About 7 or 8 months ago, I joined SmashingDarling, a site dedicated to indie fashion. (As in "you look smashing, dahling...") As a venue for people searching out new indie designers, this place is really cool. And those of you who appreciate indie...you know how ga-ga you can be when you find cool new stuff!
For me, though, I'm still up in the air about whether to remain there. The site is slick and eye-catching, which is good. The premise for the site itself is great--the indie movement is growing by leaps and bounds. And they are dedicated to clothing, accessories, and jewelry only, which makes for a little less "competition" in the handmade arena. For a "Darling" (artisan) the set up and listing process is relatively easy, which is also good. But they have a weird payment system. Smashing Darling itself collects the money from the customer, notifies they artisan where to send the item, then sends the artisan a check once a month. I'm sure that works fine in 99% of the sales, but what about the occasional "oops"? I'm not crazy about the idea of sending out an item before I have the money in hand. So far it hasn't been an issue, because I haven't sold anything there. Of course, it's also the venue to which I pay the least attention--until today I hadn't even checked on my boutique in well over a month. I've only got three items listed there, and one of them I put up today!
So, the question becomes should I try to work it into my schedule on a more regular basis, add more stuff, and see what happens? Or in the spirit of this Online Venues series, beginning with the Spread Too Thin? post, should I drop it and free up a bit of time for something else? I guess I'll have to let you know!
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For me, though, I'm still up in the air about whether to remain there. The site is slick and eye-catching, which is good. The premise for the site itself is great--the indie movement is growing by leaps and bounds. And they are dedicated to clothing, accessories, and jewelry only, which makes for a little less "competition" in the handmade arena. For a "Darling" (artisan) the set up and listing process is relatively easy, which is also good. But they have a weird payment system. Smashing Darling itself collects the money from the customer, notifies they artisan where to send the item, then sends the artisan a check once a month. I'm sure that works fine in 99% of the sales, but what about the occasional "oops"? I'm not crazy about the idea of sending out an item before I have the money in hand. So far it hasn't been an issue, because I haven't sold anything there. Of course, it's also the venue to which I pay the least attention--until today I hadn't even checked on my boutique in well over a month. I've only got three items listed there, and one of them I put up today!
So, the question becomes should I try to work it into my schedule on a more regular basis, add more stuff, and see what happens? Or in the spirit of this Online Venues series, beginning with the Spread Too Thin? post, should I drop it and free up a bit of time for something else? I guess I'll have to let you know!
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