Wednesday, August 25, 2010

International customers - what are artists missing

On the Etsy web marketplace, one has the opportunity to meet vendors and customers from all over the world. Meeting them is one thing, but making a sale to them is another. I often don't take the time to calculate shipping charges and create shipping profiles for Canada, the UK, east or west, Poland, or Japan, the list goes on! An Australian woman purused my Etsy store, found a product and assumed I didn't ship to Australia. Lucky for me, she sent me an email to request a shipping estimate. How many potential customers just abandon my art and trinkets and click to a different artist or shop when they find their country is excluded? Selling art is time consuming. The US Postal service does let you click on any country and get estimates. I learned that yesterday. And I learned, not to leave out the land down under. How many kangaroos for that art?