Having recently opened a Folksy Store, I have been a little upset and disheartened to find an earlier post which has now made me question whether I have made an error of judgement.
I sell commercial craft supplies and had hesitated over whether to use Folksy for this purpose for some time. However, having researched my various options, I came to the conclusion that crafters have to purchase craft supplies, so why not provide a service giving that opportunity directly to sellers and other buyers within the Folksy community.
I am also foremost a crafter and designer and do intend to sell handcrafted items at a future date. I may amend my profile to reflect this. But I am an independent retailer currently. My supplies are covered within the commercial craft supplies categories supplied by Folksy.
The last thing I wish to do is to cause any issues within the Folksy community. Indeed, I have spent as much time supporting and promoting other sellersā items as I have my own. I have also made my first purchase of a handcrafted item from a fellow seller almost immediately of joining.
I have attempted to be as active within the community as time will allow and have spent a great deal of time setting up my Folksy Store, within the short time that it has been operational.
I now to need decide whether this is the correct forum for me to be using, both currently and in the long-term.
This has been a difficult thread to compose, but the previous thread I found relating to the sellers who sell non-handmade items has made me extremely uneasy and I felt I had to share my feelings.
I hold my hands up to say that I was one of those who queried whether or not people were allowed to sell commercial supplies.
Folksy is a place for the sale of hand made arts and crafts in the UKā¦and there is a fine line as to what folksy allow or disallowā¦
For example people cannot put a shop bought charm on a chain and sell itā¦that is not allowedā¦so it sometimes seems wrong that supplies are allowed to be soldā¦especially if they havenāt been made by the shop ownerā¦
However, it seems that what you sell is allowed and if I personally caused any upset, then I sincerely apologiseā¦
Folksy DO ask us to report things if we think they are not allowed , as they like to check and sometimes shops do slip through.
One example being someone who listed and their shop was all in a foreign languageā¦
Please stayā¦folksy is a lovely place to be and everyone is really niceā¦it is just that most of us like to keep an eye out and query anything that we are not sure aboutā¦
One thing no one does is to ever name or identify the shops we are talking aboutā¦we often come on here to ask if things are allowed or not and then IF in doubt we notify admin and leave it to them to decide.
Againā¦apologies from me and please stay Folksy obviously allow you to sell what you do or they would have asked you to goā¦xx
Thank you for your comments. They are appreciated. I do appear to be in the minority of sellers with commercial supplies. Whether that is a good thing or not, I have yet to find out. I do have lots more items to sell and look forward to having the opportunity to include my own hand crafted items too.
I will give the matter some more thought as it is very early days yet. I would like to feel that I and my Store ābelongā to the Folksy community.
I am sure you doā¦and I am sure you will do wellā¦
tomorrow a new day and a new monthā¦welcome xxx
I do wish that folksy rules were more clear thoughā¦it is very confusing for all of us to know what is and isnāt allowedā¦and I know that when the new rules were introduced some people who made jewellery were very upset to be told that they could no longer sell their itemsā¦and I suppose quite rightly they wondered why they couldnāt sell their items when people could sell balls of yarn etcā¦baffles me stillā¦lolā¦xx (so in effect they could sell bought in charms and chains but they couldnāt assemble them and sell themā¦)
Hi Paula. I cannot see anything wrong with your shop items, and why anyone would want to object to them, if thatās whatās happened. Everyone who does paper crafting needs to buy pretty card and papers. Buttons and Books, all necessary. The trouble is being found on Folksy, are there any of the September themes that your items could be included in? that might give you a bit more chance of being seen. You seem to already be running a successful business. Keep going with your shop. I see you have the Plus Account, so relist as many of your items as you wish every day to get them seen, thatās part of the Plus account advantage. Good luck.
Thank you very much Marg. This is a very different forum for me to use and will take some getting used to, both for myself and possibly fellow Folksy sellers seeing more commercial craft supplies being added. I hope that I can bring something different to the community and look forward also to being able to include my handcrafted items too, which was my initial draw to Folksy. I find that aspect extremely daunting at the moment, having seen the vast array of premium makes for sale.
I would love to see more supplies being sold here as I would rather make a purchase from a Folksy seller than from any other site. Also I know that sometimes makers have to buy more of a crafting item than we actually need so it is good to be able to sell the surplus.
I think Folksy need to demonstrate more clarity in asserting that commercial, factory made supplies are allowed. I think itās possible to get a bit jittery when mass produced items start appearing, but if itās clear they are supplies, then all should be fine. Personally, I would love to buy my art supplies from a Folksy seller, rather than from Ebay, Amazon or the Dark Side. .
Folksy clearly have a section for ācommercial craft suppliesā so I donāt think thereās anything wrong with you selling here, if Folksy didnāt think it was appropriate they would never have created the section and all its sub-sections.
I agree that us sellers are all likely to need some sort of commercial craft supply at some point, so if the market is already here then it seems the perfect place. I view it as Folksy selling beautifully handcrafted items, and items to help you craft yourselfā¦ so either way itās appreciating handmade, it just gives an option for when you want to be the creative one.
