Hi there, I’ve recently discovered folksey and I’m interested in selling my wedding stationery on this platform.
I have a few questions that I hoping some of you could help me with:
1 - Is it worth it? How many people are actually selling enough on this platform to make it a worth while investment of time and money?
2 - Is there quality control on the images and businesses? I’ve spent 9 years building up my business and pride myself on quality, is there a quality control on folksy?
3 - Can product images contain a watermark? All my images hold a watermark to stop others using work and images illegally, so are watermarked images allowed?
Thanks in advance for you honest answers.
Best Kel
Welcome to Folksy - as you’ll no doubt find out Folksy consists of thousands of shops run by a bunch of very different people from all walks. It works very well for some but it may not work for others. Ultimately I think you are the only person that can make a judgement about whether your products will match the site and whether you will make enough money from it to justify your time and efforts.
The quality control on Folksy is down to you. If you sell good quality products I’m sure you’ll get repeat business. In terms of photography etc, Folksy is open to all: so for example some people have better photography skills than others but there is no one person overseeing and deciding whether a product/ photo etc is good enough or not.
The forums are used by a small handful of shop-owners. They can give you a good insight on certain areas but not everyone uses the forums so it’s not necessarily reflective of how the site runs as a whole.
You are certainly free to use watermarks and some Folksy shops do use them. Hope that helps, no definitive answers maybe but a starting point!
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Questions 2 and 3 I can answer, question 1 is up for debate some do very well here, others less so.
2) there is no quality control on folksy for either images or businesses. Overseas based shops or those reselling are removed by admin but after that anyone UK based can list anything if it complies with the terms and conditions.
3) Images can contain a watermark, you are perhaps more likely to get used in gift guides/ folksy promotion etc if the water mark is discreet if you want to keep them. (little black heart is used in folksy promotion and uses watermarks so have a look at her shop to see what I mean).
Hope that helps
Sasha
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Thank you Sasha & Textile Treasures for taking the time to respond.
This is great starting point and introduction to the site.
Our shop on here is new. We joined folksy and etsy at about the same time a month ago. So far we have received ten orders via folksy. Its early days but i would say the investment is worthwhile but it will be a marathon not a sprint to the winning line.
Stats are comparable with other platforms in terms of impressions and views but our conversion is a little lower, whilst average order higher.
In terms of the watermarking issue, you clearly retain ownership of the image, so were you to find it being used elsewhere you could ask for it to be removed from that platform. We just had to request that on ebay.
Personally I wouldnt bother watermarking as the downside isn’t as great as the upside.
Hope this helps
Best
steve
