where to for faunfare from here

Something quite fantastic and unexpected has happened with Faunfare in the last month; I broke even. I made back in sales everything I have spent on bottles, business cards, envelopes and postage, and essences since my very first supplies order, including those most precious that have not even made their way into my blends yet. I don’t know how it happened, but I’m immensely grateful to the amazing customers who believed in me, my perfumes, and my vision, and satiated their curiosities with a try. The feedback that I have received has also been phenomenal and more complimentary and generous than I believe I deserve.

As thankful as I am for my journey so far, I think it’s necessary for me to take a small break from selling and spend some time alone with my oils, reminding myself why I got into perfumery in the first place. To inspire myself, I ordered a copy of Mandy Aftel’s Essence & Alchemy before I left for Amsterdam, and have been devouring it since I got back. Her book is a poetic concoction of psychology, literature, and history, which weaves a tale about how natural perfumery has evolved through the ages, suitable for both aspiring perfumers and perfume-lovers. Trish of Scent Hive also had the good fortune of meeting and interviewing Mandy Aftel at her studio and presented a brilliant blog post about her experience.

Frankly, I find it mind-blowing to think what I could aspire to with my perfumery. There is still so much more I have to learn about the world of essences and I’ve never been hungrier for the knowledge.

Two nights ago, I received an email from a well-meaning browser who nevertheless startled me with her logic. She said she doesn’t like the use of cheap, synthetic fragrance oils in perfumes and wondered if I use any of it in my blends, “because the prices are so low?” Although the word “natural” features in my shop title and product descriptions, including further details of why I choose essential oils instead of synthetic ones, I can really relate to this woman’s query because a quick search of “natural perfume” on Etsy yielded for me pages and pages of products that were neither natural… nor perfumes at many times. I found numerous stores that described their perfumes as “natural” or “botanical”, but their ingredients clearly indicated the sole use of fragrance oils. I wonder if it’s that they’ve simply picked up the trend on Etsy of calling them “natural perfume oils” without realising what it means? Indeed, I have found a lot of new people who love the fact I use natural ingredients, but if I ask, they often can’t really tell me why they think natural oils are better. I have met very, very few people who can tell the difference. More personally, her point about my low prices inferring low quality hit the nail on the head of something else you know has been on my mind—pricing.

I posted a couple of weeks ago about my philosophy on pricing and how I passionately believe in selling my perfumes at below retail price. A wonderful myth that circulates Etsy is of a seller who makes high-end designer underpants. She made modest sales until one day she decided to counterintuitively increase her prices, fitting them better into the more affluent target market whose tastes and needs she caters to and her panties flew off the shelves. I wish this was indeed the case for everyone but I soberly reminded myself that perhaps for the vast majority of us mere mortal sellers, people might just simply not want our stuff and increasing the prices will only make them not want them more. This woman’s question however, brought this panty myth back into focus and made me wonder if there were more people who were turned off my store because my prices spoke louder than my words. I just wish there was a way for me to balance my love for purveying affordable perfumes without doing my work a disservice.

This finally brings me to the title of my blog entry. Where to from here?

I’m going to a take a short sabbatical, perhaps a month or two, to read and study more about perfumery theory and technique. From my own pocket, I will fund an augmented collection of rare and precious essential oils and gradually move away from some of the more affordable oils in my initial orders. I want to reconceptualise my entire brand and line, further developing my perfumes inspired by the Ancient Greek pantheon, which has been far better received than I could dream. I want to improve each and every one of my scents, replacing the lower grade oils (e.g. vanilla infusions, ylang ylang first) with the highest ones (e.g. Madagascan vanilla absolute, ylang ylang complete), and create new products such as perfume solids in lockets and pillboxes. I also want to indulge other passions of mine, writing and photography, and produce some essays and articles about why I choose to make natural perfumes instead of full or semi-synthetic blends, and spend weeks photographing my products to get them just the way I want them.

