My folksy plus will be coming to an end in the next few weeks. I don’t know whether its worth renewing.
I promote regularly via Twitter which gets lots of hits but doesn’t translate into sales. It feels like it’s been a very slow 12 months with only a handful of sales. I doubt I’ve made enough to cover last year’s fee.
I’ve tried to keep my shop well stocked, I’ve found it difficult to list similar items in variations of colour and design which I don’t think has helped - I don’t find folksy good for that at all!
So, I’m considering just letting the subscription run out. Anyone in a similar boat?
The plus account only makes financial sense if you are going to list/ relist 250 items in the year. You’ve got 52 items in your shop so if you only relist them when the listings are due to expire then it doesn’t make sense to fork out for the plus account, especially if you aren’t going to keep the more christmassy things in the shop all year round. For me personally with about 300 items in my shop the plus account is a no brainer but I always relist everything in my shop just before it runs out and then wait a month or so before I renew it.
Folksy isn’t ideal for listing the same thing in different colours ways is it.
Sasha
As Sasha says I have loads in my shop so there’s always something to renew every day for me the plus account is now a must as I’d never keep up with the listing and renewing fees.
It’s is really hard work on Folksy and tbh I don’t think I’ve done that well untill my last few months but then I knew it was going to take at least 2 years before I would see any real sales in my shop.
I’ve noticed the longer you stick it out with the more promoting in as many places as you can think, the more you add to your shop the more sales you finally get.
I think too many people give up far too early.
You are certiantly getting sales but are you really charging enough to cover all your costs?
Don’t forget to add on for your Folks fees and paypal fees, your material costs and a profit margin.
You sold some lovely bunting but I would have expected to pay at least £10 for it.
I think you might want to look at raising your prices.
Thank you for your messages. Sasha, I think its a fair point about my volumes, I suppose it ‘seems’ more economical to have the plus, but in reality it only works if I’m listing sufficient items.
Pricing I always find difficult and there is no way that it would cover the actual time that I put into making things, my prices cover my materials but not my time. I find it a difficult balance to cost my items competitively at a price that I think people would be happy to pay which almost always doesn’t include my time. But saying that, even at these prices, I sell very little.
Yes, thinking the same thing. I use fb, twitter and ig but this does not translate into sales. I am constantly exploring and experimenting with my art and consequently find it difficult to create a ‘brand’. Don’t know whether that makes a difference!
You really do need to raise your prices. Buyers come here because they want to buy quality handmade, not mass-produced tat, and will expect to pay more for it. If you massively under-price, as you have done, buyers will naturally assume that you aren’t selling quality items and won’t buy.
It’s a difficult one. I just added up my sales with and without the plus account- I made slightly less this year without it, but not £45.00 less, then again I may have made a lot more sales if I’d been able to renew listings regularly. I think you do need at least 100 listings to warrant a plus account, and I had well over that when I used it.
I agree about the prices, although I do think your items are lovely.
We’ve been chatting away on Twitter tonight for #folksyhour, and I’ve picked up lots of tips in the months it’s been running and it’s lovely chatting to other shop owners and experts on there too. Maybe worth joining in next week and asking some questions? It’s Tues nights at 8pm if you fancy it.
Have you looked at the folksy seller tips on the blog for any help/suggestions? I would suggest re looking at your photos as photos really sell a product. You have some colour casting on some of your images (maybe from indoor lighting?). Also ones like the Babushka dolls, which are lovely, could’ve had some lifestyle shots of them hanging on a tree. I would also get consistent with your backgrounds - some use a green cloth, others a red check one (which is quite busy and detracts from the items), some a cream one, another a dark grey one. You’ve got some lovely items and I don’t feel the photos do them justice - maybe a photo reshoot would freshen things up whilst bringing some consistency to your brand?
I think the plus account is worth it, but I would double what you have in your shop, and I would think about taking your photos again, on a consistent background, try taking them ouside on a bright day, also some of your work looks creased, which I know is how the fabric turns up sometimes, I have a semi professional presser, which is brilliant for clothes and work, but an iron will work just as well.
