I've been selling online for over 10 years now on multiple Etsy platforms, Amazon, and now our website, (which you are on right now). In those years I've received an order from Germany a total of 22 times. That is an average of just over 2 orders PER YEAR to this country. Out of 44,000+ sales, if just 22 have come from Germany, it seems that may not be my target market.
The last couple weeks my attention was drawn to a concerning Facebook post about parcels that did not get delivered to their destination in Germany. I filed this away in my memory banks but a few days ago, order number 22 arrived with an address in Germany. I googled, crowd-sourced, and searched for info about the new German Packaging Act, but mostly found people saying "I won't ship to Germany anymore" - "It's not worth the hassle" - "It's not worth the money".
I wanted to see for myself how much it would cost and what I found wasn't pretty...
My journey online started tentatively. I was always entrepreneurial. As a kid I made hand-stamped greeting cards, put examples in a binder and asked the ladies at church if they wanted to order them custom-made for 25c each. I was always that kid with a lemonade stand in summer. I liked selling products where my supplies cost pennies but I could make quarters in return. I made a rookie mistake in my college years and accidentally got signed on with an MLM (before people really knew what those were!) that didn't really work out for me. I'm not a hustler. I actually don't like pushing sales. It was costing me more than I was making.
For years I made boutonnières for weddings. You better believe my tags also said boutoniere, lapel pin, bootineer, corsage, and other such "spellings" of the actual item.
Proceed to fill in all other details. Make descriptive accurate titles, interesting "descriptions" of the item - what the buyer is getting, who made it, what materials you used to make it, why they might want it and how they can use it. Then publish it. And see..what..happens.
Most common mistake of new shop owners. Undervaluing their work and their time. So many crafters say "I just do it for the joy" - "as long as I make the cost of supplies back I'm happy." Ok sure, that's fine, but there's a whole psychology that goes around selling online and it's important to understand it at it's most basic if you want to actually sell anything. My first sale was $25. But did you know that for 10 days, I had that item priced at $15 and didn't sell it? I thought "I want to be the cheapest around"...I'll underprice everyone. I didn't understand why it wasn't selling. I don't know why I decided to increase the price by $10 - but I did...it seemed like it might sound "nicer" to be in the 20's rather than the teens. And boom, it sold. In later years, that item would be routinely priced between $30-$40 and would sell frequently. You don't ever want to be the MOST expensive on the market but you absolutely do NOT want to be the LEAST expensive on the market. Low prices equates to low buyer expectation of quality. If you are selling a quality, handmade product, the price reflects it, and the buyer will trust the quality more if it's within a "quality" price range.
So you start a shop, you get some sales, you are happy. But what's next? Don't ever ever EVER stop innovating. A foolproof way to grow a "custom-made" shop is to use every-single custom order as an opportunity to grow your portfolio. Take photos of every piece you make. If it's different from the original style you had listed (colors, design..), create a new listing using the pictures and put it in the shop. Your shop will go from 10 items to 50, from 50-500, all because you listened to your customers, designed for them, and used those opportunities as a way to grow. Nowadays, make sure you also have a social media page. Businesses virtually don't exist unless they also have an Instagram or Facebook page where they can promote sneak-peeks of new products, behind the scenes pics, or new product releases. Link it to your website, and you'll be on your way.
Don't just sell on Etsy. Sell locally..sell on Facebook, try Ebay or Amazon, or start your own website! Some platforms bring more organic traffic than others, but you never want your entire livelihood to depend on one site.
Also, don't be afraid to change course! The best thing about business is it should directly reflect something you're excited to make. If you get excited about something else, give yourself permission to follow that lead. It might be your next big thing. It also keeps you as an owner fresh and excited about business. If your niche market dries up over the years as fashion changes, you won't be outta business since you still live in the "now" and you kept creating based on your current interests.
Example:
2009 I began my wedding accessory Etsy store. Three months into the journey I realized I had an overabundance of supplies for my craft so I began a supply shop to off-load some of my extra supplies. Within two years, that shop was bringing in as much and sometimes more income than my original shop.
The same thing happened to my husband. In his first shop he sold handmade items, including some cute jewelry/necklace holders he made using knobs on wood.
When customers repeatedly began asking if he would sell them just the knobs, we finally said "yes" and began a hardware supply shop. My point is you just never know where your customers will come from or what they'll be looking for, but just be there for them when they ask.
