Fair warning this is a little bit venting.
I have been on Etsy for over 5 years now. I consider it passive income because most of the items I sell on the platform are plans. For the most part it has been a good experience. There are times where I wonder if it is even worth it. My store has been gaining more popularity in the past couple of years. In part from social media and a couple of magazine articles I have written. I have also seen an increase in sales where the person thought they were buying a product when it is only the plan. I have also seen an increase in people wondering why my Etsy price is cheaper than the price I quote them to make the toy.
When people ask about prices it is usually pretty easy to explain. I will try and go out of my way to explain and offer suggestions. I had a non profit that wanted me to make toys for them to sell. They did not understand why the plan was $3 and I was quoting them $15 for each toy. I wasn't going to be able to take the business because they were out of the country, but I wanted to help. I ended up sending them the plans and told them to find a local wood worker to make them at the sizes they wanted. Usually the price concerns are easy to resolve.
I have been having more people order plans and expecting the product. I do have a no refund policy on plans because they are immediately downloaded. This is typical in plan sales. Usually when a plan is ordered in mistake the person will notify me of their mistake. I handle these case by case. Be kind to me and I will reciprocate. It is the emails saying something like, "When is this going to ship. I have been waiting for two months," that bother me. This year I have decided to take an unapologetic approach to these mistaken plan sales. This is my typical reply:
Thank you for purchasing ______ plan. You should have received an email with a link to download the plan. Sometimes this is sent to spam. I have attached the plan you purchased. Thank you again for your purchase.
Most of the time I don't get a response. When I do it makes me question if I want to continue in the retail environment. The customer feels it is my fault and I am not clear that this is just a plan. The plan that has been the most problematic has been the cradle. I have reviewed the description and title and could not find a better way to say that this is a plan. I don't want to capitalize "PLAN ONLY". It looks like I am shouting and it is tacky. Here is my little vent:
If you are buying on-line it is your responsibility to read the descriptions and understand what you are buying. My shop is called All Natural Toy Plans (italics added). The title says "Wood Toy Plan" then the item. The summary in all my plans say "plans can be printed on 8.5 x 11" paper." The last sentence reads: purchase is for the plan only. I think I say it enough. But just in case, I have added "*plan only*" at the beginning of each description. I think this looks tacky. Seriously, if you purchase one of my plans thinking it is a product, own the mistake an move on. It is not my fault you made the purchase so stop blaming me that you didn't read the description. I have no fine print. I have no disclaimers. I definitely am not trying to deceive any one. I have over 400 sales and only about 2% order plans by mistake. Only two people think that I have actually deceived them.
My rant continues with the cradle since this seems to be the most mistaken as a product. The plan is $10. Something must go off in your head that this deal is too good to be true. This plan is for a 21" cradle with custom fretwork on the side. There is no shipping because it is a download. My small toys cost $6-$8 to ship. Seriously, if the deal looks too good, make sure you understand what you are buying. I sell these cradles for $100 each at craft fairs.
I know that Etsy is not the best place to sell plans, but it is a platform that I use. Others also use it because there is a total section for digital downloads and plans. It has worked well for me. I know that I am not the only one that has this issue. I have read one star reviews on other plan stores, they are all because they expected an object and got a digital download.
Rant over.
I am not shutting down my shop anytime soon. It has been too much fun meeting new people. Others sharing what they have made from my plans. There has been some great things come from this experience.
This year has actually been a good year for me on Etsy. I contribute a lot of the success to being published and covid. It is nothing to quit my job over, but it offset the costs of a planer, and lumber this year.
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