However, I know that if I progress down this path, my perfumes will no longer be viable to be sold at $6-7 a bottle. I’d imagine my ingredients alone will exceed this price, even in 5ml bottles. As such, I’m not sure there will be a place for me on Etsy, and I may have to consider other avenues, if selling is a priority. I have lots to think about in the next few months!

humble oils for frugal fauns

Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed to my two last blog entries on the highs and lows of selling online! I had imagined that I would take my week off the Internet to reflect on the issues of pricing before I came back and began writing up my thoughts, but after reading your fascinating points of view, I could not help but start writing now.

Last night, while surfing the web, I found a scintillating discussion on putting a price on handmade. Megan Auman makes very unique laser-cut cozy/cuffs, coffee cup cosies and wrist cuffs in one, and after being promoted on Etsy’s Facebook page, it sparked a controversial debate where buyers cried at the outrage of her seemingly exorbitant prices, even daring to accuse her of making a greedy amount of profit. In another of Megan’s blog posts about this issue, she describes Etsy as a “pro-am community”, which was the first time I heard that phrase. It refers to amateur professionalism, meaning people pursuing amateur activities to professional standards. Megan mentions that for many sellers on Etsy, myself included, our stores are just extensions of our hobbies and therefore we have neither need nor motivation to price our products high enough to factor in true production costs and a living wage. This hurts the sellers on Etsy who run their stores full-time and are attempting to make a living from their craft because comparable products are being priced lower than they could manage without forgoing food or shelter.

It exacerbates the problem when a culture of underpricing conditions buyers that Etsy is a place for bargains, to perhaps find some crafter with low self-esteem willing to unload some handmade soaps or earrings on to you for the same price you would find in a Coles or Target, while receiving one-on-one service.

Her article also prompted me to take a good hard look at my own pricing practices and attitude. As of the time of writing, my perfumes are being sold at $6 for a 5ml bottle. While I understand that that is considered quite low, if not the lowest price you can find for all natural essential oils in a jojoba base, it is nevertheless not the lowest for perfumes overall. The other day while randomly browsing, I found one of the sellers on Etsy making Twilight-themed perfumes (yes, they really exist) and running a sale on solids for $1. I will tell you now that I’d have a difficult time finding the metal tins that they come in for less than $1.

Although I’m sure some people would consider my prices to be quite reasonable, I confess that I’m completely conscious that it’s not. The $6 I charge for my perfumes do not account for my labour, because for the time being, I consider running Faunfare a labour of love. Unfortunately, I’m one of the sellers Megan reveals as inadvertently devaluing handmade for everyone else. I’m a hobbyist through and through and my singular goal on Etsy is to meet like-minded souls for whom I can eventually supply perfumes for free. I aspire to be the forest’s herbalist who concocts away in her deep, dark glade while friendly villagers travels beyond the thicket to seek vials of esoteric elixirs in exchange for pumpkin pies or a couple of chooks. I think if I can make back my material costs, that’s just a bonus. To compare, I don’t get paid to read or go to the cinema, but they’re also things I love to do in my spare time. If I could at least get some free books or free tickets every now and then, then what more could I ask for?  I don’t consider that if I posted up a review of a film I saw on my blog that a professional film critic might lose their job because here I am doing what they do for free.

I’ve had both well-meaning friends tell me that I’m giving away my perfumes and well-meaning friends tell me that I ought to literally give away my perfumes. I know some people think I’m crazy and may even be turned off by my low prices, suspecting that there may be something wrong with them, and those who see making a purchase from my store as a splurge.

I also absolutely adore my day job. I love to write and through a lot of luck and divine intervention, I have found myself on the path to becoming a researcher, which lets me teach subjects about which I’m passionate while getting travel opportunities to meet others who share those passions. I have to sell about 20 bottles of my perfumes to make what I make in an hour and thus I have no drive to turn my perfumery into a viable business.