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Everyone's story is unique and different, but this is ours. We are a small, local, family business living in Idaho and raising two kids. We're SO thankful that Etsy and the internet gave us the chance to get started all those years ago, and that social media has propelled it forward into something really great.
To celebrate this 10 year anniversary, we're cooking up a cool promo for you! Take $10 off any order for the next 10 days! Use code TENYEAR at checkout or click the code to automatically apply it to your cart.
**Limit one use per customer. Min. order amount $10. Cannot be combined with other coupon codes. Discount expires a midnight 4/6/19.
Coupon can be used at
www.northidahomade.com
www.rusticgarage.etsy.com
www.theheadbandshoppe.etsy.com
Today I found a workaround. It's faster with fewer problems!
From my blog yesterday, you'll still want to start with steps 1-3. However, at step 4, instead of downloading the ORDERS CSV, download the "Payment Sales" CSV. This will be applicable to those of you signed up for direct checkout (DC).
The columns most valuable to us on this report are: Column F "Fees", Column H "Posted Gross", and column Z "refunds". What makes this report a little different is the placement of the order date. The date of order is listed in column V. Insert a few line breaks to separate between months then sum-total your amounts from Column H and Column F, and Z if applicable. F should give you your order income total that matches your 1099-K, and H will give you a sum-total of the associated "payment fees" associated with those transactions.
5. Handling refunds: Your 1099-K includes all money that came into the shop and reports as "income", but it does not offset to take into account partial or full refunds. You don't want to pay taxes on these refunds, so make sure to find any refunds in Column Z and total them. ONE MORE STEP! - if you refunded any part of your order, the payment processing fee will also be reduced. Look for this alternate amount in column L. To get an accurate sum-total for your payment fees, MOVE the "adjusted fee" amount from column L to column F so that your sum-total of card processing fees is accurate and reflects your refunds.
Pro Tip! Use an excel formula! If you want to tell Excel to use the number from column L if it is there, but if it is not, use the amount from column F, insert a function. Create a new column (anywhere you'd like), and click in the empty square and "insert"/"function". The function is:
[ignore the N and G column letters above. I inserted my blank column, which meant that the letters of my columns changed. Click on whatever cell is correspondent with "adjusted fees" (orig. column L), and the value if true should also be that cell. The value if false should be the value in "fees" (orig. column F)]
At this point you should be fairly home free with this process. Remember, this seems really confusing but at the end of the day you really just need these MAIN things:
1) Income numbers (ideally, to match the 1099-K)
2) Expense numbers (in these categories)
Every year thousands of American Etsy owners will sit down to prepare their records for tax season. Half of us will experience an emotional melt-down -- the other half will submit numbers to their accountant that don't even begin to make sense to them. They'll lose sleep at night. The OCD people of the world will develop an eye twitch. I cannot live like this. I have to know where the numbers come from, and the answer "our records are not always accurate" will not even begin to work for me.
I have 10 years on Etsy and when 1099-ks were introduced a few years back, I almost lost my mind. But I have come to grips with the process and discovered certain processes an Etsy owner can take to find and understand all their numbers. Below is a step by step of my process. Read on if you want, or move on if this is all greek and you glaze over...for which I do not blame you!
1. This may not need to be stated, but you will only receive a 1099-k if you reached over 200+ transactions in a shop OR $20,000 in order sales. But even if you don't receive a 1099-K...you can use these steps to find the appropriate numbers you need to file your taxes. If you own more than one Etsy shop and one of those shops meets the requirement, you'll end up receiving a 1099-k for all the shops (something I personally consider a bonus because I like paper trails). You likely received your 1099-K in paper form early February.
2. But wait! Before you begin. On February 13, 2019, did you receive an email entitled "Important information about your 1099-k?" (really, go check). It will look something like this:
If you received something that looked like this, move on to step three, but be on the lookout for your totals to be "off" by this amount.
3. Now log on to Etsy. In your shop manager, click "finances"/"taxpayer ID"/select the tab for 2018. Skim these numbers immediately. If you were affected by step 2 above, you'll notice that the sales amount total in bold at the bottom will be off of your paper 1099-k by this exact amount! Take a pen and make yourself a note on your paper form. The paper is just for your records/accountant anyways. Notes will help you at this point. Now take a moment and compare each of the 12 line items to find out which month exactly was overstated. On mine, it was Dec 2018. I just crossed the amount out on my paper and re-wrote the accurate amount.
