I love the Holidays! Busy Busy Busy!

So far this year has been amazing!  My very first year "in the business" and everything has been going so well.  Not only have I made a lot of new friends thru the Etsy.com community but also I have had the opportunity to sell INTERNATIONALLY.  My first international sale back in August was to Australia.  There are so many things I learned by having to ship internationally that I had never expected before.  There are TWO different types of Custom Forms to choose from, and it is BEST to have the Post office or FedEx place help you decide which one you are supposed to fill out.  In my case because my items are merchandise, non-perishable items, they have me fill out the simple customs form.  My most recent sale that was international was to Barcelona, Spain.  

This got shipped this afternoon!  

The best part about making things by hand is that more and more people now a days are starting to truly appreciate the hard work and artistry it can take.  More and more people are willing to order things from people like me because they know what I make is HAND CRAFTED, and no two items are ever alike.  Even if you purchase the same item, because even the same color yarn can have a different length in between colors or even thickness, no matter what you do, each item is one of a kind.  They are all beautiful, that is what I love.  I have been crocheting for over 23 years, so my technique is quite exceptional, so the only thing that is really a surprise in my work is what the yarn does while I am creating a new masterpiece.

These two were my most recent sale of my "One of a kind" slouchy hats.  I love Lion Brand Homespun yarn.  I have said it a thousand times and I will continue to say it.  No matter what color I have bought, it never ceases to amaze me with the finished product.

And I can't forget this little beauty!  This is one of my other best sellers.  Sold 3 so far this year!  I love how amazing they all come out when they are complete.  This is a Secret Santa present!  Goddess, I love the holidays.  :)

I'm gonna give them one more try but I swear if it doesn't sell I'm never going back to Tophatter again!!!

I don't even know where to begin.  My frustrations with this site are thru the roof right now.  As much as I love getting ANY type of exposure where my stuff gets to be seen and at least looked at is great but what happened this morning was ridiculous!  So in my first post about this I mentioned that I was told that if you get to an auction on time you can list an item that day for that "fair" and sell it hopefully, which I did this morning at the 9am accessories auction.  My daughter didn't have school so I was able to get there and log in at 8am which is when they opened the auction room and list this Zebra Print Cell phone Pouch with Red Satin Lining.  

I have sold one of these from my Etsy shop and personally know the lady who bought it now, and she loves it.  She uses it everyday and tells me about how much she loves it every time I see her.  It is one of my pride and joys to be honest and I haven't really tried to make many more of them because of how unique they are, but I decided that since I already have another one just sitting around it might as well get sold.  

Long story short, I get it listed and it goes into the auction but I get all of about 15 seconds of it up on the block before the item is closed and no one bought or even bid on it. They don't even tell you that there is a same day listing fee of $1 that you have to pay no matter if the item sells or not, that I am now responsible for.  Not that bad but I can't keep paying $1 every auction and not have the item sell.  I don't make enough money for that, and to me $1 for 15 seconds of exposure is FLAT OUT ROBBERY!  

You aren't allowed to have a "shop" with their site, you can only showcase the items that they let you list and schedule.  The items you have in your list are only for you to see until you can get it on a schedule.  I've just about had it with Tophatter.  

I was reading in one of the team discussion threads about this that it seems they are attracting more sellers than buyers, hoping to turn us sellers INTO buyers with their credits and what not, but as much as I want to be able to support my fellow artists, I don't have the money right now.  Once I get more money being made from this little adventure I can put more out there but it's not in my budget right now and I saw that a lot of us who were at the auction today were saying the same thing.  We were all sellers!!!

Out of the items that went up for sale, I think maybe half of them actually sold, and they sold for WAY cheaper than their retail prices from what I was seeing.  It's a good deal for people who are looking for great deals on amazing handmade stuff, but as a sellers point of view it is really devastating.  

I'm just going to focus on making a bunch new stuff for the Pic-a-dilly in April and try to keep my head up.  This time of year I've been told is hard for everyone so it's just something I need to buck up and deal with.  I love making my hats and other things, it's not like I'm going to stop just because they aren't selling off the shelves.  This is my first attempt at selling anything so I knew in the first place it was going to take some time.  

I'm off to make a new hat, not sure what, but I'm sure it will be spectacular!  

Lots of Love and wishes of beautiful creations!

Mrz Jaques

P.S.  Don't forget to check out my shop and like me on Facebook!

Cheers!

www.etsy.com/shop/mrzjaquescrochetedit

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