Does anyone here sell on Etsy?

[Mindtrope]

I make craft items, wondering if etsy is a good platform- any experience?

[kshaw]

Interested to see replies on this - good luck with selling!

[Mindtrope]

Thanks kshaw. I don't want to waste my time if it's a no brainer.

[Mindtrope]

Anyone?

[kshaw]

I think it all depends on what you are selling, your prices and to be fair - the quality of your products. Maybe search on etsy for a similar product and look at other sellers businesses and see what you think you'd be capable of. That's been my research so far. I've also looked at their social media presence and the difference that seems to make FYI - it's a lot!! Don't think it's as easy as posting the products on etsy.

What do you make?

[Mindtrope]

kshaw I guess. I make hand crafted pagan items, quite a niche market.

It's whether it's worth the effort- I have lots of other business expansion ideas. Seems to be a lot of that kind of stuff on etsy already.

[kshaw]

It's worth trying only costs a few pence to list each item!!!

[Mindtrope]

Thanks, I've opened a shop, I'll give it a go, I have all the photos etc to hand.

[unicornpoopoop]

You can sell but I think it takes effort. You need to make sure your photos are very stylish. And you need to read up on tags, descriptions and titles to ensure your seo is good enough to get found.

I'm quite lazy with my shop but still get sales which I just think of as pocket money as its really not alot. I keep meaning to put more effort in but I just struggle to find the time.

[Mindtrope]

Just to add that I already sell on Amazon UK, Amazon,com and ebay, selling 500+ items a month. It's pretty much a full time job- although I do have other income streams too, selling other items online.

[unicornpoopoop]

Are these handmade items? You must be very busy!

Seeing as you're already having great success on the other platforms, I would say you have nothing to lose trying

[Mindtrope]

Thanks.

I've been working on a facebook Marketplace page for the past few days- that looks quite interesting.

I don't have a website yet, but something I need to look into,. thanks for the tip about the landing page.

[Dumbled]

Etsy treat some sellers terribly.
I know of a few people who's shops were shut down for no reason, even some selling well and etsy staff were rude when asked why

[Olympiathequeen]

I sell on etsy. Just a steady amount of commissions. Not very profitable but I am cheap as chips! Can't bring myself to charge anything like the going rate. E.g. £50 as opposed to my £15. Also had a domain name website which looked fab and got hits from every corner of the world but not one sale! Very important the shop is internet optimised (SEO)

[NameChanger22]

I'm not a seller on Etsy but I am a regular buyer. I buy from a niche market and I watch things every day. There are some sellers who are really talented and basically never have anything in their shop because everything they list sells in seconds and some don't even list items, they just take commissions because they have a waiting list of customers. The most successful Etsy sellers are very talented and the quality of their work shines plus they are able to take beautiful photographs. Some people are making a lot of money from Etsy.

[user1490729092]

Hi. I'm in the process of setting up a shop on Etsy and doing some craft fairs in a partnership with my sister. The insurance seems to be a nightmare as we are both going to run the business our two addresses. Has anyone had any experience with this. Also, we were wanting to sell to independent shops but it appears you need separate insurance for this too. Can anyone offer any advice on this please? Thanks.

[nellifurtardo]

I sell on etsy. It is a lot of hard work as it's really well know in the UK so to really get sales you have to do a lot of hard work to market your products. I find etsy the hardest to sell on. I also sell on ebay and Amazon handmade and sell a lot more as there is a lot more traffick there. I do like etsy though as I can do commisions and my items go world wide.