Ali Bali Jewellery

As you may know I was fortunate enough to win not only a groovy hat from Hats and More but this gorgeous pair of silver clay earrings from Ali Bali Jewellery as well! If you haven't seen silver clay before you must check out Alison's beautiful jewellery ranges and she is here today to tell us a bit more about her work:

1. Would you introduce yourself for readers who are new to your work and tell us what got you into creating?
I'm Ali, owner of alibalijewellery. I have shops on Folksy, Etsy and Dawanda. Working from my home studio in Edinburgh, I create a range of contemporary silver jewellery for women. I started making jewellery just over two years ago as a way of relaxing and the hobby quickly got out of control!

2. You make and sell a range of gorgeous jewellery, what are your favourite items at the moment?
My favourite item is usually my most recent creation, but I think overall my favourite is my range of silver crochet bracelets. I love the sheer variety of styles I can create with these.


3. Are there any influences on your work? What and who inspires you to create?
I admire the work of several Precious Metal Clay artists, a particular favourite is Hadar Jacobson, her jewellery is amazing! I love colour and so this features strongly in much of my work.

4. Describe your creative process - when and where do you like to work? Background music of choice? Company or alone? Snacks to help you along the way?!
I am supposed to work in my spare bedroom/studio. I mainly work at my dining table though with music on in the background. I prefer to work alone, I get a bit bashful about creating in front of others!!

5. Where do you sell your work?
Online I sell on www.alibalijewellery.folksy.com and www.alibalijewellery.etsy.com and www.dawanda.en/shop/alibalijewellery. I am also a regular face at craft fairs in the Central belt and Borders of Scotland.


6. How long have you been self employed?
Oh... how I wish I was solely self employed!! One day maybe. In the meantime I'm actually an HR Project Manager for a global bank.

7. You kindly answered many a silver clay question from me, what would be your top three tips for those just starting to make and sell their jewellery?
a) If you are opening an online shop, take the time to produce great photos of your products, have a look at other shops selling on the venue and see how they photograph their jewellery. You are unlikely to sell anything with poor photographs.

b) Don't sell anything until you are confident that you have mastered the technique you are using. You don't want customers coming back complaining about faulty goods.

c) Be realistic in your expectations. Don't expect to open your shop, sit back and wait for customers to arrive. Jewellery is a tough market, you will have to work hard to publicise your shop.


8. Do you have a favourite blog / website which inspires you?
Hadar Jacobson again, fantastic website. I love reading the blogs of some of the other UK sellers on Etsy and Folksy. Autonomous Artisans is excellent!

9. Have you any suggestions for books which have helped or inspired you? To do with your craft?
Sorry, I'm like a stuck record!! Hadar Jacobson. Tim McCreight and Sheri Haab do great Precious Metal Clay books which are excellent for beginners.

10. Do you have a motto?
Where is the wine?

11. Lastly (phew, I hear you cry!) would you be so kind as to let us know three of your favourite handmade sellers so we can all check out their work.
I love Emma Baird's beads, find her work at www.thelittlebeadshop.co.uk

www.lizardsjewelry.etsy.com features some amazing precious metal clay work!

www.maggiecook.folksy.com does lovely handknitted clothing which I aspire to own!

Many thanks to Alison for this contribution and for the lovely earrings!

Etsy Support Still Ace

But I still can't sell there! Boo! I tried registering but got the error message 'please enter a valid credit card number', so emailed support and, whilst again super speedy to reply (about ten minutes this time!) they can't do anything for me at the moment:

Hello Laura,


I am so sorry for the trouble with your card. We really want you to
become an Etsy seller without any hassle. Unfortunately, we have found
in some cases, that international cards like ************* cannot be
accepted by our system. Etsy is working on ways to improve the system so
that everyone can join. We are so sorry for the inconvenience, and we
hope that you will continue to enjoy Etsy using a regular account. If
you get a different type of card, please do check back in with us to see
if it works for you.


Best,

Claire

Etsy Support


So Etsy is still out!


Never mind, I'm off to bed!

Etsy Support - Ace!

I emailed the Etsy support team about the whole credit card issue and less than two hours later I received this reply:

Hello Laura,

Thank you so much for contacting Etsy about becoming a seller. To use a ************** card, please select the Mastercard option. Please note that any card with more than 16 numerical digits will not work in Etsy's system. Please let us know if you are still having trouble registering your card, and will do everything we can to help get you started.

Best,
Claire
Etsy Support

Now that is support!

Artfire, Coriandr, Dawanda, Etsy, Folksy, Misi

Last week I spoke about my experiences of Etsy and Folksy and not wanting to bombard you all at once I thought I'd leave the others for another day. Out of Artfire, Coriandr, Dawanda and Misi I have only signed up to Artfire and Misi, however, I have spent some time perusing all of the sites.

