Selling on ETSY

I need to grow my business...

Finding new products to sell is only half of the solution - where to sell them is a whole new story.

So here it is - the new match - a new product on a new platform: Nathan Halpern, an Israely artist whom I know for many years now, creates lovely clay sculptures of imaginary vintage cars that "has curves and wings" - lovely, one of a kind, pieces.

These sculptures are hand made and glazed-painted, burnet in high temprature (above 1,000 C).

I opened a new shop in ETSY. Must say it is a piece of cake - well done ETSY! Took some photos, rendered them (as I know how good they are for traffic generation) and uploaded new items.

Than... Nothing happened :-( welcome to the cruel world of ecommerce - it is time to promote my site and create traffic.  More hard work. More to learn - how to generate traffic to ETSY, how to sell art. Already started doing so on my Pinterest boards.

Here are some of my items on ETSY:

Firtst Ethnic / Tribal Keffiyeh blouse was sold!

I am proud! The first blouse was sold. I felt the same as two years ago when I sold my first item on ebay - proud and nervous. Is my customer gonna like it?

Surprisingly, it was sold on amazon, not on my ebay store. I thought that my great reputation (100%) and high feedback score (currently 568) will make it go easier on ebay... You don't hear me complaining (-:



Next thing was to rush, pick two other keffiyeh and produce another two blouses - this time a bit more sofisticated. I should pick them tomorrow from the tailor and have Shani, my personal home model, wear them and model for my photos.

I am curious what else can be formed from keffiyeh...? ideas?

When You Have a Hammer, All Challenges Look Like Nails

One of my most successful products sold on my ebay store, Holyland Treasury, is a set of Langding Gear for dji quadcopter:




These legs were developed by Hanan, a 3D printing guru who is also in love with quadcopters. He knows how to 3D print, I know how to sell online - cooperation makes lots of sense to both parties.

And... we started to ask ourselves "what else to print and sell?" In other words, what the world need and we can imagine and produce? So here is the catch: virtually, we can print anything, but what is the object which is a true cure for a real pain?... Not an easy question. Suddenly, we find ourselves withno answer. We really don't know what are the paains we can answer.

Currently, the only answer we came up with, is a holder for a thermic cup than can be attached to bicycle and to be sold with the cup.

I wonder if anyone is actually looking for such a solution?!?

Selling Online is a Tricky Business

I'm selling kufiya by Hirbawi for almost 2 years now. My ebay store sales are not bad... but I hardly find my items via google. (Hey! buy some SEO consultency!)

Today, I found that the rest of the world is looking for KEFFIYEH, not KUFIYA. So, while other were buying some cheap chinese KEFFIYEH, I was selling really good stuff, almost secretly (-:

I revised my listings as fast as I could on all 3 sites: my ebay store, my amazon store and on my own Holyland Treasury store.

Now, i have to wait and see if I don't end up with 1000 "stronger" search results instead of being the king of my (small) neighborhood

Kufiya Poncho (shirt) - the Visuals!!

My wife is a top model (-:
I took the pictures of her wearing the new shirts and here are a sample:

And some more:

I'm on amazon, finally.

Took ages, but I managed to upload some items to amazon. No sales yet.

Looking back, listing procedure on amazon is not that complicated - just so different from what I do for the past 2 years on ebay...

Just passing the UPC barrier took me a day: don't worry - amazon creates one for you in case your product does not have one.

And like a magic, after you list your first item, the rest of them are a function of staying awake.

Now, for the real challange: how do you produce traffic to your new store? Who are the buyers on amazon? What makes them different from the ebay buyers?

Will keep you updated.

Kufiya-Shirt is Here!

Received the first two! What can I say, my wife is a genius (-:

One was made from a pure white kufiya with a classic Palestinian pattern embroidery (white embroidery on white kufiya) and one from a green kufiya with white Checkers pattern embroidery.

