Treasury: Under Lock and Key

I made this treasury last night and I'm fairly pleased with it. It's for the Vintage Etsy Society Team's weekly challenge, which anyone can enter. Check it out HERE (as soon as they update it) on the Vesties blog.

'Under Lock and Key - A Vintage Collection' by jillhannah

Assorted lot of vin... Meanglean $15.00	Vintage Glass Cryst... theartlyons $24.00	vintage hardware allthebestvint... $32.00	Vintage Shabby Crea... cabinwindows $8.00
Antique Victorian B... bonnbonn $85.00	The key to my heart... slinkycat $9.99	porcelain door knob... multer $29.00	Antique Ornate Bras... preciousplayti... $28.00
Three Vintage Skele... SameSameMaryJa... $12.00	Vintage Brass keyho... flosolio $10.00	Industrial old lock... jollytimeone $19.99	2 Ancient French Fa... FrenchGypsy $21.00
Antique Brown Swirl... WurdeSein $15.00	Vintage Furnace Key KateStealey $10.00	Vintage Metal Padlo... oppning $20.00	Industrial Chic. A... funretro $12.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

I did it after all...

Click on the images to go to the Etsy listings.

Vintage Letter Blocks

A few months back, I found an entire box of vintage letter blocks at an estate sale. I'd already sold a set of blocks in my JillHannah Etsy shop so I was very excited to find quite so many of these fabulous blocks.

But now I face a problem: how to sell them. A lot of people already do custom names and things, others have words like "FUN" and "LOVE" available for sale. So I can compete with the existing or I can innovate. My initial innovative instinct? Sell words like "SHIT," "ASSHAT" and "NUMBSKULL." They'll sell, or at least get attention, but do I want my shop going in that direction? It's not exactly classy.

Maybe today I'll work on listing the vintage popcorn popper and see what other people think.

Other people? You out there?

Black Americana is Not "Cute"

As a seller of vintage goods, I frequently come across "Black Americana." Mammy dolls, Uncle Remus, Aunt Jemima, "pickaninnies," and anything that looks like a black dysmorphic clown is not cute. It is racist.
There are positive historical icons of African Americans out there. I'm aware of them and all for them. These are not what I'm disparaging.
I'm also not advocating setting the racist items on fire (though I do have the impulse), as it is an unfortunate part of our history. Still, they need to be recognized as a mockery and not just sweet little cookie jars.

Etsy's "DOs and DONTs" actually state:

Items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred toward or otherwise demean people based upon: race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation; including items or content that promote organizations with such views

So, along with relics of the Hitler youth, the racially demeaning salt and pepper shakers can't technically be sold on Etsy.

I'm more than happy to report any listing that uses the words "cute" and "mammy" in the same sentence. I find this a thousand times more offensive than the four letter words and artistic nudes that have to be labeled "mature."

If you sell vintage, please take this into consideration before you buy or list that horrific lawn jockey.

What do you think? Please comment! I know it's a hard issue and there's no "right" answer, just my strong opinion.

Pay 10% Less for 100% Dads

For Father's Day, since my shop is so full of Father's Day gifts:

I'm just trying out this site so we'll see if anyone bites. Business has been slow lately despite the many treasuries I'm in almost daily. I need to contact some blogs for giveaways and weasel my way back into magazines and list twice as many items as I've been listing. Maybe if I take up heavy drug use...

Treasured! Deep in the Pretty

'Deep in the Forest.....' by 58andGrace

70s Knit Shades of ... illkniterate $3.00	Leather Faux Crocod... hugeancestor $28.00	Tree of Life Neckla... JewelryDeli $19.50	Tender - An Earthy ... peifferStudios $24.00
Vintage Army Jacket Lilyedenn $55.00	Mother Nature green... theothermagdal... $17.38	Deep Green Californ... vintagepickins $24.00	Mini watchmaker bot... deadsound $9.00
Moss and Ivy - natu... ForStrangeWome... $25.00	Deep Forest Wool Ba... baloo $34.00	Vintage 1930s Green... CuriousCrowVin... $75.00	Victor Electric Add... jillhannah $125.00
Journey into Myster... elgarboart $30.00	Vintage 2 Inch Wide... CynicalGirl $2.25	Rustic distressed s... tinahdee $70.00	Vintage forest gree... Wavalee $58.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

'Give Me the Words to Speak' by BucktoothedBunny

Thank you to VelvetMorning for the title!

BOGO Sale - Mounted... CatherineAnnDe... $35.00	Tout Doucement AlisonTyne $35.00	High Five Hand Etch... ThePolkadotMag... $85.00	A Pair of Tea Canld... kaftansarafan $18.00
Manly Shave Gift Se... DirtyDeedsSoap... $35.00	Earrings Topaz Crys... fivelittlegems $16.00	Photographic Print ... instantt $23.00	vintage 1950s set o... Luncheonettevi... $70.00
Black and White num... ARTinVENICE $38.20	White Chocolate Cov... tookies $14.00	Necklace - sterling... realisationcre... $93.00	Give Me Words To Sp... VelvetMorning $15.00
Helen... Earthy red... cocoricooo $54.00	Vintage Beaded Earr... VintageScraps $12.00	Vintage Style Woode... inspirationsby... $6.00	Antique Doorknobs w... jillhannah $60.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Is Free Shipping Profitable?

Yesterday on NPR I heard a news story about L.L. Bean's new free shipping on everything policy. Everything. Apparently, recent market research showed the #1 reason a customer decides to buy something from you instead of your competitor is free shipping.

If it's a matter of sales versus no sales, it's probably better to sell (assuming your prices aren't already so low you lose money on your items). But if it's just more frequent sales versus less frequent sales, it gets a lot harder to know the "right" answer.

Questions to ask yourself:

• How high are your shipping costs to begin with?
• Will increased sales more than make up for the shipping costs?
• Can you increase your current prices to cover the shipping costs and still gain enough customers to cover shipping costs?

That last question is the one I'm going to play with. Market research shows that customers irrationally would rather have free shipping and pay the exact same amount more for the item. Now, on Etsy that means paying 3.5% fees on your shipping costs, too, but if you make more sales, it's worth it.

My shipping costs are high. I ship heavy and/or breakable things all the time and I abuse bubble wrap until I can safely drop the package down the stairs without damaging the contents. Plus I like to make my packages look like presents (wrapped in recycled wallpaper samples for attractive durability), though I do that on my own time and don't figure that into my costs. Can I really get away with selling, say, my ebony Pyrex mugs for $60 if I offer free domestic shipping?
I'm going to try. If everything flies off the shelves, I'll let you know.
And send NPR a thank you card.


Another fabulous article showing how to think about free shipping and set up a formula for figuring out a good number for "free shipping over $__" can be found here:
http://www.marketingexperiments.com/improving-website-conversion/shipping-charges.html