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 :)

Also if any of you need to design instructional guides, written patterns etc I can’t recommend Canva enough. I used it to create the guide that goes with my paper cutting kit - had some printed (I use DigitalPrinting.co.uk for all my labels, postcards etc) and they look so good, and I’m crap at that stuff!

Makes so much difference having nice looking printed materials, labels etc. I had some postcards made up with an image of a paper cut on the front and my Etsy address on the back. Will be getting more with pics of crochet and cross stitch I’m designing and putting all my social media on the back.

My Instagram accounts are @CreativismUK (for my patterns and templates) and @CutScenesUK (for my finished paper cuts) if anyone wants to follow.

I’ve also just set up a crafting group on Facebook to share tutorials and chat about crafty things - only just started so it’s tiny but do feel free to join and chat about crafty things with me!
www.facebook.com/groups/3498892896881878/?ref=share

I second Canva it's amazing. I run a few businesses and use it constantly!

Here's me if anyone likes silly yoga jokes
https://instagram.com/namastt_clothing?igshid=sxrvs0bq5fkq

Hi @HeartvsBrain thank you! And so glad you love George too. Am still working at it all. Just had a retail launch and been working on 5 or 6 commissions so not been doing as many things for Etsy (though Henry, Harry's brother, went on yesterday). I have plans for the next few weeks or so - looking forward to adding some more soon.

Does anyone here ship overseas? Or to the US? Or do you stick to UK (or whatever your domestic market is)?

Just wondering if it is worth it.

If you do - do you/can you add different shipping costs depending on where you are shipping to?

Yes, you can vary shipping costs by country, and you can set different shipping profiles too - so you can have one for a certain size / weight and set the price by country.

I’ve listed my paper cuts as available overseas as they’re small and will be sent without frames so it’s not very expensive. I used to ship abroad when I had my shop before, but that was before Brexit - not sure if it’s more difficult / costly now. There’s a Royal Mail PDF that gives you prices per country / area of the world based on size and weight.

I've given you guys, @SinkGirl @coffeeandchoc on Instagram (both business and my personal)
I'm @hearttree_art if anyone wants to follow
www.instagram.com/p/CMxS8k9lItS/?igshid=pv1tg1ww51qe

I use Canva as well, I use it for (very basic) watermarking too.

I did ship one painting to Australia, not an Etsy purchase, and it was very costly. It ended up about £18 for a basic tracked, and it got sent back from port once, as the post office forgot a sticker. I decided not to offer overseas on Etsy, too anxiety inducing for me! 😂

And followed you too, @doadeer

Watermark.ws is very good for adding watermarks and resizing photos easily.

I don't do international but I want to... Do I need to do anything other than pay postage? Tax? Duty? I don't understand it

No, the buyer is responsible for any customs / duty at their end.

The only thing I think you need to do is complete a customs form for Europe now which you didn’t have to do previously - I haven’t done it yet so don’t know what the situation is. There is a bit of info here
www.royalmail.com/brexit

Thanks @treehearts I will follow you back :)

@doadeer I’ve added as many tags as I can think of to my shop so am keeping my fingers crossed for an increase in sales 🙂. Thank you for the suggestion.

I've added tags to everything. But totally lost my crojo so haven't made anything new. I still need better photos, mum said I could take my stuff to hers and use her garden so I might do that and see if it helps.

I still need a shop description and stuff. Just need to sort my head out

I think just get something in there for all the descriptions and stuff. It’s so much easier to refine what you have than look at blank boxes to fill in!

How is everyone getting on?

Hi guys, hope you don’t mind me joining, my mum and I have just started/hoping to sell her embroidered knits and other little knitted bits for 0-5

We only just started an Instagram page last week and now hoping to set our Etsy page to go live on Friday so absolutely newbies but reading here has really helped.

I really like your shop and your photography is great too.

Your titles could do with a little work though, rather than “ Personalised Pet Portrait” I would try “ Personalised Pet Portrait, Custom pencil drawing, Gift for animal lover, Dog illustration” something along those lines.

