Etsy shop now open

After more than 10 years of the games on my website being free to download, I am taking the leap of putting a number of them on Etsy for sale.

There are 8 games up for sale at the moment and I will be adding to these over the next few weeks and months. I'm choosing games that will work for individual players but also for groups over Zoom, MS Teams etc.  It's been an opportunity to update the games too with some new graphics and reset slides etc.

I'm not selling them for a huge amount, just £4.20 ($5.20 US). This includes the 20% tax that Etsy adds on automatically for digital products.

I'd be interested to know if anyone thinks these are selling too cheaply / expensively, and what you think a better asking price might be.

Here's the link to the shop:

PowerPointFunGames

Like You Tube, I think there's an algorithm that enables greater visibility to shops that have greater activity. So I'd appreciate as many views / 'Admires' / 'Follows' / reviews / even purchases(??!!) as possible to help get things rolling. In view of this, I've set up a 50% discount code for anyone making a purchase after reading this. The code is WEBSITE50. Thank you!!!

Wowzers, you made Spot it in PowerPoint!

I did.

Over here, the original game is called 'Dobble'. I presume a play on 'double'. I played it the other way with two Os rather than two Bs.

There was something online that gave a chart of which images go on which cards to ensure that two, and only two, and not none, will match. It was still pretty complicated though.

I still have panic attacks when I can't find the pair and I think that I've messed something up - but so far it's just been me being slow to spot them!

For those that don't know how exactly this works, here's the math behind all of it. It's interesting and could show you how John was going nuts making sure each card was 'just right.' Fun thing I learned is that the game actually is 'missing' 2 or 3 cards as in, the game wasn't using the maximum total of combinations but decreased the number so that the game has a nice even divisible number.

Anyways, back on track . . . What about your I Ching game? I think you said you wanted to sell that one because it was also pretty complex.

As you may recall, I opened an Etsy shop a month ago. 

HDPowerPoints - Etsy Japan

I got my first sale last week. Almost 100% of the traffic that comes to my shop is thanks to this website or Google searches. It's extremely rare to get a hit from an internal Etsy search. Unfortunately, Etsy is oversaturated with PowerPoints and the Etsy search algorithm preferences shops with the most sales. I recommend not focusing on profit when you first start out. Even though you're only asking the equivalent of a cup of coffee, PowerPoints are still a hard sell. Try selling your products for as cheap as possible, up to 70% off to entice people to buy and leave reviews. Once your store has a good reputation and a customer base, then it might be possible to ask a premium. Just know that it's a slow process, and it will take about a month for Google to do its thing. Don't get discouraged in the meantime. 

I'm still waiting for that coaster shop of yours though.

It's interesting and could show you how John was going nuts making sure each card was 'just right.' Fun thing I learned is that the game actually is 'missing' 2 or 3 cards as in, the game wasn't using the maximum total of combinations but decreased the number so that the game has a nice even divisible number.

Here's one of the charts I used to make Dooble. There were 8 of these with 58 cards as the original total. It's  a bit simpler than the original maths, but still easy to get wrong. Each number represents an image. On testing, I found that some cards were wrong (e.g. there were 2 matches). To save re-working them all, I discarded these before a final test. Hence the lower number of cards than the original. It didn't affect playability.

Anyways, back on track . . . What about your I Ching game? I think you said you wanted to sell that one because it was also pretty complex.

You're right - I'd almost forgotten about it. I'll have a look and see if it's still fit for purpose.

I got my first sale last week. Almost 100% of the traffic that comes to my shop is thanks to this website or Google searches. It's extremely rare to get a hit from an internal Etsy search. Unfortunately, Etsy is oversaturated with PowerPoints and the Etsy search algorithm preferences shops with the most sales. I recommend not focusing on profit when you first start out. Even though you're only asking the equivalent of a cup of coffee, PowerPoints are still a hard sell. Try selling your products for as cheap as possible, up to 70% off to entice people to buy and leave reviews. Once your store has a good reputation and a customer base, then it might be possible to ask a premium. Just know that it's a slow process, and it will take about a month for Google to do its thing. Don't get discouraged in the meantime.

I'm still waiting for that coaster shop of yours though.

Thanks matto. I'll probably do some extra discounts. I've also upped the quantities to 100 now. I was excited to make my first sale so quickly - and it was you!! I hope the new instructions work better.

The Coaster shop is open but only with a few sets, and only for UK customers at the moment. I'm also now making fridge magnets and jewellery and will add these at some point. Since I've retired I don't get the time to do anything - just soooo busy!!!

I just got my second sale!!! Woo I'm currently 97% away from breaking even.