International? Me?

Yes, I've finally "gone global." Though I've been offering international shipping in my Etsy shop for a while, Etsy itself is still a U.S.-based site. So last week, I opened a shop on Dawanda. It was originally created in Germany, and like Etsy, is focused on handmade. It has three different sites, one in German, one in French, and one in English(shown as their "U.K." site) and sellers have the option of which of the sites (either one or two or all three) they want their items to be displayed in. A lot of Etsy sellers who also have Dawanda shops often say that the best one to be on is the German site, but since I don't know German, and have heard less than spectacular reviews of the online "translation" sites that are available, I chose to stay strictly on the English site, at least for now. I would hate to list something in a language I'm not familiar with -- even if the online translation was done for me -- because it would give the customers who use that language a false sense that I would be able to communicate fluently in their language should a problem/question crop up -- and I wouldn't be able to do that.

I must admit it's a little strange seeing the price for my work in Euros. I used an online currency calculator, to figure out my pricing and I guess I'll be watching the exchange rates regularly from now on.

My main focus will still continue to be my Etsy shop, because that's where I'm most comfortable with, but with the weakness of the U.S. dollar lately, it would be foolish not to reach out to the international market as much as possible. Besides, it's really not wise to leave all of one's eggs in a single basket...