Newbies Ask Their Questions - Round 7

Round 7 of Newbies Ask Their Questions is a day late. I apologize! It was my birthday yesterday and on top of that, I haven't been feeling well the last few days.

The response to Round 6 wasn't too bad but we still have a ways to go to pick Newbies Ask Their Questions back up. On the Etsy thread, newbies and old timers were pretty positive and I have a bunch new questions for the upcoming weeks. The Artfire crowd, I'm working on them. I know they have questions. Luckily, some of this week's questions, can apply to both selling venues.

Question

"I attended a virtual classroom & they said to set up a blog, twitter, etc. I set up a blog, but still don't understand its usefulness. I'm not sure anyone is reading it. I have one follower. Am I missing something?"

- LiseWinne (Etsy)

Answers

"I have a blog which I started because I thought it would help me with sales. I was apprehensive, however, it has been so much fun! I have met the best people! To gain followers: comment on other blogs (more than one word, usually), follow other blogs, post your blog in the forums, join the etsy bloggers' team, participate in meme's such as Today's Flowers and SkyWatch Friday (every Friday)."

- SplendidLittleStars (Etsy)

"I haven't twittered, Flickred, facebooked or [social] networked but still I get sales. I think newbies panic at first and think they have to get into all these things when really they have enough on their plate just learning the in's and out's of Etsy. So, my advice to newbies is...relax and have fun; meet people on the forums; keep listing new items or renewing occasionally; and the sales will come."

- pincushioncrazy346 (Etsy)

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Question

"I open shop tomorrow and trying to get my International shipping costs set up on PayPal. I've looked at the forums and have seen that many Etsians ship first class international because it is the least expensive way to ship unless the customer requests otherwise. My predicament is that I don't see first class international listed on PayPal's drop down menu. Is it called by another name on PayPal (such as International Economy or Standard Economy)?"

- LydiasTreasures4u (Etsy)

Answers

"As for my question on PayPal, I found out from another Etsian that PayPal does not offer this type of shipment. In fact, it is better not to fill out any kind of shipmemt on PayPal to avoid double shipping costs (Paypal and Etsy).

"I also had questions as to how I would give customers an invoice with shipping costs on it if PayPal didn't offer the kind of shipment I was looking for. I was advised from very helpful, fellow Etsians to 1) make sure shipping costs are input in your Etsy profile so shipping costs would be printed out on your invoices 2) there is a program called USPS Shipping Assistant available for download to help print shipping labels, etc. 3) check the United States Postal Service website for shipping prices."

- LydiasTreasures4u (Etsy)

The same thing goes with Artfire. To avoid double shipping costs, set your shipping costs on Artfire and leave your PayPal shipping profiles blank or deactivate them.

- naturemanipulated (Artfire and Etsy)

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For those of you who are new to "Newbies Ask Their Questions" ... Every week I run a thread on Artfire and Etsy looking for new sellers and buyers to post their questions regarding the sites or general handmade marketing questions. From the threads I gather several questions every Friday to post in this interactive series and encourage readers to provide answers and share their tips and advice.

If you are a new seller or buyer to Artfire or Etsy and have a question, don't hesitate to post it in the comments. Also, if you have questions regarding other handmade online marketplaces such as Dwanda or 1000 Markets, post your questions here too. I'm sure some of NM's readers may be able to help you out. Please, post as often as you'd like. This is meant to be an interactive post.

PLEASE POST ANSWERS TO THE NEWBIES' QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST

Ongoing Artfire and Etsy Newbies Ask Their Questions forum threads can be found at:
Artfire Chatterbox
Etsy Forums