The Plan

I've been talking with the man of the house about my business and how I can improve efficiency. This is the busiest time of year for most craftspeople and online retailers, and I am worried that this will be of detriment to the quality of my products since I've had a couple of deliveries arrive damaged recently. Ideally, I would like to let my pieces sit for a week to clear up all traces of smell and sticky before packing them, but the demand of this time of year makes that very difficult without disappointing customers in delivery times.Either way, at the minute I can't win, and neither can my lovely customers!So here is the plan. As immediately as possible, I will be discontinuing:* Knitting Needles* Out of stock slow sellers from the website.This will also cut down on the need for updating the site with a search box as the choice won't be quite so massive. I will also be delisting on Etsy and Folksy, or just not renewing when these items expire. Some of these items may appear again once I have new stocks, but this will not be a priority. This will not affect Giftwrapped and Gorgeous or my online stockists listed on the Stockists page.Items that are good sellers but are out of stock will be marked as "Made to order" until quantities of pre-made stock are available, which might be a slow process depending on what demand is like over the next month. This means that items- such as the Caffe Espresso necklace and the Liquorice Allsorts earrings for example- will be fine to order, though there will be a change to my terms and conditions that will state that made to order items will take up to 10 days for delivery to ensure maximum enjoyment from your purchase. I am still accepting (and welcoming!) custom orders,  and these will be subject to the same conditions. You can even custom order an item that I have discontinued from the site as I am happy to make them if the demand is there!I have lots of stock that I take to fairs that I haven't listed online. To fill some of the gaps, I will be gradually listing these items too as I have no plans to go to shows in 2011.My first step is to run an inventory, which may take a couple of days to do properly, so please bear with me, I aim to be in a position to trade more effectively by 20th November.(I haven't forgotten about the chocolate giveaway by the way- I will update tomorrow with the winner!)