellers notice when they first visit our shop.
Hi.
I have just had a look at your lovely shop. It has such a lot going for it - lovely items with good descriptions and photos, details of sizes etc.
I could only find a couple of minor things to comment on -
Firstly it struck me as all being very white looking! Maybe introduce some colour into some photos somehow?
Secondly, I clicked on a couple of items randomly and noticed that not all 15 tags were used.
Thirdly, re postage. It might be worth adding a small figure in the ‘extra items’ box. Then if someone buys 2 items they will not pay 2 full postages. That might help with smaller goods, as people might add a little item as an extra when buying a larger one.
But basically it all looks great to me! But what do I know, I don’t get many sales.
My first thoughts were how professional everything looks.. good descriptions, with all relevant information. Attractive photos too, nice and clean if you understand what I mean?
Perhaps it’s just the time of year, and maybe things will pick up as Christmas rolls around.. I’m having the same questions myself especially with postage costs. I took a parcel in for an estimate at the local PO… I got a range of prices from £3.95, £4.75, £6.95 and £4.45! Quite a large parcel so I guesstimated the cost of a pencil case I sold and was charged £4.95 for it, it wasn’t even boxed just carefully wrapped and placed in a delivery bag. I’m not sure if it was a lack of experience on their part as they aren’t very helpful if the truth be known. Now when I take a parcel for a quote, I shall ask them to write it down for me, …sorry I’ve digressed…
As I’m a newcomer myself perhaps a more experienced seller could give you some sound advice? We can all benefit from that
A very quick comment as i need to make dinner.
Why have you deleted your old listings ?
That means that your reviews look odd as there is no picture just text and your view sold items shows none. None of which is going to encourage a customer .
They will not pay full postage on two items as the listings i looked at had the second price field set to £0.00 which means if someone buys two things they will only pay postage on the first which is the best way to do it.
Hi Liz @samazama we thought about colour but thought it would interfere with the items so we thought plain and simple …and we noticed that if we use long tags it didnt always show all 15 due to the limit on characters .. we thought longer tags would be more useful rather than shorter ones..
Hi joy @JOYSofGLASS we were having a shift around as we have another opened shop and we were sorting what to move over. If that makes sense and we didn’t know that when you deleted a listing it also removed the photo of sold items…now we know we will remember for future reference…
and the additional postage is set at £0.00 so when a buyer buys more than 2 items they only pay one postage cost ..
Thank you for your feedback it’s very much appreciated
@CatLanternStudio We’d normally recommend using a mix of long and short, and for the multi word ones start with more common phrases (if you have a few single word ones it’ll usually keep you under the character limit).
The tag pages can show on Google, but if you’ve gone very specific, there’s less chance someone will be searching that phrase. Yours will probably be the only item on the tag page, and Google may not rank a tag page with only one item as highly.
Theme of the Day is also usually single word or 2 word phrases, as we’re looking for tags which already have quite a few items tagged in, so if you’re already using some single word tags, there’s a better chance you’ll be a match.
For example ‘pumpkin’ is a theme next month, but your pumpkins don’t use that tag. You’ve only used 8 tags so you should easily be able to fit the extra single word tag in. It’s also a much more used tag than ‘grey pumpkin set’, so there’s a better chance people will come across that tag page. Rather than having ‘grey pumpkin set’ all in one tag (which is very specific) it may be better to split to two less specific tags, maybe something like ‘set of pumpkins’ and ‘grey decor’, which are more likely to already have a few items Trying to get multiple keywords you haven’t used yet all in one tag might be a good idea if you’re near the end of the limit, but if you’ve only used half of your tags, split them up a bit so you’re included in those more well used tag pages which will be getting more views and are more likely to be selected as a theme.
Thanks Kim we were not quite sure how the tags actually worked we thought the more descriptive they were like we have seen on other sites the better it was.. but obviously folksy works in a different way..
I only had a really quick look but I think your shop looks lovely, I personally wouldn’t change the backgrounds of your photos as your items really stand out, i was just reading about photography on the Folksy blog and plain uncluttered images are often what they look for when they want to feature items.
I almost always use plain light coloured boards for mine. The only thing I would change is some of the photos show what looks to be the edge of a table or worktop at one corner of the images, I would crop or zoom the photos slightly more if possible to lose the corner where the table top ends then it will just look like a plain background.
Some of my photos have a line at the back where the base and back boards meet and I can’t always avoid it espcially with the bears as I take amlot of images with them sat against the boards but where possible I crop enough of the background so that it can’t be seen and when it can’t be avoided I make sure the boards overlap the right way so there isn’t a definite board edge showing.
One thing I did notice is that you have no about me (people do say that they like to see that) info or links to your social media? Although I did go and check out your Instagram and you do seem to be very active there which is another thing I would suggest, I think every thing else looks lovely tbh, although I haven’t done much in the sales department for ages so im not sure how reliable my comments are. I hope all that makes sense?
Hi Debby @Bearlescent Thank you as I take the photos I’m very limited on space being in a 1 bedroom council bungalow with trees and bushes around…I can edit them fine but once uploaded to folksy they change…as for my background I’ve tried loads of various locations indoors but the only thing that worked was actually my new kitchen floor but I have a few other ideas that I’m going to try this weekend on some new pieces ready to list
I like the kitchen floorboards as a background it looks really good and I like the colour so I think it works fine, better than my plain boards, I need some new ones as some are marked now.
Just had another look and your photos are really good, very clear and uncluttered.
I charge a flat rate postage, 48 hour tracked.
Orders over £25 upgraded to 24 hour tracked, no extra cost to the customer.
Orders over £50 I refund the postage fee and send foc.
Does not affect my sales, have had 61 this month.
When I buy prefer a flat rate knowing I can fill my basket without a shock,all the suppliers and companies I buy from online all use a flat rate.
but I have a few other ideas that I’m going to try this weekend on some new pieces ready to list