Thursday, July 16, 2009

Etsy made us do it...

...because of their 20-character rule, meaning no shop name can have more than 20 characters.

Our business name has always been Around the Block Designs, that is, "designs" with an "s". For five years. Business license, business cards, labels, everything with our logo on it. You name it. "Designs." With an "s".

First I became an etsy buyer. My profile name was aroundtheblockdesign. Do you see anything missing? Like an "s"? Yeah, because they won't let you go beyond 20 characters. At first I thought, "Oh, well. What's the big deal?" Well, it became a big deal when we decided to become sellers! Really? We can't use the "s" on designs? Isn't that going to be confusing?

We went with "aroundtheblockdesign." Without an "s". For awhile.


It bugged me. I obsessed over it. I emailed some of my blogging buddies/fellow etsians, and asked for advice. Should I change the name? Should I leave it alone? What if people were used to our original business name and typed it in? With the "s"? They would get a message that there was no seller by that name. Aarggh.

It bugged me a LOT. It bugged Mark because I couldn't wouldn't let it go.

Finally, I couldn't take it any more. And Mark was tired of listening to me.

As of today, we are "One In Every Color." And yes, I did clear it with Jessica, as she uses it a lot in her blog titles.


Fifteen characters. Well under the limit. Opened up a new shop today, closed the other one down.
Etsy, I hope you're happy with us now. Because that sure was a lot of work for one tiny little lower-case "s".