Etsy Do's and dont's

[mynaughtylittlesister]

I am looking to start selling on Etsy and just wondering how these kind of sites work.

I enjoy sewing, crafty stuff etc.... but was just wondering what the etiquette is? One of the things I like making are the advent calendar panels, I thought I would probably charge around £20 or so, looked on Etsy and someone is selling the exact one for £35! Now I am either thinking of under selling or they are over priced!

Another thing that I am a little concerned is that I ave got some of my ideas from Pinterest (not exact replicas but similar) can these be sold on Etsy or is that a definite no no?

Is it actually worth it or should I try and source well published craft fairs?

Thanks in advance

I find Etsy very competitive and hard to get noticed. You have to really understand SEO and work on your listings to get seen. I was on Etsy for 6 months before I got my first sale and only 2 days on Amazon Handade to get a sale.

Only you know if £25 is a fair price for your product, assuming you have taken in account all your materials, time, fees and profit and are comforatble that £25 is about right then it's possible £35 is at the high end. Check out the product reviews to see if people have actually purchased the £35 product, if so then you'll know people will buy at £35.

Join some of the Facebook Etsy UK groups to get a feel of what's involved.

If I were you then I would try Etsy AND craft fairs. Meeting real life customers can drive business to your online stores and obviously developing a customer base is vital: there are a lot of other sellers on Etsy so it is good to have more local custom too.
Regarding ideas, Pinterest is a great place but I would recommend you work on developing your own ideas as you go along. The sellers who do well on Etsy usually have a recognisable look, branding and relatively niche product which helps them be found by people.
Facebook is good for advice groups, your local Etsy team will also be supportive (and might do fairs too) check out Instagram for inspirational shops to see what I mean about a look.
Pricing...... you should be pricing on Etsy at retail. That's your wholesale mark up and then extra. People on Etsy do this as a full time job and are pricing like real shops do to keep their business viable and create a real wage for themselves. Please familiarise yourself with how to price up your work as it will help you position yourself.