If you are a small handmade business owner you probably have multiple social media accounts and ways for people to contact you to inquire about your products and request custom orders. Unfortunately all these ways of being contacted can open you up to receiving nasty social media attacks. Fortunately this rarely happens but when it does it’s a shock and you may not have all your wits about you so here is a post to refer to if this ever happens to you.

I am a member of several small business Facebook groups and see posts from time-to-time of other small business owners asking for help with how to handle their business being under attack on social media. This blog post covers a few do’s and don’ts when this happens.

If you follow my blog you probably saw Monday’s post where I describe some unpleasant things that happened to me last week when I was falsely accused of copying someone’s quilt pattern. This post is kind of a “Part 2” to that post.

I received a message on Instagram early in the morning on May 9th accusing me of copying the message writer’s pattern. Shortly after that I received an email from a woman named Sara (not the original poster) who accused me again, called me a vulgar name and said she “wished me every unhappiness in life.” Then I had this same Sara request to join my Facebook Group (which I declined). Then another person requested to join my Facebook group (again I declined). The second person then signed up for my newsletter (I went into Mailchimp and unsubscribed her.) This was all in a matter of minutes. Three more messages came in on Instagram posts from Sara and a third woman! None of these people were the original person who was accusing me of copying her pattern.

As you can imagine this was quite alarming and upsetting at first. It is important get the situation under control as much as you can as soon as possible.

Here are my tips for small businesses under attack on social media:

Tip 1 Stay Calm:

Stay calm, keep your head and do not respond to any messages. It is very tempting to tell these people exactly what you think of them but don’t do it. They can screenshot anything to write to them and post it all over the place online.

Tip 2 email:

For email: mark messages as spam and do not reply (unless it’s a death threat… see below)

Tip 3 Instagram:

For Instagram posts: Take a screenshot of their username so you can remember it. Delete their comments. Then block their account. This is important because for one of my posts I blocked a comment writer before I deleted their post and then I couldn’t see their comment to delete it but others can still see it. So I had to turn off comments on that Instagram photo all together. So remember: Delete comments first, then block the person.

If people send you private Instagram messages it’s even easier. Just decline their message and block their account right from Instagram messages.

Tip 4 Facebook:

For Facebook Posts: As above… delete comments first then ban the person from your page if you wish. To do this you must be in your Facebook pages app. Click their profile picture and an option will come up to ban from page. You can also ban from page through Facebook messenger on your page if they send you a private message.

Remember: These are your social media accounts and you control what gets posted on them. It is not your job to present an unbiased post that takes the other side into consideration. You are defending yourself under attack and now is not the time to give patient consideration to the other side of the story! Your social media accounts are for your own self promotion. Use them that way.

The only comments that I left on my social media accounts that favored the other side were comments I replied to in my own defence and I wrote my replies for future people reading them rather than to the comment writer in particular. Much in the same way that you write a response to a bad review on Etsy… you are writing to future customers more so than the customer who left the bad review.

Tip 5 Manage Follow Requests:

If you get any other odd followers, subscribers or group join requests that seem suspicious do not hesitate to decline and/or block.

Tip 6 Find the Source:

Once you have dealt with the immediate influx of hate messages get searching and find the original source as quickly as you can. Within minutes I found the Facebook business page of the woman accusing me of copying and there was a post there in which she named my business. There was a stream of hateful comments on that post and who was writing them? All the people who had sent me nasty messages! Start reporting anything that names your business or encourages other people to attack you online to Facebook for harassment right away. Even if Facebook deems it to not be harassment they will hide the posts while they look into it and that took them three days. By the time they ruled against me the whole thing had blown over (and some they did take down). I notice that after I published Monday’s post this post I am writing about here disappeared from her Facebook page.

Tip 7 Blog:

For your own blog I suggest having comment moderation turned on. If nasty or unwanted comments come through mark them as spam and/or delete. With moderating comments there is no chance a comment can be published and seen by others before you get a chance to approve it. Again, this is your blog and you decide what gets published on it. In my case, I own my blog domain and pay to have it so I definitely do not allow comments against me.

Tip 8: People who adopt a mob mentality have short attention spans.

After 12 hours things had settled down so keep this in mind: The people who insert themselves into other people’s “scandals” and jump on the mob attack mindset are also people with short attention spans who get bored very easily. They will get bored of this scandal and will be moving onto the next witch hunt that comes along very quickly so take comfort in that.

