YarnPal on Zibbet and AlisonDesigns on Etsy are now shipping to Canada!
Business is a little slower now, though, so I am giving international sales a try again by opening up shipping to Canada. I know, it's just a small step toward expansion, but I want to be cautious. On top of the extra work (filling out customs forms, travelling to the post office several times a week), I probably get more stressed out than most people do about shipments that can't be tracked! I don't make enough money yet to be comfortable covering the cost of lost merchandise, and when you ship First Class International, you can't track your packages!
We'll see what the holiday season brings. Now that I have a good rhythm of packing and shipping worked out, hopefully I'll be able to handle the extra sales without sacrificing my careful packaging and speed of service.
I began selling handmade jewelry and crochet items on eBay and Etsy back in 2006-2007. I included shipping to Canada back then and did quite a bit of business. Unfortunately, my regular job caused me to put my shops on an indefinite vacation and for a few years, I stopped selling on-line entirely.
But I returned late summer 2010, determined to make on-line sales a new hobby and maybe someday my main job, and this time I'm focusing more on selling craft supplies. I've only been shipping within the U.S. since then. Actually, I had a great first holiday season, and if I had been selling internationally, I don't know if I could have handled the load, especially since I was still getting my feet wet with on-line sales. My top priority is to get well-priced quality products out quickly to my customers, so I have to be realistic about limitations I have to set on myself...and while I would have loved the extra business international sales would bring, I may not have been able to accommodate all of my customers as a whole as well as I did my first holiday season. As a one-man operation selling craft supplies and seasonal items, I was strapped for time as it was.
Business is a little slower now, though, so I am giving international sales a try again by opening up shipping to Canada. I know, it's just a small step toward expansion, but I want to be cautious. On top of the extra work (filling out customs forms, travelling to the post office several times a week), I probably get more stressed out than most people do about shipments that can't be tracked! I don't make enough money yet to be comfortable covering the cost of lost merchandise, and when you ship First Class International, you can't track your packages!We'll see what the holiday season brings. Now that I have a good rhythm of packing and shipping worked out, hopefully I'll be able to handle the extra sales without sacrificing my careful packaging and speed of service.So for now, Canadian shipping is available at YarnPal on Zibbet and AlisonDesigns on Etsy!
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