Does anyone ETSY ??

[Suellyn]

Hiya... Am considering selling some home-made items, crafts, decor, art... and have read some good things about going through "Etsy". I swear I have seen some BYCers with "Etsy" in siggy line or posts, but cannot remember WHO.

Am just interested in knowing how it is going for them, if it is something they reccommend; I am not looking to get rich, I *LOVE* "arts & crafts" and am actually quite decent at it, just looking to do something I love, and possibly make a bit of "mad money".. Which will probably go to chicken feed and more hatching eggs

!!

Anyone have any experience with Etsy?? Either directly or indirectly... I am just curious what you think of it....

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rhondapiper]

I don't sell on Etsy, but I buy a LOT. A ridiculous lot.

It seems like only a handful of buyers really make a lot of money there and have high sales volume, but if I were a crafter, I'd be happy to sell something I made even if I only had a sale once in a while. Just to know someone bought my stuff would be pretty rewarding.

A lot of the sales there seem to be a 'Buy from me I'll buy from you' type of exchange, which kind of defeats the purpose of using it to make money.

Try it, you aren't out a lot for listing fees if it doesn't go well.

As a buyer, when I purchase something, its important to me that I get good communication from the seller. So if you decide to go for it, consider convoing your buyers asap to say thank you for the order and let them know when it will ship. Then, include a nice thank you with the order. I expect a higher level of service from Etsy than from Ebay, and so do most others. It's kind of like buying at a boutique vs. Target. I don't repurchase from sellers who didn't ever communicate with me, no matter how good their product.

Good luck if you decide to try it out!

 

[Suellyn]

Thank you so much, that is exactly the type of input I'm looking for... both a seller's AND a buyer's point of view/expectations!! Very helpful.

I am just now familiarizing myself with the Etsy website, concept, etc,.. I think what may be difficult for a lot of crafters (self included!) is understanding the possible conflict between what you LIKE to do vs. what people LIKE to buy, and finding a "happy medium" solution!!

Guaranteed I'm not going to find much of a market selling Indian-inspired "Henna/Mehndi" style animal themed decor & crafts

!! Some people LOVE it, but most don't really know what it is!!

 

[rhondapiper]

When and if you do list, use your keywords!

Etsy has a pretty terrible search engine (I'm a programmer so these things annoy me

), and bases the search results mostly off the keywords you get to enter. So people who do like the type of crafting you do can find your work among the hundreds of thousands of items, use every one of the keywords that you are allowed to have and include the color of the item along with other descriptive adjectives.

If you set up a shop, drop me a private message here and I'll give you advice from the viewpoint of a frequent buyer.

 

[Suellyn]

Thank you SO much.....!

 

[saddina]

I buy there a bit, in general if I can't find it locally someone there will have it (ninja pokemon plushies for example). It's useful for gifts for hard to shop for family, like fancy soaps for my mother.