I’m new here and wondered about a few things

Hello all
I have a shop on Etsy and while it generates a few sales it’s expensive and has grown too big so I decided to try folksy which has a better ethic (ie handmade only)
Than Etsy which has gone the way of eBay just millions of resellers,
Ok rant over, this week I added a dozen items and knocked the shop into shape and within days I’ve got my first sale
I’ve received payment into PayPal and the item has today been packaged and dispatched
And is duly marked as shipped
Now this is done will the customer receive a notification that the package is on its way ?
I’m unsure of the process or should I send the buyer a email with the tracking details etc myself

My shop on folksy can be found at Chantrywood on Folksy
And if anyone would like to review my shop and give their feedback that would also be appreciated

Thanks ray

Welcome to Folksy Ray.
When you mark the item as shipped in your Orders list, the buyer will automatically receive an e-mail to say their item has been posted. If you send your items tracked, you could send them an additional e-mail with the tracking details.

Your shop looks good, but you might want to have a look at your tags. For instance your lovely beech cutting board with the chaos pattern ends - you don’t have cutting board or chopping board in the tags. Think of the phrases you would use if you were searching for such an item - cutting board, chopping board, wooden chopping board, kitchen chopping board, beech chopping board etc…

Hope that helps a bit. Good luck!

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Thank you for taking the time to reply I’ll have a look at the tags
It’s been a rush these last few days to get the shop populated with products and there is a few more yet to add
But I’ll certainly be looking them over again

Ray

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Hi Ray, welcome to Folksy! So, as Alison says, your customer gets an automated email to state that the order has been posted, but personally I still send an email when I first receive the order to attach their receipt & let them know when I’ll be posting out. I’ve had a fair few customers then reply to that email to start up chats about potential commissions or send feedback, so it’s worth still sending your own message in addition to the Folksy one. I think lots of people shop here because they like that personal touch!

Your items looks lovely - fab chopping boards. Agree with Alison on the tags. Try & think of some more long / niche tags rather than one word (everything here is handmade so that as a tag won’t help customers find you). There are some really good articles on the Folksy blog with seller tips & advice…

If you have any social media you can add links to those too & you’ll get shortcuts to them under your about section. Good luck!

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Thank you for your feedback and both of you for explaining the system emails on my other shop I always send a message to new buyers and once it’s on it’s way I’ll do the same here now I know better how things work
And I’ll also be fine tuning tags etc

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@OrukiDesign @FluffStuffCrafts - do either of you know how much influence, in searching, the title of an item has on Folksy- I too have a shop on Etsy and I believer that the title has a lot of influence on how your item is found. Not sure if I have explained myself very well so I hope you understand what I am asking.

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Hi Jo. So, I know it does have an influence, but I’m not certain what weighting the algorithm gives each section. I just try to make sure my title & first paragraph have plenty of keywords, then make sure all the materials, colours etc are filled in. I think the inspiration bit also gets searched but I don’t often fill that bit in - something else I need to think about! There were some fab little videos that Folksy did where they went through some listings to optimise them - well worth a watch if you have a few spare minutes. Here’s one of them…

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welcome @Chantrywood
I think I saw you on the forums…join in as many as you can.
The daily listing challenge is brilliant for helping you to get sales but you have to sign up and list an item every day for the month and also go to everyone elses, listed items on there and click to favourite them. It is hard work but gets you on the front page where hopefully people will see your items and then go to your shop.
There are other forums…like “What have you listed today!”…and alphabet games etc…all of them take time but it is the best way to get seen.
Everyone on folksy is lovely and there is always someone to help you if you get stuck.
It takes time to get sales and things are a bit slow at the moment but if you keep joining in then people will get to know you…good luck x

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Thanks for the advice, I did a search and my cutting boards crop up a lot so I’m quite happy on that score I decided to look through the forums to see what hints etc I could pick and so far iv3 learned a lot

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