They both look really great on her. Tomorrow we are taking pictures and immediately listing it for sale on my ebay Holyland Treasury store and my own store.

Just one thing keeps me thinking. It is trouly a beautiful shirt, but has a strong political context here in israel, preventing it from being a plain fashion item... All around the world, kufiya is a "hot" accessory while here in Israel no one wears it.


What a pity.

Developing a New Product - Kufiya (Shemagh) Shirt

My wife came up with a great idea - create a 'kufiya shirt', produced from Hirbawi kufiyas.

I have so many beautiful, colorful, kufiyas - doesn't have to serve as a scarf!

So... she took it as a personal project. Chose a nice turquise kufiya that was not listed yet,  took it to a tailoress and now we have to wait for a week...

Ethnic accessories are very fashionable nowadays and I hope she'll bring some innovation here (-:

I believe that besides the fashion say we may have here, the origins of the kufiya may also make it a valuble item. Isn't it?

I'll put some pictures as soon as I have a first model.

Handling Multiple Online Stores

There is an old joke:
a. How are you?
b. In one word? Good. In two words? NOT good.

Managing two online stores is a nightmare!

Working with the ebay UI for so long in order to manage my  ebay store, certainly created some habits that now collide with the UI of my own new store -  Holyland Treasury

The platform I chose, by Auctiva, is really a pro! Everything I was ever deaming of...

An than,comes the problem - from mutual stock that needs to be reflected in two stores (or more... what about Amazon ? ), continue with the need to upload and manage descriptions on multiple platforms, ending with the need to promote them in different techniques.

 And yes... there are the tools that can manage multiple stores for you.But they are either very expensive (over $200 a month) or limited (only ebay, no amazon etc.)

So I end up spending tremendous amount of time with great frostration and dull results.

Any idea?

Traveling with my daughter

I was asked to join my daughters school trip to Jerusalem mountains. She is 11.5... Few year ago she used to beg me to join, but this year she was silent. Suddenly it hits me - I'm not sure I'm welcomed here. She reached the age where your parents are something to be shamed of :-(

We are raveling the "Sataf" area - really beautiful! One of the first places on earth where agriculture was implemented on mountains using man made reservoirs and "stairs" that were built on mountain side , 3000 years ago. 

Very hot today - I could use one of my kufiyas to guard my head from the sun:-)

Many years ago, I used to accompany such trips as a medic (my military profession), but now - for pure fun. 

I always enjoy traveling near Jerusalem - brings back lots of childhood memories. 

it is close to impossible

...the heat. Around 40 degrees Celsius. Air is dry like inside the oven. Dust. All the ingredients of a very hot day. Some relief in the swimming pool (and sun burns to complete the torture).

"They" promised it is over tonight - let's hope. So far, 01:00, feels like noon in Sahara without a shade.

Last thing you want to do in such conditions is to work. Hence, I did (not) work today. Just a little. Some strategy discussion with my business partner during the last 3 hours. I must upload some new products to my site, but cant put myself into it. Too tired.Too exhausted. The good part - had some new sells today on ebay. That always makes me happy.

I was posting a question in a professional multirotor forurm regarding the dji landing gear I sell. I did not hide the fact I sell, and asked for the opinion of the "experts". I have two new insights:
a. it is a great research tool to make you understand how to improve your product
b. it creates traffic to your store (I sold one set this afternoon (-: )

Tomorrow is another day. Plenty of work and plenty of time to do it.

A.

Its The Marketing, Stupid

Always admired Clinton's citation during his campaign - "its the economy, stupid".

Well, it's always the obvious thing - all you have to do is admit it.

So, I started using Google ads today in order to  promote holylandtreasury.com (-: . Suddenly, 20 visitors visited my store: hip hip. Now comes the fun part - its not ready yet!!! only 6 items, lots of "default" content (such as the "Contact Us" and "Privacy" pages...)

But nothing is better than a stressing deadline (or a "too late to postpone" compelling event), to make you move, fast, and complete all your duties.

