This blog is where I reflect on creative processes, creative happenings, creative experiences and creative artefacts.
Online Sales EXPLOSION!
Submitted by Saskia on April 26, 2011 - 10:13pm
I hate to go on and on about how my busy life is but I really have just been keeping my head above water these past few months. When I start to think that the calm is almost here another wave of busy strikes and I continue treading water.
I admit that my career is a priority. Design comes first, because with design comes a steady paycheck. I also admit that my online "hobby" has suffered because of my career. My blog is, as you have probably noticed, not as
verbose as usual. I promise you that I have been speaking with some very interesting artists whose words are floating in my head waiting for the moment to be set free. I will be writing about them soon. As well, I have not been sewing as much as I should be and I certainly haven't have time for online shop maintenance.
The past week has been just as busy as every other week this month, and it didn't help that Friday was a holiday – somehow I managed to cram 5 days of work into 4. On the 19th I received an email from a customer in Calgary asking to purchase item "50002 Purr Pocket". I was so excited as this was to be my first ever online sale to a complete stranger, but the item she requested was out of stock and I hadn't had time to mark it as such. I explained the situation and told her I could make one for her as I still had some of the same material. She ended up buying 4 Purr Pockets and didn't mind waiting while I sewed 3 custom pockets from the material she preferred. My first online sale ($25) from someone I do not know was completed when I placed the package in the mail on Monday!
Today I had another unexpected email. But this time it came from my Etsy site. Etsy – the shop I had given up on long ago and had admittedly forgotten about until now. My heart sank as I read on. The email was to tell me that the customer had paid for the item through Paypal. With a sickening feeling I looked at the web page with the image of the sock monkey she had purchased. It was the lovely Sherman. A white sock monkey with bold black stripes and a black nose and whom I had sold over a month ago to a friend. What was I going to do now? Make up some elaborate story about why that monkey was unavailable or do I just admit my negligence? I decided to own my mistake and I explained to her what had happened. It turns out that this customer of mine is a jem. I have just sent her an email with a photo album of all the monkeys I photographed on the weekend. I told her to choose any monkey that she fancies and that I would ship it for free. If she doesn't like any of them I promised her I would reimburse all her money ASAP. I do hope that she finds a little friend in that batch as there are some very sweet little guys looking for a good home.
If she finds one she likes that would mean I have officially made 2 online sales to complete strangers. The first one was shipped to Calgary and the other may be going all the way to Washington DC!
From now on I will make sure that ALL of my online shops are up to date no matter how busy I am – because you never know when someone may want to shop and because I no longer wnat to write apologetic emails to people who want to but my stuff.
