Boy How Things Have Changed!

Barb & I put our hearts & a ton of work into 'our' Etsy store. When we got the store stocked we then sent an email to our customers & buds. My girl did sell 2 paintings & at that point we realized we had a BIG problem. All of our shipping charges defaulted. If Barb sold & painting then I sold 2 plant stakes they would take her shipping charge on that painting. First shipping price on my plant stakes is $5.25 & the rest ship FREE. But Etsy had the plant stakes shipping at $21.00 each! Twenty cents...........ok! It was just as wrong if they bought from me then Barb. We tried everything in our power to make this work. I went to 3 Etsy forums & Tech Help. I was told that "it is best for you each to have your own store as these glitches happen with a Collective Shop."

It poses other challenges also but until you are "really doing a 2 man (women) store" you do not realize how crazy it can be. We moved Barb into my Etsy Store as I am established there & customers know how to find me rather than starting from scratch. For any of you who has an Etsy store we know that we pay our monthly charges & fees, get convos & emails, get Selling Notifications & payment info & we have our Paypal. It's easy!

The store is recognized as 'mine' & EVERYTHING comes to me. So Barb was not privy to emails if her customer had a question. She never got a Transaction notice then I would transfer $ from my Paypal to hers. So ANYTHING concerning Barb HAD to come through me. So I was transferring emails, questions only Barb could answer, & we also were shipping from 2 different destinations. So if a customer wanted info on their shipment-I had to go to Barb. Now we planned on getting a Paypal account with both of us on there so that was the ONLY thing that we could do jointly.

Unless you are at the computer all day....it is more frustrating then you can imagine. Etsy stores are simple & great for one person-a nightmare for two! We all appreciate our customers & we take care of them from Step A to Step B. Things go fine & you get your positive feedbacks.

To do 'our' store customers would be getting wrong shipping charges POSITIVELY so we could refund but we feel that is not the way to do business. If it was only 1 time ok, but now every transaction would be wrong. So not a good thing. Initially in our Etsy store we have 10 folders so I went to Etsy asking if it was possible that each folder could be a different artist bringing all of our customers with us. I thought it was a GREAT idea! So then it was just Barb & I. She will open a store but because of a hectic schedule it may be awhile. At that point I'll attach a link cus she truly is a GREAT artist.
Hugs to all,
Keri