~Happy Anniversary Artfire, Celebrate With Free Shipping @ Cards By Jenna~

It’s official Artfire just reached their one year anniversary!  To celebrate read the message below that I received from Artfire.

Happy Anniversary ArtFire!

ArtFire officially turns one year old in November, and what a year it has been. We’ve seen amazing growth in traffic, page views, member sales, and products listed each month, ArtFire has become the second largest artisan marketplace on the internet. We are proud to report our expected one year member sales at $1.5 million dollars.  We saw a 30% increase in sales in October over September, along with 20million page views and almost 700,000 active products.

Part of ArtFire’s success has been our commitment to service and innovation.  In just 12 months we have developed industry leading selling tools such as a one button sale mode, the rapid cart remote checkout widget, the ArtFire Facebook Kiosk, coupon codes, the global product editor and more!  We are committed to providing you the best: the best service, the best platform, the best tools, and the best price. We also want to thank all of the amazing artisans in our community who have helped make ArtFire  into the venue it is today.

To celebrate our anniversary we’re happy to announce a 2010 pre-pay opportunity for our members with The ArtFire Pro 500.  In the past, many members have expressed interest in billing periods other than per month which our previous payment systems wouldn’t allow.  As we grow and upgrade our infrastructure we are happy to extend  a 2010 pre-pay offer to 500 of our artisans.  While this offer lasts, you can pay for a yearlong Pro(Verified) ArtFire.com membership for just 100$; that’s over 30% off the normal $12/mo rate.  If you’re a $7/mo charter artisan you have the option pre-pay for 2010 at your normal rate knowing that you already have the best deal we can offer.

We have more exciting features planned for year two.  You will see some of those in just the next few days.   While this first year has been many long hours and hard work for everyone here, it is all worth it to see those sales numbers and know that we are building such a strong and successful artisan community together.

Thank you for helping make the ArtFire community that it is today.

Sincerely,

 

My Artfire Anniversary is also coming up.  I opened my Cards By Jenna shop on Artfire exactly a year ago November 14, 2008.  I can’t believe it’s already been a year.  Not only that but I’ve only had 2 sales!  In order to celebrate both anniversary dates I will be offering free shipping on all orders to the USA and Canada.  Stock up on cards now before this free shipping offer is over.  Offer ends November 30th.  Thanks for stopping by!

~Do You Shop @ Michael’s Arts & Crafts Store?~

In these tough economic times many of us sacrifice purchases and unnecessary shopping sprees.  If you shop at Michael’s you know that many times the store gives out coupons like they are going out of style. 

This past week Michael’s didn’t have a weekly ad in the Sunday paper…I was so disappointed.  Since I am signed up to receive email updates from the website: www.michaels.com frequently I receive coupons.  I received this 50% off (any regular priced item) coupon today and wanted to share with all the crafters out there.  The best thing about this coupon is you can print as many as you want and use them throughout the week but only one per transaction. 

Even though you are supposed to use one coupon per transaction per day I’ve been known to go back the same day and have yet to have a problem.  This coupon is good March 29th through April 4th. 

Click HERE to get the coupon!

HAPPY SHOPPING!

~Cards By Jenna Opens Shop On Artfire.com~

I never wanted to open up another shop to sell my greeting cards.  I always thought it would be too difficult to keep track of multiple stores and to promote each one equally.  

I heard of Artfire.com from a few different sellers who also sell on Etsy.com.  I debated and did some research on Artfire...it didn't take me long to decide that Artfire is worth a shot.  Here is my shop link:

 http://cardsbyjenna.artfire.com 

In a nutshell Artfire is the same thing as Etsy.  You sign up with an account and can set up shop or simply be a buyer.  Etsy charges a 20 cent per item listing fee.  When (and if) the item sells Etsy takes another 3.5% off the sales price.  If you are like me and use paypal there goes more cut out of your profile.  Artfire has decided to charge a flat rate of $20 per month.  No fees, no lopping profits, and best of all Artfire is already investing in advertising and marketing for the site.  Right now Artfire is offering a flat $7 per month fee for life for the first 5,000 people who sign up to open shop.  Sign up for a free account Artfire will plant a tree!  Check out the banner to the right ----->

The screenshot above I took after listing my first item. Every time a new item is listed it is featured on the front page.  My cat card set is in the top row, in between the yarn and the lazy susan.  Click HERE to see the actual listing and how it looks.  How cool is that?!?  I imagine that when more people discover Artfire and start listing items will be rotated out pretty quickly but for now everyone who lists on Artfire can bask in the front page glory.

One more thing I have add regarding the listing process...on etsy there are several different screens that you have to go through.  On Artfire there is one screen that you fill out that includes everything: item description, uploading photos, shipping rates, tags, and so on.  There is even a space where you can write about how you created the item and what inspired you to do it.  You can even put in how much time you spent on creating your item.  

Interested in learning more?  Click HERE to be swept away to Artfire.com.

~And the Giveaway Winner Is...~

My first blog giveaway has come to an official end and I'm proud to announce the lucky winner, Stacy!

Here is Stacy's winning comment:

"Wow..It is such a toss up between Christmas and Thanksgiving for me...But I think I would say Thanksgiving. It is a time my whole life that we would travel up to my grandparents house and have the house crammed full of people! It was always a fun trip to travel to go see them! I loved it! Now that my grandparents are getting older I treasure every Thanksgiving I get to spend with them! I also just love Autumn...all the smells, and decorations! I'm so ready for it to be here!"

Stacy has an adorable shop on etsy.com so please stop by and check out Gracious Creations. If you are looking for the perfect baby gift look no further!

Currently Stacy sells blankets, bibs, burp cloths, little lovies and pillowcase dresses. All items are custom and handmade with love and care and make the perfect baby gift.

As advertised on Stacy's etsy shop announcement the lucky customer who makes the 10th sale in her shop will receive free shipping! What a deal! The holidays are right around the corner, send Stacy your orders soon. Don't forget to let her know you saw this blog feature!