chimesblog

I hate to be a Debbie-downer, but I recently had to change my shipping policy on Etsy. This applies ONLY to my dishes, not to the other items.

Here’s the sitch: Dishes are fragile and heavy, and therefore, cost a little more money than other items to ship. Said cost is more than most people are willing to pay to have something shipped to them, so I’ve had a lower shipping rate in the past. I kept small items to $5 and large items to $10. However, I didn’t take into account that I always have to wrap these items extra carefully and that they can’t just be put into an envelope.

I have lost a TON of money shipping dishes, so I’ve changed the way I’m handling shipping of these fragile items. I was typically paying $1-2 extra for shipping itself, not to mention I put a tracking number on all my items. So I was eating the shipping overage costs PLUS the shipping materials costs. Even if shipping was about right for the product I still had to pay extra for the shipping materials.

It’s not kosher to ask somebody to pay more for shipping after purchasing an item that has shipping prices included. THEREFORE I’m instituting a flat-ship rate policy. The shipping rate for all dishes is the same up front. This rate covers the worst-case scenario cost of shipping the items. However, all customers will be refunded the overages. The cost includes $4 for packaging materials.

I wrote a new policy after checking to see what others do about this same situation.

The policy reads:
Shipping will be calculated after your purchase and overages will be refunded. Shipping price below is standard on ALL dishes. Please keep in mind these objects are very fragile and require extra care (and bubble wrap) when packaging. Shipping price also includes $2 for bubble wrap and $2 for a box.

Please convo me before purchasing if you would like me to pre-calculate correct shipping for you. This will require me to reserve the item for you, but will result in you paying one accurate charge for the item instead of receiving a refund later.

If you need overnight or express shipping on this item, please convo me before buying so I can calculate the actual cost and adjust the shipping price.

All items to Des Moines or Ames can be delivered at no charge. Please convo me to arrange a pickup/drop off time/place before placing your order to receive the free shipping.

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So, I’m kind of a big deal. Maybe?

I’ve been in the paper a lot lately. Featured in Des Moines Register a while back and I’ve had my photo in various publications advertising for Market Day. And the etsy shop has been HOPPIN’ this week. Not sure what the deal is, but I’m getting to the point where I might not be able to keep up. No autographs, please.

Here’s all the lovely pretty things I sold on etsy this week (since last Sunday!):

Birdies and Coffee Creamer

Birdies and coffee sugar dish

Bluebirds and coffee oversized mug

2 of the It’s a teacup. Literally. cups

Pink musical flowers plate

Teatime with Gram set

The last 3 items went to the same lady in Korea. Not sure how she found me (guessing on Etsy), but I’m going to ask because I’m curious.

And sadly, I let my lovely butterflies and wonderland quilt go … it was bittersweet. I love this. I hope it is happy in its new home.

Anyway, I can’t believe how much press I’ve gotten and how popular my etsy shop has been this month alone. I need to get making!

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I decided that my “hardcore” attire/accessories should live on its own in a new shop on etsy.  I think I’m going to be making more “hardcore” stuff…and that style didn’t really go with my dishes that I have on my original store. 

My new store is called toDIYfor.  I had that name figured out a LONG time ago when I started making reconned t-shirts. My mom had suggested I come up with a label (that was probably 7 years ago now) but I quilt making stuff shortly thereafter.  Anyway, nobody on etsy had that name, and rather than sit and ponder a new one, I just decided to go for this one. The new label/logo is kind of more sophisticated than the original one…or maybe not? I don’t know. I didn’t want to use a cheesetastic font, but I thought it was kind of fitting.  

Here’s the original label I created like 7 years ago…before I had any graphic design knowledge/skills (not that the new label/logo is anything groundbreaking or even good…but still).

Here’s the etsy banner for the new store (shrunk down to fit here):

I kept the sans serif font (DIN) from my chimesdesign logo/branding and pulled in the same fuschia color to hopefully tie the 2 together.

What do you guys think?  Is there anything in my original store that you think could fit better in the “hardcore” store?

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I spent the whole weekend in Ames since it was graduation weekend and the BF FINALLY graduated. We went out Friday AND Saturday. I managed to squeeze in an hour-long run/walk yesterday while he was doing the big graduation ceremony (I didn’t go since I couldn’t sit for that long)…and we went to Applebee’s with his family for supper (mmmmmm huge ass apple walnut salad!)…and then we watched StepBrothers until super late last night. I got up early today but wasn’t very productive at all (it’s after 7 PM!!). 

First, I spent most of my morning putting together a 5K training plan for one of my BFFs, Adria. I convinced her to run a 5K with me in September or October and she’s up for it. Updates on that will follow.  I’m finishing up the program and will be hopefully sending it to her tonight so she can start on it.

Secondly — the obvious — I spent most of my afternoon moving my blog (formerly runningchimes.wordpress.com) here and doing a quickie design that will suffice for now until I get time to do a real design and redo my portfolio. I’ve been paying $10 a month for this domain, I might as well get SOME use out of it!

Finally, I spent a lot of the evening listing some things on my etsy store, re-figuring some prices and retagging some items. I’ve got quite a bit of design up. My store got some traffic the other day when I posted that black prom dress that I’ve decided I’ll never be able to squeeze into.

Unrelated: I had decided not to work out today, but then re-decided that I should. AND if I do, I get to eat the ice cream that I have in the freezer. Don’t worry — it’s just a single serving. I plan to do a half hour of biking since I haven’t biked for a while and then some strength training and stretches. Maybe 45 minutes of biking. We’ll see. I plan to go at 8 PM. That’s later than usual, but I’ve got a new rule: something is better than nothing!  I have a hard time working out late, but I figure biking easy for 30 minutes is better than sitting on my ass for 30 more minutes. 

Anyway, that is all. I shall be posting more crafty stuff hopefully and more running stuff. I need to take some photos of my crafts and post them here, facebook and on etsy. Also, I’m going to probably start using the nike+ again this week since I can run 1 mile consecutively. I’d like to know what my pace is…just for s&g’s.

Finally: Shout out to PerpetualSpiral (whose real name I don’t know…which I feel bad b/c she’s pretty awesome) — fellow craftster and twitterer.  She’s always got some kind words and praise for me!  Yay for tweeps that I’ve never met in real life.

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