Hello! I really love your blog. It's helped me learn so much and prepare me for cons! I have a question about Etsy. I haven't made one yet, but want to. Since it's not POD, should I make stock now and open the shop later or wait til I have a reasonable amount of orders to justify the printing costs? (This applies for once I have the shop going as well - for minimizing printing costs is it better to wait until I get... say, 5 orders of stickers, etc, before printing & shipping) Thank you!!! <3 <3
Kiriska: I definitely recommend having stock on hand before listing them in your shop.
Unless they're for custom handmade items, customers generally expect shipment of goods to occur very soon after purchase, so waiting until you have "enough" orders to even create the items can be misleading at best. For basic items like prints, price breaks generally aren't significant enough for it to make a huge difference in costs.
As with conventions, I'd just make an estimate of interest (or, y'know, when in doubt, five of everything to start), make the thing, then list it and see what happens. Keep in mind that it's a lot harder to get noticed online than at a con.
For more "advanced" items that might require minimum orders, like charms or enamel pins, it may be a good idea to know how much actual interest there is before placing an order. Preorders are a thing, but be sure to clearly mark any such listings clearly as preorders and set a specific timeline for fulfillment. If it turns out you don't get enough preorders to afford an order by a a set deadline, refund any preorders promptly.
I really don't recommend messing with preorders unless you have a least a rough idea of interest though. It's not fun having to refund people because there isn't enough interest for a thing.
