Took the plunge! :)
First of all I want to thank everyone out there who took the time to read
my last posting and leave such insightful comments. I really had no idea about some of the things you guys pointed out and it was just so great learning about your experiences and seeing some new faces/names pop out of lurking to show their support and share their opinions. I appreciate each and every one of you.
So.... I am happy to report that after much deliberation I have decided to ... ***deep breath*** leave eBay. ***exhale*** I know this may not seem like the kind of decision that should stress one out, but you have to understand that eBay has been a HUGE part of my life for the past 6 or so years... even before I started selling custom-made boutique items. For as long as I can remember I don't recall going more than a week at a time without checking my auctions or other designer's auctions or logging into my groups to see what's up or just browsing around on eBay. I am keeping my eBay account open and hope to return as a guest a couple of times a year and
make a special set to celebrate someone's anniversary or any other special event... or even for a new line of fabric coming out... hee hee ;)I am not bitter or sour or mad about this, because eBay helped build my
MODKID business from the ground up. I have built a customer-base that I hope to keep for a long time and about 95% of those customers found me through eBay. So I am actually thankful for the opportunity eBay has given me to start and grow my business.
However, eBay has made some changes to their current practices that will not allow me to continue selling there without jeopardizing my business so I have decided to pursue other selling avenues.
Jon and I are building a kick-ass (excuse my French) e-commerce website and soon you will be able to purchase ready-made AND custom-made separates and
sets directly from our site. I will keep the site always stocked with a few ready-to-ship items that will be sold a-la-carte so you can mix & match collections to create the look that you want. But also, I will still offer the option to custom-make a set to the size and specifications you desire. The site will be easy to navigate and visually appealing because I know how important those things are in today's e-commerce society. So stay tuned for that!
But since greatness doesn't happen overnight, in the meantime while our site is being re-built, I will be selling a few items on
Etsy. Oh, and of course I will be participating in the
EBAY BLACKOUT WEEK Feb 18 - 25th.My friend
Kristen and I have started a Yahoo Group promoting the blackout week for the custom-boutique community and to help those who are new to
Etsy (present company included) find their way around. If you are an eBay designer and would like to join, just click on the logo below to be taken to our group home page:
OK... again, thank you all so much for your support and encouragement! I hope to see a lot of familiar faces on
Etsy next week and I hope to keep in touch with all of you via the blog, my new website or email. :)
UPDATE! I just opened
my Etsy store and got my first listing up on there. Please
check it out! :) More to come next week...
Have you guys been over there today and searched BLACKOUT? Oh my gosh! I had no idea the amount of listings that we would have on the first day, but at the time of this blog posting we had 633 listings... WOOOHOOO! We currently have 182 eBay boutique designers signed up to boycott eBay during this week and list over on Etsy.
And if you are the DIY type, I have listed this decoupage kit, perfect for beginners-to-advanced crafters. :)
