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New site, new Folksy

Folksy is having a significant makeover which we announced back in September, part of our desire to make Folksy the best place to buy and sell handmade work from UK designers and makers. The image shows a sneak peek of the new design template in draft form (it’s just a crop showing the new navigation, we’ll release more of the new design work in the coming days and weeks).

Below, we outline the new categories on the site and why we’re implementing them. We also point to a screencast (a video) of how you can edit your listings so they display in the new site, launching in mid November.

Changes to the categories

The new site designs have been created hand-in-hand with a thorough review of the navigation. In particular we’ve worked hard to optimise the site for buyers to browse your work more easily. We believe the new sections and categories are more intuitive for people and the filters (by price, colour and materials) enable people to create more manageable lists of items to explore and then buy.

Weddings is a new section and we have used rooms to organise your
work in the Home and Garden section. Cards benefit from events sub-categories (for example Birthdays and Anniversaries) and Supplies gets its own section split into commercial, handmade and also services, to cover off logos and banner work, which
felt odd previously mixed in with tangible, crafted work.

Some categories and items will be phased out. Oils are one area which we feel have been out of kilter with what Folksy is about. Oils, creams, gels, salves, scrubs and balms are primarily beauty and cosmetic items rather than recognised decorative crafts (whereas we believe soaps and “bath bombs” / “bubble bars” are).

Oils, creams, balms, salves or scrubs will be phased out and you will not be able to list them on the new site. Any currently listed will not be seen in the new categories but will still be
able to be found on the site (through search) and bought for the duration of the listing. If you want to edit your listing into something else during that time then of course you can.

New category list

Women:

• Accessories – Scarves, Hats, Hair clips, Fascinators, Belts, Handkerchiefs, Hair bands, Corsages, Pocket mirrors, Ear muffs, Charms, Badges, Gloves, Key rings, Everything else
• Bags & Cases – Bags, Purses, Glasses cases, Rucksacks, Satchels, Cases, Totes, Panniers, iPod cases, iPad sleeves, Mobile phone cases, Kindle cases, Toiletry bags, Laptop sleeves
• Clothing – Skirts, Dresses, Blouses, Petticoats, Jackets, Shirts, Trousers, T-shirts, Jumpers, Cardigans, Shoes, Socks, Costumes, Slippers, Ponchos, Shawls, Bras, Knickers, Corsets
• Jewellery – Necklaces, Bracelets, Rings, Earrings, Cuffs, Jewellery sets, Brooches, Everything else

Men:

• Accessories – Gloves, Hats, Belts, Key rings, Badges, Ties, Scarves, Handkerchiefs, Everything else
• Bags & Cases – Wallets, Glasses cases, Rucksacks, Satchels, Cases, Panniers, iPod cases, iPad sleeves, Mobile phone cases, Kindle cases, Toiletry bags, Laptop sleeves
• Clothing – Jackets, Shirts, Trousers, T-shirts, Vests, Jumpers, Cardigans, Shoes, Socks, Underwear, Costumes, Slippers
• Jewellery – Cufflinks, Earrings, Rings, Necklaces, Everything else

Babies & Children:

• Accessories – Hats, gloves & scarves, Bracelets, Necklaces, Hair accessories, Everything else
• Babycare – Bags, Cases, Bibs & cloths, Changing mats
• Cards & Invitations – Cards, Invitations
• Clothing & Shoes – Babygrows, Trousers, Skirts, T-shirts, Shoes, Dresses, Costumes, Socks & booties
• Nursery – Tables, Chairs, Lamps, Lampshades, Bookshelves, Toys, Mobiles, Bedding, Storage, Play mats, Everything else

Home & Garden:

