Sone of us have noticed that the new format listing page no longer has the inspiration field.
Now In the past I often use this field to tell a little story.. eg. I designed this for a commission, i made this as an anniversary gift for a friend etc ..as well as sometimes using it to specify my postal policy and method.
The latest Folksy initiative is for listings which make good gifts and tell a story.
All my listings make good gifts. I run a gift shop !
And many have, or had, little stories already in there …at least they did have but no longer as the new listing format has removed it. What a shame Folksy didn’t think to add the inspiration text to the end of the longer description instead of chopping it off without telling us first.
I note also that the latest initiative exhorts us to tell our customers how we can offer a gift service. How handy it would be if we could do just that instead of having to guess that an order is to be sent direct to a recipient and not the unnamed person who has ordered it…
How useful it would it be to us all if Folksy spent their spare time adding a very much needed gift message facility and direct recipient address box . Pretty sure it would bring in more sales than a few tagged products. Pretty sure we have been asking for it… for…ever ??
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Well put Joy. I am also going to offer a gift wrap service, hopefully can add the address to the variations and message etc. Trouble with that is customers may not want to pay for gift wrap. May have to set one up as special instructions for a nominal fee say 10p.
However that is a work around and should be available under check out to make it look more professional. If only for instructions many will not see the extra service.
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I hadn’t really thought about offering a ‘gift’ / ‘direct to recipient’ service until recently (still so much to learn). The last two sales I’ve had, the buyer has asked me to send the cards directly to the recipient with their required message/greeting - which they’ve done via a message to the seller (me). I guess without anything built into how we list our items, I’ll have to think of a way I can offer this or mention this that looks professional and easy enough to understand and do… Hmmmm.
You will find sometimes that the customer does not tell you you are sending direct and as you only get as email address and a postal address you may well not realise … It is very easy to send information with your order to the recipient that the customer may prefer not to have been sent. Also it is very possible if you have not been given a message that the recipient will have no idea who sent it to them.
You are not, under Gpdr rules, allowed to tell them who sent it unless the customer asked you to, via their message.
I have spent many a frustating hour trying to contact a customer to ask them if they are indeed sending direct and if so do they have a message I can include.
I am after all a Gift shop so actually send about 20% of orders direct.
It is most unsatisfactory
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Absolutely Joy. Luckily for me, both orders have been very explicit as to requirements (their message and who it needed to be sent to).
On a side note, a personal thanks from me to you - whilst I may not contribute to every forum post, I read pretty much all of them and I’ve learnt so much from everyone here, and you especially - you definitely come across as a font of knowledge so thank you for being so generous with your advice.
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Kimberley Thank you, you have made me very happy. I’ve been here since 2009 and was also, though a long time ago, ex techie IT, so I do try to help whenever I can. xx
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