I’ve been relatively successful on Folksy over the past few years, even making it onto the best sellers list once, but recently (this year) my sales and views seem to be taking a nosedive, even though I’ve listed lots of new jewellery. I have regular sales on etsy. I haven’t changed anything about how I list or promote - are my items just not fashionable here now? Or am I doing something wrong - has something on Folksy changed? Search perhaps? I’m quite puzzled.
If anyone has any advice then I’d be really pleased!
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I noticed we’ve come out of beta mode very recently, that might have made a difference? My folksy sales have nosedived this month too, although I did take 2 weeks off at the end of July so can’t say whether that is more to blame.
If it had just been the past month I’d understand, as summer can be usually quieter, but it seems to have just been tailing off all year, even Christmas was a bit of a disappointment. I’m feeling very disheartened 
Your jewllery is really lovely Linda, maybe it is that everyone on holidays and I am hoping that September will get customers, I hope! 
Me too, I havnt had any ses in order for them to dwindle. I had 1 sale in February. Very disheartening, opefully Christmas will get better tis year.
I sold two items in May this year and that’s been it. I need to do more marketing really and shout out to potential customers where my items are! But I’ve a feeling my potential customers don’t do much shopping online and am considering approaching bricks and mortar shops later in the year.
I do think from other crafty forums and networking pages that Etsy is more popular, Folksy hardly ever gets mentioned and everyone wants to be on NOTHS!
I think both Etsy and NOTHS are both more instantly recognisable brands within the UK than Folksy, partly due to the way they advertise.
I may be wrong, but the majority of Folksy advertising seems to be in craft and making magazines, rather than in the general public eye.
Folksy is much more reliant on a seller’s active promotion outside of the Folksy platform to generate sales and traffic.
Sarah x
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I don’t want to be on NOTHS. It seems to be becoming increasingly commercial and besides, I’d never be able to afford their fees! I have bought from folksy and etsy, but never from NOTHS.
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I don’t want to be on it either @HandbagsbyHelen for exactly the same reasons as you state, but some seem to see it as having “made it” if they pass the selection process!
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Hi Linda @temporalflux 
I think your jewellery looks beautiful and your shop offers lots of choice. I really don’t know what the answer is to dwindling sales 
I too have hit a dry spell. I spend more time promoting than actually creating anything and yet most if not all my views come from threads on this forum.
I’ve not long upgraded to Folksy Plus so I will carry on stocking up my shop in the hope that the sales fairy returns waving her magic wand. I know building these shops up takes time, dedication and tons of patience so I’m not giving up yet, but I think I need to think about other avenues for the future. It is a business after all 
Let’s hope things pick up for us all soon
Karen 
I tried to register on NOTHS and was told my items weren’t what they were looking for.
Pauline
@ Linda: Folksy has been making lots of changes since the beginning of the year. I’m tempted to say this might be the reason why your views and sales are lower than before. Even if the existing customers aren’t buying, they are always new people coming to your shop and Folksy so I wouldn’t assume there is no interest for your style of work anymore.
Perhaps Folksy should try advertising, like etsy did, but I do understand that would be expensive. It would raise awareness of Folksy generally though.
I have plus membership until November I think, so I will wait and see what happens, and hopefully sales might pick up as the summer passes and people start to think about Christmas.
I’ve not bought from NOTHS either. I do know sellers on there, but it is too expensive for me to sell there
I have bought on both Folksy and etsy though.
Maybe we should make our own TV commercial from homemade clips of our handmade stuff and submit it to the Folksy team.
Sorry to be daft and Im sure this has been discussed before but where do you guys advertise/promote. I constantly add links to Twitter and have a FB page(but get less views when I add links to my work) Ive no idea where else to try.
have you tried promoting on pinterest, stumbleupon, wanelo, google+, craftjuice
as well as twitter and facebook
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interesting comments about noths my husband runs as his main business an internationally recognised brand with a subsidary business he applied to noths only to be turned down without explaination which seemed somewhat strange as he was approached directly by Amazon for them to buy from him directly. He hass also gained distributors now in several countries he says that the criteria that noths use seemed to be vague in the extreme and appear to be more interested in collecting the sign up fee than they are in promoting quality products, also they need their shops to attend at their own cost their meetings. It seems almost to be a bit of a closed club that excludes businesses that are likely to be successful in their own right.
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My friend was told that too, then a few weeks later someone was selling EXACTLY the same things she applied with on there.
I wouldn’t go near NOTHS too exclusive, too many restrictions and expensive to join. IMO
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I think it is very easy to beat ourselves up when we trade OnLine but my hubby has a retail shop (a Gallery actually) and things have been really really hard in general. We aren’t immune to the fact that people are much more strapped for cash these days and whatever the Government likes to tell us, the average man in the street is NOT better off…I think we have to adjust our expectations, always assess our products and just hang in there. Don’t give up as people will always want something unique. Just right now however, people are having to think of surviving and with hungry/demanding kids at home at the mo we are all going to feel the pinch.
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I do use pinterest, twitter and facebook, but mainly from my etsy account - which does explain why my etsy sales are higher than folksy to some extent. But my main concern was the decline in sales, from several per month last year (even through the summer) to none for well over a month now.
If I did spend a lot of time promoting I wouldn’t have time to make all my jewellery though.
Linda @TemporalFlux I’m absolutely with you! My sales last year on Folksy were on the increase and things were really picking up. After Christmas, very little. I haven’t changed the way I promote, I’m increasing the number of items and range in my shop here on Folksy but very few sales. No idea why. I’m more active here in Shop Talk and have a Pinterest account, also do Facebook. Sales from the other site across the water have steadily been increasing and, interestingly, many more orders coming from the UK. My own website has also seen a steady increase in sales.
I will renew my Plus Account in November but if the run up to Christmas doesn’t see a considerable improvement … well, I guess I’ll just wait and see!
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