Your description should reflect your tittle (I think the algorithm likes this). So something like, “Beautiful custom pet portrait in pencil, a wonderful gift for any animal lover”.

You can also duplicate listing with different tags to experiment with which tags are working for you.

I wish I could draw like that!

@treehearts

Joining in, I've recently opened on Etsy I have 3 sales that are all family 😂 and nothing more! I've picked up on so much I'm doing wrong just from this thread.

Ignore previous post.

I really like your shop and your photography is great too.

Your titles could do with a little work though, rather than “ Personalised Pet Portrait” I would try “ Personalised Pet Portrait, Custom pencil drawing, Gift for animal lover, Dog illustration” something along those lines.

Your description should reflect your tittle (I think the algorithm likes this). So something like, “Beautiful custom pet portrait in pencil, a wonderful gift for any animal lover”.

You can also duplicate listing with different tags to experiment with which tags are working for you.

I wish I could draw like that!

Thank you, @user1471474462 I found it quite hard to come up with titles, so this has helped immensely! I will edit them shortly.

@treehearts

Thank you, *@user1471474462* I found it quite hard to come up with titles, so this has helped immensely! I will edit them shortly.

No worries, Etsy is very quiet at the moment, even for established sellers. Things will pick up, but I think the shops reopening has had an effect.

I wondered if anyone had looked at or compared Big Cartel to Etsy, my sister has suggested that this might be an option for selling especially as you can connect your PayPal to it...

I haven’t tried Big Cartel - I think it’s more like developing your own online shop? DH is building me my own website (slowly!) so I’m waiting on that.

The last couple of weeks have been much better than the first 2 weeks of April which were very quiet. Ended up being a better month than last month, which had been my best month to date. Another £50 of sales and I will have made 3x as much this year than last year, which was by far my best year, so definitely getting there. It’s still not huge money (that’s an understatement!) but sales are more regular and social media is slowly growing. Also had someone come back for their 5th purchase in a couple of months today which made me really happy, plus several 5* reviews so all in all I’m feeling more positive.

Added several machine cutting files today so will see how that goes. I’ve been so busy trying out the machine, finishing different templates, trying to progress all my crochet designs so I can take videos and write up patterns - never ending amount of work to do!

Folksy have ported in all my listings but they all need massively editing, so will have to find time to go through all that.

I've had my best month in April, did 17 sales woooo!!! I've actually had to restock a few items so I'm really happy ❤️

That’s great! It’s all so unpredictable - my shop has had tons of visits in the last two days after some cuts I made got shared a lot on social media, but only two very small orders, but in the days before that I sold more with a fraction of the visits!

No SVG sales yet but there are thousands on Etsy so might take time to get ranked in the listings for them and still need to add more yet.

Just putting in an order for my first riso prints which I’ve wanted to do for ages so will see how they turn out.

Considering getting letterpress made of some of my small maps to see how they do as they’d be a lot cheaper than cuts, but have to pay to get the plates made so would have to trial a few little ones and see how it goes.

Also ordered some labels and postcards for the art side of my business that I restarted last month but no sales yet, but they are expensive so will see!

Well done @doadeer

My sales were down a bit in April but I had taken my foot of the pedal a bit SM wise (and creation wise) due to family stuff and having to get stock ready for a retail launch. Still happy with how things are going - but know I need to get back on it a bit. Had a fair amount of commissions too. Am also getting some repeat business, which is always lovely.

I am going to have a look at Folksy. I know a few people seem to have had more business on there. I just am loathe to add more to the admin side IYSWIM. It is enough of a pain adding each new item to Etsy so I don't want to have to add everything to lots of different websites lazy

Oh and @HeartvsBrain - have just finished "Angus" if you fancy having a look - he is not on Etsy yet - but will be....www.instagram.com/p/COVpsojrEpj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I really need to sort Folksy out this week - not sure how good it will be for selling templates but will give it a go!