Making a Comeback?

The first collage sheet I re-listed on etsy this week.

Back in January I was fortunate to meet up with Jay Bergesen, Product Manager at etsy, and he asked me what would it take for me to come back to the site. I'd been one of the top 10 handmade sellers on etsy for three years, but with a new baby at home and not enough hours in the day, I'd pulled all my digital collage sheets off to my own instant download site and officially announced my "etsy graduation." So I cheekily replied to Jay that he'd have to make me the poster child for the "come back kids" or make piddix a featured seller because, honestly, I couldn't think of any reason for me to bring my collage sheets back. Even if instant downloads ever became a reality on etsy--thus removing a lot of the time constraints--I thought it would be through third-party coders, and I didn't want to have to wade through random add-on programs with additional fees of their own.

But then recently, etsy surprised me and announced they would be providing digital file delivery in-house. And what's even more interesting is that the new process is pretty amazing, especially from a customer's viewpoint. They get the files right away, they're all stored in a central location under your etsy login, and the files never expire. With more than a half-million items listed on etsy as "digital," and each file taking up to 20 MB (times five files per order, and each order is stored separately), I'm a bit nervous how quickly etsy's servers will become bogged down with all these files that never expire. But other than that all the research and testing I've done of the process has been promising.

I'm nervous about coming back. Okay, let's be honest, I feel like I'd have to eat a bit of crow since I made such an official split. But when I step back and analyze the situation, my nervousness isn't a great reason business-wise for staying away. Wasn't the whole point of my 100-day-quest to not be held back by my fears? Plus, I've really been missing the interaction and feedback I always received from my amazing customers. Just yesterday I listed a new subscription and folks are already sending me the absolute nicest welcome back emails. Feels a bit like homecoming.