How To Start A Wish List For Your Foster Kittens
Starting A Wish List
It might help you understand these instructions if you check out the way I have things set up. First, you can go to my Instagram account bio and click on my Link Tree. I will explain Link Tree later. At Link Tree, go to my Wish List link. This will give you an idea of what most of us keep on our lists. For me, I made the wish list under my normal profile but if you'd like to alter the way your ship-to name comes up for the gift-er, you can start the wish list on a separate Amazon account.
If you'd like to see what they see when they send you a gift, pick something from my wish list to put in your cart and start to go through the check out process. I believe mine has my full name, first and last, and my city & state. If you don't want your full name there, you might want to go ahead and start it under a separate account. It will show your city/state but it will block your street address.
Now you will start the wish list for your fostering supplies. You will name it like any other list and make sure it is set to public. If you are starting the wish list on your usual personal Amazon account, you might want to change your personal lists to private or shared. Now you can start adding items to your list!
You'll want to start out with all of the basic, obvious stuff like food and litter. I like to try to put multiple options on the list for cost purposes. For instance, If you'd like to ask for a dry food that costs $4 a pound, include a more affordable option that still meets your needs. Or if you prefer a more expensive litter, add a second, cheaper litter that you are okay with using. There are many generous people that will be able to send us our preferred supplies no matter what the cost is but some just can't afford that.
Once you have the necessities on your list, go back and edit the Comment, Quantity and Priority. This space lets you tell your followers how important each item is. If you're in desperate need of food you will mark that priority as 'highest'. If you have toys on your list that you can live without, you can leave that at 'medium' or change it to 'low' or 'lowest'. You can make notations on each item such as, 'This is what our mama cats eat' or 'This is the food we use to wean our kittens'. I always set the quantity a bit higher than what I actually need. This is because once your quantity has been reached it will disappear from your list. It will still show up as purchased but the default sort on the list will only show what has not been purchased. So if you forget to go change it, your followers may not be able to find what you need. Setting the quantity a bit high will give you a bit of cushion. Also, if you end up getting extra you can just put it on the shelf for later or donate it.
After the necessities, go ahead and add some toys, treats or bedding that you would like to have. Some people really enjoy sending some of the fun stuff!
Now that your list is ready, you will copy the link of your wish list and paste it into your Facebook page/group about section. To add it to you Instagram you will go to the bio of your Instagram account and click 'Edit Profile'. You will put the link to your wish list in the 'website' line. Tap the check mark in the upper right corner and you're done!
One downside of Instagram is that you only get one clickable link in your bio. So if you have multiple accounts that you want to share, you cannot provide a clickable link to all of them. In my case, I have a blog, a YouTube channel, a Facebook page, a list of cat gear, Paypal donations and of course, my wish list. People will be more likely to visit you on other platforms if they can click straight through. This is where Link Tree comes to the rescue.
Link Tree has a free service that allows you to connect your Instagram account and you can put as many links there as you want. You sign up, link your account, put in your links and name them. Then you have one personalized link that you can copy and put into your Instagram bio. When someone clicks on your Link Tree, it will take them to clickable clinks to as many different web addresses as your heart desires. Just like the wish list, you will put your personalized Link Tree link in the 'website' line while in 'edit profile' and save it.
*You can click HERE for a separate post explaining how to get started with Link Tree!
If you have any questions feel free to email me, Missi, directly at FosterTheFelines@hotmail.com.
