The other day one of my lovely readers (sorry can't remember who!) eeep! Said that I should sell stuff on Etsy. I thought to myself, what a fab plan, I mean who doesn't like some extra cash?! Well..after reading the website I have found out a lot but would love some advice from sellers and buyers of the site. To the sellers:
It says on the site that you have to pay a charge to list the product and then etsy take a proportion of the profit. Is it profitable? As in by the time you have listed it several times and
then sold it do you make much of a profit?
On average how many times do you have to keep re listing a product?
How do you make people aware of what you sell cos there is so much stuff on there?
Do you charge for postage?
Say you were selling photos, would you print due to demand or stock up?
How many items do you list in your shop?
How quickly do you have to post items to buyers. Do they expect next day service?
To the buyers:
Would you be interested in buying prints of photographs?
What items do you tend to look out for on etsy? As in what sells well in your eyes?
How much would you pay for a 8x10 print?
Would you be interested in tutorial kits that come with instructions and all the paper etc you need?
Sorry, a lot of questions there are definitely they don't all need to be answered but would appreciate any help or general tips. I can't start an etsy site till I'm 18 but I'll be 18 in September so hopefully over the summer I can get all the things I want to sell together! he he! so excited.
Thanks for stopping by and reading too many questions!
Loves xxxxxxxx
2 comments:
Hey Abi, it was me that suggested selling your photos!
I put this post on my blog, back in May, while you were busy with exams! http://lizziemade.blogspot.com/2010/05/little-bit-of-etsy.html
It's about my etsy shop and Etsy in general.
Before you start, I would recommend going to the Etsy blog (also known as The Storque - don't ask me why, I don't know!). There are a lot of articles about setting up a shop and how to be successful. There is a set of articles called "Etsy Success" which are very useful.
Basically, if you want to start an Etsy shop, be aware of these things:
1) Choose your username carefully - it will also be your shop name and you can't change it! Think about what your shop is for, what you will sell, your image etc, before you choose a name. Look at other names and be careful not to "copy" another shop name - it gets people very upset!
2) You can't just stick a few things in your shop, then walk off and expect the orders to roll in. You need to do a bit of research and publicising, to get yourself noticed.
3) It costs US$ 20cents to list each occurrence of an item (so if you put your stock as 2, it will cost 40cents for a listing). This repeats each time you Re-list the item or set up a brand new listing.
I can't remember what the percentage is that Etsy take as a fee when you sell, but it's not huge. The Storque will tell you that.
4) As for costs vs profit. I do make a profit, even though I relist; however I don't make millions of sales. This will be because I don't have enough footfall (views) in my shop and because I don't have masses of stock. The footfall issue is largely down to publicising and getting noticed. I use my Facebook Page (but not enough), Twitter and my blog (a little bit). I could do more. When I advertised on Project Wonderful, I got more customers.
5) Use Tags wisely. Research how other shops do this - especially similar ones to yours, who make good sales.
6) Present the best quality images you can on your listings. Make use of as many of your 5 photo slots as possible (if it makes sense to, as you'll sell photos!) Maybe show the photo "Mounted" or "Framed" and "on the wall". See how others present their work. See what works and what doesn't. Then do the good stuff!
If you want to sell on Etsy (and I mean make sales, rather than just have a shop), you will need to work at it a bit. Set up the basics before you start. A Paypal account is almost mandatory really - almost all buyers use Paypal. Look into the mailing issues and decide how you will cost packing and postage.
Think about your policies for printing and posting - you need to make it clear on your Policies page and also on listings. My niece prints to order and sends the photos out when they arrive. She uses Photobox and says they are good. She also offers a variety of sizes of print and options for matt or gloss finish, border or no border etc.
Take a look at her shop here : http://www.etsy.com/shop/gingerlillytea
Also sort out stuff like your banner (it needs to be a certain size) and other writing etc before you start. It makes setting up the shop quicker and easier.
Consider how you will manage your shop once you're back at school. If you'll be home at weekends, you may be able to keep it going - so long as you can get stuff mailed out etc. You need to make sure you set a customer's expectation for delivery lead time, so you don't run into trouble with them complaining it's too slow.
I hope this helps - it's a loooong comment but I don't know your e-mail address! xxxx
hello abi,
I think you should read this article/post because it explains a lot (:
http://nataliejost.com/3723
I wanted to open up an etsy store but am hesitant due to a lot of issues with etsy.
hope it helps (:
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