Etsy Update

Well, although I had rejected it to begin with, I decided to go with "wjcolion" for my Etsy store. I wasn't sure it was a good name because it's unpronounceable as a single word (pronounceable business names are typically easier to remember). But, it IS unique, and there's nothing quite like it on Etsy (or many other places, for that matter), so if someone remembered part of it and searched, they'd probably find it. Also, a Google search of "wjcolion" returns a page of results that are all me (actually, ALL the results are me, in one way or another. What a weird feeling!). Apparently, "wjcolion" is my internet alias. I didn't realize I'd used it so often! (If you're wondering why I didn't choose Lirazel for Etsy, it's because it was already taken. It often is. I have a very long list, actually, of names I tried to use. But they were all taken. So I ended up with a "last resort" name...as I often do, thus explaining why I've used wjcolion so often... Perhaps it's a better name in the end.)

So, my Etsy store is at wjcolion.etsy.com. But there's nothing in it yet. I've entered some uninteresting policy information, etc., but there are no products yet. I need to take pictures and write ads for most of them, and for the others, I need to fix the PDFs.

"PDFs? What do you mean, you need to fix the PDFs?" Let me go back a bit. Okay, a lot.

When LB was a lot littler, I made diaper covers for him. We made a pattern and put together instructions (really good instructions, with pictures and everything). We turned them into PDF files and sold them as digital items on ebay. It was a most excellent business venture. Although each pattern sold for less than $5, once they had been listed, I didn't have to do a thing! When someone bought a pattern, they paid for it, and then they downloaded it. Once in a while there would be an issue with the download and I would have to email the file to them, but no biggie. It felt like free money! (Granted, a lot of time and effort went into CREATING the patterns/instructions. But once they were done, we made money in our sleep!) Then ebay changed their policies. They changed them to the point that it was no longer possible for us to list digital items and expect to walk away with any money. We were rather angry (especially since they made the change without warning, deleted my listings so I couldn't even save the ads, and replied with very lame explanations when I emailed them about it).

Enter Etsy. Etsy is all about handmade, but they DO allow digital listings. Yay!! As the patterns and instructions are 100% made by me, I fulfill the requirements of selling them on Etsy! It was this information that finally convinced us to go ahead with Etsy.

What was the point of all this? Oh yeah - I have to fix the PDFs before I can list them on Etsy. I have some updates, some minor changes, etc. I can make all the changes to the instructions and turn them into PDFs again, but the pattern has to be "attached" - it's like adding two PDFs together. This is the part I need DH's help with.

So the plan is to spend some time putting the pictures and ads together in the next couple days and the goal is to have SOMETHING listed by the weekend (the end of the weekend?). I'm sure I'll let you know.