I am doing the Cyber Monday thing

I don't usually bother to do much on-line shopping on Cyber Monday, but this year I'm not only trying to shop smart, I'm also stuck at home sick, so I figured I might as well indulge in a little retail therapy of the virtual variety. I took advantage of a few sales and got a chunk of my holiday shopping done, all while sitting at home in my pajamas and enjoying a variety of healthy beverages.

Of course, a lot of my favorite shops are also having on-line sales, and it's hard not to tell myself that I deserve a reward for my smart shopping and a pity prize for being so unwell today. So far my willpower has held out, but we'll see what the end of the day brings.

And now, the part where I plug my own sale! There's still time to use code discountme for 20% off everything at Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs. Help make the myth of Cyber Monday come true for me, too!

...and Sunday's just along for the ride

If you would like to do some holiday shopping, or maybe buy yourself a present to reward yourself for the massive amounts of housework surrounding Thanksgiving, you'll be pleased to know that you can use the code discountme to get 20% off of everything in my shop Handmade Jewelry by Erthe Fae Designs this weekend. Sale ends 11:59pm MST Monday Nov 29th.

This sale runs all weekend so I can hit all of the big sales days. First, there was Black Friday, the day when retailers supposedly made most of their money. Then someone decided that even though many on-line business ran Black Friday sales, they needed their own imaginary big sales day... Cyber Monday, when everyone goes back to the office and shops on-line on company time. This year, there's a big push for Small Business Saturday as well, with some credit card company sponsoring free Facebook ads for small businesses.

And then there's Sunday. Poor, lonely Sunday, just waiting to be acknowledged as the last day of Thanksgiving weekend. Why doesn't Sunday have its own special label? Is it because of the religious importance of Sunday? Or has no one gotten around to deciding what it should be? Maybe Thrift Store Sunday? OOH! Second-Hand Sunday! There we go. Let's all spend the Sunday after Thanksgiving hitting up the thrift stores, yard sales and resale boutiques in search of slightly-used treasures and vintage goodies.

By the way, the necklace above is new! It's called The Traveler's Key and it is part of my budget-friendly steampunk jewelry line.

Free shipping this weekend!

In recognition of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and those nameless days between them, I'm offering free shipping this weekend on all purchases of $25 or more. This applies to US and International orders. Simply make your purchase, pay, and I will refund those pesky shipping fees. This sale is good until noon MST on Tuesday!

Now is also a good time to mention that my store will be closed for most of Sunday, as I will be at a bazaar, and it would be truly embarrassing to sell the same item twice! So if there's something you really want, make sure to buy it before Sunday morning.

All business stuff aside, I had a nice Thanksgiving with my family, ate a lot of tasty food, and now I'm in a bit of a food coma. Time to shake this fog off with a little tea.

So, I decided not to have a sale.

Here we are, on the much-vaunted Black Friday, and after the weekend is up, we have the so-called Cyber Monday. And you know what? I find that I really don't care. In past years, I've held sales to try to capitalize on these days, and it hasn't really amounted to much. I'm not some mega-retailer who can afford to offer serious deep discounts to lure customers in, and I think that's all people are really interested in.

I find myself increasingly fed up with hype, whether it's the fiction of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, or hearing that some new website is the "next great thing" for selling. I'm spending so much time on-line trying to network and self-promote that I have little time left for making jewelry. It's a little ridiculous, and I'm starting to streamline things to make my life easier. Don't worry, nothing is going to change at this blog. Although many people claim that blogs are a great marketing tool, I love mine just because it's nice to express myself and connect with friends old and new. Even if it never netted me a single sale, I'd keep it around.

I have some interesting plans for my business, which came about during a brain-storming session with Chris yesterday, but I don't have time to implement them before the holidays. As such, I'm just going to do what I've been doing now. Making jewelry, listing it on Etsy, and posting links in a few places. If people like it and buy it, great. If not, well, I have bigger things to stress about right now, like getting my house into order and keeping on top of all the little projects that I take on.

And now I'm off to do a little on-line holiday shopping, where I'll be buying what I had in mind for people, regardless of whether it's on sale.