It's funny how life seems to make full circles sometimes. My past life was software support and a website developer. I then became a full-time glass artisan and decided to use the Etsy platform to promote my glass flowers, which has worked great, by the way. After realizing that I was "giving" Etsy anywhere from $350-$500/month in fees, it was time to reconsider how "great" they were/are.
I love working with glass and I want to be able to continue doing so. My main goal is to keep my products at a high consistant quality and maintain a price that is affordable enough for everyone to be able to enjoy them. When I figured up that Etsy was getting anywhere from 16-26%, then if a customer used a 10% coupon, and after deducting the cost of doing business (COGS - cost of goods sold) I realized that I needed to cut costs in order to continue offering my items at a reasonable price.
This website not only cuts my website costs, but also allows me to offer items Etsy say's I can't sell. An example is small glass vases that I've researched and tested enough to find the perfect ones. But, because I didn't alter it in some way, I can't offer it (yeah, I know, search small glass vase and they are all over the place, but I don't want to risk Etsy deciding I violated their policy and shut me down without recourse).
so... tah-dah ... I created a website again; all mine; to sell what I want; total and full control. I plan on eventually turning this site into the GLASS FLOWER FARM, as it will be the main big umbrella that the GLASS FLOWER CART will eventually fall under. So - I hope it's not confusing... The Glass Flower FARM will provide products for The Glass Flower CART (basically cart will the be scaled down etsy version of the items I list here).
I'm still trying to figure out how to connect a mailing list service to my website, but you can join my current mail list on LinkTree (icon shown on the top menu).
Thank you for your past support and I appreciate your flexibility in purchasing here - but if you are more comfortable with Etsy, that's fine as well - I've created a link to my Etsy Shop on the top menu bar to make it much easier to find my shop and not get lost in the Etsy search algorithm.
Here's to a prosperous and growth year for my Glass Flower FARM!