I feel really stupid right now

[MelissaG]

I decided to open an etsy shop. I don't know what I'm doing with things like SEO and the like so I decided to hire someone to set up the shop, do the descriptions and the SEO, etc. That was a few days ago. I gave her a whole list of everything for sale including prices, whats in the products, weights, dimensions, and even the basic recipes without the amounts.

The lavender shower steamer is talking about aluminum. The iced almond cookie bubble bath talks about lavender. And now she just asked me for more money to do the keyword addition to my descriptions and titles. She inputted SIX products. Only six. Nothing else. I gave her a list of dozens.

This after I was really nice to her, even telling her to take yesterday off when she got sick and that I was willing to extend the amount of time to two weeks because she was sick to her stomach. I put in a request to get at least part of my money back even though I should say I want it all. But she did do some work.

I feel taken advantage of. I know it's business. I know. It's part of how things work. But I actually feel kind of hurt. Can't believe I feel hurt. I spent years as a staff manager. Firing people bothered me but this is different. This time it's MY business not someone elses. I'm angry too. I feel foolish for trusting her. And horrible for thinking "well she's from that country so I should have known better". I'm letting my anger slip things into my brain that I normally wouldn't ever think or say. And I feel ashamed. For this. I should be better than this. I should know better than this. I feel stupid. I feel humiliated.

 

[user 29214]

Oh wow, I am really sorry you went through that.
To start off though, you don't need dozens of listings. Starla recommends at least one page worth of listings (like without scrolling), but I have heard of several people who only have six or 10. When I started I only had two listings. That was it, for about 2-3 months until things started rolling. And I only started paying attention to SEO until the Christmas season was upon me. A good resource for tags is Erank.com, I still have the free account with them and use for insights, though it is great for keyword research.
Once you have a good listing created, you can duplicate it and just change some of the keywords to fit the item (change fragrance, size, etc.). You know your product best, so you are probably the best suited person to describe it. And you already have items in your website, could you copy and paste what you have there?
Something important is the pictures. I have had this item listed for a few months with no sales, just the other day I changed the main photo, went from a blue color to a gold one, because I know gold is a popular color for bibles, and this week I got two orders for it just from that change it seems.

In a video Starla said that with items that depend on its fragrance for a sale, a picture that makes you "picture" that fragrance is helpful. For example, she was critiquing a bath and body shop and they had a candle or soap scented with a froot loops dupe FO, so she suggested putting some actual froot loops around it. She also recommended not putting the actual "froot loops" word in the keywords because of copyright (which can get your shop and account shut down permanently with no option to open a new one as long as you live in the same house -it is tied to IP address).

I would just keep those 6 listings and fix them, perhaps add a few more and work with those yourself. Fill all 10 picture options (ideas for additional pictures are pictures that show scale, maybe next to a ruler, with item in use, or in context, etc.)

I would try to get the money back if possible from that person, such a shame! But if not, chuck it to Life University cost and move on.

 

[lsg]

I set up my own etsy shop. It really is not that difficult. I would fire that person and continue on my own.

 

[soapmaker]

Such a gut wrenching honest confession. But you will rise above. Like @Isg said, it is not that hard to do your own.

 

[dibbles]

I don't know anything about setting up an Etsy shop or SEO, but I want to say I'm sorry this happened. As to your feelings - this just happened and I think your feelings are valid. It's okay to be angry that you feel like this person took advantage of you. You hired someone to do a job in good faith and they didn't come close to meeting your expectations. What happened is hurtful. Give it a little time and you will be able to move on.

 

[Ephemerella]

Oh my! What a horrid thing to have happened. Especially because you were on the fence about Etsy, and then decided to go for it. I'm sure you were excited and anticipating opening your shop, only to feel like the rug was pulled out from under. I'm so sorry this happened to you.

Sadly it's common, and not just for people in foreign countries. Some of the worst experiences I've had with independent gig workers for small odd jobs were Americans. Some of my best experiences were in foreign countries. Gig workers can sometimes be flakey. It's just a sad fact. It's always a bit of a dice roll when you work with someone on a one-off project. When you find a good one, you treat them nicely and hang onto them. They can give you years of reliable service.

I hope you get it sorted out and you will move past this.

Don't beat yourself up, and try to avoid saddling yourself with a negative narrative -- though it's certainly understandable when the wound is fresh -- you are far from the only person to hire someone, only to be disappointed and let down. It's normal and okay to feel hurt and to have bitter thoughts when the injury is fresh. You didn't do anything wrong, and you couldn't have possibly known better. You just had bad luck.

 

[Johnez]

Thanks for sharing your experience Melissa, it must have been hard dealing with this and writing about it all.

