[kaplods]

I've noticed that my sales have suddenly stalled, and I'm wondering if this is just normal for this time of year (I opened my shop in June or July of last year, but I didn't sell anything until August. I don't know if summer is just always slow (at least for some items) or if there's something else going on.

I've also wondered whether the problem may be that my shop is inventory is too divergent.

My stock varies, because I make whatever strikes my fancy, which for me can mean just about anything could show up in my store. However, most of my items tend to fall into three categories - crocheted monsters, customized fashion dolls, and crocheted doll furniture.

Right now, I have the items sorted into different sections, but I'm wondering whether it would be better to have two or three shops. I'm suspecting that shoppers might be put off by the incongruity in my shop. For example, folks looking for doll furniture for their child may be put off by the more adult-oriented customized dolls and/or the lightly "dark humor" of the Cthulhu items.

I'm also wondering if sci-fi and horror fans will be put-off by the "sweet" items.

I'm sure there's some impact having divergent product lines (I would be weirded out and suspicious of a seller who sold sex toys and baby clothes in the same shop), but I'm wondering whether my shop is all that divergent.

I see most of my items as being in the single category of "toys for people of all ages who haven't grown up yet," but I'm wondering if that's how potential customers see the shop - or if they think "What kind of weird person would create cute doll furniture and .... what the heck is that anyway?"

[Quiet Ballerina]

Full disclosure: I don't sell on etsy. I've shopped a little on there, but not much.

Have your prices always been in that range? I've never shopped for crocheted doll furniture, and I'm sure it's hard to make, but I don't know if I'd pay $24 (for example) for a couch for my kid's doll.

Actually, I looked around on etsy for other Barbie furniture and your pricing seems to be in line with other sellers. One thing I noticed some of them did was stage the furniture. Set up a house backdrop to make it look like the couch/chair was in Barbie's home. It looked nice. Maybe consider doing that?

You could use some decorated cardboard to make it easy enough. Cover it with scrapbook paper that looks like wallpaper. Add on wall details like windows.

I'd also think about describing the dimensions of the furniture in more detail.

Hope that helps!

[valalltogether]

like ballerina said, a good photograph is an important part for making a sale. but yours are professional enough, so i wouldn't fret about it.

i think one shop is good enough, you can categorize your stuff with "shop selections" no?

my mom has an etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/taylorglassworks) and she did some sales around xmas time, but recently had a couple out of nowhere so you can just never guess the shopping habits of people.

[kaplods]

Thanks to you both for your suggestions. I agree about the photos and displays and am working to always improve my photos and displays.


My winter sales were quite excellent (at least I thought so, for a new shop), so when the sales suddenly dropped off, I wondered if it was because of a normal "summer" trend, or if something I was doing differently was changing the buyer's view of my shop.

I started with the Cthulhu's and wackier customized dolls, so the shop had a bit of a off-kilter if not dark-humor feel when I opened. The doll furniture is a bit more mainstream, and I was wondering whether customers would care.

I'm suspecting reading some of the forums that summer is a natural slow-down period for most crafts (except those that are summer oriented like sandals, beachware and accessories....).

Originally Posted by Quiet Ballerina

I've never shopped for crocheted doll furniture, and I'm sure it's hard to make, but I don't know if I'd pay $24 (for example) for a couch for my kid's doll...your pricing seems to be in line with other sellers.

I do understand what you're saying about the pricing. I'm not sure I would pay my prices for what I make, but I've read that pricing things much lower than other sellers often can hurt sales in the long run (because people assume your products are inferior to the higher priced items), so I try to put my prices in the same range as other sellers.

I think one of the reasons my doll furniture is selling at what I consider high prices, is that most of my items have been designed for and sold to or for adult collectors (in fact some of my pieces are too delicate for children to play with, so I always have to be very careful about my descripitions), so it may be why they fetch higher prices than if I designed them as toys.

I'm also in the process of learning to write patterns, so I can transition to selling patterns rather than finished objects. I don't know if sales will be better for patterns, but most of the work is only done once, butany given pattern can continue to generate revenue indefinitely.

[Hotaruchan]

I'm not on etsy, and this is completely unhelpful, but GAH! Your mini Cthulhu dolls are too cute! I would want one if I still had a credit card to order things online and if international orders weren't a pain the butt...

I imagine that it may be a supply and demand type of thing if you're noticing a drop in sales...in summertime there's probably more people with free time on their hands, whether they're students, teachers, or just lucky enough to have a vacation. If that's true, crafters would naturally add to their inventory while they have time to devote to hobbies. Again, purely speculation, as most of my time on Etsy is spent drooling over steampunk corsets that I can't afford or stumbling through things that made their way to Regretsy posts.