Monday, February 8, 2010

Worst case scenario, time to make a plan


What if something happened to you? Does anyone know anything about how to run your etsy shop? What if you couldn't handle your shop for some reason, yet it remained open and buyers purchased items that weren't acknowledged or shipped?
Recently, I've seen a couple of established and successful etsy shops go right in the toilet, because the seller was either unable to keep up with orders, or had a situation that caused them to abandon their shop while it was still open. It's one of those things you don't think about, but I've decided that I really need a plan. So, here goes:
1. Designate someone you trust as your backup.
2. Record your etsy login, your Paypal login, and an etsy contact (another seller that you're friends with).
3. Record the steps of how to put your shop in vaction mode.
4. Record the steps of how to look up an order and ship an order.
5. Record the steps of how to convo your etsy contact, and how to convo a buyer.
6. Record the steps of how to transfer money and refund money from your Paypal account.
7. Record the steps of how to pay your etsy bill.
8. Give this information to your backup.
It's always good to have a plan for the unexpected. On your emergency checklist, your etsy shop may not be number one. But you have to put yourself in the place of a buyer who might purchase something when a shop isn't being attended for whatever reason or emergency. And you also don't want to take the chance of bad feedback that was beyond your control possibly wiping out this business that you are working so hard to build.
Does anyone else have any tips?

4 comments:

  1. Oh Laura you are so right, with everything in our lives we have back up plans but I completely didn't think about Etsy :(

    Thanks for the heads you, going to work on that right now :)

    Hope you are having a great Monday, regards, T.

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  2. It's something I have thought about,just about every time I feel a pain in my chest and tell myself; "It's only heartburn". There are so many things that could happen such as, heaven forbid, an illness or an accident and I knew I needed some type of plan but unfortunately have done nothing to implement one.
    Your list is most insightful. Now if only I knew someone foolish enough...er I mean trustworthy enough to be my back up. =/

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  3. Great points here! So important to have plan B in place!

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  4. Good advice! I showed my Mom all of this awhile ago, and sometimes she runs my shop while I'm on vacation (she's an awesome Mom!).

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