Etsy

[Lotus Leroux]

I also have an Etsy store and love it. The best thing, I think, is that it's very managable. They set it up easy for selling and I love the flat listing fee. It's great for selling as you can set the price of your item and not just "hope" it goes for what you think it's worth.
You sell a lot less. I've sold three items on my shop so far, which is less than the ebay sales, but I find the clientelle on there a lot nicer in general than the ebay people... a lot of who buys from me or messages me are also crafters/collectors/artists who appreciate what you're doing and like working with you. And I really dig Etsy's idea behind their site... they have a pretty cool video on there explaining it.
I started on ebay in 1999, and since then I've seen a lot of changes... some for the better and some for the worse... but now it just feels like a big corporate selling machine, which is looking to sell your product at a larger cut than they used to do. For them it's only win/win. They provide a platform for marketing at a fee, extras are additional fees, and final values an additional fee... it's up to you to pay fees for accepting payments, do the legwork to find the items, do your business in a timely manner, figure out shipping and sometimes customs, and provide the expectations which the average consumer expects. I think I have pretty darn good customer service, but sometimes it is difficult because I think a lot of buyers forget that it's coming to you from your home and not usually a big warehouse somewhere by a guy that's totally disconnected from the grand scheme and will not feel anything if you have unreasonable expectations.
Phew. Rant over. But yes, I love Etsy.

Well said Lauren! I, too, have an Etsy store, and I do appreciate how easy it is to list your items for sale. That being said, I have only sold 2 things so I am disappointed. I do, however, find things I would like to buy on Etsy all the time.

As for Ebay, I sell way more things there but am very disappointed with the increases in fees over the past couple years. Sometimes I wonder if I am really making any money on there at all!

 

[Kim_B]

I also have an Etsy store for my jewelry and eventually some fine art photography.

I less than three Etst.

 

[leaette]

I have an etsy shop. I don't have much on there right now, but I've been making reproduction 1940's snoods. I've sold a few.
I agree that the traffic isn't like ebay, however, the people are nicer to deal with and I agree with Lauren in that people who buy on etsy appreciate your work and what goes into it. You won't get the "$40 for that??? I can get almost the same thing for $15 at Walmart".

The trick for more traffic in your store is to update it with new products frequently. Try to add something new at least once a week. If you have a bunch of items to put up initially, don't put them all up at once. Do one or two items every few days. The reason is because their search engine goes by "time listed". So if you haven't listed something in like a month, you will be way down on the search results page.

I would also suggest to see what other people are selling too. Is what you plan on making one of another 1,000 items for sale just like yours? There are many items there that the market is seriously saturated. There are TONS of jewelry makers. So if you make jewelry (or whatever) see what pricepoints the others are selling it at and price yours accordingly. You can go into the "sold" section of each store to see what they are selling. I do this alot to see if it's worth selling.

Can you tell I have a marketing degree! hahaha.

 

[Foofoogal]

The trick for more traffic in your store is to update it with new products frequently

This is how it used to work and still does mostly. It is called spider bait and the spider is the search engines. He is hungry but wants different food than he had the day before. lol
I have over 1300 items in my store and it does take work and motivation to keep taking photos and adding.

 

[CherryRed]

I went in and lowered all my prices yesterday since ebay is not working for me right now either. Plus I added my unsold ebay items. I am pretty much the only one selling items like mine but I think my problem is that vintage doll collectors just aren't shopping there.

 

[Kim_B]

I suggest finding a team for either you state that you live in, or for the type of items you sell. Its amazing the things you can do when you have a large group of people behind you! Indiana's team is growing by leaps and bounds - yes there are a lot of the same items being sold within our team, but all our items are unique. If you participate in fairs and shows, get the word out that way...people love to know there is a way to support local artisans without having to travel to get there!!

 

[CherryRed]

I tried joining the Arkansas team but I never heard back. I guess I will try emailing again. I am a member of Retroetsy but there are only a few members.

I did get my first order today so I am thrilled!!!!!

