Tom. Don't forget us little guys out there that don't make much cards. I am working on a Birthday Card to send to my older sister. I will upload this card before sending it out to her. I think I'm near over the loss of my cat that past away in July of 2008. Maybe soon, I'll start to make more cards.

Hi Mindy,
Thanks for some more ideas. I like the note about the inside text changes, my vote is for an orange #4 as it doesn't show as is and there's a hope they will read it if it's in the instructions box. I wonder if it would be helpful to highlight or capitalize 'INSIDE' text, as at a quick glance I think some may read it as no text changes.  
 
As for the other suggestions I am going to think a bit more on how I want to do that but I do think a statement somewhere from GCU would be helpful, that we are independent artists, yet playing up the security for the customer of dealing with a well established company GCU. Sort of the best of both worlds for the customer, personal artist contact and a trusted company. Just thoughts.....
 
I like "GreetingCardUniverse is a community of independent, freelance artists......" added to the confirmation email.
 
As for your last suggestion, thank you, great idea, will get on that, I will have to get to work on some more Thank you's as I have neglected that oportunity
Pamela

Hi Bambi,
I am not a photoshop expert but I do have fun manipulating much in my photo's and often change colors. When I get stumped I google for an answer, there are many great places to find this info. I took a quick look and found this link below it may be worth a try.
http://www.tutorialwiz.com/changing_color2/
Hope it works
Good luck,
Pamela

Greetings!
 
Many thanks to Tom for bringing up this subject and to all who have posted!
 
I have posted some of this information before, but here is the history of my custom requests:
 
#1 Customer requested that I change the colors of my best selling bridesmaid card, which is pink. She wanted it to be black.  She did not buy the cards, but instead purchased black and white cards from another GCU artist, though she thought that she had bought mine.  She really loved the ones that she bought!  
 
#2 From a business.  The request was for 508 customized cards.  The customer wanted silver foil printing, but when I told her that foil wasn’t an option she asked me if I could use the color red, which I did.  She bought 60 cards.  I think that she didn’t mean to type in the quantity that she did, but I don’t know what happened there.
 
#3 A customer requested a customized birthday invite (10) to include a girl’s name and age.  I made and posted the card, and sent her the link, though it did not result in a sale.  Customer has not responded to any of my emails.
 
#4 A customer requested a customized birthday party invite and coordinating note/thank you cards, 45 of each card.  The invites were changed rather quickly as I only needed to add the name and age; the note cards were a little more involved, because I did a little extra designing.  The customer had sent me two very detailed emails about party plans and seemed very serious about buying.  After the cards were in the private gallery, the customer asked me how much everything would cost.  I emailed her the price chart and then she told me that her husband said it was too much money for a six year old.  So, no sale.
 
#5 A customer requested a customized elopement announcement.  I had to change the color and add text.  She bought the cards just minutes after I sent her the link.  She bought 25 cards, as in her request.
 
#6 From yesterday, a customer requested custom save the date cards.  Adding text only.  Expected order quantity is 100.  Cards are in the private gallery and the link was sent.  No sale as of yet.
 
Thoughts about custom requests?  
 
I have minimum set to 10.  I’m thinking about raising it to 25.  There has to be a point where it makes sense to spend the time and creativity to complete these requests.  In all honesty, 10 cards is not enough to make it worthwhile, so that’s the reason for my considering the increase.  
 
Even if I’m just changing the text, this does take time, and fitting new text onto a card, well, it needs to be done right and give a good look.  For me this isn’t a two minute job.  
 
Thoughts about a mailing list?
 
I like this idea, if it could be done right.  I know that there is a POD (CafePress) where customers have the option of signing up for a shopkeeper’s newsletter, which might be a way to go.  For a business customer, I might send an email around the holidays, mentioning the new Season’s Greetings cards, or something, for example.
 
Customer follow up?
 
I always thank the customer for the order. And always offer the link to my GCU store.
 
Something that I’d like to see added, or to have changed?
 
I’d love to have more space to write my custom message to customers.  I’m a bit wordy.  I’m also brainstorming on a tactful way to let people know that I accept serious inquiries.  
 
General thoughts:
 
Half of my business life is spent working with customers, quoting projects and following up with them, so the custom request is very familiar to me; I’ve always worked with customers.  I agree that we, artists, need to explain to the customers that we are not GCU employees, though some of them will not understand this concept.
 
About money:
 
I have a vendor whom I work with on a regular basis, who is very wise and has much experience in custom work for customers.  I’ve learned a lot from him about business, and one thing that he stresses is that he has to make money.  Some jobs end up costing more than they’re worth.  Sad but true.
 
I think that I’ve written this before here but, it still holds:  If you give away your talents, your customers will value it at zero.
 
I know this is long, so thanks for reading!
 
Penny ☺

Hi Mindy
 
I just saw your post now. I feel that even if we put in our store something about being freelance artists that unless the customer is savvy then they probably still picture each of us as having a desk in the GCU office and making cards of our own there instead of being spread all over the world...some customers just won't get it at all and others well, they might just read the message and think "yeh, i have no idea what that is about but i just want a card"...I really don't know that some will give it much thought or even care so long as they get the card they want.
 
I've also added the message in my custom settings but if a customer is going to take notice I think they should have that information before making a custom request.
 
Just my pennies worth!  
 
Cheryl

Sorry for all my chatter but I've just had another thought....
 
At the top of our store is a message "Request a Custom Designed Card at NO additional Cost.  Look for this Icon    to Contact the Artist"
 
What if the "Custom Designed Card" portion of that message was hyperlinked and opened up a page that explained more about customizing...or a small link at the end of the message that says "read more"?
 
Cheryl

Quote from cheryl_133782 on Feb 5^th, 2010, 4:57pm:

 
Expanding on Cheryl’s comments:
 
I’ve been thinking about what is really the issue with the custom requests, and for me it comes down to, is this a serious request, or is the customer just curious?
 
When I get a custom request, I’ve been assuming that the customer is seriously interested and ready to buy, all I have to do it to provide the card.  But it seems that some customers are actually just pondering, wondering if a design can be done.  So I’ve thought of an idea that would (hopefully) help both the artist and customer.
 
How would it be if we added a couple of lines to the custom request pop up box, and the customer could check the box(es) that apply to them?
 
For example:
I would like to ask a question about this design
I would like to order (#) customized copies of this design
 
That way, if they just want to know if I can add a name or change the color, I can assure them that I can, or maybe let them know that their request cannot be accommodated, like the silver foil customer, and offer an alternative.
 
With the “I would like to order…” option, that should be a clear signal to the customer that we are expecting that they will follow through, though there will never be a guarantee that they actually will.
Any thoughts on this?
 
Thanks!
Penny

I think Penny's suggestion is a good one.  I had one request where I didn't really know if it was a question or a request...it was odd.  I think this suggestion would make it clearer to everyone.
Kathy