When I first read your comment, I went to have a look at my dashboard and I also have the Feedback tag on the Order page, and I could enter comments if I wanted (I didn’t).
But when I went to another page, there was no Feedback tag. So I went back to Order page, and the Feedback tab disapeared too. Now I can’t find it on any pages 
And now I have it on ALL pages! Maybe they were updating it???
or just messing with us. 
I’m not even going to check mine again. Don’t care about it (until I have something to complain to them).
I’m up to 5 orders. Since it hasn’t required much work, I just consider any sales there to be a nice “gimme.” Going to keep adding - hoping they implement some categories and rearranging features!
2024 has been a giant nap on both Amazon and MakerPlace.
I follow MakerPlace on Facebook, and click on shops in the promotion posts just to see who’s there.
One of the shops I clicked was a bead work jeweler, nice designs. What blew me away was her prices — $5.99 for a pair of earrings that took 20-30 minutes to make … plus free shipping 
If you figure in shipping costs and sales %, she made $1.50 for her labor MINUS the cost of beads which she probably bought retail at Michaels.
This is why I got out of seed bead work and inexpensive beads. Can’t compete with the hobbyists who are happy with 50cents profit on 30 minutes labor.
Too many hobbyist handmakers try to compete on price with the cheap machine-made or forced-labor products mass-produced and sold at bargain stores.
They don’t even realize that it’s apples to oranges, and sadly just want a sale to justify their hobby/art/creative outlet in our “monetize everything” world right now.
Sometimes, the value is in the process. And that’s ok.
In my decades on the craft fair circuit, I’d get one person per show who asked, “Why is this so expensive?” My answer depended on their tone of voice.
If they were genuinely interested, I’d explain a little about the materials and my process. They always thanked me, and often bought the item in question.
If they were rude — and those people never bought squat — I’d smile widely and launch into an analysis of all the numbers involved, from sourcing to material cost to labor. The end results were that I worked well below minimum wage — and then I asked them how much they made, and were they willing to work for that wage? and why did they think their time was worth more than mine? At that point, they were desperate to escape (if they hadn’t already) and never return.
I did not put up with rude people. If they didn’t like my work, they were free to move on to the next booth.
They are not your customers! Glad you educated them, though, and hopefully saved the next vendor from that same attitude.
One time at a craft show at an art gallery, a customer told me she knew most of her friends would not buy $40 earrings. They wouldn’t even look at them. That I should be charging $400. Not gonna lie, I would love to be that jewelry designer!
It’s funny how price impacts different people different ways.
This is something I wrestle with mightily. My COGS is so low my margins are comfortable, so I question whether I should lower prices more…or raise them up. I know people will assume one thing is better/worse because of the price. Amazon kind of messes up that equation, though, because I don’t think any higher-spenders are there - cheap is king.
I also wrestle! Every time I start eyeing a strand of London Blue Topaz (the real stuff) I do the math for what I’d have to charge to sustain my regular formulas, and it’s rough… But they do sell, even though I’m not being as honest as I should be - my “per item” profit is still good, but not as high as it would be with typical ratios.
If one is producing the item (as we do), the quality and workmanship play into the price structure as much as the COGS. Since we do customization, the quality and workmanship of the customization is our premium price factor. We do not want to be branded as either cheap or expensive. We want the customer to value the quality, workmanship and price and to be willing to pay that price for that quality and workmanship.
Low net - high volume - fast turnover
High net - low volume - slow turnover
Average net - medium volume - steady turnover
Yup. I would consider myself average. The low net - high volume will be my endgame on amazon only if my other venues don’t pick back up.
Fortunately for me, the work is done once, then it’s just reproducing without much effort.
I’d love to do labor-intensive OOAKs with expensive-ish components, but I never found the market that would pay for it.
When I started out, I was low price / high volume, but I gradually grew out of it. Even though it had a good profit margin, it was artistically stifling.
I have to admit: Every sale I get on MakerPlace gives me a little thrill like my first sales on Etsy all those years ago. Only 6 sales so far, but about $400 so that’s nice. And I only have 85 listings live (351 more in draft). It gives me a tiny bit of hope.
I’m up to 5 sales now on Makerplace so that is exciting. I still have a lot of hope for it.
I did get an email about my items being featured soon, haven’t see where or when but I will update when I figure it out. I did post about it I. The Handmade sales thread but I suppose I should have posted in here too lol.
Congrats! Every Saturday when I get their “we’re looking for …” emails, I suggest one of my products but so far no luck.
Well, I received this email from MakerPlace today, subject: “Your Listings Will Be Spotlighted on MakerPlace!”
It said: “We are reaching out to let you know that the MakerPlace team is planning to spotlight your work in MakerPlace by Michaels marketing or curated pages.”
I’m totally blown away by it. I never promoted my items to them, didn’t even join or checked out any of their social media sites to get myself known to anybody there. So I’m really excited somebody on their team actually seen my things and liked them. 
The email also said: “Let us know if you want to opt out of this opportunity within three business days of receipt of this email.”
Did anybody really tell them no I don’t want you to spotlight me?
Since I only sold 6 items so far, I have put the ready made inventory to the bare minimum to keep the item active. Guess I should check to see if I have any extra inventory I can set aside for MP, and raise the inventory numbers on the listings.
Nice of them to let me know it’s going to happen, so I can prepare a little. But kind of wish they have told me which items they are talking about, so I can start make some extra ones. Would ba a shame to waste this opertunity by not able to have enough ready inventory. 
The email didn’t said when or where the spotlight is going to be. I guess I’m going to check MP main page very often now. But if it’s on any of the social media site, then I won’t know.
Congrats! I’m really glad some of “us” are being featured.
They really should include that info.
Sound like @ModernSwitch also got that email, earlier than I did.
Now that I get over the original shock & excitement, guess I’m in the hope it’s not too good to be true kind of mind set right now.