Etsy Selling Tip 6: Using Paypal to Process Payments at Craft Shows

I originally found this article on www.handmadenews.org/ This is something I have been doing for sometime at craft shows that have WiFi access. I feel this article explains it far better than I ever could. I usually take my laptop with me on the off chance that the show will have wifi and I can allow people to check out via Pay Pal. It is much simpler and affordable than buying a credit card machine/processing credit cards and it's safer. The following article explains how to allow customers to check via Pay Pal Using a "Donation" button. I myself have never used this method. At the conclusion of the article I will put in my 2 cents on how I usually have customers pay via Pay Pal at craft shows.

Via Handmadenews.org
If you have been looking into the options for processing payments at craft fairs you will have noticed that most require some sort of monthly financial commitment that seems a little pointless paying especially if you don't do a fair every month or you don't take many card payments.

However with mobile broadband for netbooks and smartphones it is now possible to take payments through paypal.

First set up a donate paypal button in your paypal account you can do this by going to merchant services and clicking on the link for the buy now buttons then clicking on the donate link in the left menu. Donate is best since you can enter the amount as needed rather than creating buttons for each price and having to use add to cart for customers that want to make multiple purchases.

You don't even have to host the donate button anywhere once it is created you will be able to click through to the page and bookmark that so you can get to it quickly. (if you are using a smartphone you may find it easier to temporarily host the button on a free site builder so you can click through to the link after setting it all up on your home computer.)

For blackberry users you will need to download the opera browser because the default browser automatically goes to the paypal mobile site and this feature isn't possible on that.

Now you should have your donation page bookmarked and all you will need to do when you have a person wanting to pay is go to the bookmarked page, enter the purchase amount (inclusive of any taxes) and put in the card details, if your customer is registered with paypal then they will be able to log in and pay that way if preferred.

Of course there are limits with the paypal system since they do not accept all cards and anyone that has already used their card three times with paypal will need to sign up for an account but you now have a simple and free (other than the cost of your phone/netbook) way to process most card payments. This works best for those outside the US since you will be able to have the payments in your own currency. However if the venue you sell on is in your own currency you can just process through your venue but the donate button makes things faster because you don't have all the purchase steps to jump through.


Sleepy Robot 13's 2 cents:

Ok so I use 1 of 2 methods to allow customers to check out via Pay Pal. The 1st is just using plane old Etsy. I will pull up Etsy on my laptop and if it is an item already for sale in my shop they are purchasing, I just remove the shipping charge and let the customer log into their Etsy account (If they have one) and check as normal. I like this method because it helps me keep track of sales and the customer is able to find me again later if they want to purchase something else (we all know business cards usually end up at the bottom of a purse or junk drawer).

The 2nd method I use is letting the customer check out directly via their Pay Pal account and clicking on the "Send money" tab. Now not all customers will be comfortable with this option because they are logging into their Pay Pal accounts from someone else's computer. For both methods of check out I recommend having cookies turned off on your computer so the customer's information is not saved. The upside to using this method is you avoid Etsy's transaction fees and you have a record of the sale for tax purposes.

Etsy Selling Tip Part 2: Time Is Money

So I've been slacking lately on put up Etsy selling tips, so I'm going to make an effort to put up 1 or 2 a week for now on.

Selling tip: Time is money!

Now that there are SOooooo many sellers on Etsy when you post a new item it can be pushed from page 1 to page 10 in a matter of minutes in your given category. I noticed that there are better times of day than others to post a new item(s)and have them sit on the 1st or 2nd page of your given category longer. The longer your item(s) are visible on the top pages the more people will see your item. Most Etsy customers will usually on browse through the first 5-7 pages of a category before moving on, therefore it is crucial to stay in that page range as long as possible. I post a lot in the "Geekery" category. I have found that posting new items or re-listing items is best done between 11am and 1pm. I'm not exactly sure why posting thins out during these hours. The 2nd best time to post or re-list is 8:00pm-9:30pm. This makes sure you get all those night owls who have just hopped on etsy after a long day at work/school and are winding done for the evening. When I post/re-list during the 8:00 hour 7 times out of 10 I'll wake up to an over night order placed. Maybe not for the item listed, but it did draw the customer to visit the rest of my shop.

