10/20/2026
Hello friends! (Long post)
Itβs been a while since weβve had a chat and I havenβt been as active on here as I used to beβ¦
This entire past year Iβve been going through ups and downs (mostly downs) with my business, the Craft Ju**ie, that I first started with a hope and a prayer and no clue what I was doing back in 2020.
Being in my 6th year of business now, Iβve had so many thoughts of shutting this whole thing down, getting rid of all my supplies and anything related to it, and just giving up on it entirelyβ¦
and thatβs not because I donβt think my talent, skill, and designs arenβt worthy or good enough β but because for the most part of this year and last year, sales have almost stopped entirely.
To the point where Iβve spent many days questioning if this was even worth the effort anymoreβ¦ many many days where I havenβt created anything or even touched my supplies, but rather just boxed most of it up and put it in storage, and got rid of a lot of things.
Being transparent here, this entire year from January until now, October, Iβve sold only 6 of my wreaths on etsy.
Six.
Thatβs it. And I think like, 3 or 4 things in person locallyβ¦
I think this has a lot to do with Etsyβs new βvisibilityβ thing they rolled out last year or year before, which basically, they show your page and items less from the search results based on your listed shipping prices, if you charge more than what they prefer which is like, $3.99.
Listen. I know some of yall donβt know this, but shipping a wreath can be pretty expensive.. average cost was $30-40 OR MORE per wreath, depending which state/area itβs going to. And I obviously do not control the shipping carriers prices. I use UPS, which has always been the cheapest rates for me, and I donβt mark up shipping prices to make money off of it.
Actually, a lot of times the shipping turned out to cost more than what I charged, so that difference I paid out of pocket.
Letβs not even get into how much the shipping supplies and boxes and packing paper and bubble wrap costs.
But you simply cannot ship a wreath, especially one of my designs, for 4 dollars, like Etsy wants.
And for those saying βlist it as free shipping and add it into your priceββ¦
the downside to that is customers are now seeing designs that are marked up $40 more, which can also seem outrageous and turns off potential buyers.
So Iβve tried running numerous sales all year long throughout my shop, Iβve lowered the total prices on top of that by another $20-30 or so, and Iβve tested the βfree shippingβ theory.. and Iβve seen no difference or improvement honestly. Anddd wasted money month after month on ads that did not a damn thing either.
I have wreaths all over my house, hanging on almost every door, hanging in closets, stashed under beds, wreaths from 3-4 years ago that have never sold⦠totes and totes of supplies waiting to be used, just sitting here..
And so many times I got discouraged or lost all motivation to make anything new, simply because I have so many already, I donβt have room for anymore.
This is a long post, I know, and if youβve read this far, thank you.
If youβve been with me all these years, thank you.
Iβm not sure actually what the whole point of this post was for.. not for pity or anythingβ¦ just awareness and transparency I guessβ¦ that some of us donβt actually profit as much as yall think we do, and we struggle.. a lotβ financially.. mentally.. all the things.
So, with that said, running another sale 30-50% off.
Please share if you can, and maybe this will reach a new potential customer whoβs looking for a pretty wreath.
I canβt put my Etsy link, because Facebook has also decided to be stupid and now limits how many of my links I can share in posts in a month, which is only THREE. Unless I pay monthly to be verified. Then I get only 8 links I can shareβ¦ wtf
But find it in my b!o, or search directly on Etsy, KarahtheCraftJu**ie
Anyway.. I donβt know where the Craft Ju**ie goes from here.
But thank you all to my friends and supportersβ¦ itβs meant a lot these last few years.
πKarah