• Bedroom & Bathroom – Soaps, Bath bombs, Throws, Bedding, Scented bags, Hot water bottle covers, Towels, Everything else
• Craft room & Workshop – Pin cushions, Knitting bags, Knitting needle rolls, Sewing needle cases, Craft storage, Everything else
• Kitchen & Dining – Candles, Tea towels, Napkins, Place mats, Cups & mugs, Bowls, Coasters, Candle holders, Cosies, Aprons, Doorstops, Magnets, Dishcloths, Trivets, Glasses, Everything else
• Office & Stationery – USB sticks, Notepads, Bookmarks, Calendars, Diaries, Envelopes, Gift wrap, Gift tags, Invitations, Journals, Notebooks, Place cards, Postcards, Stamps, Stickers, Writing paper, Paperweights, Everything else
• Laundry & Storage – Laundry bag, Peg bag, Ironing board cover, Everything else
• Living Room – Cushions, Blankets, Rugs, Clocks, Vases, Decorations, Bookends, Everything else
• Cards – Anniversary, Birthday, New home, New job, Sympathy, Art, Congratulations, Weddings
• Christmas – Decorations, Wreaths, Stockings
• Dolls & Collectables – Dolls, Puppets, Animals, Doll accessories, Bears
• Furniture & Lighting – Storage, Signs, Tables, Bookcases, Cabinets, Chairs, Shelves, Lamps, Lampshades, Everything else
• Garden & Pets – Garden furniture, Ornaments, Wildlife feeders, Planters & pots, Tools & equipment, Cat collars, Dog collars, Pet blankets & beds, Leads, Dog coats, Bunting, Pet toys, Everything else

Art & Prints:

• Fine art & Photography – Photographs, Drawings, Paintings, Illustrations Glass & Sculpture – Stone, Ceramic, Glass, Wood, Stained glass, Plastics, Polymer clay
• Mixed Media – Textile, Collage
• Printed Material – Comics, Zines
• Prints – Lino prints, Screen prints, Letterpress prints, Gocco prints, Woodcuts & engravings

Weddings:

• Accessories – Bouquets, Cake toppers, Everything else
• Clothing & Shoes – Shoes, Dresses, Garters, Everything else
• Hats & Hair accessories – Hats, Fascinators, Tiaras, Everything else
• Jewellery – Earrings, Necklaces, Bracelets
• Stationery – Invitations, Place cards

Supplies:

• Commercial – Buttons, Beads, Charms, Kits, Fabric, Felt, Yarn, Patterns
• Design Services – Printed material, Banners, Logos & avatars
• Handmade – Buttons, Beads, Charms, Kits, Fabric, Felt, Yarn, Patterns

What do you do now?

We’re rolling out a pre-launch interface to all Folksy designers and makers to allow you to edit your listings and re-categorise them. Don’t panic! We’ve created a one page batch re-categorisation process and also produced a screencast to show
you how to use this.

If you have a listing you’ll receive an email in the next few weeks inviting you to edit your listings. You’ll also be
notified this in the “your account” area of Folksy.

INSTRUCTIONS: This screencast gives a step-by-step guide to re-categorising your work when your account gets activated (the video is only 4 minutes long).

The screencast won’t be the most riveting 4 minutes of your day (unless you’re having a bad day), so as an antidote you might want to have a peak at the new Folksy magazine, Frankly. We hope you like it.

Best wishes from the Folksy team.

We’ve also had lots of feedback about what people would like to see, and just wanted to give everyone an update on what’s planned for the next few months. There’s quite a lot so please read on…

We’re coming out of Beta on 1 May 2010

Folksy has been in Beta since it started and we’ve been working through the valuable feedback we get to fix bugs and make improvements. Although there are still lots of things we want to improve, the system works well now and it’s time to come out of beta (a bit like taking the stabilisers off your bike). The main difference that this makes is we’ll start to charge 5% commission on all sales. The money this brings in will help us to develop, manage and promote Folksy.

To do this we need to make some changes to the way that sellers are billed. These are outlined on the billing help page.

Improving search and organisation

The number of items and shops has really grown in the past few months. We know that we need to improve the search to cope with this, as well as reviewing the categories that are used for organising everything (we’ve made some changes already) and introducing shop sections so that sellers can organise their stock.

We’re also looking at new ways of featuring and promoting interesting shops and items that sell well, and generally showcasing the fantastic things for sale. Wishlists have been a frequent request, so we’ve aded them to the list of improvements.

A better way of finding materials

Materials (or crafting supplies, whatever you want to call them) are a huge part of Folksy but we don’t make enough of them. So we’re planning to create a proper category for them and promote them to make them easier to buy, and in the longer term we’re going to create a separate site / sub-brand of Folksy for materials.

Promotion and PR

The traffic to Folksy has grown enormously in the last 6 months, but we still need to do more to get the word out. Facebook integration to help sellers promote is in development. We’re also looking at search engine optimisation, PR and promotion. The Folksy Festive Sampler was such a big hit that we will probably do another (but not so festive this time!).

Help and site management

We have hired a new admin person (hi Toni!) to help keep the site running. We’re also moving over to a dedicated help system which will help us to manage support emails more easily and create a searchable bank of frequently asked questions. We’re also reviewing the help and guidance that we have on the site to try and make it clearer.