Don't get discouraged if no one buys your newly listed or re-listed item right away, even if it sits in the 1st 5 pages for an hour. The more people that see your item the more people who will probably mark it as a favorite. You have to remember that many customers on Etsy don't have a lot of free cash. They may really like your item but they have to wait for a pay day to roll around to purchase it. So keep in mind Favorites=Future Sales.

It pays to read the blog! lol

Since all of you have been so awesome over the last few months I decided to do a blog reader only sale. Until midnight February 28th just type the code "thankyou10" into the comments of your orders from the Sleepy Robot 13 Shop and receive 25% off your order! Just check out as normal and when payment is received I will refund 25% of the subtotal of your order. Remember this is for blog readers only!

Pizza Love!

Today my little Pizza Robot was featured on the Tilt Treasures blog. I love the the title of the feature "Pizza...ok,so I was hungry..." Along with my robot she featured other amazing pizza themed items by other great Etsy sellers. I would also advise checking out the blog owners Etsy Shop "TiLT creations". There you will find several unique and lovely bags, purses, clutches, back packs and pouches!

Sleepy Robot 13 on G4TV

So it was brought to my attention today by sakiwaki that you could see my Super hero robot for a brief second during an episode of "Attack Of The Show" which airs on cable channel G4Tv. Unfortunately I haven't had cable in 3 years, so I missed it ):

G4TV did an entire segment on Etsy (well mostly about the etsy shop "thechopshopstore")None the less it's awesome that one of my items made it's way onto tv even if it was only for a split second. G4 has since posted the segment on their website. You can view the video below:

Video Games - E3 2010 - AOTS Exclusive

Direct link: http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/exclusives/69800/threads-etsycom.html

What would you like to see in the Sleepy Robot 13 shop?

What new products would you like to see from Sleepy Robot 13? More rings & necklaces or how about key chains & cellphone charms? Make-up purses, t-shirts, stickers? If there is anything I don't sell now or anything you'd like to see more of let me know!

Selling Tip 1: Business Cards That Stand Out!

Have you ever been at a craft show and every vendor there has business cards sitting at their booth for customers to pick up? Business cards are very important in the craft world.I have had many customers visit my booth at a show and not buy anything, but they take my card and purchase something days later from my etsy shop. You have to think if there are 100 vendors at a show customers are going to take cards from at least 20% or more of them, but when they get home they will probably only look 5% or less of them up online. The majority of cards people pick up at shows are lost or discarded. Due to this you have to make your card stand out!

When I was just starting out I booked a show at the last minute. I didn't have any business cards at all the day before the show. I was able to come up with a quick and very affordable solution. I went to my local craft store and bought 20 sheets for card stock for $.15 each. at home on my computer using photofiltre (a free photo editing program that can be downloaded safely from download.com) to type up my important info (ie. name of your business, your name,what you sell, your web address and email address.) I then added some fun clip art and then copied and pasted the design over and over again. I was able to get 9 cards onto 1 page.



After my design was printed I then cut the individual cards out using a pair of pinking shears. This created a cool zig zag pattern along the edges of the cards.

This is sorta how my cards looked when I was done:


Whats cool about this is your card stands out from all those other cards people picked out because it is different. When someone puts their hand in their pocket they feel something uneven and immediately pull it out to figure out what it is. They'll take one look at your card and remember the awesome booth they got it from!

If you don't want to spend the time making your own cards, you can try vistaprint.com or overnightprints.com, each offers 250 basic business cards for free, all you pay is S&H. I have order some of these myself as fill ins if I run out of my handmade cards.

So for $3 and a little bit of work I was able to make 180 business cards.

A Few More Affordable Tips Regarding Business Cards:

-If you need business card holders for your table try a dollar store. They some times carry business card holders. If they don't they carry small picture easels that work just as well and they are very decorative (This is what I use)

- You should carry business cards with you at all times. Nothing looks more unprofessional than pulling a wrinkled, crumpled business card from your pocket. You can get affordable simple business card holder for less than $3 on ebay or a little more if you want a cool design. It keeps your cards organized and it looks very sleek and professional!

Stay tuned for more tips coming soon and tell all your friends lol!