My first Etsy sale.

I opened my Etsy boutique on the 21st of March 2017.
I listed few items. and was trying to get a grip of the Etsy interface when on the 24th of March my first order came in.
I was really surprised and not ready, but I tried my best to be able to process this first order in a timely manner.
But, of course things never go has predicted or wanted.
Because my store was open for only 4 days, I could not send the package right away, Etsy has a 5 days delay for new accounts.
So I waited 5 days, and checked the status of the order on Etsy's side, Etsy was still telling me not to send the order yet as the processing was not over.
After 10 days I received an email from Etsy asking me to update my bank data, which I did right away, doing so added 3 more days to the processing of the order on Etsy's side.
I started to get nervous as I advertise a 1 working day handling.

So I sent an email to my buyer, to explain the delay, email to which unfortunately I had no answer.
After 2 days I decided to send the package anyways.
The buyer was located in NY USA, so I prepared my package with a nice protective bag around the Vintage Cartier hand bag, leather instructions and of course a goodie to thank my buyer for her patienty, I informed my buyer of this, still no answer.
Anyhow, I went to my local post office, the guy there did not seem to know how to send a package to the US...we struggled, and finally settled for the correct fee, which was 18.62 EUR according to his computer post thingy.

I felt better knowing the package was sent even thought Etsy has not transferred the money to me yet.
I wanted to make my fisrt costumer experience as fast and smooth as possible.
I sent the package on the 1st of April.
On Friday the 7th, I received a note from the post, asking me to pay for the package, they asked for 21 EUR!
I could not fathom why, the note said that I did not franked my package enough, it is not like I decided, here in Holland you go to the post office, and the employee tells you how much it costs, sticks the label on the box, you pay and that is it, you do not chose the fare yourself!
The note also said that even though the fees where not up to what it should be, they anyhow sent the package to its destination.
I was kind of perplex.
But then I thought what if they did not proceed to send the package further into its journey??
That would completely destroy my first sell, my first review, that would set me back stage one with some bad luggage for all my potential buyers to see.
So I called the post company, they told me the sticker was missing, so that is why I have to pay.
I a normal life set up, I would have never paid, because I did nothing wrong, but my reputation was on the line, so I paid.
I sold the bag for 90 EUR, and cost me 39,62 to ship, so not what I was expecting, but the sacrifice is worth, this is my first sale after all.
To this day I have no way to know if the buyer received the bag.
All I can do is send her an email, but so far it did not trigger an answer.
I will probably send her an email next Monday, to check.
Hopefully she on her side had no issues to receive the package.
Overall my first sale was enjoyable but stressful.
I've learned some lessons here for sure.
Next time will be more careful with the post guy, and stick some cello tape on the label, to make sure it does not go away.
Here is the beautiful Cartier Vintage hand bag I sent to America:

It is kind of special, it use to be owned by my husband's grandma, whom passed away last year.
It is kind of amazing to think that this beloved is set for a new life in the New World.

Since that sale, I am still longing for the next order, trying my best to pick, list and sell nice desired leather accessories.
I even listed some hand made earnings of my creation (5 EUR the pair, grab them form my Etsy boutique following the link on the side), to create traffic, but I have to say my dear beloved hand bags are the ones bringing traffic.
I am not sure if my sales will be triggered by my first review or not, I thought a sale would make people order, but so far nothing happens, so I have hopes that my first buyer's review will trigger more sales. Maybe delusional, but you got to find something to make run, right?

Stay tuned on my blog, to know if my buyer received the bag and the overall outcome of this adventure.

Picking, sunny days and new car.

The sunny days are finally there in The Netherlands, so to speak.
At least srping is really here, criters and other amphibians are coming out and somehow migrating to our garden.
A couple of frogs or toads thought our garden was romantic enough for them to mate there.
Which we do not mind, it's just that any creatures freak me out so you can imagine my nervousness when I saw them.
Nevertheless my disgust, we are animal lovers and just let them go about their business...

Aren't they cute in their own way?

That afternoon I spent listing my new beloved leather accessories onto Etsy, I would never have guessed how time consuming this is, but rewarding as listing does bring a pick in my boutique trafic, so worth it!

I listed a hand bag I got from a man who was selling it on our local craiglist (marktplaats).

This wonderful beloved bag was made by a company called Cellarich.

They do only custom or on demand items, they do not seem to produce this model anymore, which is making it a special one to me.

You can check them out here:

http://www.cellarrichretail.nl/

In short: 

Cellarrich has been founded in 1993 by 4 former students (textile arts) in Amsterdam.The original location was a cellar on the Prinsengracht. Here arises the name cellar-rich. From this “cellar” we delivered tailored made bags and small leather goods.

In 1997 Cellarrich moved to a shop on the Haarlemmerdijk. The Cellarrich collection was no longer produced in our own workshop. From that moment Cellarrich stopped with tailor made products and started with a large basic collection of clasp wallets, small leather goods and bags produced elsewhere. Since then Cellarrich works  together for the productions with a small Dutch family company and with a factory with a social mentality in the Czech Republic. Together with these two companies Cellarrich is constantly looking for balance between beautiful, durable and affordable products. The products are all very basic and the collection only changes a little each season. The diversity of the collection is in the amount of colours and materials. The leather that Cellarrich uses comes from The Netherlands and Italy.

That same day I also listed a new beloved hand bag, a very cute and elegant white bag, on which the leather have been cut out by hand superficially to reveal the core of the leather, a nice soft brown colour.

I also got this cutie from marktplaats, funny enough, the lady who sold it to me, could not be there, at the time we agreed I should come to pick it up.

This was April the 1st, and she told me:

'You know what? I will just leave in it in a bag next to our trash bin, and you just slip the money through the mail box!'

I agreed, thinking to myself that it might be an April's fool.

So there it was, 1st of April, hubby agreed to drive me there in our brand new ride, it was in my city, so no long travel.

We parked, I exit the car, and there it was the zip lock bag with my new beloved inside, just next to the trash bin.

I picked it up and slipped the money through the mail box as agreed.

Few hours later, I got a text from the lady, thanking me and wishing me good times with the cutie.

I really went with the idea of a scam or a joke, but no this was really happening, and I am really happy, that this kind of transaction, laced with trust can still happen, trust in humanity restored a bit for me.

Now the said cutie:

I am so stocked about this one really. You can grab it from my Etsy store, link here on the side.

It is now 20% off, a real bargain.

Hubby and I are both picking, listing and reselling as a hobby.

In order to enlarge our stock we needed to be mobile.

Our old French car was dying on us, only starting when it wanted to, very frustrating when you have a appointment for a pick with a very tight time slot.

So we went car shopping.

I do not have my driving licence, never had the use of it, while living in Paris.

So I basically have no idea of what a good car to drive is.

But I do have ideas on what is a comfortable car for the for of us, as the kids and I, have motion sickness in cars.

My one and only requirement for the new car was that it should not be to low or to close from the floor.

I call it a high car!

Hubby looked at many models and brands, to finally settle on , can you guess?

A French one!

He settled on the new Captur from Renault, which is a small SUV, big SUV's like in the US are rare where I live and no one has the use for such a big car, so let's call the new car a SUV!

Here is the new ride, in which now I am very comfortable going picking, without getting motion sickness too much:

If you look closely you can see my little red head fairy taking the picture.

Hoping to travel and pick like never with our new ride, exciting days ahead.

Keep tuned on my blog for more adventures.