HAGJewels

Frequently Asked Questions

"What a great idea! What made you think to do this?"
Several of us were mentioning the summer slump phenomenon in jewelry sales. I thought, "I wish I had enough money to do some advertising." That thought gave birth to the next one, "I wonder if anyone would be willing to split the cost of an ad on Facebook with me?"

I was both honored and amazed that many of my jewelry friends on the internet jumped on board with me right away. We talked it out, and came up with keywords and a plan. That two week ad wasn't even at an end yet when they asked me how much to send for the next Ad! I didn't think it would turn into an ongoing thing, but people saw benefit from their participating from the very first campaign. They considered the small amount contributed a great ROI (return on investment) compared to the advertising they can do on their own with the same amount of money.

"What does it cost me to be on the Wall of Jewels?" A campaign lasts 3 months or a quarter. Campaigns are from Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, and Oct-Dec. Each campaign costs each member $45 (about 50 cents a day!) for an Etsy Mini. If someone joins in the middle of a campaign, at 60 days or less, the rate is prorated but at a higher daily rate of 75 cents per day for the days remaining in the campaign. If you don't have an Etsy Mini, just a text link at the bottom, it's still Free if you have your link to the Wall of Jewels in your Shop or website main page.

"Will I see a sales increase from joining the Wall of Jewels?"
You should worry and run quick if anyone tried to gaurantee you an increase in sales. Your sales have too many variables, like your pricing, your product line, your photography skills, your customer service, your shipping and your return polices, to name a few. I can promise your shop will gain exposure on the Wall of Jewels and you will almost certainly see an increase in traffic. I can bring them to your door. It's up to you, first, to identify the source of your traffic and second, to get them to buy something once they are there.

"Why isn't the link in my Etsy Shop Store front clickable?"
Currently Etsy does not allow a clickable 'off-site or off-Etsy' link. They don't mind if you add a link, you just can't make it an active link. The cross promotion is still worth making it a requirement. We get traffic every day from someone that found us in a shop.

"Why would I want my customers to go to people I consider my competitors?"
When you keep people shopping on the Wall of Jewels until they find the perfect jewel, you've just limited the field from the entire internet's worth of competition to the high quality sellers shoppers know they can find on the Wall of Jewels. Those shoppers won't only leave your shop to check out the Wall of Jewels, they will also find your shop and enter it from the Wall of Jewels. Sometimes, it might bring them back after looking through the other shops. They might decide what they saw in your shop first was the best option to begin with.

Don't think of the other shops as competitors, think of it as going to where the people are. Do you think stores in the mall wish they could be out on a single lane road to nowhere during the Holiday shopping season? Or do you think they want to be in the prime spot of the hottest, most shopped mall in America with the most traffic?

"Why do I see more traffic from sites like Facebook, Twitter and Stumbleupon now? I'm not even a member there!"
Our shoppers can use the Wall of Jewels as a way to shop with friends across the street or around the world. They can "Share" the Wall of Jewels link on their social network. Then they take turns posting items to their Wall or profile. Other people in their friend networks then see these items and click them. For this reason, you see traffic not just from the HAGJewels website but also from Facebook and other similar sites.

"I sell on Etsy, but its not where I sell the most." or "Can I link my non-Etsy shop / store / site to the Wall of Jewels?"
Of course - and its Free! The link will be a text link at the bottom of the Wall of Jewels. The only requirement is Reciprocal Linking. Meaning that the site must allow you to have a link back to the Wall of Jewels. Currently, eBay does not allow their sellers to link out to other sales sites.

On Personal Sites, we would need a link on the page that you want linked to the Wall of Jewels or a Favorite Links type page, at the minimum. One generous and high volume website has linked us to every page on her site!

"If I join a Wall of Jewels campaign, do I need to join the HAGJewels Forum too?"
No, you don't have to but it's highly recommended. Think of the Forum as a behind the scenes vehicle that helps steer the future direction of the Wall of Jewels. It is where I will toss up new ideas and see what the group thinks. You can show off your new listings, ask for research help, get a great new source for findings, ideas to develop your business, etc. It's a family of people that love jewelry as an art in all its forms!

"If I join this campaign, does that mean that I have to join every campaign?"
Not at all! There is no contract, no subscription plan. Each campaign is separate from the other. Some people stay on and others go off. While still other new sellers join. You only participate at the level you are comfortable with.

"Why are there more text links at the bottom than Etsy-Mini's at the top?"
The Wall of Jewels Etsy Mini show case is limited in the bandwidth that Etsy dedicates for these little windows to our shops. Once we get to 40 shops or more, there is a noticable lag to loading the page. Optimal is probably less than 36 shops. I currently have contacts for 54 independent sellers that follow the Wall of Jewels and participate in various ways. So if you think you want to join us for a campaign, make a commitment as early as you can to save yourself a spot!

The shops at the bottom could be places that just joined and are waiting for the next campaign to start, or they could have decided to 'sit this one out'. There are also off-Etsy shops that contribute with providing a reciprocal link to the Wall of Jewels. These text links are provided free except for the reciprocal link requirement.

"Why do you remove a shop in vacation mode?"
I only remove Etsy-mini's in vacation mode. The text link still remains at the bottom. The vacation mode puts a big, blank, white spot on the Wall of Jewels. Since the best thing about the Wall of Jewels is the Jewels, we don't want any jewel-bare real estate showing!

Additionally, the code for the Etsy-mini takes alot of bandwith to load, I'd just as soon remove any that aren't showing a photo. Sellers can let me know when they are ready to return and I will put them back right away! I paste the code someplace else and can pop it back very quickly. Many times I have noticed the seller is back and have put them back on without them telling me.

"Can I get a refund if I change my mind?" or "Can I get a credit / be prorated for vacation mode?"
Unfortunately, I'm sorry, I cannot give credits or refunds. The money is used to pre-pay for scheduled ads. Since I do this all as a volunteer, I don't have funds to draw on to give any money back. The Fee is for advertising the Wall of Jewels specifically, not individual shops. The advertising purchased in advance still took place while you were in vacation mode. If you go on vacation, people can still find you on the Wall of Jewels in the text links.