A few more things that can happen but did not happen to me:

Tip 9 Death Threats:

If you get death threats: take screenshots of everything. Do not delete emails or messages in this case. Report everything to the police. This is not something to be taken lightly and charges should be laid.

Tip 10 Facebook Reviews:

If you have Facebook reviews turned on and people start leaving fake reviews. Report all fake reviews to Facebook, request they be deleted and turn your reviews off to quell the damage.

Tip 11 Etsy Convos:

If people are sending you harassing messages through Etsy: tell them not to contact you again and report to Etsy. In many cases Etsy will close down their account.

I hope this post helps you if this unfortunate situation ever befalls you. If you are reading this and are under attack I’m sorry this is happening to you and I hope it’s over soon.

I was recently falsely accused of stealing someone’s quilt pattern and using it as my own. This person handled the situation so badly that I was actually embarrassed for her as a business woman. I thought maybe she could use some advice and perhaps there are others out there who would possibly make the same bad decisions. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. For legal advice please consult a lawyer.

Here are three simple business tips on the topic.

Tip 1:

Determine if they actually copied your pattern by downloading the pattern you think is possibly a copy. Either download their free pattern or purchase their pattern. If they have copied your pattern (images and instructions) then you have a copyright issue. Also look at their pattern image and your own. Are they actually the same? The pattern in question is my Pixelated Skull Quilt pattern which is a free download for my newsletter subscribers. In my case mine is quite obviously different from hers but she jumped to conclusions that mine was a copy without even taking a closer look.

If she had downloaded my pattern she would have been able to see that it was not a copy as I have never seen her pattern before and my written instructions would have been totally different from hers.

Tip 2:

If you have determined that the person actually did copy your pattern or is sharing your pattern file send them a private message in which you calmly and professionally state that you believe they have copied your pattern and as the copyright holder you request that they remove the pattern from all platforms and stop distributing it immediately.

Do not send a passive aggressive public comment on a social media post that says “Thanks for copying my pattern out since 2015. Not cool.” This will not get you anywhere and is very unprofessional and childish. In my case I simply deleted the post she commented on and created a new one which got way more traction than the original post did.

If the person does not comply then send a cease and desist letter yourself or hire a lawyer to do it. There are templates for this out on the internet. You can also send a take down notice to any platforms that are hosting the pattern. Again, templates for that can be found on the internet. Only do this if there was actually a copyright infringement. A design being “similar” or a “similar” idea is not a copyright infringement.

If they still do not comply then you have to ask yourself if it’s worth pursuing further. Are you actually losing enough money from this to make the expensive legal fees and hassle (and possibly bad press) worthwhile?

My design is free and I am not making money from it. Also, Pixelated skulls are a very common design. Google says there are over 2 million images when I do an image search.

In her case, she owns the copyright to her images and written words. She does not own the copyright to the idea of a Pixelated Skull quilt. Ideas and techniques cannot be copyrighted.

Tip 3:

Regardless of the outcome or whether you decide to pursue further legal action do not call the person out on social media or any public forum. This makes you look bad and is bad for your business.

This woman, let’s call her “she who must not be named,” put a public post on her Facebook business page and her personal Facebook page in which she named my business. She also encouraged her followers who said they were sending me hate emails and social media messages. You will notice that although it is tempting to publicly shame this person Daydreams of Quilts is taking the high road here and not stooping to her level.

Later that day I put out photos showing where my free quilt pattern inspiration came from and it was not even a quilt. It was a plastic perler bead craft. The nasty messages stopped pretty quickly after that! She has made herself, and her followers who publicly commented negatively, look very bad. They have all portrayed themselves as having low intelligence and being unable think critically and were quick to adopt a lynch mob mentality. This is not an image a small business owner wants to portray to current and potential customers.

I spend thousands of dollars in the sewing industry every year and often give shout outs to my suppliers on social media. She who must not be named has guaranteed that not of those thousands of dollars will ever be hitting her bank account.

Pricing handmade goods is not as simple as it might seem. There are a lot of things to consider. In this post I discuss:

8 ideas to consider when pricing handmade quilts

I sell both handmade and the supplies to make things handmade. Pricing supplies is certainly easier in some ways than pricing handmade but in this post I will be talking about pricing handmade quilts. This was a topic request that came in on my reader survey.

