Marketing: the good, the bad, and ugly

I'm always up for a good sale and I don't like paying shipping charges. So if the sale discount equals or is close to the shipping cost them I'm in.

One other thing I noticed yesterday while shopping at MFT is when checking out there was something added called "Navidium Shipping Protection" at $0.75 per item. Hmmm. I couldn't find anything on their shipping page about it. I backed out and deleted my cart. I dis-like sneaky fees!


ETA:
Update to the MFT fee. I just received a response to my question asking what the fee was. It's NOT per item and you can toggle it off. It still irks me that it was on there automatically.

Quote:

Thanks so much for reaching out. This is a new offer, shipping protection on the order against damage, loss, or theft. It's not required and can be removed at checkout, there's a little on/off toggle.


This is not per item but is based on the order total and charged once, it's about 2% of the product total.

Update to the MFT fee. I just received a response to my question asking what the fee was. It's NOT per item and you can toggle it off. It still irks me that it was on there automatically.

Quote:
Thanks so much for reaching out. This is a new offer, shipping protection on the order against damage, loss, or theft. It's not required and can be removed at checkout, there's a little on/off toggle.

This is not per item but is based on the order total and charged once, it's about 2% of the product total.

My #1 pet peeve is bad infrastructure.  If your website crashes every time you release new product, that is a huge turnoff.  (I'm looking at you PTI in the olden days.). This also happens at Gina K and Concord & 9th's website crashed when they released their new colors.  I love the Stamp Markets products but trying to find stuff on their website is next to impossible.  If you don't know the exact name of a set, you are screwed.  I tried searching for "butterfly" and half the butterfly products would not come up. And for the love of all, give me sort options.

Next is free shipping. I HATE paying for shipping especially when I'm ordering more than $50 worth of products.   I know shipping costs have skyrocketed but as a consumer, to me that is throwing away money I would spend on product if your shipping was free.  Hence my problem of buying $40 worth of product just to save $8 on shipping!    Also, if you can't have flat shipping rates for stamps and dies that's a problem. There is so much I want to purchase from The Ton but their shipping is outrageous and they NEVER have free shipping codes.

I'm not a huge fan of "exclusive" products mainly because the more people who have the products, the more ideas I can find on google & Pinterest.  I've said before, I'm not great at coming up with my own designs, but I can copy the heck out of other peoples cards.  

The other thing with exclusive products is that a lot of the companies will offer something as exclusive and then a few months later come out with a design that is similar but not exact.  Concord & 9th does this a lot.  The "Oh Yeah" layering stencil set for C&CD was turned into "Big Hugs" and sold a few months later.

I'm not a fan of clubs like the Taylored Expressions quad of the month club where you are locked in sight unseen.  While I LOVE the May stencil, it's too much of a risk to buy from TE without peeks.  I'm just not a huge enough fan of their products. I didn't mind the Spellbinders clubs because you used to be able to opt out.  Same with Hero Arts.

I really really like the virtual events where you get product.  I know this started because of COVID but I hope it never stops. I'd never be able to go to multiple in person events because the cost would be too high if it wasn't local. While C&CD is getting boring because they are not changing up the companies, I like the multiple company events.  I'm super excited about the Pink Fresh & Stamp Market collaboration.

As scrapnnana said, I don't owe companies anything.  Do I want them to stay in business, of course. That being said, I need to get the most bang out of my buck so I'm going where the product is the most inexpensive.  

So many good answers! I agree with you all, and I guess I should say my retail experience/understanding isn’t anything past buying stuff.

I love a company like Gina K (and others!) that has a slower turnover in products and who has loads of samples. Who uses the older items as well as new items. I don’t always decide right away but if you use the product enough and it’s still available… eventually I’ll cave, lol.

This is a personality quirk of mine: if you say you are going to do something, do it. So if you say that after the release we are going to have a great video on ways to use it and no video shows up, I’m noticing. I’m talking on the regular over-promising and under delivering, I am not keeping spreadsheets, lol.

A free shipping threshold is a great thing and I know exactly how much it is at all my favorite retailers. But if you are charging me $7.95 for shipping and my package regularly takes two weeks to ship and arrives in a first class envelope… our retail relationship is on shaky ground.

I am a person who can put outfits together but I love a great kit. I’m not swayed by stickers or adhesive but I love great stamps, dies and cardstock. It has to be my style and all that stuff, but I will spend money on a good kit.

Kits, especially sight unseen ones are a huge no.  I cancelled my spellbinders cub when they no longer allowed me to op-out a month. I have no problem paying a reasonable shipping rate but some companies are out of their minds with their rates.  I confess, I head to Amazon first to see if I can find what I’m looking for. I’d rather pay an extra $1 or 2 then pay $6.95 or more in shipping. Another big issue with me is shipping times.  If it’s going to take 2 weeks to get to me when you’re not having a big sale then you’ve lost me. 

When I first got back into cardmaking I jumped in with both feet, I had to have it all. I learned my lesson and now I will put things on my wishlist and when I do decide to place an order, maybe a month or so later, if I still love it it’s goes in my cart. You’d be surprised by the number of things that never make the cart just because I waited awhile.  I wish I had learned earlier, my craft room wouldn’t be overflowing with things I thought I had to have that are now just sitting there unused and taking up space.

