Q: Can I offer discount coupons in my shop?

Harness the power of the Dicount Coupon Offering a coupon in your store is a sure fire way to delight your customers... It can also be a powerful tool to help you reach a new audience. Coupons make fantastic content for social media marketing, You can use coupons to attract new customers, or encourage people to sign up to your mailing list. Let's show you how to set them up right on the Silk Purse Guild - Set up Coupons - Step by Step CLICK ME! P.S. You will need the password. You can find it in the Secret Society Facebook Group

Question 1

Documents are Password Protected

Accepted Answer

Password protected content

As you work towards opening your shop, you may run into documents and trainings that are password protected.

The password for these documents can be located in the Academy, just look for Harry ;)

Question 2

I've listed a product, but can't see it on the website?

Accepted Answer

Pending product listings for new Guild Members

Pending products do not show up on the main site, and this is the reason why.

Most businesses have the option to meet applicants face to face. They have interviews to get to know them better, and presentations to view their products and work out if they will be the right fit. Online businesses do not have this option, and at the Silk Purse Guild we have only a registration form, Facebook Group and a mailing list.

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The Internet is a scary place sometimes!

Lets face it, you wouldn't simply open your door these days, and invite any stranger to join you for a cuppa. You would be amazed to know how many hackers, bots and basically dodgy individuals are trying to get into your website these days. They often do this simply to see if they can, but sometimes the outcome is more sinister.

At the Silk Purse Guild, we value security, for both our stores and our customers. The last thing we want to happen is to showcase a store full of inappropriate content and spam. Spam is for tins!

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Not every applicant will be successful

The Silk Purse Guild is dedicated to help small, Handmade Business owners in the UK, succeed. We aim to help them to improve, grow and become the top of their game!.

We also have a commitment to our customers. When visitors come to the Silk Purse Guild, we want them to find something fabulous in every single search. Carefully vetting applicants will ensure that we only work with the very best UK Makers, ensuring the highest possible quality across the board.

Product listings can be tricky, and tech does not come easy to everyone. The Silk Purse Guild will support ALL of its Guild Members, right up until the point where the training wheels can come off, no matter how long this takes.

All of our Guild Members are all shades of awesome sauce!

Question 3

Who is the Silk Purse Guild?

Accepted Answer

In fact, the Silk Purse Guild is actually me!

I'm Sara, known online as the Gilded Printer. I was born creative, and often receieve payment in herbal tablets from my family, for any cakes or creative work provided!

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So who am I? I've been a small business adviser and trouble shooter for nearly 20 years. I started out in a traditional English restaurant chain called Bass, and it all happened quite by accident!

As a new Front of House Supervisor, joining a failing team within a poorly performing restaurant, I walked in the door and took their flagship Tavern from 42% mystery customer scores to an amazing 99% in just 4 months. I was 19 years old, with no previous supervisory experience. Believe me, I was as surprised as my line manager at the time. So I decided to sit down and really think about the steps I had taken over those 4 months.

What was I doing that was so different to the other Front of House Supervisor?
How was I able to motivate the same team that had failed to perform consistently for years?
Could I create a system that could be taught to other teams within the company?
Could I replicate this success or was it a fluke?

I was moved around by the company to 3 other restaurants within the chain, and quietly replicated the same success in each new venue in a very short space of time, with scores all above 89%. The company considered 86% customer service score to be excellent. I remember being rather confused, because the method was so very simple, and cost nothing at all to put into place, yet managers and bosses with years of experience compared to me remained utterly flummoxed. I bounced around quite a few jobs during my teens, and tested and tweaked my theory in each setting, with equally successful results, o matter the setting or role.

I'm a natural traveller, choosing to spend my life on the road, with a backpack and a smile in the early years, to living and working in the Greek islands for the last 10 years. No matter where I found myself, I was able to implement my secret sauce formula in a wide variety of roles, achieving success time and time again. From bars, to guided tours, Travel Operators and youth hostels, the system literally worked worked every time.

I'm not saying it was easy. In fact, when I managed to pull up a Greek island called Samos, (which was the laughing stock of the company, earning the lowest score in the program) to number 1 (based on what the customers were saying), my manager literally called me a weirdo, right to my face. It didn't seem to matter how I many times I explained the system, the response was always the same.......... bewilderment and disbelief. It took me 5 years to recover Samos from it's sad and sorry customer service scores, and I faced a great deal of criticism, but if you add the secret sauce, believe in yourself and put your head down, you will succeed!

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No matter where in the world I lived, my creative skills helped me to make ends meet. Even working for one of the most exclusive Travel Companies in the UK, I was still earning less than a full time burger flipper! I made jewellery, worked on graphic design commissions and of course, cakes and it got me through some pretty tough times out in the islands.

So "what is this secret" I hear you shout.... quite simply, it's a blend of on point branding, high quality products and killer customer service.

I've seen so many of my creative friends struggle to make sales, pay endless listing fees and commissions, so I asked myself "How can I help?"

