New Changes at Casto Creations

There are quite a few changes at Casto Creations and I thought I'd take some time to explain them here. This is long but I tried to use headers so you can browse quickly. :)

Simplicity.

That is my new goal. Simplify my life. Having my own website with a shopping cart and a merchant account has become so stressful to me that I didn't even want to create new pieces of jewelry. I wanted to ignore the whole thing ... as I tend to do when something stresses me out.

New Plan - Purchase through Etsy

I still have a 'regular' website, but it no longer has a shopping cart feature. Items posted there will be for gallery style viewing only and I'll maintain my policies and about pages, as well as my contact form and newsletter sign up page.

The new setup for selling my jewelry will include Etsy and Paypal. I don't know what people did before these two companies existed. And with recent upgrades and changes they are even better.

To purchase from my Etsy shop you will need to create an Etsy account, if you don't already have one. The process for making purchases through Etsy is "simple" but can also create some confusion. There are several steps needed to complete a purchase.

1. Click the "Add to Cart" button (green, to the upper right of each item listed)
2. If you are done shopping click the "Checkout" button
3. Enter your address or pick a saved address.
4. Select a payment method.
5. Send Your Payment (This is the most often skipped step!)

That last one gets skipped a lot because after the 4th step it kind of looks like you're done...but you aren't. =)

While this may look complicated I can promise you that once you get the hang of it, it takes seconds. I've purchased tons of items and it's a simple process once you get used to it.

Using Paypal

Some people get nervous when they hear about Paypal. I promise it's not as scary as it might sound. I've been on Paypal for more than 5 years. I started using it as a customer on Ebay when I bought a lot of beads and supplies.

I resisted getting my account linked to my bank account but honestly it was an easy transition that has made my life easier in the past few years. As a business it makes sense to hold me accountable and have a link to a "real" bank.

Your information is safe!

Really...I know there are horror stories out there about how bad Paypal is, but as a customer using Paypal to buy items and as a business owner taking payments I have never had any major issues.

The key is to be smart about answering e-mails that claim to be from Paypal. NEVER click on a link that claims to be directly from Paypal in an e-mail message. EVER. [This is different than paying an invoice sent to you though.] Always directly type in the paypal address directly into your browser to check your account. Seriously. It's the best way to do things. And if you ever have a question about an e-mail just forward it to spoof@paypal.com and they will confirm whether it is a spam message.

And if you can't stand the idea of creating an account, don't worry. Paypal now allows you to pay with a credit card without signing up. It is just like inputting your card information to any other site shopping cart and is secure.

Coupon Codes

This is the one issue that bothers me most because I loved the ability to give coupon codes for people to save. Etsy does not allow for the use of coupon codes (yet...I hope they will eventually allow this) so all discounts have to either be made to the item listing or given after the fact.

All coupon codes will still get you a discount - but the discount will be in the form of a refund via Paypal. For example...

• You buy a necklace for $100 and have a coupon code for 20% off.
• Leave the coupon code in the 'notes' section of the Etsy checkout process.
• Complete the payment process through paypal.
• You would receive the $20 discount as a "refund" before the necklace is shipped.

Questions?

I'm hopeful that this setup will allow me to stress less and create more. I love love love designing jewelry and it is the highest compliment when someone is willing to part with their hard earned dollars to buy a piece of my work.

I always am available if there are any questions. I still will do custom pieces and if you have an idea for something you want designed feel free to contact me.

And thank you all for your patience and understanding!

Wow...Sometimes God Makes Decisions Easy

I've been debating for a few weeks about my jewelry business. I still love to make jewelry and selling is just a nice byproduct of doing something I love. It's not my favorite part of having my own business though. Selling can be a huge stress.

And as much fun as having my own website was, I hadn't been updating it often for the past several months. Nor had I really made a lot of jewelry. My site had gotten quite a good Google ranking, which also meant that I got tons of Spam and people e-mailing me for links. My hits weren't outstanding though and although I enjoy having a site of "my own" it was a huge stress to have to do the SSL certificate and hosting issues.

