As Etsy artists, we are often individual sellers working out of our home, garage, or (ugh) bedrooms. For me, one of the biggest headaches was shipping prints. When selling various sized prints, I had to deal with buying multiple sized envelopes, cardboard stiffeners to insert in the envelopes, and the fact that they get very pricey per unit unless you buy hundreds (with nowhere to store them!)

Eventually, I decided to ditch all that (mostly) and start making use of Priority Mail and their *free* supplies. Priority Mail starts at $4.95, so unless you’re selling a single 5×7 print it’s very cost effective as you can often stuff in as many prints as you’d like for a single price, and it comes with free delivery confirmation.

Note: This is only applicable for sending prints within the United States. Priority Mail International is obscenely expensive!)

Ordering your Stuff

Head on over to the USPS Priority Mail Supply Center. You’ll want to “buy” these items– they’re free so stock up on what you need:

1. Priority Box O-1097
2. Priority Box O-1095
3. Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes

Shipping 8×10 Prints

Mailing 8×10 or smaller prints is simple! You can mail as many prints as you need in a single 9×12 Flat Rate Envelope. Anything you stuff in there will be $4.95 (or less online), so if you get a big order of small prints this is the way to go.

Priority Flat Rate Envelopes are pretty flimsy. When mailing prints, cut some 8.5×11 cardboard squares out of your O-1097 boxes to stiffen your envelope. Sandwich your print/s between two of these and you’ll be good to go!

Shipping Larger Prints

When shipping larger prints, I convert the Priority Mail boxes into sturdy, thick envelopes. The supplies are free (except for tape) and they don’t need a separate stiffener. It’s easier to show pictures:

Step 1: Start with a 1097 or 1095 Priority Mail Box

Step 2: Take one end and fold in both the flaps WITHOUT the adhesive strip...

...so it looks like this.

Step 3: Peel off the adhesive sticker on the same end and fold the flap over the outside of the box. You'll have a really sturdy edge to your box.

Step 4: If you need to, trim the other end of the box to the length you want. Insert your print and any other goodies.

Step 5: Tape it up!

Shipping it Out

Priority Mail is great for more than just free supplies. You can purchase, label, and mail your piece without ever stepping foot in a Post Office.

To send your piece, log in to Paypal and visit this link to create a shipping label and pay for shipping right through Paypal. The rates are better than the post office, and you get free Delivery Confirmation. Yay!

Finally…

If you’re friends with your mailperson, you can generally leave your packages in the box and they’ll be picked up. To make sure, request a free pickup here!

…and there you have it.

Later that night, we had a great time at the Etsy Craft Party mingling and eating amazing cupcakes. The cupcakes were seriously fantastic. The frosting was made of Oreo Cream. If you’re ever in Miami, check out the Sweetness Bake Shop and Cafe! At the end, we took a group shot– Matt and I are peeking out the back (I’m the suddenly tan one. How on earth did that happen?)

To learn about Micropayments, take a look at Paypal’s Micropayment link.

The Problems, and How to Get Around Them

While offering a convenient, automated Micropayment option to sellers would be the best thing since sliced bread, the Micropayment plan we were given is neither convenient nor automated. There are several annoying caveats:

1. Your Paypal account can use either Standard or Micropayment rates, but not both. This is important because for purchases ABOVE $12, the Micropayment rate is more expensive than the Standard. If you want to take advantage of both Standard and Micropayment rates, you need two accounts. Which leads to number two…
2. Your bank account can only be attached to a single Paypal account. Since most people have one business account, they would not be able to directly transfer funds from both Paypal accounts.
3. Etsy doesn’t allow the use of two Paypal accounts on one store.

Unfortunately, we can’t do anything about number three. As an Etsy seller, you’ll have to choose the plan you want based on the sort of sales you normally receive. We can, however, do more to connect the two accounts, so that you have the option to use both accounts with the same bank. This can be great if you have two shops (one of which sells higher-priced items) or if you also sell in other avenues. I’ll explain how to set up and link your accounts below.

Creating and Linking Paypal Micropayment Account

Creating a Micropayment account and linking it to your main Paypal account is not very straightforward.  Luckily, I’ll walk you through it!

Step 1: Create a new Paypal Premier or Business Account

Visit Paypal and setup a new Paypal account. It has to be a Premier or Business account, which you should be used to if you’re selling on Etsy anyway. Choose an email address different than your main Paypal account, where you can distinguish it as a Micropayments account: i.e Micro@YourSite.com. Don’t worry about attaching a bank account– you’ll be linking it to your main Paypal account.

