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Post by stardiamond on Aug 11, 2019 21:34:28 GMT -5
Tela mentioned Morgan Hill as being hot. I've sold MH more than anything else. My criteria for what makes a good cabochon is interesting material and a good scene. I listed some nice Montana agates and there is no interest. With my last two MH sales I included a free Montana agate; nice, well made and not expensive. The responses about the unidentified bonus cabs was what is it. I can't even count the number of different materials I've made cabs with. Probably more than 100 types. I haven't even considered listing them. I have 50 different types listed now.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 12, 2019 5:54:42 GMT -5
Excellent question. Looking forward to reading the answers.
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Post by opalpyrexia on Aug 12, 2019 16:24:34 GMT -5
By "popular" are you referring to cabs that are selected as "favorites" by visitors to your store? Or are you referring to sales. I pay almost no attention to favorites because they rarely result in a sale. That's also because more often than not the individuals who favorite have accumulated hundreds or even thousands of favorites. The point of doing that I do not grasp.
I looked at only 3-4 pages of your listings. I think that your prices are very reasonable and in some cases very good deals. Don't be surprised if someday I become a customer. Right now I'm focusing on cutting and not on jewelry, but I'll eventually return to it.
I am sure that the pricing "sweet spot" for various offerings dropped the day that Etsy decided that "handmade" no longer applied exclusively to individual makers. Sweet spots were never very high to begin with.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 12, 2019 18:17:50 GMT -5
I figured out that favorites doesn't mean anything. I have 13 Montana cabochons listed. 5 have visits and the one with the most visits doesn't look like a Montana. Looking at search terms, Montana doesn't even appear. My average price for listed Montana is over $30. I have many less expensive, but my objective for listings was to show the most interesting. I might list a few less expensive Montana to see if there is any reaction. Buyers are savvy and a listing that is considerably underpriced will sell quickly. I'm not interested in dumping cabs to make sales. I research before pricing and slot accordingly.
What is missing from stats is how often a cab was looked at. Unless there is a visit there is no record. A cab out of a buyer's price range probably won't get clicked. My criteria is visits not sales. I have Noreena, Picasso, Sci-Fi Youngite, Regency Rose, Fairburn, Burro Creek, Tiger Eye and many others that I haven't considered listing.
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julieooly
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Post by julieooly on Aug 12, 2019 19:32:01 GMT -5
True, favorites doesn't necessarily mean best sellers. I've just narrowed down advertising for my Fordite cabs as there are LOTS of people viewing the ads and favoriting the listings and while the Fordite is selling it isn't selling fast enough to warrant what I'm spending on ads. There are so many people who simply come to the shop and favorite items, and some of them have tens of thousands of favorite items. You can see what's selling at other shops by clicking on that shops Sales link on their home page. If you do this on my page (link in signature) you can see that Fordite, Chrysoprase and a couple of others are doing great. What you can also learn by other shops Sales are colors, shapes and sizes plus also pay attention to clear vs opaque. Once you click on a sold item in a neighbors shop, you can see more about the size of the cab plus flipping through the photo gives you an idea of the cabbing style - girdle, dome etc. You can easily find other shops selling cabs similar to yours by doing item searches, plus there are plenty of Etsy sellers here on RTH. Just be careful not to click the AD's Oh and don't forget to see how good (or bad) that shops photography is PLUS sometimes more effort in writing listings results in better sales. One simple thing to do is always replace a cab with one or more of the same material when it sells. Because there are so many variables in cabbing (material, size, style, etc) it can be difficult to determine WHY something sold. You may have potential customers looking for specific materials like say Tiffany Stone, while others are looking for specific sizes, say 30mm, or specific shapes - maybe a circle. Or they may be looking for all three - a 30mm circle of Tiffany! It gets even more detailed when you add in girdles and domes! They may want a 30mm circle of Tiffany Stone with a 3mm girdle and a low dome. Some materials I think are good sellers are Chrysoprase, Sonora Sunrise, Tiffany Stone, Shattuckite, and Ocean Jasper. I find that opaque stones sell way better than clear agates and symmetrical shapes over asymmetrical. I'm interested to see what others say.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 13, 2019 15:40:54 GMT -5
opalpyrexia suggested that I add tags to my listings. I knew some items would be helped like adding tags Morgan Hill, Guadalupe and poppy to Guadalupe cabs. I added tags Montana and agate to my Montana cabs and the visits have increased.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 13, 2019 16:24:07 GMT -5
I make cabs based on scenes that I like. I pick a shape that best frames the scene. I try to pick symmetrical shapes when possible. I haven't sold a lot of cabs but a lot of buyers are interested in making jewelry. Calibrated stones is something that I don't attempt.
