I'm in the process of cleaning my crafting room in order to redecorate/organize, and to shift my focus from making FO's (finished objects for noncrafters) to sell to primarily designing and selling patterns. As part of the cleaning, I'm trying to reduce my current inventory of items up for sale (and a few items to soon be put for sale).

I actually need to sell the stuff as much or more than I need to make a profit, so I'm actually considering some fairly steep discounts.

I've thought of sending coupons to previous buyers and/or to the people who favorited my shop (or do you think people will consider this invasive, rude, or tacky?)

I've seen some sellers put everything in their store on sale, and I've considered that as well.

Just wondering what other people's experience with discounting items, store-wide sales and/or sending coupons to previous buyers and folks who have favorited your items or shops.

I'm also getting TONS of folks favoriting my shop, but since Christmas no buyers. For those of you who've been around etsy longer, is that just a typical buying cycle (I expected fall and winter to have the most sales, but I wasn't expecting sales to drop so dramatically). Am I perhaps overpricing my items (I have to admit pricing is my biggest challenge)? Or in this economy have people just stopped buying frivolous items (my items definitely fit into the frivolous category, no one needs weird toys designed mostly for weird grown ups)..

If I were you, I would put my entire store on sale and advertise wherever I could (think social networking - Facebook, google, blog, etc.) I would also consider sending a coupon to customers, although not to "favorite-ers".

Good luck with your sale and transition to selling patterns! Patterns are definitely easier, just send an email and you're done. I don't have any input about your prices, because I'm not very familiar with items like yours. However, I also struggle with pricing my own items, so I understand your struggle! I'm constantly tweaking pictures and prices.