I signed up to Artfire with the intention of setting up a 'studio' (I like that they call Artist's spots that!) solely for my paintings and photographic prints and, as yet, my 'studio' is very undeveloped with one lonely painting in it. I've signed up for a basic account and am impressed with the options offered:

"Our Basic account is absolutely free and allows an unlimited number of listings per month with a cap of 10 items in your Studio at a time and all members receive a complete stats package including both Google Analytics and real-time server side stats to maximize your promotion and spend your time where it makes sales. Verified members can list unlimited items with never a listing or final value fee, just like on your own website, but with less hassle, and at a lower price. Full access to a whole host of management features, promotional tools, and enhanced functionality. Plus increased site exposure use of all new features for just US $12.00 per month. "

Neither accounts charge commission on sales so the basic account really is free which might sway this site for people starting out with a small budget. Having noticed a few people selling their work on their own blog through Artfire, I think this is a great feature and would sway me to signing up for a Verified Account. I fully intend to make use of my account over the next few months and will let you know how I get on.

Artfire, like Folksy, is still in its beta phase, and has recently had a front page overhaul. I think the front page is very busy with a huge amount of information, however, information for sellers and buyers is presented directly to you right from the start. The search feature offers comprehensive options and whilst I did come across a few anomalies, this was probably due to sellers tagging their items incorrectly.

Next up is Misi. I have to admit I was put off signing up initially due to the overwhelming girliness of the design. However, the design and navigation is clear and, as R diplomatically pointed out, my jewellery is for women so of course I should sign up! I have spent some time looking around the site since signing up and actually really enjoyed the Style Guides so much so that I even went to read the site's blog: features sellers and has excellent advice for sellers even as far as the basics on being self employed. Very impressed! I like the ease of the shop management and the fact that Misi offers Google stats (as do Etsy and Artfire) and SEO tools.

My next venture is clearly signposted now! I will be listing original paintings on Artfire and my new range of jewellery on Misi whilst keeping my silver and beadwork on Folksy.

As for Coriandr and Dawanda, I have not signed up to them simply because I do not think I can manage any more online shops at the moment. They both appear user friendly, although I prefer Coriandr's clean, tidy appearance as Dawanda seems a bit cluttered at first glance. I do love the Coriandr Seedlings idea which allows you to 'plant' a wee shop in your blog, great! Dawanda is targeted at the European market and is available in various languages and could provide you and your work wider exposure in an established European market.


The chart above gives the basics for each site, but remember these are subject to change, especially with those sites still in beta so be sure to check them out fully before signing up to sell. There are clear pros and cons for each and I hope you find a site which works for you. Those of you who are set up and selling, I'd love to hear your opinions on where you sell.

Thanks!

Artfire, Coriandr, Dawanda, Etsy, Folksy, Misi

That was satisfyingly alphabetical for a moment there! Having signed up to Etsy, then Folksy, Artfire and now Misi with half an eye on Coriandr and Dawanda, this post is a simple overview of what I've found so far, the pros and cons, what has suited me and what hasn't.

Today Etsy and Folksy.

When I first started looking around for an online platform to sell my Art work and jewellery Etsy was the first site I found and very impressed I was too! The site is easy to navigate, well presented and has a wealth of varied and interesting articles available for your perusal. The 'starting up your own business' style articles were particularly helpful for me at the time. Listing costs $0.20 for four months and the site charges a 3.5% commission on sale fee. I immediately signed up full of enthusiasm and ideas only to be stopped dead in my tracks when I found I couldn't sell my work. Why? No great intrigue for you I'm afraid, it's simply that I do not have, nor do I want, a credit card which Etsy require you to have to prove your identity. I'm yet to find a way around this and whilst Etsy now do accept fee payment through paypal there is still the need for a credit card. So Etsy has been a no go for me which is dissappointing. I do keep an eye on the site as the treasuries are great and articles interesting, however, over the last few months it frequently refuses to load for me. Having googled the problem, this seems to happen to many people and there is a wealth of techie help, works, then doesn't work, works, then doesn't work. Would put me off as a buyer.

Next, I discovered Folksy and contacted them to check whether I needed a credit card before signing up and was relieved to hear that I could set up shop without one, hoorah! As I live in the UK, a UK based site was mighty appealing and the 20p listing fee and 5% commission (no commission during the beta test period) is reasonable. It was fairly straightforward, if a little time consuming, to set up shop on Folksy and I was impressed / excited enough to set up two, one for my jewellery and one for my Art work. The site is still in beta, however, I am generally pleased with it:

selling in sterling is much easier for me
international sales are now go
the fees are reasonable
good community vibe

There are several niggling issues which I hope will be changed:

the site navigation could be more intuitive with a few design tweaks and links that work
categories within shops are needed
the purple site category lists could do with being separated in some way as they appear to be the categories in a shop and yet navigate customers away from your shop
more promotion from Folksy themselves
more communication between Folksy and sellers

The first items I listed will expire soon and I am going to re-list them. Folksy has brought me several sales, however, only one customer has actually gone through the process of paying through Folksy. Folksy is the place I've directed my domain name to (www.lauracameron.co.uk) and this is what appears on my packaging and promotional materials. I know many sellers work hard at promoting their Folksy shops and the Folksy site as a whole and am hopeful traffic will increase and visitors will enjoy and become customers!

Next up I'll be looking at Artfire, Misi, Coriandr and Dawanda would be interested to hear your opinions on all five these sites, what suits you? What do you like? What makes you throw things across the room in frustration? If you had to choose just one site, which would it be?