Folksy

We've put together some things to consider when selling through Folksy. It's not exhaustive, but it's a start:

1. Setting up your shop
2. Listing items 1: Price
3. Listing items 2: Images
4. Listing items: 3: Titles and Descriptions
5. Listing items 4: Holidays and Vacation periods
6. Listing items 5: Paypal
7. Listing items 6: Categories
8. Promoting your work
9. Shops description and personal biography
10. Terms of use
11. Sold items
12. Unpaid items

1. Setting up your shop:

   
   Your shop name can be different from your username (but your username is fixed and cannot be changed). We suggest creating a nice, clean, simple banner as this is the key visual element to your shop and on item pages. Have a look at other shops to see what works. You can create your own banner or use our tools to create a background colour and text. If you want to create your own banner you need to make it the following size - 100px high, and 920px wide. The file should be saved as a gif or a jpeg file. If you are using your own banner make sure that you leave blank the field "banner text colour" otherwise your shop name will also appear over your banner image.
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2. Listing items 1: Price.

   
   You need to make sure you know who your market is and what price people are willing to pay for the item. If you're not sure ask a few people (friends, colleagues etc.) for an impartial opinion and then try selling at the average of those prices. Your time is likely to the the principal cost in making the items and you need to make sure this is reflected in the price. If the price is too high when you calculate the 'true' cost including your time, or you're not paying yourself enough (there's no such thing as a free lunch!), then you need to figure out if there are more efficient ways to produce the item (batch production?) or if you should make something else, a bit of market research on Folksy and other craft / design sites would help here.
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3. Listing items 2: Images.

   
   Good images are crucial in selling things. It really is worth taking time to do this right. You don't need expensive equipment but you do need to know how to take good pictures.
   Photography tips: abstract images usually work best, don't use an image of the item in use as your principal image; use a plain background; don't put any words on the image such as your name or logo as it doesn't scale well and consumers really don't care about this - they want the product; get good natural light and don't rely on the flash and if your camera has a 'macro' setting use it for detailed photos.

   For more info see this 'how to' on taking better product images and this 'how to' on making a DIY home studio.
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4. Listing items 3: Titles and Descriptions

   
   The title and description of the item should be as descriptive as possible. You are given 2500 words to describe the item. You can use a limited set of HTML. HTML is mark up for the web - it allows you to make things bold or italicise etc. See this reliable guide for a beginners overview of HTML. Lastly, please do not use any profanities or 'rude' words in your title or description - it is against the terms of use. Young people use Folksy and we want it to be a family-friendly place.
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Listing items 4: Holiday / vacation periods


If you are going away on holiday and will not be able to post any bought items in this period then there is a tick box in "shop appearance and settings" in "your profile" which you can tick. This will disable the 'buy' functionality and display text indicating you are on holiday.
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Listing Item 5: Paypal


You need to make sure that your shipping fees on Folksy match those on Paypal. You should have a Business or Premier account on Paypal if you're selling on Folksy (to enable you to receive payment) and one of the options Paypal gives you is to set a shipping fee or except a shipping fee from the host site. You should select the latter and *not* override the shipping fees / postage costs on Folksy.
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Listing Item 6: Categories


You want to put your handmade items in a category (materials are treated separetely and listed as materials). When listing you can choose a category from a drop down menu. This does not automatically put your items in the category. To do this you should then choose some of the relevant keyword suggestions from the list *if* you want your item to be in that category. It should be noted that categories are not exclusive so depending on your tags the item may be listed in two categories, although we have tried to minimise the overlap between categories we acknowledge that some 'bleeding' may occur for example between Accessories and Jewellery. We review categories once a month as people add new items.

Only add keywords / tags that describe your item well. Tag 'spam' will not be tolerated (it ruins the experience for the buyer) we'll remove items that are tagged incorrectly.
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Currently there are the following categories which are made up of the following keywords:

• Jewellery: bracelet,brooch,cufflinks,earrings,necklace,pendant,ring,tiara,watch
• Accessories: brooch,corsage,gloves,hat,ipod,mobilephone,scarf,shawl
• Toys and Dolls: amigurumi,childrens,doll,puppet,toy
• Stationery: calendar,cards,diaries,gift tags,gifttags,invitation,journal,notebook,placecards
• Gadgets and Geekery: arduino,games,gaming,heroes,ipod,katamari,laptop,mobilephone,nintendo,pacman,starwars
• Furniture: cabinet,chair,seat,table
• Clothing: apron,blouse,cardigan,childrens,gloves,jumper,knickers,poncho,scarf,shawl,shirt,skirt,t-shirt,trousers,underwear
• Cases, Purses, Wallets and Bags: bag,carrier,case,cover,ipodcase,ipodcover,laptop,mobilephone,pannier,purse,rucksack,tote
• Homeware: apron,bowl,candles,coasters,cushion,lamp,lampshade,lightshade,napkins,placemat,placemats,pot,rug,teatowels,vase
• Soaps and Oils: oil,salve,scrub,soap
• Art and Photography: collage,comic,drawing,engraving,gocco,illustration,linoprint,painting,photo,print,sculpture,sketch,woodcarving,woodcut,woodcutprints,zine




5. Promoting your work

   
   Folksy does not act as your agent. It is a cost effective service that supports crafters, artists, designers and makers in general. You need to help to promote your work and you can do this by using the Folksy badges on your own blog or website and through making things that are distinctive and that you can talk about - these things are then far more "PRable".
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6. Shop Description and Personal Biography

   
   People *love* to know about how a product was created but they also want to know about who created it. It really does help to write a biography and a shop description. Look at other shops and sellers to see what they have written. Don't try and make it clever or 'marketing speak', just be natural. You can edit your biography in "your account" -> "your profile" -> "edit your profile" And you can edit your shop description by going to "your account" -> "your shop" -> "edit appearance and settings".
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7. Terms of Use

   
   Make sure you have read the Terms of Use. There are issues around copyright, delivery and returns which are particularly important.
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8. Sold items

   
   When you have sold items you will receive an email from Folksy to say an order has been made and then you will receive another email from Paypal confirming payment. If you do not receive the email confirming payment then the order is incomplete.
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9. Unpaid items.

   
   If an order has been made but no Paypal payment has been received then the 'buyer' should be contacted through Folksy for payment. If you do not receive payment then you need to contact the Folksy team and we will request payment on your behalf. If they refuse to pay and continually abuse the Terms of Use their account will be suspended.
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OK, I'm done, take me to list an item for sale on Folksy