OK, I sell on ETSY, i have some sales and it's about 14 months of this adventure - time to write memoire!
When I started to work in "wool watercolour" technique especially on Kindle cases - I wanted to make them but could not sell them in York shop, the target audience was not right for them.
So I opened the shop mid September 2013 and begun to wait for my first customer. And read, read and read all advice experienced ETSY sellers were sharing. You can't overestimate them! And still I was (and still is!) doubtful about some of advice which by many considered as absolute truth. Like these:
- you need to fill the shop with at least 50-70 items! 100 is a magic number! More viewing and more sale! I could not imagine a crafter who can produce (and sell!) so many true OOAK pieces to keep this number in a shop! It may be true for the shops selling a lot of similar (and easier to make) items, like jewelry assembly, but not for my stuff definitely. I prefer my shop to be more boutique style with a few but exclusive pieces than being overflowed with multiple identical items. Everyone to their own.
- you should work on your visibility on ETSY. - treasuries, teams, forums. I do practically nothing of this. Why? First, I am not very social person. Second, it's hard work, requiring a lot of time. And I don't enjoy it! From my experience if you are active in ETSY teams, forums, making treasuries you get more views, more favourites sometimes but not necessarily more sales. It could work for you if you sell small pieces, or some funny stuff, things which work perfect as an impulse buy. I sell quite specific items so I have to relay on search mainly.
- social network - the same as above. I do nothing apart from blogging. And I've got two ETSY customers from my blog! I need to do more blogging apparently!
So what I consider as important? To be relevant in search! There are plenty of papers and posts on "Search and Relevancy" subject and I'm not going into details here. What I do: try to find key words which work for my items properly, renew listings regularly, just try to keep up with new rules and changes on ETSY in general.
Now I'm coming to the very core of my "ETSY strategy"! Sorry it sounds too grand!
The most important thing is To find a niche! Your own niche, the things you made that are very special, very specific. It's not easy! "Do things that are hard. Way less competition." (Eric August Johnson) It's funny but it's true! If you can produce smth which are not in abundance on the market you are guaranteed to get customers interested in your products. My "wool watercolours" are not the most beautiful or perfect or whatever, they just relatively rare. There are not that many items in this technique on ETSY. So competition is not that fierce as in traditional felting techniques. In my shop I've sold mostly cases&cosies decorated in "wool watercolour" but very few more traditional items like scarves or mittens unfortunately! I'd like to make and sell more scarves but alas!...
My point is - try to do smth different, which stands out in the very competitive market of handmade products.
For those of you who've read this all - my new design, "spring hyacinths".
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| Felted Kindle Case with hyacinth image |
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| Baby hyacinth! |
In mid April our YFM group is going to hold an exhibition of members' works. The theme for collective display is "Spring" and I've made this case for this event. Wish us luck!
Etsy is so definitively every independent seller's friend at this point, and for all the right reasons. It is convenient, has easy access and is a multivalent venue. You should really exhaust its possibilities and merits as much as possible. That should be most wise. Thanks for sharing that, Felicity! Kudos and more power to you!
ReplyDeleteJesse Austin @ Charlotte Local Marketing
Thank you Jesse! I just wanted to show that there are the way even with thousands sellers around...
DeleteI love the new hyacinth designs. I don't sell on ETSY but a thoughtful article for those who do.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ruth! I sell on internet and in real shop and the approach is very different to both. So I thought it might be interesting for some.
DeleteI was nodding my agreement all through reading the post ! And I love the hyacinth.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lyn! It was a hard decision to write this post, I didn't want to be showing off...
DeleteHa, I was nodding too, like Lyn :)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I've never had much luck selling things on etsy (tutorials sell ok though), even though my notebook/diary covers are different, not different or unique enough though, and I think your felt works are, and very lovely too :)
Thank you very much Zed, you are very kind! Haven't you thought about making electronic gadget covers apart from notebook/diary covers? We need to push and try all the time I think...
DeleteIt really does come down to one concept: standing out. And standing out is not necessarily similar to visibility. If you fill a specific niche that has a decent amount of clients, then that’s well and good. But if you’re doing something that a lot of other people have been doing for quite some time, you’ll need to come up with something that will make people clamor for more. You can do all the marketing you want or make your tags as relevant as they could – but in the end, it all comes down to how your products will be perceived by potential clients. Anyway, thanks for sharing! Hope to see more updates from you in the future!
ReplyDeleteLowell Garner @ Attract More Clients
Thank you Lowell! I think there is no single way to any kind of success. If we are talking about craft you always bring your own personality in it even if you just copying somebody's succesful model. It's still hard work.
DeleteEverything takes time, and that rule applies when you want your shop to be known and sell more products as well. Like what you said, filling up 100 items for your etsy shop is really quite stressful, but with hard work, you will surely be able to profit in the near future. You are also right on the fact that every etsy shop should be unique, and they should try to at least be different from any other shops who are selling the same product. Thanks for sharing your insights!
ReplyDeleteHarold Espinal
Thank you Harold!
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