Step 2: Convert your account to a Micropayments Account

Your new Paypal account will automatically be set with the Standard rates. To take advantage of Micropayments, you need to apply to have it converted. To do that, visit the Paypal Micropayment site and click to “Signup.” From there, choose your country or region and click the yellow “Login Here” button. On the login screen you’ll see “Paypal Micropayment Pricing” at the top. Log In, and it should ask you if you want to switch to the Paypal Micropayment Rates. Select “Yes” and you’re all set. The Micropayment Pricing is not applied immediately– you’ll receive an email in a couple days letting you know that it’s set. That’s really all the notice you’ll get, too. Your Paypal page will look just like a Standard Account.

Step 3: Link Your Micropayment account to your Standard Account

Since your Micropayments account has no funding source or bank account attached, it can’t be verified and you can’t transfer money out of it for free. We want to be able to manage our money from a single bank account, and have an option to get money into our main account for free. To do this, you have to contact Paypal over the phone.

Make sure your main Paypal account (The one you use for Etsy, or whichever online store you have) is verified and has your bank account attached. Then, log in to your Micropayment account and follow the instructions to contact them by Choosing “Contact Us > Speak to Us” or through this link.

When you get on the phone with someone, you need to tell them that you would like to link your Micropayment account to your main account using a “parent/child” relationship. You want the Micropayments account to be the “child” account. The person you are speaking to will likely have no idea what you’re talking about, and will transfer you. Don’t get discouraged if you are transferred a few more times. It’s not a common request, and they need to direct you to someone who can help. Eventually, you’ll speak to someone who can do what you want. Give them the above message, and follow their instructions to get your account set up. You should also get their direct phone number, in case you need to speak to them later.

That’s all! Now your Micropayment account is linked to your Main account, and you can manage multiple Paypal accounts into one funding source. Here is how the parent-child relationship works:

1. Each night, your Micropayment account funds will be automatically transferred fee-free into your Main Paypal account.

2. Each night, the balance of your Main Paypal account will be automatically transferred into your bank.

For me, this works out just fine because I prefer not to leave Paypal in charge of my money. Having it transferred into my bank each day makes one less step for me. However, if you would prefer to not have Paypal do this automatically, ask the person who set up your Micropayment account if he or she can turn off the automatic transfer into your bank account. I haven’t asked myself, but heard from someone else that this is possible.

I hope you know a bit (okay, a lot too much) more about Micropayments now! Paypal fees can really add up, and Micropayments offers a solution to cut them drastically.

My goal until now has been to spend as little as possible on marketing, simply because I don’t have a bunch of $ floating around, but I am finally understanding the whole “you have to spend money to make money” thing and I’d like to try it out with a paid portfolio site (not right now, but in the semi-near future when I feel my portfolio is as strong as it can be). The trouble is finding sites that are actually worth it. It seems better to spend more on a successful site, then spend less on a site nobody goes to, but I am having trouble finding out which ones those are. There are so many! I’m listing the ones I’ve seen… let me know if you’ve heard of any other promising ones!

The I Spot – I heard a lot about The I Spot during college, with professors (don’t remember which) saying that once you can afford it it’s important to get there because everyone goes there, and every big illustrator has a portfolio there. When I checked out the site, though, I found it to be extremely lacking in the navigation area. I wanted to test how easy it was to find images, so I decided to put some terms into the search box. When I searched “cat,” I got 0 results. Seriously. Whaaaaat? So I searched “animal” and again got 0 results. I honestly thought I must have been doing something wrong. Next I searched “woman” with 0 results, and I was further confused. When I started typing “people,” though, a little box came up under the search bar that offered to finish the word for me. With that search I got over 5000 results. After a while more of tinkering, I learned how the I Spot handled search, and that it was completely counter-intuitive. It appears that what they have is like 25 keywords which you can use to label your images. If someone happens to search for one of these 25 keywords, they get results. If you search for the other zillions of words in the english language, though, you get absolutely no results. How does this make any sense? If you only have an option of 25 or so keywords to look through, why is there is a search bar at all? Why not just categories you can click?

