Yes, I pretty well learn things the hard way. I thought I would be clever and have a grab bag sale where customers didn't know what they were getting other than the size, quantity, and basic categories of items. I figured that even though I was LOSING a goodly amount of money on how cheap the items were going for, I would still profit by not having to take the time to photograph and list specifics. I promised my customers that the packages were a fantastic deal with good hand-picked products. I packaged up about 200 REALLY good packages, and when I listed them this morning, they all sold out within about 50 minutes, and people were scrambling, refreshing their pages, frantically typing in passwords, getting things STOLEN out of their cart by faster internet speeds. I know I broke a lot of hearts this morning, so I'm trying desperately to soothe and heal the wounds!
Uh....so...*cough, cough* I have a new skirt! Uh....*weak laugh* I AM really excited about this one, and this is an example of me FIRST crushing dreams and THEN making them come true!!! I designed one of these skirts for myself, and wore it for a few weekends at the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival, and it is literally my favorite skirt that I've ever owned in my life. I had a bunch of customers ask if I would ever sell the skirts, and I said, "Nah, it was too much of a pain in the bum to sew." Well..I lied. I figured out a way. If Necessity is the Mother of invention, this is its little baby....I guess.
I DO love the styling of this skirt. Depending on what color it's sewn in, it almost ends up looking mermaid like. The neat thing for me is that the ruffles running down the sides visually took 30 pounds off of my hips. The human eye would only process your hips as measuring as wide as the middle panel between the ruffles, which are expertly placed. I've also noticed that a well-shaped pencil skirt end up being ridiculously flattering on a variety of shapes! Because of how it hugs the bum and is more fitted, you just get this total Bombshell shape! I will be listing this style on my website for purchase as soon as I get a name for it, which is where you ladies come in!
First off, I'm so excited about the names that you came up with last week that I can hardly stand it! I love the creativity and passion of you gals! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I'm taking submissions for possible names of this skirt today on facebook, so hop on there and hope for the best! The rules will be posted there!
Sorry again to all of you who missed out on the sale. The only thing I can say is that I WILL make it up to you somehow. That's a promise.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to run a speed sale like that - sticky carts or not, people miss out on items they want and it's always a race to complete checkout and snag the items! I think the Artfire system is better, but I was also frustrated last Black Friday as items were sold and available randomly as people stuck and unstuck them in their carts! I'm not sure you can win. It's not that different than in-person sales where everyone is racing to be the first to grab items and get through the checkout line. The only advantage is that no one is getting trampled or pepper-sprayed in the online store. If 1000 people are trying to get 200 items, 800 people will be disappointed.
Hopefully people will continue to be largely polite about the experience, even if they are disappointed. I don't think you owe anything anyone, and you're always doing such amazing things out of the goodness of your heart! Just when I think I've seen the best sale or the coolest contests, you do it again and BLOW MY MIND. You have a kind and generous spirit, which I've had the pleasure of experiencing in person - in the middle of a swarm of people, you turned your undivided attention to me and made sure I found the most amazing, perfect outfits at your booth. <3
I LOVE these new skirts you're posting, and I wish I could participate in the contests to name them! This one may be my favorite yet. Alas, I'm not on Facebook, so I'll be watching for them to come on sale. Perhaps sometime you could run one of these contests here to give your non-Facebook patrons a chance!
There's nothing for YOU to be sorry about. Imagine if this was a LIVE sale, only everyone had to be dressed up in corsets/heels/etc to participate, and then there was a Walmart-on-Black-Friday type ruckus. We should all be thanking you for keeping us safe by making us use Etsy. If it had been in person, someone would have been trampled! :-)
ReplyDeleteAw Phooy! I was going to try to surprise my wife but 6 AM was way to late. I've always been bad at black Friday type sales. Thanks for the great stuff you make, I'll watch for the next one.
ReplyDeleteHoly... and here I thought I'd be early ENOUGH! :(
ReplyDeleteI think it was totally fine. Sticky cart or not, your work is so amazing...at those prices there would never be enough! I think it was a great way to generate excitement and help you by clearing some things out. The new skirts are great!
ReplyDeleteYep. I don't think you have anything to apologize for. There was no way that everyone was going to get a grab bag. There are far too many people who LOVE your work. But you are super generous to offer another giveaway and a coupon to smooth feathers.
ReplyDeleteI had many things sniped out of my cart (maybe 10+?), but after several tries, ended up scoring a $65 grab bag-- just what I was hoping for. I can't wait to receive my first ever corset! So although some customers left disappointed, you made this first-time customer very happy! Thank you for the sale. I felt a little crazy at 3 in the morning, swearing at my computer, but it ended up being a fun, memorable experience.
ReplyDeleteYou have nothing to apologize for. Like others have said you kept us from being trampled since we could do this from the comfort of our homes (or offices). I think a sticky cart would have caused grumblings too because people would be putting "maybes" in their carts to horde. I prefer the non-sticky cart, because when it was gone it was gone!
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing your apologies, I just wanted to follow up with a few words about... words!
ReplyDeleteReading through the comments on Facebook, I've seen people using words like "stolen," "swiped," and "sniped" to describe an item in their cart becoming unavailable for purchase before checkout could be completed. These words imply a level of malicious intent, especially on the part of other customers... other customers who were also simply clicking and typing as fast as they can! I assume that if we could see Etsy's server logs, we'd see these items being absolutely hammered with attempted purchases and many items being missed by fractions of seconds. Nothing malicious, just a race that people are guaranteed to lose.
But the main issue I have with those words (and other words being used like "screwed" or "crushed" or "heartbroken") is that they immediately generate negative feelings, in both buyers and sellers. Especially sellers, if they're nice sellers who care about their customers (like you), because they feel responsible for these emotions. I know you take what we're all saying to heart, the bad and the good, but that means that we also need to be careful with our words! Even if it's venting, even if it's not directed at you... seeing the negativity clearly stings. And then I feel bad that you feel bad for something you really shouldn't.
I really wished I could post this to Facebook earlier today during the peak of comments - I think most people weren't trying to make you feel guilty, but the tone and connotations of their words take their toll. One of my goals in self-improvement is always to think about how the words I chose can be interpreted by others. (Hi, English major here, can you tell?)
thank you so much
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