quality matters so represent

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Here is something that bugs the hell out of me: when people
put badly done work out there. I was searching on Etsy and came upon a seller
making Coptic bound books. The covers were fantastic. So I looked at a bunch of
their work. I found several books in their shop that I’d have been embarrassed to
list myself. Why? Loose and sloppy stitching, crooked stitches, and spines that
were lined up with the holes in the books and not the spine edge of the cover. This
was selling for top dollar too. The seller had listed it with the rest of their
listings as if it were the same quality.* ARGH.

I have 2 main issues with this practice by sellers. First it
gives sellers of handmade goods a bad impression. By selling that book that
seller is making all bookbinders look bad in the eyes of the buyer. As sellers
of handmade goods we have to remember that we represent ALL the other makers of
the same goods. When that book fails it will leave a bad taste in the mouth of
the buyer. That seller is looking to make a quick buck but ultimately will
tarnish his/her image.

Here is my second issue: Its bad customer service. Pure and
simple putting out a subpar product will only damage your image in the eyes of
your buyers. Craftspeople have a hard enough time selling our goods without
people selling badly done work. No matter where it’s sold it doesn’t matter
when you put your work out there you represent your work and all the other
people who make something similar. Buyers who learn through use and looking at
other handmade items will soon learn the flaws of a poorly made item. They will
be unhappy. They will not be back. They will feel scammed.

A note to buyers: If you’re looking for some Coptic bound
books where the seller has pride in their craft, does great work and has some
spot on design skill? Check these sellers out:

KateBlack.Etsy.com Her books are amazing, well designed and
well made

MyHandBoundBooks Very well made and fun books

Kristincrane.etsy.com Well made fun and funky and a lot of
maps!

Additionally, buyers should feel like they can ask a seller
questions. ASK questions of the binder. Ask how long they have been making
books. My suggestion ould be to not buy books from anyone who been making them
less than 6 months. Bookbinding is not an easy to learn craft and one that take
patience and practice to get good at. I’ve been binding for close to 10 years
and when I take a break from a particular binding style, I always make a few
screw up books, and Coptic is one of those styles you foul up on. Even when I
am making them on a regular basis I screw up regularly.

So for those of you who are sellers, if you must sell a
piece please label it as a second, list the quality faults, be honest with your
buyers and represent all of us well.

 *One could argue that perhaps the seller didn’t know that
this was a flaw, but before going on my tirade I looked at the rest of the shop
and found several books made properly and many books with different designs.
This was obviously a seller who knew better!

Book Blocks first gluing

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Book Blocks first gluing
Originally uploaded by lessherger

These book blocks are fresh out of the press. It’s their first gluing.The glue seeps a little into th block and setsthe signatures in place. After they get the thin layer of glue , they go in the press overnight so that the spine is compressed. I use acid free PVA so the spine is nice and flexible. At this point eh blocks are very sturdy and can survive waiting for me to put a place marker, spine support and a cover on them.

The greenish paper is a recycled paper with US currency in it. IT’s a nice soft green with a few fibery bits and occasionally a larger chunk of dollah bill. The Brown paper on the end is recycled into kraft like paper. It’s the same in color but it’s very smooth and perfect for writing. Both are acid free.

I feel like I’m breaking up, but I’ve got somone new on the side…

4 Replies

Well, I’ve made a big decision. Maybe it’s not huge but it’s
a big choice for me to make. I’m going to move my work over to Artfire. I’ll
leave the items up on Etsy for now but as they run out of time I won’t be
relisting them. Mainly I’m unhappy with Etsy’s decision to put their name and
branding over that of their sellers and thereby terribly hurting the sellers
chances of making sales through Google searches. While the economy is down and
sales are lower part of this could, frankly, be biting the hand that feeds. But
who is doing the biting; the angry sellers or Etsy itself? By hurting its
sellers Etsy hurts itself and lowers its bottom line.

I’m not one of the Etsy sellers that made crazy sales; I don’t
think I ever will be. I’ve got several hundred sales under my belt and 100%
positive feedback over the course of 4 years. I’ve done well. I’ve been happy
for the most part. I love buying stuff on Etsy and showing my support of
handmade. I’m glad they’ve gone the nontraditional route and done as well as
they have. Here’s the BUT; their choice to put themselves before me in the Google
search is short sighted and fool hardy. Again, when it comes to bottom line
dollars, putting the cart before the horse makes no sense. Branding is important
but so is pushing sales. Sales are what make Etsy work, and keep the sellers
happy. Make your sellers unhappy and you’ve got an uprising. Similar to eBay a
few years back when they raised their fees to make themselves useless to
smaller sellers. (I have a rant on here somewhere about the fee structure) If
you head to the forums it’s full of vitriol and anger. I didn’t spend much time
in the forums until recently and all it did was confirm my nagging worries.

AS a long time online seller I understand how searches work.
The higher my listing appear in the searches the more likely I am to make a
sale. Make the internal searches hard and you frustrate and loose buyers. This
isn’t 1999, when the wild west was eBay and Google wasn’t a thought, it’s 2009
and searches are sophisticated and SEO is hugely important. Not only am I
frustrated with the SEO management, I’m frustrated with the miss-tagging of
items. Etsy writes in it TOU that they don’t tolerate misuse of tagging but yet
when items are reported it takes weeks for the item to be fixed. More often
than not, it never is. Items that are tagged improperly frustrate buyers. Ever
tried to search for a ‘zine on Etsy, go ahead try it. Search for chainmail.
Search for Leather Cuff. You’ll get a long list of items miss-tagged and have
to go 3 or 4 pages back JUST to find something relevant to your search. Frustrate
your buyers and lose them. It’s piss poor customer service to make the search
hard to use. I’m a seller but I’m also a buyer. I AM really frustrated witht eh
search. I can’t find anything when I search. I have to make multiple searches.
It’s poor customer service but it’s also a loss of sales and bad for my bottom
line and bad for Etsy’s too.

I like Etsy, and I’ll keep my shop open for quite some time
I just won’t be as active about updating it with new products, but you can
expect to see some new and exciting things on my Artfire shop. I’ll be doing
more experimental work with my recycled goods. I’ve wanted to do some fold up
paper books, do-si-do books and an assortment of other things too; similar to
my square cardstock books with retro computer paper in the middle. You’ll see
more specials, 10% off, 20% off and lowered shipping costs; because Artfire
makes that easy for me to do. More than anything else I want to have fun making
books again. I want to make more of the one offs like I used to, funky bindings
and unique one of a kind items and of course upcycled as well as my usual mix
of funky new material items.

I’m not giving up on Etsy, yet. I’ll give them some time to
figure out how they are going to fix this mess they’ve made for themselves. My
2 cents: Honor your sellers and move the meta tags to the end of the listing
title and make the search function work. When you do that I’ll be back in full
force, because Etsy, I love you but I can’t be with you right now, I hope you’ll
understand, and this doesn’t hurt too much. You see I've got this new chick, ArtFire.