A few wallets

 Hello,

Last week, I was pretty productive. I made a couple of wallets for orders and also finished 2 wallets from my WIP bucket! It feels good to be able to finish a few from the WIP list. 

This pink strawberry wallet is one of my best sellers! There's a Blue and Red one too in the shop. I love making this Nuno Small Wallet and is still my fave wallet to use for everyday, and I made one for my son too! 

 

Cute Strawberry Wallet

I love this wonderland fabric from Rifle Paper Co. Well, I love all their fabrics and purchased a few fabrics before the pandemic,  but now it's too expensive to buy because the shipping charge is pretty high. Anyway, I recorded the video when I was making this Wonderland wallet. I am still editing it now and hopefully will be able to share it soon! Pattern available HERE. 

Wonderland Bifold Wallet

When making a wallet, choosing the fabric combo always takes a long time for me. Sometimes, I even end up using a different combo than what I initially picked. 

(I had fun making the BTS video below!) 

The second WIP I finished was this Red Floral Wallet. The fabric is from Sevenberry and I love the tiny floral print. This time, I used metal zipper and I love how this turned out. Also for the zipper end, I used the metal zipper end cap. I kinda love it although putting the tiny screw on the cap was a bit hard for me! I need to get the small screw driver! 

Floral Small Wallet

Small Bifold Wallet  

Earlier this week, I went to the Post Office with Meenakshi, from Rustic Origin. We thought we'll check the latest update regarding sending parcel via India Post. It was totally waste of time because the person in charge in the main Guwahati PO were not interested or not willing to help.  So we deciced to go hang out for a bit at the Starbucks at the Brahmaputra Heritage Center. It's good we decided to go there because the view is so good. I think during sunset would be lovely! 

Brahmaputra Heritage Centre

Brahmaputra River

After chilling out in Starbucks we went back to the PO and I still could not send my parcels. I decided to go the the University PO near my house, instead. The lady at the PO is very nice and seems to be well informed, and very helpful. Finally all my packages were on their way. 

In front of the University PO

This week, I will catching up on my Quilting Bee block. I have 2 blocks to finish! Wish me luck! 

Until next time,

Happy Sewing

Elvira

********

Linking up to these wonderful BLOGS

********

Small Business and Lockdown

The pandemic and lockdown have brought uncertainty for everyone. And for us, small business owners or we proudly said mompreneur, we have to take the business to the back seat. For those who sell digital products, they won't be much impacted because there's no product to be shipped.

While sewing and other behind the scene works are going on, we're worried about how and when we can ship them. During the strict lockdown for 2 months, I had to shut down my fabric and handmade shop, both in Etsy and Website. I actively following every bit of news about government guidelines regarding e-commerce shipping. By the way, strict lockdown means a movement of non-essential items is restricted. And since most people are gone to their village or hometown, no couriers are in operation until last week! 

Now we're on the 5th phase of lockdown and thankfully, postal and courier services for all have resumed. I put out a notification in my Etsy and Website that Shipping will resume after 31st May. According to the India Post replied to my tweet, we can ship to 103 countries, including the USA and UK, but when we went to the PO, the officer said the service to both the USA and UK is not available. As I am writing this, I'm still waiting for their response to my queries regarding this confusion. 

In the meantime, I got several calls from DHL e-commerce rep saying that Etsy India has tied up with them and I can send my packages through DHL. I was so excited and I called up the Bluedart (DHL rep locally) but I was going in a circle. Few rounds of call and WhatsApp messages didn't bring any good news ( as yet). Going to their website, there's no clarity about the tariff rate, etc. I mean, why would you offer such service and not updating the website? I feel that courier services should have a rate calculator for every service they offer regardless of whether they are individual or company. 

On a positive note (hopefully), I got a newsletter email from Shiprocket, which I recently used for delivering our domestic orders, that they tied up with several e-commerce courier services to deliver internationally, including DHL e-commerce, FedEx, dan Aramex. Well, this is certainly very good news to us, Etsy Sellers in India. So today, I upgraded my account and will complete any necessary paperwork (or e-paperwork).  I am trying to get hold of their customer service but it looks like everybody is busy :P. 

Anyway, I managed to understand how to schedule shipping from the computer. I understand that this e-commerce international service is very new, but I am sure the courier service company understood, even though we - small business owners - are small fish in the pond, but we're great in numbers. If anything  IMHO, the small e-commerce business will be able to jump-start the economic slump due to the pandemic. I hope they will simplify the paperwork and make international shipping as easy as India Post. Let's hope and pray this will work. 

So that's a little bit behind the scene of small business. If you're happened to place orders with one of our Shops, please bear with us. We're trying to get things sorted out. Your continued support and trust at this time really mean a lot to us! 

Now I better get back to my sewing table and finish a few orders. Thank you so much for dropping by and reading my blog. 

Until next time,

Take care & stay safe!!

Elvira

 

Tuesday Thoughts - Dealing with Shipping Problem

Hello again,

Being an entrepreneur means the ability to think out of the box by putting away our fear of any risk, including financial - Ciputra

The last couple of weeks, I've been dealing with lots of delayed shipping. It is stressing sometimes but gladly all the customers are very understanding. Thank you so much!! It is a difficult situation for a small business owner like myself who rely on Post for International Shipping, though I must say that India Post has done much better then when I started selling in Etsy a couple of years back. 

Since January this year there have been many delayed parcels especially to the USA. I guess due to the severe weather condition in the US. While the tracking on India Post Website showed that it is already being sent to the destination country, unfortunately there is no update from the USPS website. Even the EMS post sometimes takes 2 weeks in the US custom itself. Well, maybe it's because of the weather and since the booming of the global online shopping, I can imagine the people at Custom and Post Office must be working really hard.

From my own experience, now I have 3 parcels that are sitting at the Indian custom since February! In spite of me sending letters and supported documents that they asked, still there is no movement from the custom office. Another incident was last month. A package with UK address was sent to USA. And naturally, they were sending it back to me and I had to refund the customer. And I lost the shipping cost. Though their website stated we can claim for the damage but the hassle of getting the money back will not worth it. 

I guess, with the booming of online shopping where anyone can import even a single piece of fabric from Fiji island, many countries are now coming up with new regulation regarding products that are coming into their country. That's natural! The technology has made shopping from faraway country possible. As a frequent online buyer, sometimes my orders came after 3 months!! The thing is, if you want it fast, do not buy online. Shopping online needs a lot of patience and understanding. As a seller, I try to be considerate to my buyers who are mostly crafters and buy for personal use. Yes, I do give full refund. The money lost is  part of the business I am doing but customer's trust is utmost important for an online seller. 

If you're an online seller, a mompreneur or a small business owner like me, don't be discouraged. Here are a few tips:

- If you are selling in Etsy or have your own website, make sure that your shipping policy is clear.

- Keep your head cool, esp. when dealing with angry customers. Losing your cool means losing clients. Empathize and explain patiently regarding the problem.

- Be helpful by helping them tracking the parcel. Remember, not all buyers are tech savvy. 

- Be considerate  by offering refund. Remember, financial lost is part of your business. But customers who trust you will come back for more or tell their friends. 

Problems happen all the time and things will get better! Keep  doing your work sincerely!

Have a nice day!