EDIT: 3/21/19 - you've reached this point! Now I have an extra surprise for you because, while you can read my original method below (optional), I found a FASTER and more EFFICIENT way for you to proceed that I outlined in my new blog post. Count your lucky stars, you may be just 10-20 minutes away from finishing your reconciliation.
4. Are we done? Nah, not even close. The big question to answer is what numbers are being used to get to these totals? The short answer is, every penny that was brought into your Etsy account, full original order amounts (pre-refunds) and shipping but not auto-collected sales tax (WA, PA, Australia orders)! To see this in action, you will now need to download your order data. Go to your shop manager/settings/options/download data. You want to download the CSV for the whole year. So select "Orders", leave the month blank and select the year.
5. Open the csv/excel file and sort data by date. The columns that you will need for your tax records include Column X - Order Total, Column Z - Card Processing Fees) and Column AD (Adjusted Net Order Amount) <-- to help you identify partial refunds. If you ever have reason to fully refund & cancel an order, this order will not be listed on your CSV. This will affect your numbers. I will circle back to this later. But for now, sort by date and insert one or two line breaks between months. Total up column X and compare this number to the amount on your 1099-K. Total up column Z to find your card processing fees (you'll need this amount to report as an expense). Most of your months will match. Check off that month as "reconciled", pat yourself on the back, and prepare yourself for the months that don't.
6. MOST OF YOU will be experiencing stress right now at this step because you've found one or more months that do not match your 1099-k. Next we will identify TWO reasons for discrepancies.
FIRST REASON FOR DISCREPANCY: Washington & Pennsylvania orders.
...in 2018 Etsy began collecting sales tax for WA and PA orders and automatically remitting it to those states. Because of that, the amount of the sales tax is technically being included in column X (order total), but you never actually got that money because Etsy deducted it and paid the state. You will have a discrepancy by THIS amount. To identify these orders, ctrl+F in your spreadsheet and search for WA or PA in the state fields. You can even highlight them to draw attention to them. Now on Etsy go to your order tab and do a quick search for that client, open the receipt and you'll see there was tax added to the order. While this is annoying, it's not impossible to fix. Move the amount of the sales tax over to column W and adjust the amount of column X to the "correct" order total amount.
(edit 3/20) **Special note about Australia orders** - Etsy also collects sales tax for Australia but it correctly(!!!) lists the tax in column W. However, this adjustment needs to be made in column X. If you have an Australia order with a tax amount in column W, adjust the column X amount by subtracting that number by the amount of sales tax.
SECOND REASON FOR DISCREPANCY: refunds
Pt 1 Partial Refunds:
If you issued partial refunds to clients during the year, you will notice in column AD that you have adjusted net order amounts.. At this point, you'll need to create an excel equation to find the amount of your refund. First, click on column AA, right click and insert a blank column and title it "RefundsIssued". Easily identify your orders that had partial refunds by skimming down column AD/AE. Now insert your equation.
Place cursor in your newly made column AA and insert the following formula.
= {click the cell in column X (order total)} - {click the cell in column AE (Adjusted Net Order Amount} - {click the cell in column AD (adjusted card processing amount} --> press enter. This will subtract the original order total by the adjusted amounts to give you the exact amount of your refund. You can double check your work by pulling the order in Etsy and confirming that the equation correctly identified the refund amount.**
**orders that require extra TLC are the WA/PA orders explained above. For these, you would have needed to adjust the amount showing in column AE by the sales tax for the equation to work correctly.
Pt 2. Full Refunds/Canceled Orders
Unfortunately, when you fully refund and cancel an order it essentially disappears from your Etsy order data. However, since the money for the canceled order was originally collected by Etsy, it does show on your 1099-k! To find orders that are missing, go back to your settings/options/download data form and pull another CSV file called "Etsy Payments Sales". If you are having just one month giving you problems you can narrow it down to just that month, or if you'd rather have it for the whole year, download the whole year.
When you open this CSV you will quickly spot the missing order when your eye is drawn to the 0's in column K,L,and M. Your original CSV file will be missing this record because you fully refunded! Go to your original CSV, insert a blank row in the month you're working on, and insert the data for the order. You really only need the amount that is supposed to go into column X. Check your summed totals. Are they closer to matching your 1099-k? Yes? Yay! Keep going until you've found all the fully canceled orders. When you do, you will be overjoyed to see your 1099-K numbers are reconciling!
