Today this week’s guest, Joscelyne Cutchens of Bossy Joscie, shares why she chose to use Big Cartel for hosting her shop goods.
Why did you decide to go with Big Cartel when setting up your online shop?
I chose Big Cartel because I wanted to be able to sell both digital and tangible items in my shop. Pulley works well with Big Cartel to make the digital part a breeze!
What advantages do you feel it brings you as a seller?
I like that the look of the shop is customizable and easy to point my domain to my big cartel address. I also like the multiple pictures and the tiered store prices. I don’t have to pay fees to big cartel for every sale, just a flat rate per month based on the number of items in the shop. I also like how it looks more like a unique, independent shop than some others.
Are there any disadvantages to using it to sell your goods?
You still have to pay the monthly charge for your shop based on the number of items for sale, whether you sell anything that month or not.
I think that Etsy has a great network where people can come and to shop and search for items and find your store front. There are great collections and other ways to be found. Big Cartel does not have this feature.
How do the majority of your customers find you? Through your blog? Social media?
I use my blog and social media like instagram and facebook to share my products with potential customers. I use #hashtags like #happymail #bossyjoscie #flair #personalized #stamps to help others find items they might have missed or for new people to find me. I have had great luck with lovely crafty ladies who have shared my products and introduced me to their blog readers. Most recently Jennifer McGuire featured my stamps on her blog and I was overcome with all the orders that rolled in.
Joscelyne also has a few tips to share if you’re new to setting up shop and using Big Cartel:
– After you figure out what you’re going to sell, you’ll have to decide on a name. I think it is a good idea to choose a name that is easy to spell and can be related to you or your product easily. When sharing your products you will have to type in links to your shop and you want people to be able to navigate to you easily. If you choose a name that is too long, it may be difficult to get personalized stamps or stationery or other printed materials. If your name is a tricky spelling, people might not find you at all when they type in the misspelled name.
– I set up a facebook page for my shop to share my bossy news and it still blows me away that I have people that like my shop that are not already my personal facebook friends.
– I use lightroom to process my shop items, to resize and watermark. It looks great when you can get your photos all the same shape/size/watermark. It can be tricky if you continue to sell older stock along with new. I still need to work on adjusting my old photos to the new format.
Be sure to stop in and get to know Joscelyne a little better in the business spotlight this month. And if you’re debating on where you should set up shop, be sure to also check out this post: Why I chose Etsy for my handmade Business.
Such an informative read. I have recently been trying to make the decision as to whether I should switch from the Etsy platform to Big Cartel. It’s nice to have detailed pros and cons about Big Cartel to help make an informed decision. Joscie rocks!