Any Etsy sellers want to chat / share tips?

[SinkGirl]

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve restarted my Etsy shop (well it has been up and running for five years, but I was pregnant when I started it then I had twins who are both disabled so I haven’t touched it in four years - I’ve just been selling digital downloads, so it’s just been ticking over with very very few sales (about 40 last year).

I’ve added lots of new items including a kit and have been trying to get back into the swing of social media as my pages had died a death. It’s hard going but feel like I’m getting somewhere (have turned over as much in the last month as I did all of last year).

I have a mammoth to-do list including taking all new photos, and restarting my shop selling finished items to run alongside my templates and kits.

I’ve been out of it for so long that I feel like I’m starting from scratch.

Would be lovely to talk to others about how they are doing, share tips on getting the best results, making listings as effective as possible, share info on things like where to order packaging and stuff like that.

Anyway, I’m here if anyone wants to chat :)

Hi. Mine isn't quite open yet, so I'm a total newbie! I hope I can still join you.

Of course! Are you selling crocheted items or patterns, or something else?

How’s it all going?

I have some crochet patterns in the works, but the thought of taking all the step by step photos means I keep putting it off!

Mainly crochet items. I've got pattern ideas in my head, mainly for clothing to fit me because I'm an odd size and shape. But the idea of trying to adapt them to fit other sizes seems like too much!

What sort of things do you sell? Other than crochet patterns?
I also embroider and make simple things on the sewing machine. Plus cards and jewellery. I might not put everything in my shop though. It might look a bit "jack of all trades"

Please share your Etsy shops. I love Etsy, I have bought so much this year. And Instagram shops
It doesn’t put me off sellers having of different items, because people who are crafty are well crafty.

Following as I'm about to start listing some colouring pages.

Oohh I’d love to join. I have my own website which does very well but I’ve also listed all of our products on Etsy and not had a single sale.

I suspect this is down to the fact that we have no reviews yet and that we’re in a very saturated market.

Does anyone have any tips for getting those first couple of sales?

If you have a following on say Instagram do a discount code for Etsy, that would tempt me.

It can take a while to get your first couple of sales on Etsy, have a look at your titles. Do they make sense? Would you search for those terms to find your items if you were looking for them?
I've been an etsy seller for the past 5 years I also sell on amazon handmade and sometimes ebay. I've had my shop closed since Christmas due to childcare but I've been open the past week and sales are a bit slow but it's normally slow for me this time of year.

I've found selling on Etsy such a struggle. I average about one sale a week! Other marketing is so important but that's difficult in itself. I have an Instagram account but I think very few people click through to Etsy from it.

That’s a good suggestion, I’ll maybe get a friend to look through my products and see what they think.

The problem I have is that I don’t really want to promote Etsy on my social channels as it’s much more expensive than my website, so I’d rather the sales come direct through there. Really I was hoping Etsy would be somewhere for new customers to find my products but I think I need to put some more work into it

It’s absolutely the right thing to have your own site and direct any traffic you bring to there - if you’re marketing your Etsy shop, you’ll lose lots of people who click through to other listings. I haven’t got my own site set up yet but it’s on my list (DH is a web developer but he’s snowed under at the moment).

For the last few years the only thing in my shop have been downloadable templates for paper cutting templates.

I’ve added lots of new ones recently plus a kit last week which has sold several already which is good, and I’m working on new photos of everything framed up, and I have some other craft kits to get written up and photographed too.

My shops for my templates / kits is here:
www.CreativismUK.Etsy.com

I’ll also be restarting my other shop soon selling my finished cuts, but need better photos first as they won’t be cheap

To whoever asked, it is hard to get sales at first - it’s worth looking at a shop in a similar market with lots of sales and seeing how they’ve worded their titles and listings, what their prices and postage costs are etc.

I don’t find discount codes that effective personally but then my items are low priced already mostly.

Please share yours too :)

Videos are also a good idea - you can now add a 15 second video (no sound) to each listing. I’ve added sped up videos of kit unboxing and also time lapse videos of the cutting process to some of mine, I will definitely do more as this seems to help.

Planning to do some tutorial videos for YouTube soon too. Problem is so many things are chicken and egg - there are things you need to do before you can do other things.

My shop isn't live yet as I don't have enough things in it. But I'll share a link as soon as it is. Are there any hidden fees I need to look out for? My friend said to make sure advertising (i think it was that anyway, maybe it was promotion) is off. But I can't even see that as an option

Right at the bottom of the page when you add a listing it asks if you want to advertise it and it defaults to yes, so you need to change it to “maybe later”.

I do have Etsy ads on with a budget set of $1 a day - it does help to increase visits and views especially if you’re new or your shop isn’t very active yet. Worth a try if you’re willing anyway, for a month or two. I don’t advertise all my listings, only the most popular ones but at first you won’t know that!

@CrochetBug Your friend might have been referring to Etsy Offsite Ads which advertises on search engines like Google and Bing and social media platforms outside Etsy, so a different thing entirely to Etsy Ads, where, as @SinkGirlsinkgirl said, you can choose a budget and listings to advertise within Etsy - so your featured items would then feature at the top of search pages within Etsy.