I never set out to undercut any sellers. In fact, some of you might remember that when I first launched my store, I priced my perfumes at $12 for the 5ml bottle, which covers my materials and time and after weeks of research, was where I found the average price, minus a dollar or two. Want to take a stab at how many I sold? If you guessed zilch, you would be absolutely correct. So in the lead up to the Solstice last month, I placed all my perfumes on sale and they flew off the shelves. I’ve also been very fortunate that my buyers are the best in the world and either returned soon after their first orders or heartily spread the word. However, I can see the culture of cheap at work here on Etsy, but if my alternative is to price my perfumes higher and not sell anything, that defeats the purpose of listing on Etsy in the first place.

I don’t hate bargain hunters, in fact, I’d probably define myself as one. I would definitely do my utmost to spread the word of handmade, supporting independent sellers who use locally sourced materials and take care to be ethical in their business decisions, but I don’t see my role as enlightening the ignorant masses (and this is coming from an academic). Sadly, I think what our creations are worth are not always accepted in every market and I think it’s unrealistic to assume the solution is to implore all sellers on Etsy to raise their prices so ours won’t seem so high by comparison. If Etsy is becoming a bargain hunting zone, then we ought to find another market (I hear craft fairs and handmade markets are better catered towards people who appreciate quality over saving a few bucks) or use Etsy as a springboard into our own brands, and we can eventually run a store on our own domains.

Full-time Etsy sellers also have one of the most priceless advantages—time. I madly bottle perfumes on evenings and the weekends and can only find time to ship twice a week, and even then it’s a stretch, especially last week when I hurt my knee and could only ship on one day when I had the car. Full-time Etsy sellers should never see me as a threat because I will never find the time to conceive brilliant, inventive, cutting-edge ideas, reshoot stunning photographs every fortnight, or constantly be expanding my line.

Perhaps it’s not a question of whether or not hobbyists are undermining handmade artisans running their own businesses but there may be enough space in the market for both parties. A few weeks ago, a buyer added me to her favourites and when I perused her profile, I was surprised to find a lengthy and articulate essay on how Etsy has really saved her life on many occasions because when she lost her job during the GFC, she appreciated finding passionate crafters offering affordable goods on Etsy. Those are the people I want to create for. If you are well-educated on the cost of mass-consumerism and have the luxury to spend money on high-quality handmade goods, you may very well overlook people like me and choose to spend more to support full-time Etsians instead whose stores are well-stocked and constantly growing. However, if you’re a faun who needs to save her gold for figs and mulled wine, then come by my neck of the woods and find some earnestly blended oils and a friendly ear. Just remember to bring a chicken or a pie.

suppliers on etsy

I know I don't normally run topical posts on my blog, but as I was writing my last entry on the unexpected joys I have found through my experience selling online, the issue of pricing and all its sticky web of frustrations kept rearing its ugly head in my thoughts.  I think it warrants a separate post to discussing it sometime down the line when I've had some more time and distance from my experiences to reflect, but in the meantime, I'm really interested in hearing any thoughts you may have on supplies being sold on Etsy.

I was searching brass lockets recently and stumbled across some very reasonably priced suppliers.  However, after hours of admiring their beautiful charms and findings, more and more of the jewellery featured on Etsy's front pages looked familiar.  For instance, I saw some adorable unicorn charms for about $0.40 each and then an hour later, I went back to the Etsy homepage to find the exact unicorn charm on a plain brass necklace (not embellished, antiqued or altered in any way) on the front page selling for around $27.  I can't help but wonder if there's some kind of flaw to the plan if more and more of Etsy are opening up to suppliers, which may over time, undermine the crafters that the website was designed for.  Is Etsy at fault for opening itself up to becoming just another Ebay if supplies sales outweigh the handmade sales and that even the cream of the handmade crop can be purchased more affordable by simply searching "unicorn charm" and "chain" under the supplies category? What moral responsibilities do sellers have in not overpricing their goods, even if the market is willing to pay higher prices?