I can’t imagine how anyone would ever find my work over someone else’s, with such a horrible labeling and search system. I can’t picture myself spending $750 to be on such a poorly designed site, unless all the art directors already know something I don’t about searching The I Spot. If anyone reading this has a portfolio there, please, let me know if you get jobs from it! I’m really wary from what I’ve seen, even with the rave reviews of my professor.

The other sites I am looking at are ChildrensIllustrators.com, Picture-Book.com, Altpick.com, and FolioPlanet.com. But how on earth do you determine which one art directors go to most? The only thing they seem to have in common is being expensive.

I know this is something I want to do fairly soon, but with the cost and the risk it’s hard to make a choice. I know that just one good project would pay for the whole year of hosting at these sites, but which ones actually get you projects?

I’m thinking about waiting a bit to take the plunge on sites SO costly, and starting out with one of the less expensive, but still paid, sites. I’ve got a few nibbles from my free Creative Hotlist portfolio, and for $70 a year they offer better stuff (like actual pictures) and improved search ranking. They are run by Communication Arts, so people trust them, and it might be a good place to start.

If any of you guys are paid members of ANY portfolio site, I’d love to hear your thoughts about whether it’s been worth it! This stuff is so overwhelming.

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In other news, I ordered some awesome rounded postcards from OvernightPrints.com to use as notecards to sell. I used the coupon code BC100 to get $10 off the order, so it was super cheap. If any of you guys need to order your summer mailers or business cards or something, these postcards came out amazing. They are really thick, and the satin matte finish is gorgeous. Also, rounded corners = automatic awesome. I have more on the way of 5 or so different art pieces, and I think I’ll be back for my next promo mailers, too. :) I’ll be selling them here, and at the Market Bazaar!

I’ve been wanting to practice my vector skills and expand my portfolio in that area, so lately I have been doing freelance work creating logos/mascots etc. for various Etsy members as a good way to get some new pieces. The fun thing is that via Etsy’s “Alchemy” request section, I can only bid on the requests that actually sound like fun… mainly adorable things! Once I’m totally comfortable with designing little characters and logos in Illustrator, I hope to move on to doing some graphic design projects as a way to get a design portfolio necessary for book design fellowship I REALLY want to apply to this December.

Here are two I just finished, with another on the way!

I’m fascinated by totally weird stuff, and this Etsy seller I found today is a definite winner! Though I don’t see anything dirty about clay women’s peepees, some may find it NSFW so click “Read the rest of this entry” to, uh, read the rest of the entry!

I stumbled across VulvaLoveLovely’s shop whilst browsing the Etsy forums today, and with a no-nonsense icon like this:

I just had to click.

Holy crap! Vaginas of every shape, color, and size flapped their labia “Hello” at me, and I fell in love. The shop features mainly pendants, but also has decor, pillows, purses and more. My favorite was a listing with the option of a custom vagina pendant. That’s right, a hand-crafted vagina modeled after your own lipz.

I love the detailed description:

After purchasing send me a convo describing your Vagina: the shape of your inner and outer labia, colors, how much or how little your inner labia extend out from your outer labia, how well hidden your clitoris is, is it heavily hooded or can you see it fairly easily?
For those who are not afraid to show off their Vagina and want a perfect portrait of their Vagina, send 2-3 pictures along with the description.

That’s not all, though. She also sells adorable uterus plushies. This one is my favorite– a healing uterus!:

Awwww!

You can even purchase the vaginas of famous women from history and lore, incuding Snow White’s vagina, a mermaid vagina, and Eve’s vagina! All that’s missing is Georgia O’Keeffe’s vagina…

Feel free to check out her shop at http://www.jadefrolics.com/vulvalovelovely.etsy.com and her blog at  http://www.jadefrolics.com/vulvalovelovely.blogspot.com/

The best thing is that I didn’t pay a penny for these buttons. The absolutely awesome guys at Purebuttons.com have an affiliate program where you place a link to their site on your blog or website and you get some free buttons! I’ve actually bought buttons from them before getting free ones (and will continue to do so), and it was fast and super high quality so I have no problem recommending them to you guys!

In other news, I found a very twisted Etsy seller today (actually she found me!) and since it is full of cats and boobied goodness I wanted to share! Her name is Anna and she creates freaking weird ACEOs and other art, bags, and dolls. She even has a whole section for animal girlies *love* Check her out at her Etsy shop! Here are a couple of her cat ladies:

“C is for Cat” Print Available

“D is for Dog” Print Available