Well, God works in mysterious ways.

Yesterday afternoon I noticed that I wasn't getting any e-mails to my google account. Which is odd because at the very least I normally get spam messages every hour. Still nothing today when I got up and I know that is wrong because I have several standard e-mails that I subscribe to.

I just read a message from my website developer and I wish I could fly out to her and bring her chocolate or something.

A host server crashed and everything is gone. Nothing can be recovered.


I'm extremely bad at backing things up and have no idea if my site was stored somewhere else. So the decision as to whether or not I should just go to Etsy or if I should keep my current site up has been made for me.

I am not closing my site entirely. I'm going to have a front page of sorts at www.castocreations.com but my shopping cart will no longer be separate and on my own. This means I can cancel my merchant account and save at least $20 to $50 in fees (sometimes more) each month. I'll still have paypal and Etsy fees but it really seems to even out. Not to mention the stress that I'll be able to reduce from worrying about people's cards going through - and having to run the cards.

Even better - no more SSL certificate needed!!! Woohoo!!! =)

The main drawback is not having the ability to accept credit cards at shows. I may keep my merchant account until after my work show this November.

So if you're searching for my site...it's dead at the moment. I'll be sending out a newsletter soon with all the new details. I'm actually relieved. All my new jewelry designs will now be posted for sale to my Etsy shop and my Etsy shop alone. You'll be able to purchase items through my shop but will have to create an Etsy account and pay through paypal. You don't have to have a Paypal account to pay though - they allow you to use your credit card without creating a new account.

I'm really surprised at my non freaking out reaction right now. Maybe it's all the sugar from my fair food. That's a new post. =)

Certificate Issues

I tried logging in to my own website's administrative panel and got this freakishly scary error page saying my certificate expired.

Well, yes it did but I also renewed it like a month ago. I am just having a very hard time getting it re-installed. Why it needs to be reinstalled is beyond me. Why can't it just be renewed and voila be done?

I hate technical things like this. It makes no sense and it is overly confusing to my puny mind. I just want to click a button and be done with it. Unfortunately I have two different companies to work with - one is the SSL certificate company and the other is my Host. Yes, it would be easier if they were the same company but at this point getting it that way would be even more complicated and I don't want to deal with it.

I would be willing to PAY someone to take care of this for me. Sheesh. My website designer company did do this for me the last few times but they are too busy now ... I've been dropped. *sigh*

So if you try to go to my website don't get scared okay? :) Nobody hacked it and it hasn't been taken over. I'm just lame and need to get my act together.

Modern Pearls

When I saw these pearls at the gem show I went to two weekends ago I just stopped and stared. Even among strands and strands and strands of other pearls these stood out. Of course the sticker price just about gave me a heart attack, but I had to have them. I only got one strand (it's all I could afford) and brought them home and stared at them some more.


I thought about how to showcase these properly and truly the only thing I could do is leave them alone and show each pearl off by itself. No extra metal. No extra beads. Just a big, huge, gorgeous, lustrous, rainbow, ivory, pink, pearl. How's that for a description?

I even created my own 14k gold headpins and 14k gold ear wires for a pair of earrings that are elegant and classy while still being a tad sassy.


I'm thrilled with how the gold accents turned out - sort of rough and abstract just like the pearls, which aren't rough but are abstract.

These are extremely limited edition because I only bought one strand and there were only 14 or 15 pearls on the strand. Each one is brilliant! And though no two are exactly alike they all 'go' together.

Two Weeks, Two Days

The countdown begins! =)

April 1 is only 18 days away. Are you ready? It's going to be fun and slightly crazy at the Casto household.

Why you may ask?

Sign up for my newsletter and you'll find out on March 31, a whole day early!

Stuff is already piling up ... oops ... that's the only hint you're going to get.