Where and when?
- The new figurines are always posted at www.calicogriffin.etsy.com and only there.
- I post a countdown timer on Calico Griffin Facebook page, so You can recount it into your own timezone. As for me (Central European Time) it is always 7p.m. CET. But do not worry, my countdown will show you how many days/hours left to the shop's update.
- Pictures of new figurines will be added to Calico Griffin Facebook page at least a day before update, so You can see them earlier.
So what is the problem?
As you might noticed or not, sometimes it might be hard to grab a figurine from my little shop, as the shop is really little! You, my Dears, CalicoGriffin's followers, are a family that is growing more and more - while I am still a one-person-army in all of this. You know I post all the news on Calico Griffin Facebook page, but even with a countdown clock, you might come to the shop and... see it empty!
Why? Here comes the explanation:
This is because sometimes many people try to buy the figurines at once. While Etsy is a service pretty friendly to us, creators (way more than others, like Ebay or Amazon), Etsy still might get a minor hiccup while many of You try to buy at the very same moment. This means the main page of the shop might be refreshed slower, than other parts of it. As a result You arrive... and just realize that all the figurines are already sold out.
I want to provide a little tips for fast-shopping on Etsy. This might be handy on any Etsy page you follow and always wanted to shop at, but others were just quicker. Irritating? Yes.
Before we get to the point, let me reassure You:
Yes, I always post new figurines on Etsy and only there.
No, I do not allow reservations for newly made figurines.
No, I do not post them before given time.
Yes, the pictures of the figurines are availble to see at least day before Shop's update, so You do not have to make a quick decision upon buying.
How to increase your chances and make your shopping quicker:
1. Try to know ahead of time which sculpture you want to get, you won't have time to think about it when the shop is updated. Sometimes it is like a real race!
2. You cannot simply add to cart and then go paying for your order - you have to buy straight from the page, this will be way quicker!
3. Make sure you have some kind of automatic payment set up, you won't have time to enter shipping details. Apple Pay on the app or some other similar service.
4. Pay attention to my countdown timers, that I post on Calico Griffin Facebook. Etsy does not allow to auto-post scheduled listings, so I have to do it manually. Yet you can be sure that I am sitting there at given time and waiting to hit that "Post New Listings" button!
5. Etsy is nice page but very slow at refreshing the the main page of a shop. This is why sometimes You might not even see the figurines. Do not rely on page refresh button. It's faster to swap between how you sort the items instead of refreshing the page. Flipping between lowest price and most recent until the newly listed figurines pop up.
6. Instead of using point 5. You can also try clicking the shop's Sections - "Custom Order" is always visible, yet Etsy makes a section dissappear if said section is empty. When the update happens a section called "Figurines" will appear. While items might not be visible on the main page, they will be in their section!
I hope You find these helpful!
Credits to Kari, who helped me alot to create this tips & tricks page, from a position of a person who really checked it all out in practice! And yes, this works!