I love Etsy. I've always loved browsing Etsy for unique and beautiful handmade made items. It's such a great resource for inspiration and seeing the success of so many craftspeople just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. We decided a few years ago to create our own Etsy shop. We really didn't give it a whole lot of effort to be honest. It's just that it seemed a little silly to me, when we already have a gorgeous and perfecly functioning website, to have an Etsy shop as well. We started selling a few items and I thought, okay, here I am paying Etsy a fee to sell my items that I have no problem selling on my own wesbite, so I decided to save Etsy for just our slightly imperfect sales in the beginning. Please note that NOW we only have our slightly imperfect sales 2x per year, in the Spring and in the Fall, and we generally announce it on our Facebook Page a day or two before. It is a great way for us to quickly sell off our still functional but slightly imperfect items at a discount, while maintaining the image of our website. It worked very well, and if you've ever seen one of our slightly imperfect sales go live on Etsy, then you know I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's always a HUGE success! You have to be quick. The items sell out in seconds and as a craftsperson / business owner, it's pretty thrilling. We only do these slightly imperfect sales twice per year (in the Spring and in the Fall), and the rest of the time our Etsy shop has sat empty and unattended to. 

This was not smart and here's why:

We have the perfect products to sell on Etsy! It's handmade in Canada, in our studio. We do custom work, personalization and work with all kinds of themes and color combinations that appeal to various people and age groups. Our items are very gifty. We design each product with design and function in mind, as well as uniqueness. All of that really describes how we are so very Etsy! What I didn't realize at first is the entirely huge community of Etsy shoppers, designers and artists that are constantly browsing around on etsy, just waiting to be exposed to products just like ours! A few months ago I decided to post EVERYTHING that we have on our website, on our Etsy shop as well. Etsy sales have trickled in here and there, and we have definitely gained new exposure.

Now it's time to take it a step further. Let's give credit where credit is due: I have been entirely inspired by a little company on Vancouver Island called Bamboletta. Bamboletta is run by Christina, who I was lucky enough to meet a few years ago. She is Whaldorf Doll maker extraordinaire, and in my opinion, Marketing Genius. She has created such an amazingly beautiful and sought-after handmade product that is one of a kind. They have thousands of fans and followers who wait each week for their highly anticipated pre-announced uploads of their unique Whaldorf Dolls, which they perfectly describe as companions for little ones. When the dolls go live for sale, they sell out FAST, much like our slightly imperfect bibs do! The entrepreneur in me loves this. In order to keep doing what I love, I need to make money. The artist in me LOVES this even more because uploading unqiue one of a kind items means I get to be creative. So, we're experimenting with this model, and I really hope it works for us like it has for Bamboletta. We just launched our first ever upload, a lovely collection of one of a kind Valentine's themed items on our Etsy shop! I hope as we learn and grow that we can create a similar enthusiasm and anticipation for our own uploads. I realize it might take a little time. 

Here's a sampling of what you can find on our first ever one of a kind themed upload: 

Each item is a one of a kind item, so once it's gone it is GONE! 

We have to keep doing what we love in order to love what we do and this love themed upload for our first one seems more than appropriate doesn't it? We hope you love our first custom themed upload. We have so many fantastic ideas in mind, and I'm confident that in time we will get better at this. Our next upload will be in about 2 weeks and if these themed uploads prove successful we will start doing them weekly! The future is exciting at Mally Designs!