Tips for Dealing with Difficult Customers
Customers are like snowflakes; no two are alike. Some are wonderful people that reinforce your belief in humanity while others make you question why you ever got out of bed. Thankfully, most customers fall somewhere in the middle and are pleasant, happy people. It’s important to recognize the potential high maintenance customers before you accept their orders and to be aware of potential business challenges you may face. So how do you spot different personalities?
Etsy now integrates with 3D printing marketplace Shapeways, a top manufacturer and marketplace for 3D printed goods for small businesses. Shapeways offers over 40 materials and finishes and has offices in both the Netherlands and New York.
Anne LaFollette shares her expertise licensing your work in the surface design industry. Anne covers five key steps before you sign your first contract. 
Partnerships between retail shops and indie makers can be fruitful and mutually supportive. Consignment can help craftspeople reach new customers, and offers a proving ground for makers interested in expanding into wholesale. Curious about what consignment means, and whether it’s a good fit for your business?
You’ve probably seen posts on Instagram, they have a little shopping bag icon in the corner. That icon is a product tag and it indicates that this is a post in which you can tap on that icon and learn more about the product in the image. This is called Shopping on Instagram, and you can use it to feature your products through your organic posts and Stories.
On April 7 PayPal released an update to its user agreement that changed how the company handles refunds. The new policy, which goes into effect on May 7, will significantly impact ecommerce sellers who use PayPal to process credit card transactions.
Motivated by the desire to make their own costumes, cosplayers are buying sewing machines, patterns, fabrics and supplies and they’re taking classes to develop their sewing skills. The sewing industry is taking note, especially since cosplayers are typically between 18-39 years old, a market that retailers are desperate to reach.
Use our Ecommerce Checklist to make sure your site isn’t missing anything! Let us help you use all the tools available to bring and retain customers.
Etsy sellers have been persistently asking for phone support from the online marketplace for many years now, and yesterday their request was finally fulfilled. In an update to the Seller Handbook Etsy staff explained, “We’ve been working to make support on Etsy even better with a suite of new help tools so you can contact us when you need to get answers quickly. With our new phone support option, you’ll have a direct line to an Etsy support advisor.”
Digital files are a popular product to sell on Etsy. They’re a terrific source of passive income, meaning you do the work to design and create the file once and then sell it infinitely, even while you sleep. Still, passive income is never really passive. Customers often need help and support, especially when it comes to figuring out how to download their digital file after purchase. Here are some helpful tips to make the process smoother for everyone.
The fiber festival is a unique and specific kind of yarn experience. Differing from a retreat or educational conference, a fiber festival has its roots in connecting small-scale fiber producers and makers to fiber enthusiasts who are looking for specialty products and to those who are curious about where yarn comes from.
On Friday morning Etsy withdrew money from the bank accounts and credit cards of some sellers without their permission. The amounts of the withdrawals varied, but some were in the hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Here are ways Etsy sellers can protect themselves from financial mishaps like this in the future.
Marie Forleo’s B-School is an 8-week online training course about business and marketing for multi-passionate, big-hearted craft entrepreneurs. 
Berlin-based Makerist would love to work with more American crafters. Makerist—voted one of Germany’s top 20 Internet start-ups last year—is a market leader in Europe for digital patterns and e-learning related to sewing, knitting and crochet. They recently entered the North American market, and founders Axel Heinz and Amber Riedl and their team are particularly interested in working with U.S.-based digital pattern makers and with those who love to instruct via video.
Bestselling patterns frequently have elements in common. Working to include some, or all, of these in a pattern, can help it have a better shot at rising to top seller status.
Email is the most cost-efficient form of advertising, and it’s one of the few places to spend marketing budget where you can actually see return on investment (ROI). The money that you spend on email marketing can be directly tied to actual sales generated from email campaigns. 
Online class and supplies platform, Craftsy.com, alerted pattern designers yesterday that it plans to reduce the size of its pattern marketplace as part of a revamp coming in 2019. According to the FAQ document linked to in the email, the Craftsy team reviewed 220,000 patterns from 12,000 shops leading up to yesterday’s notice. 
Fabric company RJR sent an email to retailers notifying them of a minimum advertised pricing (MAP) policy that will go into effect for Cotton+Steel on December 1, 2018. The policy limits the ability of retailers to advertise prices below a certain level.
In these sample return policies you can see what kinds of issues might arise and put some thought into what policy makes sense for your specific products and for your particular business.