Etsy

[PurpleGeekyGirl]

Is anyone else here registered and selling through Etsy? My brother is setting up my website for me but hasn't had the time to finish it yet, so in the interim I have opened a shop on there. Not sure how much return I'll get tbh as I can only ship to the UK (cakes won't last long enough to get to the States!). I've found it very easy to get going on there though and am happy to share what I've learned.

Yes and just closed my shop as I made mo sales in 3 months and have just made two sales in the first two days if being on not on the high street. How did you manage to sell stuff?

ethelb how does not on the high street work? Is it similar to etsy? Can anyone join?

I was in the process of setting up an etsy shop but have heard from a few people that it can be v slow.

Sorry for the hijack!

ethelb not sure how I got a sale, but it happend on the first day I opened (13 Nov). Not had any more since..! I am paying to promote my shop for a couple of weeks, will see what happens. Well done on getting sales through not on the high street.

I'm trying to find other outlets to sell my cakes too and will be making some taster boxes next week to drop off to coffee shops/tea rooms etc in the local area in the hope it wil drum up some business.

Have you tried Folksy? It's like a UK etsy. The problem with etsy is the sheer amount of stuff on there and people are unlikely to find you unless they already know your shop name.

Not on the High Street you have to apply to join. Etsy shop is quick to set up, but despite loads of views made no sales.

I can't sell on Folksy as they don't allow edibles Am waiting to hear back from NOTHS after registering earlier in the week. Are the set up costs worth it tho? Id heard from others it's quite expensive compared with Etsy etc. I'm hoping my blog (which gets about 30,000 hits a day) will help drive traffic to Etsy and boost sales.

How do you get 30,000 hits a day!!

Yes, ti shoudl drive traffic if you set it up right and add lots of links and make sure your own site is navigable.

ethelb I've been blogging for nearly three years and use Instagram twitter and fb to drive traffic there. The photos of the food I make generates interest (especially on Instagram) and results in hits. I've carefully cultivated a twitter profile and get retweeted by key vegan tweeters/instagrammers which helps too. Just wish I could convert it more into money!

Instagram? There's a good idea. How do you get followers? I have an iphone etc but that's not something I have investigated. Only Twitter so far. Facebook page tonight!

I'll let you know about NOTHS as I have only been live for 1 week and had 2 sales. Though tbf I haven't made it onto their section pages yet which should happen in the next couple of weeks and drive more traffic. The NOTHS front has generated a lot of interest from niche websites which I am hoping to do some promotion on. PM for more details about noths.

Have you tried ebay? I've seen people selling cakes on there...

Dear Purple

If I am understanding this correctly, you have been blogging for 3 years, getting 30k hits a day ( is that every day for those 3 years ? ) and now setting yourself up on Etsy in the hope that the blogging hits will send business your way ? if you say you ship cakes to the UK, where are you based at the moment? What has been happening since you actually set yourself up baking cakes ?

Hi claire yes I have been blogging for three years. And no, it took a LOT of blog posts and other social media usage to get traffic up to 30k hits a day! If only you could get that from the outset!! I was shortlisted for Great British Bake off last year which helped and was featured in House Beautiful earlier this year which sent traffic up a huge amount. I also blog for a niche area, a lot of whom are very savvy with social media. My biggest issue is that most of them live in North America so not good for sending cakes to! I'm based in Yorkshire at the moment and currently working full time so the cakes have been on the back burner, but I hope to open a cafe in 2014 so this is laying the foundation for one of the other business arms i.e. web sales.

its no not thought of ebay, will have a peruse and see what's available thanks for the tip.

ethelb will PM you next week re NOTHS, thanks

ethelb re instagram, hashtags are key. See what other people are tagging things and then just be shameless about using tags. I use a lot of love, food, instafood, veganfood etc tags to push them out to a wider audience and got re-grammed by a HUGE account last week which got me nearly 1000 likes and loads of new followers.

I use Etsy. I've sold 5 things so far. I'm very lazy though and don't advertise much. I'm happy with it though, I just want my hobby to pay for itself!

I found folksy a faff, plus it's a UK site and 2 of my items on Etsy have been sent to the US.

Pinterest would work for you.

I'm on Etsy too:

www.etsy.com/shop/mollymoodesign

sold quite a few things but not enough to give up my day job!

I've been featured in two magazines and have just been asked to be in another for next year but doesn't seem to make that much difference to sales.

Ethel - who are you on NOTHS?

On Etsy you can join teams - come join us in CraftBritannia which is a collection of UK based sellers. PM if you'd like to

Oooh can I pm you re NOTHS too Ethel? I'd like to be on there but know you have to pass their selection process.

I've received slaps on the wrists for saying who I am on noths by mn.

Pm me though and I can let you know wha t I know.

Made £165 today (on top of day job) so not bad at all!

Purple thanks for the Instagram tip - I've had a lot of likes on there, and a fair few more views overnight (so I'm guessing US users) on Etsy than I normally would

I've just had a fiddle iwth Instagram but can't see how you can direct people to a website. How do you do it?

Have you thought about wowthankyou.co.uk? they are like NOTHS but the joining fees are far less and Tracy is very pro-active in promoting the site and 'team building' everyone.

I've has sales on wty, etsy and folksy, my own website and only sell on ebay Oct-Dec.
My folksy sales are only ever to the UK but my website and my etsy sales are worldwide.

Have you thought about magazine advertising? sometimes its not as expensive as you think and you could get a cancellation slot at a discounted price - I've advertised in three magazines to date and more than made the cost of the ad back.

I'm not understanding Instagram either is it only for photos taken with a mobile??

ethelb on the profile tab is a space to put your web address in. Use hashtags to help people find your stuff, on mine I've used things like %23handmade %23jewelry %23jewellery (allowing for American and English searches) %23blue...

Brian I saved pictures from my Etsy site to my phone then uploaded them to Instagram. I think there's a web/PC based version too. Thanks for the message earlier too