 

[MelissaG]

Thank you everyone. I still feel bad, but that helps.

 

[Emulsion]

I decided to open an etsy shop. I don't know what I'm doing with things like SEO and the like so I decided to hire someone to set up the shop, do the descriptions and the SEO, etc. That was a few days ago. I gave her a whole list of everything for sale including prices, whats in the products, weights, dimensions, and even the basic recipes without the amounts.

The lavender shower steamer is talking about aluminum. The iced almond cookie bubble bath talks about lavender. And now she just asked me for more money to do the keyword addition to my descriptions and titles. She inputted SIX products. Only six. Nothing else. I gave her a list of dozens.

This after I was really nice to her, even telling her to take yesterday off when she got sick and that I was willing to extend the amount of time to two weeks because she was sick to her stomach. I put in a request to get at least part of my money back even though I should say I want it all. But she did do some work.

I feel taken advantage of. I know it's business. I know. It's part of how things work. But I actually feel kind of hurt. Can't believe I feel hurt. I spent years as a staff manager. Firing people bothered me but this is different. This time it's MY business not someone elses. I'm angry too. I feel foolish for trusting her. And horrible for thinking "well she's from that country so I should have known better". I'm letting my anger slip things into my brain that I normally wouldn't ever think or say. And I feel ashamed. For this. I should be better than this. I should know better than this. I feel stupid. I feel humiliated.

Your response is understandable, don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s never pleasant to be taken advantage of.

 

[MelissaG]

Your response is understandable, don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s never pleasant to be taken advantage of.

Thank you

 

[Whillow]

Oh wow @MelissaG I'm sorry you had to deal with that. This is a great place to vent and share your story (as hard as that may have been), I have also been on the fence about an Etsy shop and also toyed with hiring someone to assist. Your story helped me immensely, and I think I will book myself extra time to sit and figure it out on my own (well between working full time and racing and caring for horses).

It sucks being taken advantage of and shame on them. Personally I would take what they did and cut ties. Maybe give an honest review of them on their web page if they have one.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

@MelissaG I feel your pain.

 

[Sun2]

I decided to open an etsy shop. I don't know what I'm doing with things like SEO and the like so I decided to hire someone to set up the shop, do the descriptions and the SEO, etc. That was a few days ago. I gave her a whole list of everything for sale including prices, whats in the products, weights, dimensions, and even the basic recipes without the amounts.

The lavender shower steamer is talking about aluminum. The iced almond cookie bubble bath talks about lavender. And now she just asked me for more money to do the keyword addition to my descriptions and titles. She inputted SIX products. Only six. Nothing else. I gave her a list of dozens.

This after I was really nice to her, even telling her to take yesterday off when she got sick and that I was willing to extend the amount of time to two weeks because she was sick to her stomach. I put in a request to get at least part of my money back even though I should say I want it all. But she did do some work.

I feel taken advantage of. I know it's business. I know. It's part of how things work. But I actually feel kind of hurt. Can't believe I feel hurt. I spent years as a staff manager. Firing people bothered me but this is different. This time it's MY business not someone elses. I'm angry too. I feel foolish for trusting her. And horrible for thinking "well she's from that country so I should have known better". I'm letting my anger slip things into my brain that I normally wouldn't ever think or say. And I feel ashamed. For this. I should be better than this. I should know better than this. I feel stupid. I feel humiliated.

I had a similar experience, I paid over $3,000 for a website, set up Twitter, Facebook and other (SEO) services. Twitter was never set up and the website crashed 2 months later and they wanted me to pay more to fix it. Said it was not their fault Twitter did not open the account. I was definitely taken advantage - lesson learned

 

[BritS]

I’m not sure where you found the person you mentioned, but have you thought about Fiverr? They have ratings for people, and it might help you find someone trustworthy to get you going.

I’m sorry you had this experience.

 

[MelissaG]

I’m not sure where you found the person you mentioned, but have you thought about Fiverr? They have ratings for people, and it might help you find someone trustworthy to get you going.

I’m sorry you had this experience.

I found her from fiverr. The ratings are all from the same people but I just thought she did a bunch of projects for a few people. I replied to her and told her the changes I want made at Fiverr's request, but nothing has been done so I'm assuming she thinks she's finished and that's that. I told her I'd give her four days to fix it but that I won't give her access to my etsy page again. Fiverr basically told me they won't help unless I do that. Her reviews are all glowing. I honestly think she paid for them because the quality of her work with me is NOT something I'd expect from someone with so many glowing reviews.

