I’ve gotten a few orders in my Etsy shop so far, mostly for the “Kita ĝena (“Go Away” in Sumerian) UnWelcome Mat.” I’m so grateful for my first customers for giving my new small shop a chance to grow! Thank you all so much! It means to world to me!
That said, I’ve unfortunately already had to raise the price on that item. The shipping cost imported from the printing company was MUCH MUCH too low. On top of the Etsy fees and an introductory sale I had for that particular item, I’m breaking even or possibly losing a little bit of money on the first few orders I received. On top of that, Etsy strongly encourages free shipping, but I can’t see how anyone would ever purchase a welcome mat for what I’d have to charge to cover the actual item manufacturing costs, shipping, and Etsy fees, and still make any meager profit at all. Charging the actual shipping cost of $15+ probably won’t fly with the expectations people have for online shopping these days.
For now, I chose to raise the price of the item just a little and keep the low shipping prices of $5, since the average customer doesn’t really understand how much it costs to ship items. Once my initial set of Etsy listings expire in a few months, I’ll re-evaluate if I even want to keep the welcome mats as part of my product line. People seem to like them, but the manufacturing and shipping costs are just sooo high for that product, at least from the company I’m using to print and ship them. I’m looking into other companies to work with to manufacture the doormats for me. So far I’m coming up empty, but I’m trying to see if there are any companies out there that are more reasonable for very small independent artists to work with.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about my artwork, items, shop, sales channels, etc. I aim to be as transparent as possible about my processes!