Must put a good word for this Free "privacy, terms & conditions" page builder. Simply great!

"And now, to something completely different" - As i mentioned yesterday, I sell innovative landing gear for a dji quadcopter on ebay. In order to raise the awareness I wrote a post in an appropriate forum, asking the experts what they think of it. One of the best answers was "it is a great idea, but not sexy enough" ... In return, I answered with the following new design (by Hanan - the designer):

i am wondering how it will look when this aircraft lands on top of 4 poll-dancers :-D

"Got to have one of these"

A.

A Day At The Races

This morning started with a visit to the pediatrician. During the last 4-5 days, my youngest wakes up in the morning, unable to move his right leg, literally dragging himself on the floor in order to move. It turns normal after 20-30 minutes, but I believe something is wrong there. Tomorrow morning we have an U.S. examination followed by an afternoon meeting with the orthopedist. Fun.

After returning from the doc, I decided I have to make some progress with my never-ending software. So, I finalized some server-side enhancements and some must-happen fixes to my iPhone client-side. Noon was dedicated to strategic discussion followed by some more programming afternoon. No progress with my eCommerce stuff.

Apart from my holyland stuff sold on ebay I also sell landing gear for a DJI copter.



You probably say "ah?!" - Unfortunately I am not capable of flying them myself (although I wish I was). A friend of mine has a 3D printer and a great talent with these copters. So he designed it himself and he "prints" it at home. Sounds weired? It's genious! He can actually "print" any object he desires.

I think I'll stop here and upload some more stuff to my Holyland Treasury store. After all, so far only kufiyas...

A.

Setting Up An Online Store

So far, I was doing some eCommerce on ebay, learning its secrets, understanding how to be a seller, find what to sell (tough one). Quite fascinating!

I felt its time to move on and have my own store. Sounds simple? Yes. Sounds like it.

First, I had to choose a name. What comes first? An available domain that fits my store name, or a store name that will match an available .com domain... (-:    Not so obvious!

I am selling some unique stuff from the holy-land - key chains, amulets, olive-oil soaps, Palestinian kufiya (shemagh) etc. Guess what? I managed to put my hands on HolyLandTreasury.com!!!

Did any one mention a logo? 

I took a picture of this nice pendant with my iPhone, played with it in Paint.NET for 1 hour, and here it is.

Then, I had to select a platform. I chose Auctiva and discovered a whole new world. It took me 2 days just to set up my shipping methods (weight vs destination). I am a programmer and feel comfortable with continues dull work that has to do with tables of numbers. But this one was a record. I simply fell asleep so many times.

Now, I have to move on to product upload. It is so annoying to do it over and over again for each selling platform. I wish there was a tool that simply uploads to all your commerce sites at once (that does not cost $200 a month..).

...I read what i had just wrote - sounds like an old wailing bitter lady, isn't it?!

See you tomorrow, with some more stories.
A.

Wow. I have a blog of my own. Now All I have to do is write about... what?

That's funny. I never thought I can do that, but after 40, every day is the last day of the rest of my life. As I'm 43 (+), I already lost 1000 last days.

I'm Assaf, 43. I live In Israel in Ramat Hasharon, married to Shani and a father to Shira, Alona and Zohar.

I fill my days (and nights, and sometimes I even manage to invent some extra, "undocumented" hours)  with 3 major activities. First the family (kids are 3,7,11), second my startup company  - face4place that aim to change the way consumers interact with businesses (yes, so am I, with the rest of the world, think I have the winning card) and third, eCommerce - I sell holy-land unique items on ebay, amazon and my own online shop - holylandtreasury.com

 In between, I'm consulting to paying customers (what can I do - kids have to eat) about Information integration (data quality, data governance, data in general). I had quit my job and become self employed  about a year ago, so I can free time to turn my dreams into reality.

So, tomorrow is another day - with new stories to tell dr. Blog.

A.