6. DON'T FORGET - when a refund was issued, the amount of the card processing fee would also change. So for any lines that include adjustments, take the dollar amount listed in column AD (AdjustedCardProcessingFee) and type this into the same row, column Z (card processing fees). This will make sure your card processing fee totals are accurate.
7. Now, what numbers do you need for taxes? Sum total everything. Column X (with all the adjustments you've made) should now match your 1099-K and you can use this to report "income" for this shop. The sum total of column Z will be an "expense" - card processing fees associated with your payments. Your self-created column AA "refunds issued" total will be a separate deduction of "refunds" issued during the year.
8. To find two more items you'll enjoy having for tax purposes, get the amount of your Etsy Bill and separate by shipping label and transaction/listing fees. To find, click Shop Manager/Finances/PaymentAccount. Select monthly statements for all last year. Combine "Listing" and "Transaction" to sum-total an amount that you can categorize as commissions/fees. Take the "Shipping Label" amount and put this in your shipping expense category.
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Takeaway numbers: 1) All numbers on your 1099-K are now accounted for, so you can list this on your tax worksheet as income 2) pull your sum totals from column X "card processing fees" and total them to report as an "expense" to offset the income. 3) sum total all your refunds issued from column AA to report as "refunds issued" to also offset the income. 4) continue on to find other expenses...Etsy Bill commissions, out of pocket supply purchases, mileage, etc. This part I won't walk you through, but at least you will know where your crazy 1099-K numbers came from and what they all mean.
Have fun you guys! Email me or comment if you have questions. Final note. I am NOT a tax preparer or accountant. Take my advice with a grain of salt. I am human and these processes change monthly/yearly.
And yes, he is so tired. ;)
The size shown here is 18x30" in natural birch with a custom requested walnut stain frame.
The color of the water is "weathered navy" though I'm hard pressed to describe it as navy blue. To me, navy blue is nearly midnight. This is a beautiful muted jewel toned blue. Less bright and strong than our indigo, and more matte than our metallic. Very pretty and a strong nautical vibe.
To purchase one for yourself, check the link here: Seattle
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To be honest, we have been looking for a reason to add a CNC router to our workshop for a couple years now, and we decided there was no better time to take the leap than now. So...this finished piece is officially our FIRST EVER project on our Shapeoko CNC Router. [<--- not a sponsored post in any way.]
The project started with a huge solid block of maple wood. We searched everywhere for "thick wood". Home depot, Lowe's, Woodcraft - no one locally sells thick wood for this project. We found a guy who knew a guy who had chunks of wood in his garage. SCORE.
We had a loose idea of what we wanted the piece to look like. General dimensions, and we knew we wanted it to be cut into 2 levels.
Step 1: Danny used a band saw to cut away the wood and create a "stepped" piece. While a CNC router can do this job as well, it would take a lot longer for it to shave away all that wood when a band saw could do just as well.
Step 2: The design process - this is arguably the most time intensive portion of the process. Using the design software that comes with your CNC router, create a 3-d layer object that inside cuts the dimensions you need for your cards.
Step 3: We cut several mini-test pieces to find out if the design seemed viable. And then...with a deep breath, we clicked GO on the actual piece. Check out the video below for a full view of the process. To purchase one like this, check out the listing in our store: Multiple Business Card Holder by NorthIdahoMade
We took this picture to find out whether our client wanted the piece natural maple, stained walnut, or treated with linseed oil. Linseed oil is not a stain. It simply brings out the natural beauty and richness of the wood color and grain.
To see more finished photos of the piece and a fast motion video of the Shapeoko CNC Router cutting the piece, we've compiled a 40-second video of the piece:
I knew I wanted my cloths to be within easy reach at any moment for this process to work. I didn't want them to be way over in my laundry room because heaven forbid I walk across the house when I need a cleaning cloth.
You don't need large command hooks. They come in all shapes and sizes but I got the smallest ones available that hold up to .5 lb. You can get a pack of six at Walmart for $2.38.
Full disclosure, I wasn't thinking when I mounted the first hooks under the sink. Consider how high/low you mount them because some cloths are big and will drop down past your door. I ended up mounting another hook higher than the rest so I could store my kitchen scrubber under the sink.
I hung two more hooks just inside my pantry door to hold my bigger enviro cloth and polishing cloth. I probably open my pantry 100 times per day, so that's a pretty handy spot for me.
Extra tip: hang these on the inside under sink cabinets in every bathroom so you always have a cloth available anytime you see a mess.
Thanks for reading, sharing, and/or pinning. - Louisa, from NorthIdahoMade
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