We've had a wonderful response so far for the Summer 2010 Etsy Baby Shower. We have reached capacity for our list of moms-to-be and already have a healthy waiting list! Historically, we've been able to include some of our wait-listed mamas and we hope to be able to again.
One of our challenges for this shower is that we have not posted in the Etsy forums looking for participants and as a result, our participation is down. We've received a few inquiries about why we have not done this and wanted to give everyone some information about it.
During the Winter 2010 shower, our forum thread on Etsy got closed. This had never happened before and we were very surprised. Unfortunately, our inquiries about the thread closing went unanswered. Because most of our participation historically has come from that thread, without the influx of new participants during each shower, eventually the participation will drop and the event may die. We typically have a 60% rate of repeat participation from shops, so without the extra new 40-50% we'll be arranging to give fewer gifts to fewer moms.
The actual rule cited from the Do's and Don'ts is this:
"Solicitation for direct donations or other fund-raising is not allowed in the community spaces. (Etsy shop promotions that entail donating proceeds to charities must comply with Etsy's Charitable listings and shops policies.) "
We very much appreciate the need for a policy like this one and want to respect ALL Etsy policies. However, we really don't beleive that our forum posts about the Etsy Baby Shower violate this policy as we are not soliciting donations for ourselves and we are not fundraising...we're being match makers so-to-speak. But as a result of the thread closing, we do not want to open another thread as we do not want the Etsy Baby Shower to receive any sort of negative reputation for policy violations. So we will not be using the Etsy forums unless we hear from Etsy admin that we may.
Long story short: We need YOUR HELP to find more shops to donate to the Etsy Baby Shower! Please spread the word to all the Etsy sellers you know! Blog about the event, Tweet about it, put it on your Facebook page, contact the teams you are a member of, etc. etc. Word of mouth is powerful and effective! We need more donating shops to keep this Etsy tradition alive!
Donating shops must be willing to donate a gift(s) free of charge, including shipping, to the mom(s) they are assigned. In the past we have included any shop that makes baby items. This is not a team event and you do not have to be a member of a team to donate a gift for this shower. Everyone is welcome!
HOW TO SIGN UP...
If you want to participate as a donating shop, please email us with the following information:
1. Your name, Etsy shop name, and email address
2. How many moms would you like to donate to?
3. Do you have a gender preference for your gift (s)?
4. What country are you in?
5. Can you ship internationally?
Thanks so much for your help and incredible generosity of the donating shops! You'll find a link to each of the donating shops in the right column of the blog!
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