Plus as @plumporridge says, sellers will end up with too many supplies at times, or things they no longer use and want to destash, so itās great for us that we could get rid of overstock here, and it wouldnāt really seem fair (or easy) to draw a line between destashing and reselling.
Thatās really good to hear. When I researched various selling platforms, there seemed to be a reasonable amount of commercial craft supplies for sale on Folksy, but I have since discovered that there are in fact very few sellers. I feel as if I have caused a bit of a stir since I opened my Folksy Store and that is the last thing I wanted to happen. I hadnāt realised that to many existing Folksy sellers of handcrafted items, Folksyās policies appear to be a little on the vague side as to what is and what is not allowed to be sold commercially. The categories appeared to be straightforward to me, but perhaps that is because I am used to selling on a commercial basis. Although I have a few items that I have had to list under the āeverything elseā category, which is a little disappointing.
If there are any particular craft supplies not currently available for sale on Folksy that other sellers and potential buyers would like to see, then if I have stock available, or can acquire, I would be very happy to list these. At this early stage, it is very much trial and error for me, but I would prefer to be able to supply what people are actually looking for.
Thank you very much Christine. There was no direct objection as such to my Store in particular. More general comments and concerns about the lack of clarity of what is and isnāt allowed to be sold commercially on what is after all a marketplace for the sale of handcrafted items predominantly and the plethora of commercial craft supplier who seemed to be appearing more than often at weekends. Incidentally I was not one of those lol.
As a fellow crafter and designer I do of course recognise the skill and time involved in creating each handmade item. But as an independent retailer also, I rely on my business as my only source of income and do have to place large orders with each supplier, hence the necessity to use more than one method of selling in an already crowded online marketplace. I just hope that I have chosen wisely using Folksy.
@CharmelCraftsandGifts, your shop is lovely, I just wanted to say a big thank you to you, since opening your shop you have been my biggest fan/follower constantly and you have spent a considerable amount of time on the forums helping to promote other peoples shops. I bought a huge amount of papercraft supplies last year but sadly havnāt had time to use them, I would have purchased from you at the time if you had been on here. Maybe Folksy should make it clearer as to exactly what is allowed for sale as there does seem some confusion, I know there are other shops selling commercial supplies including fabrics, ribbons, stamps etc. I asked Folksy a while back whether I was able to advertise a set of 5 purchased jute bags for sale and they said yes commercial craft supplies were allowed. Hope you continue with your shop and I wish I had more people as interested in my shop as you have been recently.
Thank you so much for your kind comments. It was lovely to read your message. I love your makes, as I do many of the other sellers on here. I am in awe at how talented you all are.
Itās been a bit of emotional journey for me opening my Folksy Store. I started off crafting, designing and making many years ago, before having my family. But then life took over and I was diagnosed with chronic health conditions 10 years ago. I had to leave a career in local government after long-term sick leave and my job ādisappearingā due to reorganisation. I started my business 7 years ago, selling craft supplies and gifts, bourne of my love of crafting and it has taken over my life and is now a necessity. I never seem to have the time though to do what I used to do. But seeing all your lovely makes is giving me so much inspiration and the urge to get designing and making again. That seems like a huge step for me at the moment though. I am crafting still as I run a craft group and attend others when I am able to, but selling again would be the next big step to take.
So thank you for your support and to all the other sellers who have sent messages, favourited my store and my individual items. I would like very much to be part of the Folksy community, I will keep listing my supplies and would love to hear of anything anyone is looking for that I can acquire for you. I hope that I can join you all in the not distant future with some of my makes too.
Iām sure youāll do very well on Folksy and hopefully get back into crafting and listing your makes again.
I also had to leave my job due to chronic health and pain and struggled to come to terms with disability but the huge life change gave me the opportunity to start making as a job rather than just a hobby, Iām sure there are many others in similar situations.
There are indeed some wonderful shops on Folksy and itās lovely to see so many varied crafts, it really is a lovely community, I have had some great advice and help from fellow sellers on numerous occasions so it looks as though I may be sticking around a while yet
Looking forward to seeing your makes when you have the chance, good luck with your shop xx
Thank you so much for your kind comments. It was lovely to read your message. I love your makes, as I do many of the other sellers on here. I am in awe at how talented you all are.
Itās been a bit of emotional journey for me opening my Folksy Store. I started off crafting, designing and making many years ago, before having my family. But then life took over and I was diagnosed with chronic health conditions 10 years ago. I had to leave a career in local government after long-term sick leave and my job ādisappearingā due to reorganisation. I started my business 7 years ago, selling craft supplies and gifts, bourne of my love of crafting and it has taken over my life and is now a necessity. I never seem to have the time though to do what I used to do. But seeing all your lovely makes is giving me so much inspiration and the urge to get designing and making again. That seems like a huge step for me at the moment though. I am crafting still as I run a craft group and attend others when I am able to, but selling again would be the next big step to take.
So thank you for your support and to all the other sellers who have sent messages, favourited my store and my individual items. I would like very much to be part of the Folksy community, I will keep listing my supplies and would love to hear of anything anyone is looking for that I can acquire for you. I hope that I can join you all in the not distant future with some of my makes too.