The general pricing formula for pricing handmade is:

(cost of supplies + time) x 2 = wholesale x 2 = retail

If you are selling jewelry, for example, and you are able to purchase or create the components for your pieces fairly inexpensively then this formula will probably work for you. You will even be able to offer a wholesale line sheet to wholesale customers and still turn a good profit.

In the case of quilts, and even bags, it is not so simple. Most of us pay retail prices for our supplies and it takes at least 20 hours to make most quilts from start to finish.

If supplies are $170 (a low estimate) and you spend about 20 hours and you are paying yourself $15/hr (also low in my opinion but that’s what I pay myself) you are looking at $470 just in time and supplies. You might be able to double that to $940 and still receive that price but doubling that again is probably well out of the realm of what most people will pay.

So what can you do?

Find even more tips for selling quilts and other handmade items on Etsy in this playlist on my YouTube Channel.

One: Firstly, I think that wholesaling handmade quilts is pretty much out of the question. You might be able to wholesale baby quilts, table runners and smaller items like mini quilts and pillows but even that could be a stretch. If there is anyone out there who actually sells quilts wholesale to retailers at a profit (and who isn’t a factory in China) I’d be very interested to hear from you.

Two:  If you are selling handmade quilts while buying supplies at retail you are basically going to be able to charge for supplies with perhaps a small mark-up of maybe 15% and your time.

Three: If you plan to do this as your main income over a longer period of time it would be advisable to register your business, get a GST number and open wholesale accounts for purchasing your supplies. Or, wait for clearance sales on supplies. That way you can at least mark up your supplies to what you would have paid retail and make a profit there plus get paid for your time.

Four: In my experience (since 2011) you cannot make and sell quilts as your exclusive income. You need other income streams as well. Again, if anyone out there is making a full time living doing this I would be very interested to talk to you!

Five: Check what others are charging for their quilts on Etsy or other market places. Don’t undercut your pricing because that makes it hard for everyone to get a fair price and you will not be happy when you sell your quilt at that price. Price fairly, at a number you are willing to accept for your hard work.

Six: There are customers out there who do realize the value of a quality handmade quilt and they will pay a fair price. You need to provide excellent photos, great product descriptions and fantastic service in order to receive that price. You also need to be prepared to wait. My quilts always sell eventually but sometimes it can take a year or more.

A note about this: There are so many (annoying!) people who will tell you “I can get a blanket at Walmart for $50!” Understand that these people are not your customers. Try your best to ignore these comments and waste as little time as possible talking to them so you can be focused on people who ARE your customers.

Seven: Free shipping is also a good idea. When they’ve finally decided to spend a few hundred dollars on your beautiful quilt you don’t want to kill the deal by asking for another $20 or $30 for shipping at checkout. If they’re shopping on Etsy you might not even know you had a deal that you lost! Now that Etsy has abandoned cart coupons you may be able to tell how many people walked away from your shop at check-out by running that promotion on your shop but you may never know the reason why they left. So eliminate as much chance of this happening as you can by offering free shipping on higher priced items.

Eight: Keep the quilts simple so you can keep your prices low. Generally, if a quilt is super hard to make there is no way I would consider selling it anyway. Quilts under $400 sell much quicker than quilts closer to $1000. Just making back your supplies is not sustainable over the long term so keep it simple and be as efficient as possible with your time.

Edited to add: @cedarforksarah on Instagram sent me a message with another great idea! She says she uses this formula to price her quilts:

(length in inches x width in inches) x .10 cents

I tried this with my Canadian Flag quilts which are 52″ square.

52″ x 52″ = 2704″

2704 x .10 = $270.40

I charge $250.00 so I’m not far off. I am talking about Canadian dollars and I think Sarah is talking about American dollars so I may even be a bit too low on my price but the Canadian flag quilts are simple to make so I am okay with that.

Sarah says this is helpful for quoting on quilts not yet made as well. I really like this idea!

In the case of my tulip quilt, which I sent out for long arming, this formula will not work for me at .10 cents an inch as I need to recoup my long arming costs. That quilt is priced at $700 so I would need to use .14 or .15 cents in the formula. If it doesn’t sell in about a year I will probably pull it out of the shop and put it on my daughter’s bed as I am not willing to lose money on it. (Something else to keep in mind if you are considering sending your quilts out for long arming. They may wind up priced outside the range people are willing to pay.)

If you are struggling with pricing I hope this post has been helpful. Let me know if it has or if there are other issues you are struggling with that you would like me to write about. Leave a comment or send me an email.

More tips on my YouTube Channel!

Happy sewing! 🙂