Concord and 9th also have shipping protection added to the cart, and yes, you can toggle it off. BUT if you change the cart again it will pop back up and you could easily miss that it's been added back and end up paying for it. 

I think the main advantage to it vs the regular insurance packages have if they go priority is that once the package is delivered the post office considers their responsibility over. Selling on eBay I have had to refund a customer who kicked up a stink about porch piracy when a package went missing - the post office confirmed they'd left it on the porch so they said it was the recipient's problem, but it was sent as a gift so... ugh. 

For me, I don't like anything with a regular recurring charge, any kind of subscription or club, no matter whether there's an opt out or not. I don't want my default to be shopping every month, even if I like the stuff. I will opt in if I see something special I love, if there's extra. If I miss out on exclusives and limited editions I'm OK with that. (Selling off a relative's limited edition collectibles crap from the 90s has made me very skeptical about mass produced things marked as limited editions). Everyone ends up copying or rereleasing most things anyway. And I don't actually want to make the same cards as everyone else anyway. I want to think really carefully about my purchases and get really versatile stuff that I really love, so no kits, clubs, or subs. I also decline almost all freebies.

I'm wary of things like the Jaded Blossoms gnomes too - every month a new add-on set I'm going to love! 2 years later they're still coming up with a new must-have set every single month. Ugh. I can't handle that much stuff and it's too easy to justify buying more and more to make better use of the first set.

I also don't like itty bitty discounts all the time (I'm looking at you, scrapbook dot com) or periodic massive discounts that show that everything is chronically overpriced.

What do I like? Predictable and consistent/moderate discounts - I'll wait for a sale I know is coming like 20-30% a specific brand and then throw a few extra things in my cart I probably don't need or love as much as I think. I'm pretty easily influenced by good videos and demonstrations of tons of different ways to use a set, even if at first glance the product is not my style. If a crafter is really excited about all the uses they have for a new product I can easily believe I will feel the same way... especially people who make tons of cards like JMcG and Kristie Marcotte. Some crafters I sense are just fulfilling a DT brief but the ones who are genuinely excited to make dozens of cards can sway me. I try not to buy right away to assess whether I'm being influenced or not.

Free shipping feels really nice even though I know nothing is free. Adding $17 onto a shopping cart for shipping makes me feel sick even when I know that's how much the shipping costs the company. But the pressure of buying at a specific time to get free shipping and finding the things I want most are out of stock annoys me. If I'm going to shop a sale you better have what I want in stock and you better ship it out fast! I don't like waiting for my order to be pulled and shipped.

I don't like being pressured to spend money by a deadline, and I've learned to be very wary of clearanced items - I think I have to have them before the chance is gone forever but there's usually a reason they didn't sell.

I have been pretty easy to influence in the past so I've worked on a lot of defenses to protect myself from overspending and being disappointed. Procrastinating on shopping or hitting pay now on a full cart saves me bundles of money.

This is why I don't do pre order anymore with an order...I knew my order was going to be held until the pre order items were ready and I was fine with that. Until my actual order things started to get refunded because they did not actually pull them until the pre order things were in. Then I got refunded for my actual order. When I ordered those things, they were in stock. It has happened 3 times now, so I am done.

I hadn’t looked at the Jaded Blossom Gnomes for awhile, so after reading your post, joblackford, I had to go look. You weren’t kidding about their numerous add ons. I bought the basic gnome set and the cowboy set (I live in cowboy country) awhile back, but have purchased none of the rest. I have no interest in having gnomes for every season. Those add-ons can really add up if you take the bait.

I’ve also gotten weary of pressure tactics. Procrastinating on buying new releases has definitely helped my budget. I try to figure out the percentage of the new releases that I will actually use IF I buy them. That has been an eye opener, and it has helped me resist the temptation to buy on multiple occasions. It helps me to see that buying a kit, and knowing I will actually be using only 20% of the products, is really paying a ridiculously high price for the few items I really like, want, and would actually use.

I follow Kristie Marcotte's videos - she's on the JB DT so I see ALL the gnome add ons (I often have her videos on while I craft). Some of them are actually pretty cool with elements that you could use without the gnomes at all. But as soon as I realize something is going to be added to monthly until they run out of ideas, I'm out. 

Some Pea mentioned counting the number of sentiments in a set that they would actually use over and over to decide if it's worth getting. I tend to love sets overall, but if I actually give them a closer inspection and count I realize half or more of it I will never ever use. Ditto on a lot of kits, like you say. 

I like going to the conventions. I like the touchy feely aspect, and the instructions if needed. I'm going to EXPO Puyallup and staying for all 3 days. I like to wander through the crop area and pick up ideas from others. Also it's a get-away, kinda like a mini vacation.

I think conventions are a great way to get closer to the customer base and put a face on your business.

My 2 cents: Free shipping is not free - not with a high minimum. It encourages us to buy what we don't want just to reach the minimum. We are paying for shipping regardless of whether it is in higher prices per item or a direct shipping fee.

I don't like companies whose stamps and dies now approach $70. No thanks.