Pros and Cons of Square Market

Ahhhh Square. Every crafter's reasonably-priced credit card processing friend. This lovely company recently started an online marketplace so customers could purchase items from local businesses without leaving home. I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it turned out to be my least favorite option as a free Etsy alternative. Click on the image above to take a look at my Square shop.

Pros

• Operates under your existing Square account if you have one. When you add an item, it also becomes available in your Square app that you use to process credit cards.
• New look. My Square shop looks vastly different from my Etsy shop, which I like. I think Square's look is sleek and pretty.
• Unlimited free listings! Buyers use their credit card to purchase items and Square takes a small percentage of the purchase price. The rest is deposited into the seller's bank account. I love the fact that Square only makes money when its sellers make money.
• Items are only available to buyers who live in the USA. Others might see this as a "con," but it makes shipping profiles a lot easier to handle. With the skyrocketing price of international shipping and those pesky customs forms, I can't say I miss it here.

Cons

• Difficult to set up. When you first start, your items are "online" but not "for sale." You have to check a box in your shop profile to sell publicly. For the longest time, I tried checking the box, and it would uncheck itself. It finally "stuck" after about 20 minutes.
• It takes FOREVER for your items to show up in a search on Square's main page. We're talking weeks.
• Only one photo per item. Come on, Square! ONE photo? REALLY? I feel like I have to link to an entirely different web site with alternate views of my products. Or create one photo that's a montage of many photos. Ain't nobody got time for that.
• There's a semblance of a "quantity" feature there, but it's so limited I can't use it. The options for availability are "one" or "many." What if I have 10, list my quantity as "many" and someone orders 15?
• Square has a variation feature (so you can add options for size etc.) but your customers only see it if they're using an iPad. Wait... what?
• Items and sections are listed alphabetically. I wish it was arranged by date or relevancy. I named my sections "section 1 - rings," "section 2 - necklaces," etc. to get them in the order I wanted. I'm tempted to do the same thing with my items. "Amazing necklace," "beautiful necklace," "cute necklace," "delicate necklace"...
• Listing items is pretty easy, but it's also sort of easy to skip over the "price" section while you're filling in other things. The default price is $0, and they don't stop you from posting items for free. Every time I put something up, I have to check to make sure I'm not giving things away ;)
• No shop stats at all. Nothing. I have no idea how many times my shop or items have been viewed. It makes it very difficult to gauge the potential of this site.

Pros and Cons of Zibbet

As promised, here are my thoughts on my free Zibbet shop. I decided to start with this one first since it's my favorite of the three free alternatives to Etsy that I've tried. I started listing items in mid-November and now have 42 items up for sale. Click on the image above if you'd like to see my shop.

Pros

• Easy integration of existing Etsy shop. I was able to download a file from Etsy and upload it to Zibbet. Not everything translated exactly correctly, but with a little editing I was able to get most of my items up without completely re-writing everything.
• Nice community. I've had a few of my items pinned on pinterest by fellow Zibbet sellers. I was also featured in a blog within a day of setting up my Zibbet shop.
• Shop performance stats. I've been able to check up on my items. When I'm updating and listing items, I get a decent amount of views. The shop stats aren't as detailed and extensive as they are on Etsy, but at least they're there.
• No fees for selling with a free account, even if something sells. Zibbet makes all their profits from paid, premium accounts.
• I've heard lots of rumors that Zibbet will be unrolling an update in early 2014. I'm asked at every turn what I think of my experience on Zibbet and how it can be improved. It will be interesting to see how they evolve.

Cons

• Lack of (free) features that Etsy has. You can't list multiple quantities of an item without paying extra.
• Limit of 50 items unless you pay for a premium account.
• No item variations. From what I can tell, there's no way to let a buyer select a variation on an item (size, etc.) even if you pay extra.
• It appears that buyers have to use paypal. There is no "direct checkout" like on Etsy.
• Almost TOO similar to Etsy. It would have been nice to get a fresh look from this new site, but it just feels like a copycat web site.

*Sigh*

So, I just posted that I was moving over to wordpress. I think I lied. They're so pushy with trying to sell you stuff (OOO! I can pay $5 for a different background color!). Blogger is so much more customizable without having to pay extra. I think I might just deal with the glitches I'm experiencing on blogger.