So buckle up, it's gonna be EPIC!

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Some of my cake work and NO, it's not a scene from a serial killer documentary and I will spare you the details of the sugar work that went on top of that chocolate butter cream!

Question 4

Can I offer discount coupons in my shop?

Accepted Answer

Harness the power of the Dicount Coupon

Offering a coupon in your store is a sure fire way to delight your customers...

It can also be a powerful tool to help you reach a new audience. Coupons make fantastic content for social media marketing,

You can use coupons to attract new customers, or encourage people to sign up to your mailing list.

Let's show you how to set them up right on the Silk Purse Guild -

Set up Coupons - Step by Step CLICK ME!

P.S. You will need the password. You can find it in the Secret Society Facebook Group

Question 5

PLEASE ENABLE PRODUCT STOCK MANAGEMENT - PLEASE ASSIGN SHIPPING CLASS

Accepted Answer

Capitalised directions on product listings

Sometimes you may find that a listing has been unpublished, and the title replaced with a capitalised request for action.

Please don't worry, you've not broken anything, but you have missed out a step or 2 of the listing guidelines.

PLEASE ENABLE PRODUCT STOCK MANAGEMENT
PLEASE ASSIGN SHIPPING CLASS
PLEASE USE LATO FONT SIZE 12 WHEN COPYING AND PASTING
PLEASE DO NOT COPY AND PASTE TEXT FROM ONLINE SOURCES

Sara is the only member of staff around here, so to help her to admin behind the scenes, the website is programmed to

If the listing remains in this error state for 7 days, the listing will automatically be deleted.

Why does this happen?

We have had issues with sellers selling items that they no longer have in stock. Using product stock management tells the

Failing to assign your shipping class however can cause more than a customer complaint. This is a serious issue, as it will cause

What to do?

Fixing the listing is easy, simply correct the mistake, change the title back to your prefered 4 word product title and SAVE

As soon as you are listing again, within the Guild Guidlines, you will be out of pending and free to list without admin assistance,

Question 6

Can I change the email address on my account?

Accepted Answer

Why can't I change the email address on my account?

The Silk Purse is an ecommerce website, dealing with financial transactions. As such, we use a heavy level of

One of the most common things bad people and bots do online is try to hack accounts. If you attempt to change your email address

Question 7

Copyright Law

Accepted Answer

Breacing Copyright Law is a serious Business

We expect all of our sellers to take full responsibility for the legal aspects of their business. Breaching copyright law can get

Super Helpful info for Small Businesses

The UK Government website is the best place to gain information regarding the current copyright laws.

Items breaching copyright will be removed from the Silk Purse Guild, without warning.

Question 8

How do I open a store?

Accepted Answer

The Silk Purse Guild is exclusively for small, Handmade Businesses based in the UK.

In order to be succesful you must provide the following details -

Name & UK home Address
Have a valid Stripe Account
Tell us about your business and products
Provide a link to your website, or Facebook Page

You will need to open a Stripe Account, so that you can conect it to the Silk urse Guild

We aim to process applications within 5 working days and you will be informed by email.

The Quickest Way in the Door

To speed up your application, we suggest that you head over to out private Facebook Group

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE SILK PURSE GROUP ON FACEBOOK

If you are approved as a Guild Member - These are the Set Up Steps

Sign up on the website, by completing the registration for and joining the Facebook group
Open a Stripe Account
Have 5 killer products, with 4 photos of each and product descriptions written
Work through the shipping tutorials and find your perfect formulas. If you struggle with this, do step 1 and 2 and I will set your formulas for you. You can find the tutorial in the ACADEMY on the website. These formulas will ensure that the site can calculate multiples, and are unique for ever seller. We are all there to help in the Facebook Group if you get stuck.
Let me know when you are at this stage and I turn your store on – Whoooopie :)
All products will be in a pending state, until you have been approved to post directly, due to a fair few instances of “winging it” with the shipping set up lol
YOU ARE LIVE!

Question 9

How do I issue a Refund?

Accepted Answer

How to issue a refund in your Stripe Account

The Silk Purse Guild does not handle your money at all.

To issue a refund, simply log in to your Stripe Account and open PAYMENTS

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Once inside the Payments menu, look through the list and locate the order you wish to refund.

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When you have located the correct order, click on the 3 dots (pictured below) to open the ACTIONS MENU

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Please do be aware that refunds can take up to 30 days to process through Stripe. I would advise informing your customer,

Question 10

How do I give my Customer a Receipt?

Accepted Answer

Let's issue a Customer Receipt

Everything to do with payments is handled by Stripe, which you can access in your

If you need to issue your customer with a receipt, simply log in to your Stripe Account

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Once inside, locate the order in question from the list

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To issue a receipt to the customer, open the ACTIONS MENU, by clicking the 3 dots. Then click RECEIPT

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The Silk Purse Guild always issues your customers with an INVOICE for their order. This is what it looks like,