New Website!

After kicking the idea around for quite some time, we finally took the plunge and launched our own website this week.  Lucy Hardware Shop at lucyhardwareshop.com.

We have been pleased with the Etsy store, also Lucy Hardware Shop, and will keep it operating as well.  The store on Amazon will continue also.  But, with our own website, we now have the freedom to do a few things a little differently and we are in control of changes in policy and design.

The recent changes at Etsy finally pushed us to this point.  After having a very good year last year and a tremendous start this year, all of a sudden, sales dropped off.  This coincided with the many changes Etsy pushed on it's sellers, and they have announced more changes are coming. From what I can tell from my friends who also operate Etsy stores, one change that is happening is that many sellers are establishing their own sites. 

It took us about 10 days to get the site constructed and populated with products.  We still have many products to add and will work on this during the next two weeks. We are excited about the ability to name our own categories and we get to decide how many photos an item needs.  We don't have to link an item to an event or holiday, and many more little things that really annoyed us at Etsy.

Next week we will be adding our canoe outriggers to our site.  They will not be added to the other stores.  They are canoe floats that attach to a canoe to add stability.  With these, you can safely move around freely in the canoe without worrying about capsizing.  You can even stand!