christina d'arc

Dennis and I have wanted to start an Etsy store for a long time. The plan is to sell vintage stuff and handmade printed items, but we've been slacking on getting it running.

Tonight I faced down the box of estate sale treasures that's been sitting in my dining room. I unpacked everything and decided I would finally start the store by listing a cute patent leather purse I bought a few weeks ago. Two hours later, the listing is finally up!


What took so long? I had to:
- Photograph it
- Realize it was covered in fingerprints; clean up and photograph again
- Remember infamous eBay teapot listing; recover from fear of buyers seeing my reflection in shiny object; photograph some more
- Set up seller account on Etsy; read policy that vintage items must be at least 20 years old
- Spend half an hour researching origins of brand, Theodor of California (it's from the 1950s)
- Brighten poorly lighted pictures from ancient camera in Photoshop
- Upload pictures, find out the file sizes are too large
- Re-Photoshop; Re-upload (are you tired yet?)
- Write cleverly worded, correctly spelled description; start Excel spreadsheet while I'm at it
- Research other buyers' shipping charges

I was all proud of myself until I clicked on the listing and saw how bare our store looks. No fun graphics, no profile, no avatar, and probably worst, no store policy page.

I have a LOT of work to do this weekend. I have so many things to list! Good thing there aren't any sales around here on the holiday weekend, because I need to catch up.

Click here to check out our fledgling store.

Friends, I leave you with...ducklings in a bathtub!