And/or you could elect to offer free postage which which would show your items at the top of search pages, to an extent.

I would recommend turning Etsy Offsite Ads off to start with. I think they default to ON, and you have to turn them off. Once your shop reaches 10,000 US$ you no longer have the option and your shop is automatically enrolled. I believe the fees are 12 or 15% on top of normal Etsy fees so might be something you'd want to avoid if you can.

My shop has totally nosedived since Christmas. I think there are so many shops with a lot of clout who can afford advertising, the little artisan ones are often squeezed out. There is a shop which sells thousands of prints with Disney posters, characters etc for a couple of pounds. All breaking Etsy rules and beaching copyright. Etsy doesn't care and leaves it running because it's profitable. Etsy is too big now but there is very little that's similar.

@dontsaveusername Sadly I agree with you about the shops which are obviously huge commercial enterprises, many of which ignore any copyright rules. But overall it's the number of re-sellers (not allowed on Etsy) which brazenly carry on selling mass-manufactured imported stuff that really makes me cross as Etsy is meant to be for Handmade items, Vintage items or craft supplies only.

As far as small artisan designer / makers go, I don't want to tempt fate by saying this but we've been very lucky over the last year on Etsy. I imagine things might slow down now as shops re-open, but as very simple ceramic designer makers working from our garden shed studio in England we have had over 300 sales in 12 months, and lots of repeat customers which is really lovely and makes it all so worthwhile. So to anyone thinking of giving it a go I really recommend it.

We've just been auto enrolled into the Offsite Ads because we must have met Etsy's compulsory 10,000 dollar threshold. That's the only reason I know about it!

There is a group on FB called Not On Amazon Too, lots of Etsy sellers post on there. Im in the group because I love stuff!

I’ve got a small Etsy shop and I love it, although this month has been pretty quiet.

The fees really aren’t too bad, and for me it’s perfect, as I don’t want to be sharing everything I do on social media which I think you must have to if you sell on another platform.

I do agree with the pp who mentioned the shops breaking copyright rules with Disney etc. Some shops do get closed down but it seems the massive shops get away with it.

I think I’m going to be enrolled in Etsy ads any day now. I’ve made almost £10,000 but that’s since 2018. Does it need to be within a year?

It’s $10,000 in the last 365 days that means you can’t opt out - definitely not something I have to worry about at the moment 😆

Sounds like you’re doing really well - what do you sell?

I’m finding that paper cutting is sadly quite a niche craft compared to others. I probably need to start selling files for cutting machines but I don’t really want to :(

Hello can I join?!

I make fun yoga tops and sell on etsy, not as artsy as many of you. I started I'm November... I don't devote as much time as I should but I have had a few sales. If you know any yoga lovers... Send them my way!

I was invited for an onboading call.. Has anyone done one of these?

@doadeer Yes. I had a call a couple of months ago. Not sure it was called an 'onboarding call' though.

It was meant to give you guidance on how to get the best from your Etsy shop, so a bit about SEO, tags, headings, descriptions, photos etc.

I don't think I learned anything I didn't already know but it was useful in that taking part earned me 30 free listings. At the end it appeared it was all a bit of a sales pitch really, all leading to get you to sign up for Etsy Offsite Ads (which would have earned me another 30 free listings), and maybe the normal Etsy Ads too - set an advertising budget etc.

I've never advertised and don't intend to so I didn't take up that offer but did benefit from the 30 free listings just for going through the motions on the phone call. Overall it was worth doing, as long as you bear in mind what is right for your shop. Like in my case (UK) they suggested I raise my prices to include free postage in the US. (Totally inappropriate advice for a UK based shop, but as the advisor was based in India she might not have fully understood the different nuances of running a UK-based shop).

I do already offer free delivery in the UK and to extend that to the US where each parcel costs at least £25.00 to send (that's the actual postage, not inflated to make money from postage, or even to include the box and packaging etc.) I would have had to raise prices by that amount per item right across the shop, including UK prices (clearly a ludicrous idea).

You can't have different prices for different countries to allow for cheap or very expensive shipping - it's not an option they offer.

Overall though I love our Etsy shop.:)

@SinkGirl I handmake small felt items key rings, garlands, decorations etc) very time consuming for not much money, but I love it, and the money adds up (although nowhere near $10,000 in the last 365 days!).

I’d love to get one of those phone calls. I’ve heard they’re really helpful

@thisgardenlife I keep seeing that we should offer free delivery to the USA over $35 but although I’ve thought about it, there’s no way I could afford to. I think my products are expensive enough and I often run sales through quieter months, to avoid keep putting my prices up during busy periods. My postage isn’t as expensive as yours but is about £10 tracked, and that’s without Etsy taking their cut and paying for packaging boxes etc.

I’ve never paid to advertise either, and I’m amazed at the people in Etsy Facebook groups who do. Sometimes the people are new sellers with under ten listings! I’m sure there must be a better way.

Do you all use erank? I’ve only just discovered it, and I’m going through each listing checking my tags!