I’m hoping to start blogging again. I know I’ve said that several times, but for real this time. I’ve been neglecting my little Etsy shop since I started working full time, but now I have a job with better hours. Might be time to start getting back in gear.

One thing I’ve been wanting to talk about is free alternatives to Etsy. There has been a lot of Etsy drama going on lately, and I know a lot of people that are looking for other options. I set up shops on Zibbet, Square Market, and ShopHandmade and haven’t spent a dime so far. Looking forward to seeing if I have any success with them.

Here are links to my free shops if you’re looking for comparison. I’ve tried to put approximately 20 items in each shop.

My Zibbet Shop
My Square Market Shop
My ShopHandmade Shop

I’m planning to leave them up for a few days, maybe add some new items, and see how they do. I’ll make posts to discuss any pros and cons I see with them. But like I said, I haven’t spent a cent on any of this. I figure it can’t hurt, and maybe people are looking for some opinions.

I went on a major shopping spree this weekend. I got lots of craft supplies so I could re-make everything I've sold in shows lately. I also got a little bit of Christmas shopping done. That's awesome for me... I never know what to get for anyone.

I'm thinking about totally overhauling my photo pendant-making process. I used to make the little circles out of clay by hand, but I hate the process. It takes forever and the circles are never perfectly round. While I was shopping for jewelry supplies, I found some packs of round wooden circles. I bought them and decided to try them out. I'm super excited about them. No more forming my own circles out of clay! The only thing I'm worried about is how to attach them to a chain. I can drill a hole through the circle, or I could drill a hole in the top and glue a loop of wire in there. I shall experiment.

Things have been busy. I haven't posted in awhile.

The last couple of days have been great. On Thursday I sold my jewelry at Artropy in Lafayette Square, and today I was at the Green Living Expo at the Missouri History Museum. Artropy went extremely well. It was my best show ever. The history museum show started out very slow and I was worried, but things picked up and I managed to do pretty well. The location was great (a few blocks from my apartment), and the shoppers were very polite and pleasant. I'll definitely do it again.

My card swiper and ProPay account ended up being good investments. I got a lot of credit card sales, and no hitches so far.

My Etsy shop feels so emptyyyy... but it's all good I guess. I'm feeling very proud of myself. Can't wait for next year's shows!

Man... I don't have another craft show until December. I don't know what to do with myself. My last craft show was pretty slow (but still a lot of fun), so I don't have to replenish my stock the way I had anticipated. Sales in general have been good, though. I made a goal of reaching 4 pages in my Etsy shop, but I'm having trouble because things keep selling. It's a very good problem to have.

Daylight savings is already driving me nuts. I hate it when it gets dark so early. I wonder if we're going to have to suffer through this useless tradition forever.

Austin and I watched "Aliens" last night. I was truly surprised at how awesome it was. Better than the first, I think. It had me nail-biting and screaming at the TV. It's also a perfect example of how CGI has ruined movies. A movie from 1986 managed to be more visually compelling, realistic, and engaging than any new, live-action movie I've seen in the last 15 years (perhaps with the exception of "Pan's Labyrinth"). There's no "wow... how did they do that?" effect in movies anymore. I'd be more convinced by a guy in a bad bear suit than I would by a perfectly rendered CG bear, to be honest. I really want the movie industry to bring back animatronics and make-up, and stop with the over-the-top simulations that aren't fooling anyone.

Propay and Travel

My ProPay account was approved today. I shall be able to accept credit cards at my next show.

I was planning on accepting cards at my last one, but I had to mail in an exceptions form because ProPay couldn't validate my information. I've never heard of that happening to anyone. Most people can set it up on 10 minutes. Mine took a week. Lucky me.

I ordered a card imprinter with carbon copy slips and a business plate. I know I said I could just write down the information, but my mom talked me into it because it will make me look more professional. And I had an e-bay gift card. Best birthday present ever. I hope it gets here in time for the show... otherwise I'll be handwriting on sales receipts.

Austin's at a computer science conference in Florence, Italy. His mom went with him since Austin will be reimbursed for their hotel room. I'm staying with the cat my mom's while he's gone (I get lonely).

We also got some good news a couple of weeks ago. His paper was accepted into a conference in freaking HAWAII. In freaking JANUARY. We decided to spring for my plane ticket, so I'm coming along. Can't wait!