Etsy statistics

I was thinking today whilst riding to work about how nice it would be to have some really serious meaty etsy statistics. I know there is and but neither of these (as far as i'm aware ) come directly from the all seeing eye that is etsy. I do use both of these quite a lot mind when i'm obsessing about how i can generate more traffic to my shop, blog, flickr etc.

I had a look at some past forums and i found out about something called "etsy" tools which apparently doesn't exist anymore, which is a shame.

But would it have been enough for me my thirst for knowledge and my obsessiveness? I think not. So I thought about writing in the forums and asking etsy for some stats but i often get ignored in the forums and i sometimes feel like I'm invisible (paranoia again) More to the point I think the post would have been to long and everyone would fall asleep before the punch line.

So here's my theoretical proposal you never know who might read this or who i might send it to when 'm drunk. In my perfect world of etsy I would love to have:

1/ A monthly, 3 monthly or 6 monthly report (which etsy could charge for say 1$) which would include...

2/number of etsy members total, number of shops, number of members registered to buy at the beginning of the month.

3/ Number of new members since the last report, how many shops how many buyers.

4/ A breakdown of catagories, how many shops in each catagory and how many new shops in each catagory.

5/ Sales figures for that period broken down into catagories, maybe listing the top 5 shops in each.

6/ If sales are up or down broken down into catagories.

7/ What day of the week gets more traffic and what time of day.

Then i started getting really into this idea and my ride to work takes at least 15 mins. I started to think about what i would like to know at any given moment whilst on etsy. You know like how if you are looking at treasuries you can see how many people are looking at them too.I would love to know how many people are logged in, how many non shop owners are logged in, I would love a hit counter on my shop to see how many people swing by because some people might look at pages but not particular items. You know i think this coulld create a full time job for a couple of people.

Well it's my dinner time but i would love to know what you think. Hell lets push the boat out, leave comments with your ideas and let's see how silly we can get our etsy stat report.

Trunkt rejection

Yeah it's true. But funnily enough i truly am not bitter and this from me is an achievment i mean no one likes being rejecte from anything right?

I wasn't even sure i was going to submit to trunkt after having a look around the site and after reading some old etsy forum posts about it. At least i have the comfort of knowing i'm not alone out there. I think a lot of people think it to be a little pretentious. I'm inclined to sit on the fence on this one. I totally understand why I was rejected, i believe it was for the very same reason i was hesitating to submit in the fist place. They require artists to have a tight focused collection with impeccable photography. Now i had already been critisized about my photography earlier in the week so what was i thinking? So then I got to thinking and this is something that has been on my mind for ages and i would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

FOCUSED COLLECTION V'S VARIETY

After my last jewellery party a lot of my customers commented that there was almost too much choice therefore in fear of making the wrong choice they made no choice at all and didn't buy anything. I vowed then to try and focus my self and limit what i put on display which i will do for my next party.

But my question is does a focused collection mean that everything looks the same just with slightly different colours or dangly bits?

I love exploring and experimenting and seeing what new stuff my suppliers have got. I'm afriad that focusing too much will lead to stagnation and boredom and variety is the spice of life after all. I don't really like making lots of the same thing. I guess the plain truth is i can't help myself when I'm buying beads and then once i've got them i can't seem to stop myself from making something and before you know it it's in my etsy shop. So for the Trunkt people i understand, I'll not send out the hit men just yet.

But what do you think?? Please comment i really would like some input

recent commission

Etsy may be slow at the moment but at least I have my faithful local customers. I had a really nice chat in the Etsy forums though this moring that cheered me up then I got a trasury too check it out if you like at...
http://etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=58409
I was feeling neglectted and a bit crap so a big thanks to the etsy forums for pulling me out of my depths of creative despair.

So back to the subject in hand this is a photo of my most recent commission. Its a style I don't do terribly often but when I do make these little hippy boho numbers they work quite well. Hmmm should maybe make one for esty then...da! ( i didn't say I was a rocket scientist) So there we go I ve mixed it up a bit using chain with cord and lots of dangly treats my favs at the mo being the hollow hand blown glass beads that I have placed at the focal point.

Let me know what you think.

some more about where i live

So as promised here are a few more pictures of where i live. It is a stunning place but it does have its + and - i can assure you. Like for instance not being able to pop into town the the local bead shop is a pain if i ve run out of crimps and had forgotten to put them in my last online order. Not much creative stuff going on that isn't generated by self and friends. No craft fairs no second hand thrift stores to rummage in ... oh Im getting carried away look at the sunrise look at the sunrise. But then this is a picture of 5:30 am from my velux window ( what was i doing up at such a time??? It was by accident i needed a pee)

some skiing near where we live

This is some skiing near where we live in Chamonix, France. Though i don't ski, i'm afraid im a boarder. The winters are always really hectic in Cham so i use the spring and summer to really get creative. I tend to turn into a bit of a hibernating creature once the snow comes and it gets dark by 4pm.

never work a day in your life!

One of my favorite quotes, actually my only favorite quote is " If you find a job that you love you never work a day in you life"
Oh how true! on a bum note i'm still looking, well not really i ve found many of them, it's just they unfortunately at the moment don't put food on the table or light in the bulbs. But I think about this quote often and it drives me not to give up though at the same time puts an ache in my heart too. Im sure im not alone in wanting to be creative for a living and not just a hobby.

Well very sociable weekend. The rainy day bbq went down a treat, though not too sure if the neighbours liked the green tarpaulin draped outside the house.

never work a day in your life

Rain starts play!!!

Don't usually post during the week but as its raining i get a day off!!! Yeah for rain. As i can't quite give up any of my day jobs i still have to go to work but i was scheduled to paint a wall and a fence today... never mind. So you know what that means> I get to play with my beads all day long till i go cross eyed.

Now I'm going to have to get organized for Christmas. I want to have enough stock but not too much. I'm hoping ETSY will be fun and fruitful but I'm struggling to decide what to put on ETSY and what to keep aside for my fairs and parties. I get too excited when i make something new that i love i put it straight on Etsy. But I'm going to have to control myself or I'm going to end up with 100 items before i know it. I feel sorry for all those pieces on page 4 that barely see the light of day anymore, so if anyone reads this far without nodding off go say hi to page 4 of my etsy shop they'll love you for it.

boney m

Well well well yet another fun packed weekend for me! I went ot he first rose club of the summer season for me. The Rose Club for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term it's a bunch of women sitting round on a friday night after work getting sloshed. I got caught at a different bar last week and news soon go back to rose club chairperson and i got a black mark next to my name. The lead up for the weekend was good as i got a few sales though unfortunately not for my jewellery but for the really pretty beads im now selling too...Check the out! Click on the ICH LIBE ETSY icon to the right.

My hubbie fitted a sky light in our roof so now we have light! I keep thinkning I ve left a light on. Its a bit like someones taken the roof off and forgotten to put it back. But whats the best is that I can now make stuff in front of the Tv with out going blind.

It was the 100 years of the mont blanc railway yesterday so the town put on a free concert and in true free concert tradition the bands were crap. The lead singer from imagination ( who was at school with my brother so I know how old he was) Two random bands singing 70s covers with lots of overactive gesticulation and yes I thought they were all dead too... Boney M. Who were the crappist of the lot. They came on three women and one skinny 70 year old who then stormed off after a bit of a sound problem leaving the women to do a five munute medly of rubbish. How dissapointing but everyone was already far beyond merry to really care by that point.

So for those counting that yet again is two nights out and about talking tand being sociable. How proud am I!