As usual, I totally screwed things up for Christmas. Last year I did a black friday offer that confused everyone, then changed it mid-sale to be 'easier', but that only confused everyone even more. This year, right before the holiday season I disabled international shipping and deleted some stagnant products.
The international shipping thing is a toughie for me. I'm really tired of being blamed for USPS being slow. At first I deleted the international shipping offer altogether. Then I tried making my standard rate be Global Express ($30) which has guaranteed 3-5 day delivery, but after the first day of adjusting my prices, I realized nobody is going to pay $30 to ship a $25 calendar, let alone a $5 print. I had a long talk with my business manager (aka my dad) last night, and he said that since I make all of my products myself, I can afford to replace them, and if someone is impatient for their package to arrive, I can afford to cut my losses and issue a refund. So as of today, I reinstated international shipping in my shop. But please be aware that the shipping is not too speedy, so if you need something for Christmas please contact me to upgrade to Global Priority ($20) or Global Express ($30)!
As for the stagnant products -- I went through and deleted things that haven't sold in a couple months, but it seems like depleting my inventory had a negative effect on my shop overall, somehow. So today I added everything back, along with a bunch of prints that haven't even been in my shop since 2009!
I also lowered a lot of my prices. Prints are back to their old price of $5 each, and I have a new sale print deal -- 4 prints for $10! I lowered the prices on the calendars and Christmas cards as well.
My main problem is that I know how to draw, but I don't know how to run a business. I get in such a fluster this time of year trying to make my shop better for the holidays, and I always end up screwing it up instead. To make up for my huge blunders, I'm offering some coupons. You can only use one per order, and they are not applicable to digital downloads or original paintings:
Free shipping on US orders of $10 or more: FREESHIP10
20% off orders of $10 or more: CATSMEOW
30% off orders of $20 or more: MISTLETOE
50% off orders of $100 or more: HALFOFF
Additionally, I know that my new artwork is not really floating anyone's boat so I have all of my old Christmas cards in my shop, as well as a 2012 calendar featuring classic cartoony flappers! I also re-stocked my pocket mirrors, BFF pendants, mystery grab bags and more!
