Etsy Seller Interview with Leanne of TheRubyPostOffice

How TheRubyPostOffice got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

My name is Leanne Bishop, and I operate from my apartment in an 112-year old building in Vancouver, Canada. Hardwood floors, high ceilings, and lots of wonderful neighbours!

My focus has always been on interesting items to use in arts and crafts, especially collage and altered books. I used to have a brick-and-mortar store (RubyDog’s Art House), but Vancouver has become one of the most expensive cities in North America, and commercial leases have skyrocketed beyond the reach of most small businesses. I could not afford the increased cost of renewing when my lease expired, so I turned to Etsy.

RubyDog’s Post Office started as an offshoot of my initial Etsy shop, RubyDog’s Art House (10,857 sales and counting). I started to get so many postage stamp listings that I decided to give them their own venue. This way, I could divide them up into categories (animal, buildings, flowers, etc.) instead of just having one big “postage stamp” section.

In the beginning, I bought most of my stamps off eBay and stamp-collecting websites. Now, through the many connections I have made with those sellers, I go directly to them via email. We’ve built up wonderful business relationships, and I am very grateful for the gorgeous stamps they offer and the great wholesale prices they offer me.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

I love everything I sell (really!), but if I had to pick some favourites, it would be:

I really like the bold colours and images on these stamps, and so do my customers!

Those gorgeous illustrations on a simple background just really appeal to me, and, as a bonus, they sell well.

I honestly do not know why I like these so much. Everybody has their own taste, right? They are a mediocre seller, but I carry them anyway, just so I can look at them.

You would have to see these stamps “in the flesh" It was very difficult to portray them properly via scanning, as their borders are metallic gold, but they are really beautiful, and, fortunately, my customers think so too.

I debated whether to include these in my list of favourites, as they are not very good sellers, but I personally love them. I just cannot figure out why most other people do not! LOL

Art is very much in the eye of the beholder, and I select my offerings based on their visual appeal to me. Well, most of the time. Sometimes one of my suppliers offers me such a good deal on some sets that I just cannot resist! Over time, I have attracted a lot of stamp collectors, but my focus is always on items that can be used in collage, junk journals, artist trading cards, altered books, etc. If I find an item that does not sell well but I love, I just don’t keep a lot of sets in my inventory. I still carry them, though, because I think part of the joy of having a shop is loving what you sell. And it’s so much fun when I get an order for all my favourites!

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

It’s been a few years since I’ve been selling on Etsy, and I really cannot remember my first sale. I probably got it from somebody who used to frequent my brick-and-mortar store, as I maintained an email list of customers and sent them all a notice when I started selling online.

I do a few things to attract customers, but I have to admit I’m somewhat lazy in that area. I probably do more to get repeat business than new business. I do have an Instagram page and try to list items at least five times per week. I alternate between the two shops—one day a set of stamps and the next day a vintage item from RubyDog’s Art House.

Something I do that has definitely garnered me orders is sending a thank-you note when anybody adds either of my shops to their Etsy list of favourites. I’m very sincere about this. I’m so grateful that somebody considers my offerings appealing enough to add to their lists. What I have yet to do, but want to start, is thank anybody who posts a 5-star review. I purchased a painting from an Etsy seller, and after I wrote a favourable review, he sent me a lovely thank-you note. I thought that was so nice, and it has definitely planted his shop in my head.

Sometimes, rather than renewing an item, I put it back into my store as a completely new listing. Etsy favours new listings over renewals, and this helps to get it farther up in searches.

I always send a personalised confirmation email that thanks them for their order, explains the probable delivery timeline, and informs them of the Etsy “marketing” programme so, in the future, they search on Etsy itself rather than the Internet.

I include links to both my shops in every single piece of correspondence I send out. EVERY SINGLE BIT OF CORRESPONDENCE! You just never know who might click on the link. Support staff at companies are people who buy online, too, right?

With every order, I include a small business card on which I write,Thank you, ____! I think that by using their name, it personalises the transaction, and I have had numerous customers actually mention this in their reviews. You don’t have to spend money on fancy cards because they are probably just going to be dropped into the recycling bin. I simply print a bunch of them out on a coloured piece of paper.

Managing TheRubyPostOffice

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

I am an old fart and used to be way ahead of everybody else when it came to technology, but no more. It all moves too fast for me now. I have no special tools or apps. It’s just me and my trusty desktop computer!

Pretty much everything I sell is flat and can be mailed by regular mail, not by parcel. This is a conscious decision on my part, as it makes the packaging easy and the shipping costs reasonable. Canada Post can be quite expensive, which is why I chose to do this, although I’ve noticed USPS prices have gone up a lot lately.

The future of TheRubyPostOffice

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

My biggest goal for my shop is to get everything scanned and listed. I probably spend way too much time tweaking images, but I’m a bit fussy that way. I’ll be honest; I don’t really know if that helps sell my stuff or not. A bit of a perfectionist streak is running through me, I think! I have boxes of vintage ephemera and postage stamp sets that need to go into the store. Bit by bit, I’m getting there.

I also think I need to look outside of Etsy and IG and use some other platforms to direct buyers to my store. Facebook? TikTok? YouTube?

Other than that, besides selling on Etsy, I would like to set up a RubyDog website. There are things I want to show and explain that can’t really be done via the Etsy platform.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Make sure to fill in all the keywords in your listing. This is one of the main ways somebody searching Etsy will find you, so it’s important. Read the Etsy seller guide for advice on doing this.

Try to post more than just one picture with your listing. A few images showing the item from different angles are much more interesting to a potential buyer than just one single photo.

Always respond to inquiries ASAP. If you open a shop, be serious about it. It doesn’t have to be your “job” and only source of income, but people expect quick responses.

If you can, keep the number of pages in a section at a reasonable level. Personally, I don’t think people browse through an inordinate number of pages in a shop; I think they stop after they’ve seen a couple. Instead, divide your items into different sections.

Make your descriptions clear and concise. Put the most pertinent information at the very beginning. Don’t make customers have to read an exhaustingly long paragraph to figure out how many items are included in the purchase, what they’re really getting, etc. I have given up on some sellers because it is just so tedious trying to read through everything to figure out what I’m actually buying.

Opt out of the “marketing” programme, especially if you are based outside the USA. You will be charged a percentage of the total order, which includes shipping and taxes. I am in Canada and have a lot of European customers. Sales tax in many of those countries is 25%, and the shipping charge is much higher than if the item were going within North America. Once you garner $12,000 in sales over a 12-month period, you have no choice. You’ll be forced into the program. But, until then, opt out. When you establish a shop, you’re automatically entered, so you have to manually do this.

Ship orders as soon as possible. I try to get purchases mailed within 24 hours, but, at worst, they go out within 48 hours.

If you get negative feedback, email the customer and ask what the problem is and how you can rectify the situation. If it’s just 3 or 4 stars out of 5 with no written review, it’s often just a mistake on their part, and most buyers are more than happy to correct that. If there really is a problem, you need to address it. Remember, “A satisfied customer might tell one other person, but a dissatisfied customer is going to tell 10 other people.”

Keep a list of email addresses. You never know when you might want to establish another website presence along with Etsy, and this way, you can send out a notice to all your previous buyers.