Going international

We are open to international buyers at the moment, but not to international (non-UK) sellers. While opening internationally has always been part of the plan, the feedback we’ve had lately is that our current audience (buyers and sellers) doesn’t really want this. It’s a tricky one, because we’d love to expand, but don’t want to do it at the expense of the people who appreciate Folksy at the moment. To do it properly would involve development work which we don’t want to prioritise over other improvements, so we’ve decided not to open internationally.  However, we are thinking about how the local model could work in other countries (e.g. Folksy Australia) so if you think it would work where you are please get in touch.

Everything else!

We’ve got a designer as part of the team now, so we’ll be reviewing the site design and making sure that everything looks as good as it possibly can. We’ll also review the various processes around the site (like buying or listing) to see if we can make them smoother.

There are always lots of other things that need to be taken care of too, like site performance, quality control, enquiries etc so we’re really doing our best to keep making Folksy better as quickly as we can. These things take time and effort so we’d like to expand the team of Folksy Folk who keep everything going. If you think you could help us with PR or development please get in touch.

And finally…

A big, big thanks to everything who has supported us so far. We are really appreciate the feedback we get (positive and negative) and want to thank everyone who has shopped or sold or promoted Folksy up to now. Onwards and upwards!

So, we’re in the second half of February and as we said way back when, we’re launching International Sales. However, as those that read the email newsletter from yesterday will know, we’re doing this in stages. Initially, we’re enabling UK sellers to sell internationally. That will happen next week (the end of). Why stages? We’re doing this for two reasons: firstly, so that we can test that it works well and get feedback on improving it before we go international; secondly, so we can scale effectively – we’re small and managing support and development takes time. By developing in stages we can scale ‘organically’ and sustainably. Apologies to the international (non-UK) sellers who were hoping to hop on to Folksy this month. We’ve let you down, but we hope you understand why and will use your vast reserves of patience to wait a while longer :)

There are a few things on that initial slate that the beady eyed amongst you will know we did not complete in full. We tinkered with profile pages but did not redesign them fully and you still can’t see how to message a seller without being logged in. We’ll be fixing these things in March and we’ll be sharing the designs for the profile pages and new listing process on the blog, explaining our rationale for the work.

As ever, let us have your feedback via the forum or beta email.

image by: recursion_see_recursion

Hello. We’ve been really busy with developing Folksy and improving it and we know there’s still lot’s to do. You feedback has been central to the development and improvement process, so many thanks for letting us know what bugs you, what’s not working and (now and again) what you like. We thought it would be good and right and proper to share with you the timeline for work and what we intend to do when. Below is our slate for the site. It doesn’t include competitions, partnerships etc.

Big stuff

• Makes – launching the “making” section of the site. 24th November
• International Sales – going international so you can choose where to sell to and also what currency to view the items in. 2nd half of Feb 2009

Smaller Stuff

These changes will all be complete by the 12th Dec.

• Changing the profile page to reflect more about you and what you are selling (if you are selling).
• Recently Sold view on the site so you can see things that have er, recently sold and who sold them.
• New listings by new users. So new people can get seen :)
• Popular items view. You can see this already here but we’re going to integrate it in a nicer way
• Take price off sold items
• Create a nice print view for item pages
• Making it easier for people not logged in to message sellers
• Increase the number of items on a page view – so you’ll be able to see 20, 40, 60 etc.

We’ll also be tackling the information architecture of the service in the New Year but we can’t put a date on what we’ll deliver as, to be honest, we need to test that first. But we will be improving the way in which people can browse around the site from item pages.

I know you’ve given us lots of feedback on bugs and things but we’re tackling these as and when we get them. So, let us have your thoughts on this slate. Things we just *have* to include etc. The more radical and far out the better. Give us your sci-fi craft requests :)

Hello. We’ve been busy lately giving Folksy a bit of an ‘upgrade’. You might not see all the improvements (most are under the bonnet so-to-speak) but the more obvious things are:

• A shiny new blog template (if you’re reading this is RSS then well, you’ll just have to imagine it)
• A new homepage (for ‘unregistered’ people) to reflect what Folksy is about to the uninitiated, you know like you comb your hair for the first date (and possibly the second date depending how things go), well that was our aim
• Altering the navigation on the “your account” page. This should be more intuitive now. Please say it is.

That’s it. We’ll let you know when we’re next tinkering and giving her a wash.