I wanted to share my pros and cons of becoming a Ready to Ship shop today. Ready to Ship (RTS) means that all of my stickers are in stock, already made and can be shipped out quickly. Meaning, customers can get their stickers right away. No more having to wait weeks to use their stickers. I am an Amazon prime member, because I love getting my ordered items right away. If I am going to buy something I always check to see if I can buy it on Amazon first.
I found that customers were often turned away by the “1-2 weeks processing times” no matter how cute these stickers were! I totally understand that 1-2 weeks is a long time to wait. Fast shipping always gets good feedback and it helps new customers feel secure in placing an order.
As a stay at home mom of two boys, my Etsy shop just took too much time away from me and my family. I often would have to close down the shop, but still work my butt off for weeks just to fill orders. I would often stress out for not being able to ship out orders that were already paid for quickly. & if I spent all day working on orders I would feel guilty about not being able to cook dinner for the family or spending quality time with them.
By making my stickers ahead of time, I can now control how much I work. If I want to take a break, I can simply sit back and let my listings dwindle without relisting them. But I can also work on restocking as much as I want on days where I have nothing else to do! I love this freedom and being able to spend time with my family is why I made this choice.
The downside to having a RTS shop is that customers won’t be able to customize stickers. Customizing stickers is ideal if you like a sheet but would like only a certain color to match your style or if you want certain wording that isn’t typical. Another con of a RTS shop is not being able to order all of my designs! I sometimes would get orders where people would order just about everything in my shop (yeah, all 250+ designs) and they can because I made it to order. But now I will only be stocking my most popular. I will only be listing about 10 popular sheets per week or so. So that will definitely be a problem if say you wanted a certain sticker and it’s not in stock for another few weeks.
For me personally, I believe this ready to ship method will work out great. I’d love to hear what method you use and what makes it best for you!
Hello! I love all of your printables! They are all really great. What is the name of your Etsy Shop?
Hello! I love your printable! They are really great. What is the name of your shop on Etsy?