 

[MelissaG]

Double post

 

[BritS]

I found her from fiverr. The ratings are all from the same people but I just thought she did a bunch of projects for a few people. I replied to her and told her the changes I want made at Fiverr's request, but nothing has been done so I'm assuming she thinks she's finished and that's that. I told her I'd give her four days to fix it but that I won't give her access to my etsy page again. Fiverr basically told me they won't help unless I do that. Her reviews are all glowing. I honestly think she paid for them because the quality of her work with me is NOT something I'd expect from someone with so many glowing reviews.

Oh my. I’m sorry. I hope that this gets resolved for you.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

So sorry this happened to you, sending some hugs {{{Melissa}}}

 

[MelissaG]

Thanks everyone.

 

[Savage Daughter]

I found her from fiverr. The ratings are all from the same people but I just thought she did a bunch of projects for a few people. I replied to her and told her the changes I want made at Fiverr's request, but nothing has been done so I'm assuming she thinks she's finished and that's that. I told her I'd give her four days to fix it but that I won't give her access to my etsy page again. Fiverr basically told me they won't help unless I do that. Her reviews are all glowing. I honestly think she paid for them because the quality of her work with me is NOT something I'd expect from someone with so many glowing reviews.

As I work in IT, I will say: if you're looking for quality work from an platform with a name which denotes bargain basement prices, yes, you're going to have problems. Expect them. A great deal of them. People who are truly experienced in this type of thing, such as myself (30 odd years) expect to be compensated decently, because they will make sure business owners see results, every single time. They will NOT be hiring themselves out at bargain prices on any platform such as Fiverr.

Would you hire a bargain basement architect to design your home? Or purchase bargain basement cement, sand etc for the foundation which your family home is about to be built on? Or purchase bargain basement priced land to build your home on & not get someone to look at that land & check for potential sinkholes? This is exactly what you are expecting when going to a platform such as Fiverr & expecting to get a bargain on hiring someone to look after anything to do with your business's online presence.

My specialities are: search engine optimization, website design & coding, Google Business listings management, social media management, graphic design, competitor analysis, video editing & post production, copy writing & editing, article writing on behalf of multimillion dollar companies for industry related magazines, and much more. I've been employed as an independent contractor for a large, worldwide corporation for nearly 20 years now for a reason, and I am paid well, because I am very good at what I do & am capable of doing the job of 6 different people, AND ensuring a company sees tangible results. No, I am not looking to be hired, just making clear that expecting to get anything worth your while on a platform which farms out cheaper than dirt work in these fields will get you exactly that - dirt. Nothing more. Regardless of which country the person who you hire is from.

I have chosen to not advertise my services to small businesses because I have had small business owners take advantage of my kindness in the past, and then refuse to pay the balance of what they owe for the professional services I've rendered because they:

1) changed their mind about or demanded something over a month into a project & only 1 or 2 weeks before their project was completed which was not discussed / brought up in their initial consultation (which I do not charge for, incidentally), which was completely out of the question at that stage
2) didn't like the fact that I wouldn't train them to do my job (I've worked 30 years at developing my skill level to this point, and cannot teach someone these skills in a weekend)
3) had an attitude that they are a small business which I should support & that this entitled them to NOT pay me for MY professional services

I have had to fire clients in the past, most recently just a couple of weeks ago. A friend with a local business who now will not even speak to me because I let her know I had boundaries, and that she had crossed them far too many times. I refunded the bulk of her deposit without her even asking, which left me with $250 / month for the crap she put me through over a 4 month period, and felt that this was a-ok because she's a small business. Somehow, she justified victimizing ME by making herself the victim in her own mind LOL

Believe me, clients can be a nightmare. I am not suggesting that you didn't get ripped off. It's very likely, going to a platform such as Fiverr & expecting quality work, that you did. I do know that the general public understands nothing about this field & the skills it takes to ensure clients see results & therefore do not respect the skills which people like me have cultivated over many years (hence, hiring people on platforms such as Fiverr & expecting results); the general public understand nothing about the technology involved & virtually nothing about how the internet itself & search engines actually work. They don't even know enough to avoid platforms such as Wix & other such 'website builders' like the plague because this will absolutely destroy their online presence.

If you wish to find someone who will do quality work for you: hire someone properly. Interview at least a couple of people in whatever way is possible (Zoom call, phone call, face to face). Find out what their experience level is. Get examples of their work which are still live on the internet. Be absolutely clear on what it is you are hoping to have accomplished on your behalf. Take notes. Ask questions. Listen carefully when someone in this field tells you something is not possible. Take this as seriously as you would hiring an architect. Because that's what people like me have experience & knowledge in: internet architecture. Professional architects don't hire themselves out on platforms like Fiverr.