Trust Me... I’m a Creator

Getting and retaining repeat customers. News and views from the DustyNewt Workshop 11/05/2025

Nov 05, 2025

Today’s “17 Step Commute” Dashboard…

Temp: Currently 79 degrees. High of 84 today 😎
Humidity: 3 on the “Soup” scale. (1=light broth, 5=thick chowder).
Today’s Playlist: Alice in Chains shuffle.
Conditions: Dang near perfect! 😎
Estimated Travel Time: 17 seconds
Food: Fasting lab and breakfast at the diner afterward. Pork chops tonight.
Coffee Level: 1/8 Tank

Trust Me... I’m a Creator

While working for yourself from home, your ultimate business objective should be to provide your best work, to get the repeat customer to see value in buying from you. With whatever you make, the quality of your work must match the value you put on it and your skills in producing it.

Time - Your actual work time should jibe with your pre-determined shop’s hourly rate (see more here) with which you base all of your product pricing. Example: If you can complete 4 keychains in an hour and sell them for $15.00 each, your shop rate should be $60.00 an hour.
Materials - Premium or rare materials necessarily command higher prices than traditional and common ones.They demand a premium price. Remember that the occasional mistake is inevitable, especially when you are doing custom/personalized work, and you will have to “eat” the costs of these errors or know how to recoup them.
Service - The time it takes to answer questions, create custom “Reserved” listings, and pack & ship a product, also has to be in line with your hourly rate. It is easy for this time to be overlooked. It is fine for slow times, but can get away from you quickly when you get busy and time is shorter.

The “Get’m Once and Get’m Good” mentality of pop-up sellers goes back to the snakeoil salesmen of previous centuries. By the time the buyers realized that they’d been shilled (or in a coma), the huckster had left town with their money. These days, this business plan continues to flood the internet with spoof sites and clones. AI (artificial intelligence) will only compound this in the future unless some bright geek figures out how to limit them.

Caveat Emptor

For now, the onus to find real value remains on the buyer. While you do the work to honestly represent yourself, they need to do the research to protect themselves. They take into account your reviews, your number of sales, how long you have been selling and where you ship from. They [should] read your descriptions and compare yours to others.

I do the same when I search for a product, using the website’s filter to narrow down my search criteria; ie. “handmade”, “location of seller”, “free shipping”, etc. It is good to keep this in mind as you create your listings.

Building Trust

To keep clients coming back for more, the product you ship has to be exactly what you say it is in the listing description. You will also need to provide prompt (but not spammy) communications and speedy turn-around times.

This quality relationship begins with offering a professional listing on whichever venue you choose to sell. This includes good photos and accurate descriptions to pique their interest and draw them in. Learning SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for each product is imperative. There are already hundreds of good tutorial videos and blogs to help you with this, so I will let you do the research to find what is best for you. Don’t rely on AI to write an accurate description. Make it your own.

Communication

Prompt replies to messages and emails are essential. Reply to questions as soon as possible, even if you don’t have an answer. Many times, I will receive a request and will have to work out the particulars to ponder whether I can fulfill it, and at what cost. I reply immediately, telling them that I will work it out in the workshop and get back to them (within 24 hours) with a yes and a quote, or a no and a “Sorry”. This timely attention to the customer’s needs shows that you are on top of things. It will help gain confidence that you are an active and trustworthy vendor. Honest, open dialog is critical in building your business.

I also maintain a Facebook Page. “DustyNewt Chopsticks and Keychains” where I connect with followers on a daily basis. I hope you drop in and “Like” my page.

Building online trust organically does not happen overnight. It took me five years to get my Etsy shop to the point where I could go full time with it. Twelve years, this has resulted in an audience that is more interested in our work and likely to return and buy in the future. I do not recommend gaming the system by buying “followers”, email addresses or mailing lists from so-called expert marketeers just to engorge your following with hollow numbers. I believe it is a waste of hard earned cash.

I have found that customers love “Sneak Peeks”. Since day one, I have photographed everything I create and sent a snapshot to the buyer when their order is completed and ready to ship the next day. It only adds a couple minutes to each order, and it is comforting for them to see the end result, especially if they are shipping a gift to an address other than their own. I do “Sneak Peeks” as a courtesy only, NOT for approval. Asking for approval or input is just asking for delays and/or headaches.

I do not give refunds on custom orders, but if they spot a mistake on my part in materials or spelling, I will correct it or redo it. This still occasionally occurs (once or a dozen times a year) despite conscientious attention to details, hence my growing “sample” case. I haul my samples out whenever I have a rare garage sale and sell them at bargain basement prices.

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Visit My ETSY SHop

I currently sell my work on Etsy and Ebay ONLY. Beware of spoof sites, using my photos and descriptions. You will be disappointed ordering from them.