Hello everyone,
I have recently opened my shop here on Folksy and would really appreciate any advice,tips and general feedback,
from fellow craftsmen and craftswomen.
Currently trying to navigate my way through the ample outlets of information and helpful avenues for us traders
to explore such as this platform,I really look forward to sharing ideas and talking with some of you,
If you have a spare couple of minutes please take a quick look at my shop,I would value any observations & opinions
that you can kindly share.
Nice to meet you all…Thank you and Best Regards
Darren
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Good evening, your work looks awesome, good luck with your new shop !
When I get a moment I shall look at your shop and FB page 
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Good evening to you too,
a massive thank you for being my first folksy person whom I have spoken to,I am getting used to the forum so
please excuse me if I do anything incorrectly 
Your work is beautiful by the way,very very nice!!!
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Your descriptions actually really confused me. They’re very long and seem to offer your opinion a lot. The way you have punctuated makes it quite confusing too.
You may want to think about including a photo of the item in daylight and not switched on. While it obviously won’t look as impressive that way, if I was to purchase one I’d still want to know what it’s going to look like in the house during the day- I think being able to see it clearer may help your description seem more obvious as well.
Don’t mean to be negative- hope it’s constructive though.
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Thanks very much,
that’s a great start for me,I understand completely what you are saying,the 2 mirrors I listed today have a picture of them in daylight which I think gives a very good image…also the photography is next on my list as I have a friend who is a pro photographer.
I suppose I have my technical head on a little in my descriptions…do you think?
First thing that I notice is that you use Disney images - do you have a license for using them? If so you need to make that very clear in your descriptions (sorry if I missed seeing that - my eyes are too tired at this time of the evening to read lengthy descriptions).
They are very striking items though.
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Hi and welcome to you.
I don’t think you are going to like this but you’re listing are in breach of Disnesy Trademark and they are very vigorous at going after those who breach their Trademark. They’ll get your shop shut down and are well known for suing as well.
Also you have used Micheal Jackson that’s also a problem and in breach of Trademark.
I suggest reading up on Copyright and Trademark laws.
Welcome to the House of Fun is also under copyright so can’t be used with the written permission of the copyright owners.
You clearly have talent so I would suggest coming up with your own designs/characters in order to be legal.
All the best with coming up with some great designs as you’re concept is brilliant.
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Hi,I am aware of the copyright issues surrounding the disney items,and have not sold any of these,I anticipated this feedback and wanted it confirmed…Welcome to the house of fun is not copyrighted as it is a phrase and cannot be copyrighted,having auctioned a Madness design Infinity mirror for charity and contacting their management with regard to them licensing my creations.
I do wonder however how the sellers of the disney decals I used to make those mirrors can trade them as there are hundreds of them
thanks very much for your time…I have a lot of my own creations sold on my own page that were
made to order,but I need to build up one off pieces for here,also I haven’t yet worked out how to advertise for custom pieces
Thank you for your kind comments
best regards
Darren
It doesn’t matter if you haven;t actually sold any or not - you are advertising copyright items for sale, and using the Disney name as part of your advertising.
The decals you used may well have been sold for personal use, or the sellers may have a licence.
Phrases can also be copyrighted / trademarked - not sure which it is as I only do original work - but recently ‘I Love You to the Moon and Back’ was made so that it couldn’t be used unless licensed - there are threads here on the forum somewhere about the subject.
Good evening and welcome to folksy,
you have an interesting product, not to my taste, but interesting none the less. A few comments on your listings:
- you don’t give any units with the measurements
- there is masses of information about the LEDs but no indication of how long the lead is (I’m assuming it needs plugging in, I don’t follow all of the technical stuff, I’m a plug and play kind of girl)
- do they come with any sort of wall hanging hooks/ cord attached - given that there are electronics involved I’d be concerned about screwing that sort of thing in myself in case I hit a cable
- there is a price at the top of the listing but at the bottom of the details you’ve got £POA which is it?
