You may or may not have heard of people screaming, “DON’T SHIP TO ITALY YOUR PACKAGE WILL NEVER MAKE IT!” and it got me to wondering, why? I spoke to a friend who worked with United Nations for several years and was stationed in Italy for 2 years. He basically said 2 things, a) a lot of their customs officers are corrupt and a lot of the packages are “confiscated” and b) Italy’s restrictions for packages that allowed are a mile long!

So I went off in search of Italy’s List of Restrictions and found a huge list. Here are just some of the major ones I found:

Albums of any kind (of photographs, postcards, postage stamps, etc.).

Articles of platinum or gold; jewelry; and other valuable articles unless sent as insured packages.

Artificial flowers and fruits and accessories for them.

Bells and other musical instruments and parts thereof.

Cartridge caps; cartridges.

Clocks and supplies for clocks.

Compound medicaments and medicines.

Coral mounted in any way.

Ether and chloroform.

Exposed photographic and cinematographic films.

Footwear of any kind.

Haberdashery and sewn articles of any kind, including trimmings and lace; handkerchiefs; scarves; shawls, needlework including stockings and gloves; bonnets, caps, and hats of any kind.

Hair and articles made of hair.

Leather goods.

Lighters and their parts, including lighter flints.

Live bees, leeches, and silkworms.

Nutmeg, vanilla; sea salt, rock salt; saffron.

Perfumery goods of all kinds (except soap).

Playing cards of any kind.

Postage stamps in sealed or unsealed letters.

Radioactive materials.

Ribbons for typewriters.

Live bees, leeches, and silkworms.

Parasites and predators of harmful insects.

Roasted or ground coffee and its substitutes; roasted chicory.

Saccharine and all products containing saccharine.

Salted, smoked or otherwise prepared meats; fats; and lard.

Tobacco.

Toys not made wholly of wood.

Treated skins and furs.

Weapons of any kind and spare parts for them.

Live plants and animals.

Arms and weapons.

Human remains.

So the next time, your thinking about shipping internationally, take some time and figure out what the restrictions are for exporting to the country. It will definitely save you time, money, and headaches in the long run!

So I have 2 years of Etsy selling experience and I was thinking of some of the mistakes I made in the beginning. I figured I should pass along some of the my "mistakes" in the hopes of helping others to avoid those mistakes.

1.) DON'T list your products on Etsy all at one time!

Why:

When your item is added to your Etsy shop, it ends up at the top of the search for a few minutes and then disappears into the search pages. Those first few minutes that your item is up there, it will be in the first few items the buyer sees. If you list a few times each day, different buyers will see your items at different times. Increasing your exposure and possiblity of selling.

2.) Always fill out your policies page!

Why:

If you have a problem with a buyer who disagrees with you about how something is supposed to be paid for, or how/when something is supposed to ship, you will need something to reference to show how and when that something is supposed to be done. Otherwise, you'll both be arguing over who is right without a good, standard solution. Especially when it comes to return policies.

3.) You can't just list your wares and sit back and wait for the sales to pour in, you need to do outside of Etsy promotion, here's a few suggestions:

a) Spend at least 1-2 hours in the forums about 6 days a week, reading and posting.

b) Started a blog and post almost every day.

c) Go to forums on other websites, google, yahoo, anywhere you can think of and post there making sure your store link is in your post (but don't just post to spam).

d) Get business cards and put them in all the packages you send to customers.

e) Start a flickr account.

f) Include in your packages to current customers, coupons offering discounts on future orders.

g) Make sure your store link is in every email you send.

h) Sign up for outside advertising (Project Wonderful, Google Ads, Facebook, etc)

i) Read other people's blogs and post messages on them, they will reply and notice your blog and sometimes post a link to yours.

j) Join an Etsy blog ring, so other people also find your blog

These are just a couple of things that I've thought about lately. I'll be adding more, as I think about it! I hope someone can use some of this to help themselves become more successful!

If your in Saskatchewan, specifically Mortlach, Saskatchewan, or planning to be in the area, you should make a stop at the Mortlach Saskatoonberry Festival, which is coming together on July 4th! With an expected atttendence of around 2500 people, there should be plenty to see and do! Including entertainment, events, a parade, and of course plenty of food!

Admission is only $5 or $15 for the whole family.

The festivitates start at 8am and continue on until 10pm.

If your interested in attending the festival as a vendor, please check out their website at:

http://www.mortlach.ca/saskatoonberryfestival2009.html

And their vendor application page:

http://www.mortlach.ca/f/2009_Vendor_Ap1.pdf

You should definitely check out this fine fair, it would be a shame to miss!

Welcome, thanks for coming, please pull up a chair, sit down, feel free to grab a drink or a snack, and stay for a while...

Where oh where do I begin, well, my name is Teri! I created this blog to hopefully (keyword being hopefully) put into words, my artistically inspired ramblings. I'm thinking about "focusing" on the wondrous world of arts & crafts, in the hopes of dealing with my absolute, unyielding obsession of creating both beautiful yet functional pieces that anyone would love or at least appreciate (even if its from a distance - you know the whole, 'well its not something I would personally like but I could see how someone else might like it' or the less tactful, 'what the hell were you thinking'!

I'm also a HUGE fan of Etsy and the Handmade Movement! If you have a chance, you NEED to check Etsy out whenever you have a chance! I can't even begin to explain the amazing pieces you can find.

I've tried selling my pieces on Etsy but unfortunately, I don't think I have the discipline to create the same pieces over and over again (short attention span!). So I decided because of my obsession with learning to create new things (I'm the type that sees something I like and then brain starting churning, I could make that), and I thought I would start sharing some of things I've created and show others how I did it!

If anyone has any requests, comments, thoughts, feel free to let me know!