I tried using your link and even with a more general search term like Morgan Hill cabochon, I get "not enough data." Using Etsy search terms, the number one term for me was Morrisonite and number two is cabochon which shows more than 250 pages and to me that has no value.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 13, 2019 17:55:47 GMT -5
Either I know too much or too little regarding tags. I spent 40 years as a business systems analyst and writing data queries was a large part of my job. I also do a lot of web searches. When I do a search that returns a very large number of results, I further qualify the search parameters to get a manageable number of results. I don't mind sequentially searching 10 pages, but I need to be desperate to look at 100. If I was looking for a Morrisonite cabochon and searched on Morrisonite I would get 12 pages, Morrisonite jasper 10 pages, Morrisonite cabochon 9 pages. I would then sort by price and look at all I was interested in relatively quickly. Cabochon returns more than 250 pages, jasper 250+, picture jasper 250+, Picture jasper cabochon 206 pages. Designer cut 250+ pages. Searching on Tahoma produces 33 results, two thirds of which are my listings. Mt. Tahoma 31 and Mount Tahoma 1. Tags would help when a particular material search would produce a large number of results. For example Opal cabochon returns more than 250 pages and since no one wills search 250 pages, a tag is essential
There are some materials that I list like Montana that do return a large number of results and adding tags would help but only when the searcher uses them to narrow results. Designer cut cabochon is a worthless search. Montana agate returns too many results but Montana agate cabochon somewhat narrows the results.
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Don
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He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on Aug 13, 2019 23:51:54 GMT -5
Either I know too much or too little regarding tags. I spent 40 years as a business systems analyst and writing data queries was a large part of my job. I also do a lot of web searches. When I do a search that returns a very large number of results, I further qualify the search parameters to get a manageable number of results. I don't mind sequentially searching 10 pages, but I need to be desperate to look at 100. If I was looking for a Morrisonite cabochon and searched on Morrisonite I would get 12 pages, Morrisonite jasper 10 pages, Morrisonite cabochon 9 pages. I would then sort by price and look at all I was interested in relatively quickly. Cabochon returns more than 250 pages, jasper 250+, picture jasper 250+, Picture jasper cabochon 206 pages. Designer cut 250+ pages. Searching on Tahoma produces 33 results, two thirds of which are my listings. Mt. Tahoma 31 and Mount Tahoma 1. Tags would help when a particular material search would produce a large number of results. For example Opal cabochon returns more than 250 pages and since no one wills search 250 pages, a tag is essential There are some materials that I list like Montana that do return a large number of results and adding tags would help but only when the searcher uses them to narrow results. Designer cut cabochon is a worthless search. Montana agate returns too many results but Montana agate cabochon somewhat narrows the results. Alrighty, sounds like you're the expert here then. I've removed my posts and will exit stage left. Good luck with your Etsy store.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 14, 2019 9:57:36 GMT -5
Either I know too much or too little regarding tags. I spent 40 years as a business systems analyst and writing data queries was a large part of my job. I also do a lot of web searches. When I do a search that returns a very large number of results, I further qualify the search parameters to get a manageable number of results. I don't mind sequentially searching 10 pages, but I need to be desperate to look at 100. If I was looking for a Morrisonite cabochon and searched on Morrisonite I would get 12 pages, Morrisonite jasper 10 pages, Morrisonite cabochon 9 pages. I would then sort by price and look at all I was interested in relatively quickly. Cabochon returns more than 250 pages, jasper 250+, picture jasper 250+, Picture jasper cabochon 206 pages. Designer cut 250+ pages. Searching on Tahoma produces 33 results, two thirds of which are my listings. Mt. Tahoma 31 and Mount Tahoma 1. Tags would help when a particular material search would produce a large number of results. For example Opal cabochon returns more than 250 pages and since no one wills search 250 pages, a tag is essential There are some materials that I list like Montana that do return a large number of results and adding tags would help but only when the searcher uses them to narrow results. Designer cut cabochon is a worthless search. Montana agate returns too many results but Montana agate cabochon somewhat narrows the results. Alrighty, sounds like you're the expert here then. I've removed my posts and will exit stage left. Good luck with your Etsy store. I thought this was a "discussion forum". I agreed with some of what you said and appreciate your opinion. I provided my background as context not saying I am an expert on tags.
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julieooly
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Post by julieooly on Aug 14, 2019 9:58:54 GMT -5
It looks like the conversation has shifted, did you get the answers you were looking for about types of materials or wasn't that what you were looking for?
I think by tags Opal is saying more words in the titles of your cabs. Here's one of mine for a piece of Sonora. It looks kind of odd looking but people get used to reading them and it's more about getting all the words you need depending on how the customer searches. Sonora Sunrise Sunset Cabochon - Designer Hand Cut Cab Handcrafted Natural Focal Stone Jewelry Focal Flat Back
This is one of Tommy's Picture jasper cabochon, Owyhee blue brown flower jasper, natural stone gem, pendant jewelry bead, handmade designer craft necklace gemstone
This is one of Tela's Unique Unusual Ocean Jasper Cabochon Natural Stone Cabochon Paisley Pendant Stone Semi Precious Stone Custom Cabochon Handmade Telarocks
Taking a glimpse at your shop the first thing I notice is that you don't have an image to represent it. I think it's crucial to have something here and to choose something you'll keep for a long time. Lots of sellers also use banners. You need something people will remember.
