Unfortunately, after serving more than 5,000 fans, corporate clients, and customers, we had to reject a sale for the first time. We couldn't meet certain expectations and could not provide sufficient explanation such as colour difference under light for natural elements such as wood and moss arrangments.
We have enjoyed creating and serving our niche fans all these years with our little team of 14 members (still growing, hopefully!) by avoiding "drama" at all costs while keeping a low profile.
We are busy pushing our artwork towards perfection (perfection does not exist, though), and provide the best experience for everyone from social media to online stores and our Etsy store.
We paid a high premium and shipped via DHL Express internationally, working day and night (due to time zone difference) to get paperwork and documents to comply with customs regulations for each country, to ensure that every order arrives as soon as possible (usually within 3 working days). We even factored in unexpected events such as natural disasters!
However, we got accused, doubted, and threatened to get exposed and reported to Etsy about our quality, service, and 5-stars reviews that seem too good to be true / generated by bots. Some also questioned why did we received so few 1-star reviews, and it all seemed too fake, even as far as calling us a scam.
For starters, we don't usually request reviews to respect the space and time of our customers. Our supportive fans on Etsy did all the 5-stars reviews voluntarily when they realized how much effort we put into every piece of our work to deliver an authentic 5-stars experience. With everyone's help, we made it through five consecutive months of "Etsy star seller," and hopefully, this can go on for years.
Etsy sellers out there should realize how hard it is to maintain the star seller status, as one negative feedback that is out of our human limit & control can easily upset the "balance score."
Footnote: Our company, brand, scientists, and designers are 100% legit; our terrariums are 100% authentic; our reviews on Etsy are 100% real; our social media followers are genuine & organic, and we did not "buy" followers.
