Then There Were Three

A personal milestone for me has been the creation of a social media network for my brand. You can now find my fairly consistent presence as Atelier Mandaline on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. You can shop my stores on Etsy and eBay, and now you can shop Atelier Mandaline on Facebook www.facebook.com/ateliermandaline/ as well! I've been working hard to set up shop on Facebook. Their new shop site is not terribly user-friendly and I've struggled to upload photos and deal with shipping, and all the stuff more experienced sales sites have streamlined. I'm sure we will both get better at this as time goes on!

A bubble glass candy dish for sale in the shop

Since it has been a struggle to get things listed I only have a couple items for sale so far. The first listings in the Facebook shop are collectibles I'm selling for our high school marching band. EBay has recently raised fees to the point it takes away significantly from the band's profits, and I can't afford to pay the fees for them because I've been donating my eBay store listings and time all month. I'm hoping Facebook's lower fee schedule will allow us to maximize the band's money and be worth the hassle.

Yesterday I was able to add one listing to my Facebook shop with the mobile app, but it wouldn't let me create a second listing. So then I had to move all my photos onto the computer and then to Facebook, during which time all the cropping and edits from my phone were erased. So now I have listings with upside-down or sideways photos, uncropped photos, etc, and have to go back to fix those. It's been a long, frustrating process!

Eventually I see the Facebook shop as an extension of my eBay and Etsy stores, focusing primarily on new and vintage dolls and toys and kids' clothing. It's a dream of mine to someday grow big enough to make my own kids' dolls and toys and clothes, but right now I can't afford the product testing and certification required to manufacture things for kids. I would truly love to open a factory right here in the Catawba Valley where so many furniture and textile jobs have disappeared! I hope you'll shop from me and make my dream a reality (and support our high school marching band)!

Art Glass bowl; all proceeds benefit high school band.