Design Your Own!!!

I know I am not good at blogging on any regular basis, but today I was inspired by the launch of my new website http://shop.allwiredupjewelrydesigns.com/ which allowed me the capability do do something I have always wanted to do... offer Custom Designed Pendants and Rings!

If any of you have ever shopped my Etsy store http://www.ppennee.etsy.com/, you know that I do a lot of made to order gemtone stack rings, fine silver hoop earrings for everday wear and charm necklaces with a variety of gemstones. I have always wanted to be able to just have one listing with a variety of choices to make it easy for a potential customer to just go in and select what they would like to design their own. Just picture a young woman who wants to give a gift of my Lotus Flower Tag Necklace with a gemstone that matches each of her bridemaids dresses.

She sends me a message asking about what color stones I have, I get back with a list and drag out the camera to take pics so she can see colors and shapes, then she gets back again with what she wants, I create a listing and get back to her and so on. I am sure you can see this isn't conducive to the typical shopper who sees what they want and orders it on the spot and expects to get it in short order!!! We are a nation of spontaneous people who love to see it, touch it and then decide on the spot if we want it. Many of my shoppers have looked around a lot, they know what they want and how much they are willing to spend. Unfortunately Etsy doesn't offer drop down boxes to just go ahead and select a gemstone in the color of our choice. I am happy to say my new website does just that very thing!.

Here is my first attempt at a custom Design Your Own Pendant listing on my website. If you want to go play and see how much fun it is to browse these cool drop down menus here is the link to go play : http://shop.allwiredupjewelrydesigns.com/Design-Your-Own-Pendant-Custom-Designer-Cabochons-56.htm  . I have set up two groups of gorgeous cabochon stones, numbered them, fixed a set price for the work, then I am able to increase or decrease the price for each stone if I happen to have gotten some on sale or if I paid a lot for a rare hard to find specimen stone. Lots of options for chain length, bezel type and the customer can always contact me for a price for extras like beaded wire trim, silver granulation, hand cut designs etc..  I have also done a similar listing for ustom Designed Cabochon Rings, unfortunately I have to retake the photos since I didn't think to number the stones and that still needs work!

Maybe its the pride in finally having a site that's all my own, or just the basic need to be able to do things my own way without "Big Brother" restrictions, I'm not sure, but what I am sure of, is I am a picky shopper and I believe todays on line shoppers are no different.  I miss the old days of personalized service I got at a department store. I used to take a few things into a dressing room and then some lovely sales person would go and hunt for a different size, color, matching scarf whatever I wanted! Now I get dressed at least twice to go on the hunt myself- this does not make me want to stay and buy something! I wanted to be able to be just a little bit better at customer service and I just had too many restrictions on Etsy to be able to offer the level I felt my customers were missing.

Yes, I'll still be on Etsy for a while- very few people have "discoverd" my website. But, I am hopeful that very soon I will have someone stumble in, like what they see and how they are treated and send a few friends my way. Wish me luck!