- grammar and punctuation aren’t my strong point but I can see plenty of issues in your text, whilst I mentally correct some of it, putting in spaces where appropriate, I’m not sure if search engines will do the same which means you run the risk of your work not being found by google (the tags are only for internal folksy searches)
- folksy crops the main image to square on your shop front and in search results - I know its not easy getting something long and thin to work in a square frame but you need to be mindful of how it will look when cropped to square (possibly resulting to bits being chopped off) - your photographer friend might have some staging suggestions that will give a pleasing square image.
It is possible to trademark phrases - Taylor Swift recently trademarked some lyrics from her ‘shake it off’ song - you might want to double check with Madness about using ‘welcome to the house of fun’ and if possible get written confirmation that they are happy for you to use it.
Good luck
Sasha
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They were for example only as there is no way I have worked out of showcasing something in your shop
that is not for sale…YET,all those mirrors were gifts.
The hundreds of decal sellers on ebay cannot be licensed,that would be impossible…and they are not my concern!
thanks again for your input…much appreciated.
Sara @DandelionsGallery is correct phrases can be copyrighted especially song titles which is what Welcome to the house of fun is it belongs to the song writer. It’s the song by the group Madness.
She is also correct about the whether you’ve sold or not as yet because it’s now in your shop. It’s a minefield as once it’s there it’s an infringement as you are offering it for sale. I hope that makes sense as I’m not sure if I’ve explained it very well.
Hi there,
wow that’s quite a list…haha,
firstly the units of measurement are there…(") denotes inches
secondly sure,I have my tech head on and forget the small details but that’s why i’m asking you seasoned guys for your feedback.I have the price,but I also want to be clear that I make to order which I have nowhere near worked out how to achieve.
Really,what’s wrong with my grammar?..I know it needs polishing!
Your point about the photo’s being cropped is a brilliant one,that is something I missed totally
As I mentioned in a previous post I am confident I am legal,I have no wish to exploit any copyright as I have been in contact with Madness management
and Band members personally
Phew this is one hell of a busy night…haha!
Thanks Sasha
Thanks for your reply,
Madness never made a song with that title,the other items no longer exist here and were all gifts
thanks for your thoughts.
Evening and welcome Darren all the best with this venture.
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Thank you very much…I must say a baptism of fire and a few schoolboy errors but nothing I can’t iron out!
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Don’t worry Darren it’s always a big learning curve and we’d all rather see people succeed by ironing out the bumps at the beginning rather than crash later and maybe find it a very expensive trail.
We look forward to seeing your new designs and hope the sales come quickly for you 
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Thanks Eileen,
I went about some things the wrong way with the best of intentions,the ‘to the pointness’ of some replies have saved me
a lot of trouble down the line,that’s for sure! I really appreciate everyones help and pointers,felt under attack for a bit there…haha,but all good
Good Morning,
you did have a baptism of fire from us last night didn’t you. Part of me wishes wishes that I’d asked for feedback when I started as I’m still tracking down and correcting mistakes that got copied from my few initial listings to the many I have now. Maybe grammar is the wrong word to have used - I used to do a lot of proof reading and got very good at spotting all the missing spaces and extras that hadn’t been deleted when things were edited. I see that you have rounded out some sentences already but here is an excerpt copied from one of your listings:
cut the design to create a stencil which I then use to sandblast the design
onto the rear mirror.The design remains invisible until the led’s are powered on,the front mirror being 2-way(I
I shall now apply the metaphorical red pen…
cut the design to create a stencil which I then use to sandblast the design onto the rear mirror. The design remains invisible until the led’s are powered on, the front mirror being 2-way (I
I’ve deleted a carriage return and added a space after ‘design’ and added spaces after the full stop, comma and ‘2-way’. As I said before too much time spent proof reading.
Hope that’s clarified my earlier comment.
Sasha
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Welcome to Folksy Darren @darrenbudd. Love the mirrors, very different! Wishing you all the best with you’re new shop. x
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