Web Site, Paypal, and Etsy Anxiety

Tweet I have been working on some general business-y things the past week or so.  I kinda had a flurry of sewing inventory, and since that's calmed down a little, I've been working on other stuff.  Most importantly, I've been adding a LOT of stuff to my Etsy shop.

First, I bought a domain name!  Hooray!  I think it makes me look a lot more professional to be able to send people to bobalookids.com than to have the mile-long blogger address.  And, included with buying that domain name, I have my own email addresses, too!  Yes, multiple ones!  Despite being reasonably up to the times on technology, I'm am NOT knowledgeable about what actually goes along with a domain name, so this may be news to only me.  I even gave my husband his own fancy bobalookids.com email because it made me feel like the big boss lady.

As I mentioned before, I somehow stumbled across this great post about setting up a custom domain name through Blogger.  If it's something you're interested in doing, definitely go read that post.  It was so very easy.  You basically pay $10 a year for the name, and everything else is pretty automated.  I did have a little trouble setting up all the Google Apps that come along with it, but once I realized I don't even need to use half the stuff that's available I stopped trying to figure it all out at once.

I also got my business Paypal account all set up.  I had to set up a new one with my sweet new business email address, so I had to go through all that bank account verification stuff that takes a few days.  I have a personal Paypal account that I basically only use to buy stuff on Etsy, but I'm trying really hard to keep my business stuff separate so it just made more sense to open a new one.  This article on Etsy really helped me figure out the difference between the different Paypal accounts and clenched the deal on opening the business one.

Last but not least, can we please discuss the anxiety that results when you open an Etsy shop?  I started listing on Thursday, got featured in about ten Treasuries through the weekend, and got lots of hearts.  But sadly, I am still waiting for that first sale.  I'm sure all you Etsy sellers can commiserate - intellectually, I know it's only been a few days and I am a very small fish in the very big Etsy pond, but emotionally it's TORTURE.  I'm just going to keep on listing items and obsessively checking my email!

Setting up Etsy Shop Policies

Tweet First, word on the street is the Fancy Burp Cloth tutorial will be featured on the One Pretty Thing Daily DIY Roundup tomorrow.  Hi to everyone who's stopping by for the first time, and thanks Rachel!

After getting tons of sewing done last night, I sat down to take care of some more business related items.  I really need to finish setting up my Etsy shop, so I decided to tackle my Shop Policies page (which I've been avoiding).  I searched the Etsy Forums and read this guide to help me with the process.

The Shop Policies page includes accepted payment types, shipping policies, and the shop return policies.  I found the Payment section easy - I know I want to primarily accept PayPal because it's easy, but I don't want to exclude anyone who can't (or won't) use Paypal.  Here's what I ended up with.

The Shipping section is the challenge for me.  I very very rarely ship ANYTHING, so this will be quite a learning experience for me.  I've decided to start out using USPS Priority Mail because it seems to be the most simple - the post office supplies you with free boxes, and the shipping rate is based on size box.  The boxes are delivered to my house and I can ship from home, which frees me from the nightmare of entertaining two squirrelly children while waiting in line at the post office.  As I understand it, this is not the cheapest way to ship, so this may change once I start shipping regularly. Here's my shipping section.

The return section is a little intimidating, but I knew from the start that I wanted a pretty generous return policy.  I just think people are more likely to buy from someone who genuinely wants them to be happy with their purchase.  I figure if I do get some returns, I'll just chalk it up to the costs of doing business.  What do you think, is it too vague?

Last but not least, I put a little note about custom orders and wholesale inquiries. I really would love to drum up some wholesale business, so hopefully this will help.

If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it!  Have a great weekend!