...a little bit of ugh!...

Ed - thanks to everyone who has commented, this weighed heavy on my mind. I didn't want to do it but it is a necessary evil. I so appreciate all of your lovely comments and understanding. Thank you all.

So there I was patting myself on the back for starting a stamp company! lol. I am having tremendous fun all around between designing stamps and seeing them made up and the samples and even addressing envelopes doesn't bother me, I picture the locations as I'm writing, I bet they're nothing like I imagined! lol

Pity I'm not such as whizz at math...

I hired an accountant, just a couple hours a month thing, I try to keep my own books etc, but I am at a loss with the technicalities like tax, sales forecasts etc, whole other language I don't speak!

Anyhow, as I've been going along, I have come across a few extra costs I just didn't forsee when starting out, I wasn't worried, thought that it'll all even out as sales figures increase.

So my accountant is a very nice lady, I have known her for years, she's very down to earth, shoots from the hip. No waffle etc. The gist of it is she had a preliminary look at my books and then wanted another, proper, look. And about now I was starting to worry...

The bottom line is I am going to have to raise the price of the stamp sets. Apparently, in business, my 'It'll be grand' outlook doesn't cut it. And when she put it to me in terms of wanting to still be in business a year from now I began to sit up and listen.

Thing is I've become very attached to my wee business. I love doing this. I would like to have a future in this business.

And so I am going to have to bite the bullet and just do it.

Thing is, I'd feel a bit like Ebeneezer Scrooge doing it right away so I'm going to wait till I get this release over with. I won't put prices up until the 5th November. That gives everyone a fighting chance to get whatever they need before the price goes up.

The price per set will change from £13 (approx $21.21 US) to £13.50 (approx $22.03 US) (conversions are according to today's rate). It is not a huge increase, but I feel folks need to know these things up front, I just couldn't 'slip it in' when nobody's looking!

Interestingly it's not the change in manufacturer that has been the cause, but it's more to do with the wee little things I couldn't quantify back when I started, like electricity consumption, printer inks, internet costs, all the wee silly things that I'm just able to assess now.

I do hope everyone understands this decision. Please be aware it is not made lightly. I struggled against it, knowing that times are hard everywhere but ultimately I do want Waltzingmouse Stamps to be around for quite some time.

I console myself with the thought that I do my very best to give folks as much value for money as I can by stuffing my sets full of stamps and by designing my sets to be as useful as possible. I still feel that my stamps are priced very well, as far as I can see most 6" x 8" stamp sets of comparable quality start at about £15 (around $24 US)

And in the new year I will be introducing some form of loyalty scheme which hopefully will make it even better value for my regular customers!! And I will not be forgetting those folks who have 'been with me' from the very start!

So. Had to get that off my chest. I do hope you all understand.

On a happier note, I'll be back tomorrow with the start of the sneak peeks!!

And don't forget to enter the competition on my store to have a chance of winning a free Mystery set!!!