These cannabis growing “nuns” are back on Etsy after they got started

By Javier Hasse

The “nuns” who grow cannabis, Sisters of the Valley, are back on Etsy.

After five years off the platform, the reunification feels so good, the sisters joke. “When Etsy roughly closed our store in March 2016, we sure thought we were going under,” says Sister Kate.

Nothing personal

At first it felt personal. After a fruitful 15-month relationship with the online retailer that sold more than $ 30,000 a month, the overnight shutdown came as a blow. However, the sisters quickly learned that many other shopping and credit card payment platforms around the world had suddenly stopped serving the hemp industry in March 2016.

Determined to move forward, the sisters recruited university students to help them build a new online store. Sister Kate found a new credit card company and they were back in business four days later.

In fact, the sisters now say that despite the circumstances during the transition, Etsy was “very good” to them and allowed the women to communicate with their only customer base for a reasonable period of time thereafter.

Shopping in the area

In the nearly five years since Etsy shut down, the sisters have jumped from one platform to the next. As their sales grew, the prices and services they received improved.

International sales also began to rise, accounting for 20% of their total sales, and reaching a point where UPS began wooing them to switch their international shipments from US Post to UPS, the team said.

But the experience with UPS was far from ideal. The company would return packages and question the nature of the shipments.

COVID would make things even more difficult. With international shipments nearly stalling, their offshore sales fell from 20% to 4%. And when it looked like it couldn’t get any worse, it did.

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A few weeks ago, Square Inc., the sister’s credit card processor, told them they were no longer allowed to ship CBD products to China, Hong Kong, Iceland, Iran, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, the United Arab Emirates and sell or ship to India.

Another hard blow for international sales.

In response to this move, the sisters returned to Etsy and opened a store that ships worldwide. They have closed.

When Etsy closed the sisters’ shop nearly five years ago, the team only had a small line of CBD products. Today they have a wide range of products, many of which do not contain CBD and therefore should not be subject to international shipping restrictions.

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The sisters will now run two businesses as they anticipate the new restrictions. They will continue to sell their CBD products domestically and in whatever countries they have through theirs schwestersoftthevalley.org store while meeting a slightly modified line of products on Etsy.

Some products will be available in one store and some products in another based on fluctuating laws. And it is to this dance that the Sisters will move to keep their doors open in these troubled economic times and tough regulatory changes.