Etsy Shop Critique - AmyCantini

Before you ever ventured into this thread, I had already favorited your shop. I'm starting to get a little performance anxiety about doing these critiques like I have to be funny and ruthless in them, but I'm not finding much around your place about which I can laugh.

Your banner is great. The font is perfect, and the fingertips in the right corner give it an unearthly, ethereal air which complements the theme of your shop. I've seen a lot of etsy artists try to pull off the antique, ghosts-of-the-past motif in their shops, but they haven't gotten there. Your shop totally pulls it off. I love your greeting cards and framed pendants.

I hope this doesn't disappoint, but I don't have a lot of advice to give you. One of the only things I can suggest is that since jewelry is such a lightweight, small item and relatively cheap to ship, you might put free shipping in your tags and offer free shipping on your items.

Your photos are stunning, and they meld with the theme of your shop. I like how you use some of your paper products as photo props in your other items. I think that other shopkeepers who sell small items should take a standard picture like the image you have of how your items look wrapped, which makes them a little more special than items which will show up in a wad of tape and bubble wrap.

[ Just as an aside, if anyone out there sends your items in taped up styrofoam, so that when the recipient tried to open it, little balls of polystyrene mess ends up statically charged and stuck all over the recipient's floor, clothes, and the item, then you should be force-fed styrofoam and highly carbonated seltzer water until you explode ]

This line from your profile is one of those subtle messages I've mentioned in other stores that brings thoughts from the subconscious to the conscious mind and causes them to make a personal connection with your store: "A one stop shop for the perfect little gift that you didn't know you wanted til you saw it."

I got a little turned on when I read your descriptions. You actually sent me to a dictionary once, which is a rare treat for me. I have a head full of trivia and will probably one day beat Ken Jennings on Jeopardy, but I now know the history and chemical composition behind borosilicate glass. I have the periodic table memorized, and I assumed that it was some boron/silicon dioxide amalgam, but didn't know the ties to pyrex glass and its thermal resilience.

Your colors, item names, descriptions, avatar, and items themselves all work together to make a storybook shop like a dark fairytale, and I wish you the best. You've got a great shop.