Folksy shop

[RichL]

Hello All,
Recently opened a Folksy shop .It,s been really slow (no sales up to now) . please take a look any critique/ advice would be most welcome.
Thanks,
Richard.
https://folksy.com/shops/longhotsummer

[Caro]

Folksy doesn't advertise and doesn't get a lot of traffic so you have to do all the work yourself, unfortunately. People won't just find you so you need to promote yourself hard and wherever you can.

I gave up on them after a year. It wasn't worth the effort and I'd rather push my customers to a site that I have complete control over and doesn't take an arm and leg in commission.

[RichL]

Hi Caro,
Thanks for you reply, do you use an alternative platform?

[Caro]

Etsy is the only one that seems to generate any independent traffic but I was swamped in the deluge of drop shippers and mass produced jewellery.

If I'm going to put the work into finding and driving traffic to my sales outlet I decided that it should at least be one under my control and not subject to the whims of a third party who can change the rules and hike the costs. I now use my own site.

I've looked at the GOJD Odissa platform but that seems very quiet too

[RichL]

O.k. Thanks for your replies, That's useful info , Thanks.

[Dennis]

I've seen Not On The High Street mentioned here over the years, but I believe they are very controlling about who they accept.

[Caro]

I wasn't happy with their terms and conditions and they take I believe 25%+Vat on top of the signing up fee.

[pearlescence]

If you are in it for the long haul, then I agree with Caro. Build your own site. It's harder initially and you have to work to get noticed and set everything up but eventually it pays off and you have full control with no-one top-slicing a big %
There are lots of companies which will lead you by the hand to do it or you can snag a passing teenage geek. Beware of any third party company which retains control over your website via passwords or domain ownership. You are completely trapped with them

[CJ57]

I’ve heard a lot of complaints recently from friends using Etsy. Poor sales, high fees, holding back money for tracked posting receipts. All sounds costly and not a good deal for the seller