 

[Foofoogal]

Yikes. I have opened a store and have one item on but the banner I wanted to use I am useless trying to modify. What have I done to myself?:eusa_doh:
Like I didn't have enough to do already. lol

 

[Foofoogal]

Having someone making me a banner now. Is there a team FL? If not there needs to be but I am a tech illiterate mostly. lol

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I'm sure most of you make your own hair flowers, but if not, I have a new shop on etsy where I'm selling the flowers I make! www.missbellahell.etsy.com If you have any custom requests let me know! I'm trying to keep the prices really low.

Also, I'd love critiques or any advice! (PS Do you like my banner?)

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

I've had an artist's shop on Etsy since early '07, and a vintage on since the beginning of '08, but am unaware of any sort of FL team. Maybe you should be the start.

 

[SayCici]

I think people who don't like Etsy just don't have the patience to adapt to something that isn't eBay. I LOVE Etsy. I love shopping there, I love selling there. Also, there are definitely higher end items there, and they sell. And there are people who do well, very well.

If you want to sell regularly like a business, you have to put time into it, not just walk away and expect to become popular.

 

[SayCici]

MissBellaHell, if you posted in the critiques forum, people would tell you you need more pictures, especially of the back of the hair flower, and something to indicate size (list measurement in description, show flower modeled, etc).

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

MissBellaHell, if you posted in the critiques forum, people would tell you you need more pictures, especially of the back of the hair flower, and something to indicate size (list measurement in description, show flower modeled, etc).

Thanks! I figured that might be the case. I'll get on it tomorrow.

 

[Lady Day]

I think people who don't like Etsy just don't have the patience to adapt to something that isn't eBay.... Also, there are definitely higher end items there, and they sell. And there are people who do well, very well.

If you want to sell regularly like a business, you have to put time into it, not just walk away and expect to become popular.

Yup
Ive had an etsy store since '07, but was greatly discouraged because around that time, the site was horrible to navigate around. I knew a gal (she and I interned at the same place) who worked with the team, and they were having issues with growing their site. I even sent an email railing about how hard it was to find things, and how it was as swap meat as eBay.
I wanted them to create a sort of 'premium' area, where artists (not just crafters) could sell their art. I hope that happens some day.

All my friends who have etsy stores sort of have a saying, "You cant really sell anything over $20." Its VERY hard, in part I think because so many of the buyers on etsy are also sellers. A lot of people think "I can make it myself" and often do.

I did start my store back up a couple of months ago, and I did $100 in sales this past month. Thats not too shabby. Considering I hate selling things lol

Its the fees 3 times that I hate; you are feed to list, feed at the sale, and feed via Pay Pal. You just cant win.

I do find its paramount to have a firm policies listed so you dont get a message 3 weeks later from someone who wants to return an item.

LD

 

[Slytherin]

I was on esty but without result... I sold my items often on my own blog and on dawanda wich is a free platform.

 

[Foofoogal]

The downside for me on Etsy vs my other main site is we can only show 100 products on the Google products. I could easily list that many in a week. Plus it is much easier for me to take intl. on my main site and I do but not on Etsy unless they convo. I do like Etsy though.

http://sandysfancypants.blogspot.com

 

[miss_smith]

I have one, but it is very hard to sell on it. You have to put a lot of work and money into it (buying promotion slots, etc.) and even then sometimes it doesn't work out. Unfortunately, I find much more to buy on the site!

 

[sixsexsix]

I love etsy. I find the people better to deal with, and listing things is easy. I sell just old patterns that are not my size or vintage that doesn't fit me any more....I know I could probably make more money on ebay, but I *really* hate ebay. I hate their fee structure, and I dealing with buyers on ebay has often been a huge headache.

As a buyer, I appreciate the personal interaction you get on etsy, and just plain how nice people are! Speaking of which I have bought from both Lauren and Lady Day and both were great transactions

 

[Lady Day]

As a buyer, I appreciate the personal interaction you get on etsy, and just plain how nice people are! Speaking of which I have bought from both Lauren and Lady Day and both were great transactions

I knew I recognized that name for somewhere, but couldnt place it :eusa_doh:
Hope you are enjoying the pattern.

LD