Another thing is to make sure you're only selling your best work. With so many (hundreds or more, maybe zillions?) of cabochon sellers on Etsy, customers are bound to find great cabs made with great materials at great prices. Some customers don't care if they buy cheap overseas cabs either. This Etsy selling is A LOT OF WORK., and even when your work is PERFECT then there is your competition to consider.
When I visit a shop the first thing I do is flip through the main pages and get a general idea of everything they're offering and if I see poor quality photos or great photos of junky stuff then I move on. You have some really nice cabs and I'd focus on photography and listings including facts about the materials themselves then a little bit of fluff about why they should buy from you. With 2,000 cabs that you're working with there surely isn't a shortage on what to put in your shop.
Here's an example of something you may want to pull Morgan Hill poppy jasper cabcochon - FRACTURES! $15.00 It's a pretty good pic for the first one, but after you look further and read about why would a customer want it? I think it's awesome that you point out the flaws, I just don't see cabs like this selling that's all. (Trick, if you don't want to lose your .20 listing fee then deactivate the listing - rather than deleting it - and remove all the pics and etc, then use the template for a new listing, get it?)
Your photography is definitely improving, one thing I'd suggest is to change your background from the dark stained wood to something lighter without the texture. Taking pics of the cabs on dops works too, maybe try experimenting with a piece of solid colored (white/gray) stiff fabric, cut a hole in it the size of your dop stick then cover your hand with the fabric. This way you can still hold it but the customer sees a much better outline of the cab without your hands in the pic. I used hand pictures for a couple months and have mostly moved away from them for my first pics now. I've taken thousands of pictures just trying to figure out what I want for my shop, it's exhausting.
I'm new to Etsy and Cabbing and Photography, the whole trifecta! so I know what you're going through. Keep up the good work!
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julieooly
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Post by julieooly on Aug 14, 2019 10:09:36 GMT -5
Oh and something else about photography and listings. Just when you think you've got it all figured out on your computer then you pick up an Iphone and it all looks way different.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 14, 2019 13:16:09 GMT -5
Thank you for your input.
The forum is a discussion not a debate. I will consider input even though I might initially agree with it. I have added more tags to help on searches. I don't know if my question has been answered. As an example I mentioned Montana agates. I still don't know if Montana is not popular or just my Montana cabs. I added more tags to make the search results more manageable for customers. I did a lot of searches to help price cabochons. But the approach would not work for customers because they have different objectives.
I thought I had a shop picture and have one picked out to use.
I'm still experimenting with photographs and I understand how important it is.
I made a lot of cabs over the years and the quality standard was for me not for selling. I inspect a cabochon thoroughly before listing. When I see something I missed, I deactivate, fix and activate. I also fix cabs with defects in workmanship before listing and will occasionally recut when there is a defect in the material. I've sold 3 Morgan Hills which represents 10% of my sales with listed fractures. I communicate a lot with buyers and the buyers of those cabs were very pleased with them. MH is less common than a lot of materials and more costly. People do like bargains.
My marketing strategy is evolving.
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 14, 2019 19:13:21 GMT -5
Either I know too much or too little regarding tags. I spent 40 years as a business systems analyst and writing data queries was a large part of my job. I also do a lot of web searches. When I do a search that returns a very large number of results, I further qualify the search parameters to get a manageable number of results. I don't mind sequentially searching 10 pages, but I need to be desperate to look at 100. If I was looking for a Morrisonite cabochon and searched on Morrisonite I would get 12 pages, Morrisonite jasper 10 pages, Morrisonite cabochon 9 pages. I would then sort by price and look at all I was interested in relatively quickly. Cabochon returns more than 250 pages, jasper 250+, picture jasper 250+, Picture jasper cabochon 206 pages. Designer cut 250+ pages. Searching on Tahoma produces 33 results, two thirds of which are my listings. Mt. Tahoma 31 and Mount Tahoma 1. Tags would help when a particular material search would produce a large number of results. For example Opal cabochon returns more than 250 pages and since no one wills search 250 pages, a tag is essential There are some materials that I list like Montana that do return a large number of results and adding tags would help but only when the searcher uses them to narrow results. Designer cut cabochon is a worthless search. Montana agate returns too many results but Montana agate cabochon somewhat narrows the results. Alrighty, sounds like you're the expert here then. I've removed my posts and will exit stage left. Good luck with your Etsy store. I didn't see your posts but wish I had. Tags are so important on etsy! Every little bit helps.
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stonemon
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Post by stonemon on Aug 14, 2019 20:29:07 GMT -5
My shop sells a wide variety of materials and Montana agate is a good seller for me. I am blessed to have fair stash of Trent agate that is my biggest seller due to the rarity of the material. My number two seller is Holley Blue which is also rare these days. I go to great lengths to procure good Holley.
Tags are invaluable as they bring folks straight to your shop.
Establishing a return client base is also very helpful.
But with that said, you just never know what will go out the door. Jasper's, pet wood and other common materials also sell well if you get your cuts to attract folk. Now if we could just get etsy to quit messing with the platform..... Best regards, Bill
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