Come on then Give us your Etsy Selling top 3 Tips

[sublimekate]

Hope it's ok for me to start this thread, I really want to have a go with etsy and following on from Lemon Kittens (Janey's) thread thought I'd start an 'Etsy Top Tips' thread for sellers.

I've only sold stuff on etsy to existing customers so started to feel 'What's the point' Admittedly I haven't done anything other than simply list items 

I know some of you are having great success with it so come lets have 'em   

Kate xx

[Josephine]

I started listing about 8 weeks ago and I've had about a dozen sales, some to existing customers, some to new and some to USA which I'm quite pleased with although I don't know how that compares. I think you need to keep adding regularly to be noticed. You can pay to be featured in showcases for a day, $7 for smaller ones, $15 for main so if you have lots of nice beads that you want to promote that could be worth considering. The usual promoting on forums like this is still worth doing. Other than that I don't really know, I'd be interested to hear what others have to say.

[Steampunkglass]

I did notice listing something 'odd' looking seemed to get more people looking, although it still didn't really get me anymore sales in the long term; might also have put them off, found out I was a nutter and ran away instead, so it's a double edged sword really

[Kaz]

Little and often as most people browse the front page or search but then get fed up of looking through pages and pages of listings.
Use your beaders showcase page to link to your etsy shop (I got an order for over $100 from a lady who found me on beaders showcase and said she found it hard to find the beads she liked on etsy)
Keep an eye on prices and adjust if the exchange rate moves drastically.
Kazx

[sublimekate]

Well that sounds impressive to me Josephine, sounds like a good start.

Only thing is I've looked at the showcases lots of times though and I've NEVER seen an available slot on any of the jewellery ones, is there a certain time of day that they are released, is it a US time that we'd be in bed or something???

Glenn - How did you tell more people were looking, is that something you can see on Etsy are there stats you can see, or was it referrals to your website that went up??

Thanks for those tips Kaz, when Janey said she listed an item each day it made sense, as you say people will get fed up after a few pages so something each day gived you a better chance of being noticed. Congrats on your sale, I think if this is going to mean more networking on other sites I'm going to have ration my FHF time 


Oh BTW Did you all know that Moo and Etsy are doing a promotion, if you buy a set of Moo Mini Cards you get a second set half price, the promo code is etsymoomini
and it's valid until May 19th so only a few days left, worth stocking up on moo cards if you use them as it will save you a fiver.

Kate x

[nemeton]

My top tips for Etsy are very simple:
1. Don't give up
2. Don't give up
and 3. Don't give up 

It takes time to establish a customer base when you open your shop - and I came to it with a couple of years' hard self-promotion behind me already. The FAQ's on Etsy are required reading, ditto the forum thread 'Newbies. Here's why you're not selling yet'.
As far as I can gather, the showcases aren't very effective for many people - you could list or relist a lot of items for that seven dollar fee - but everybody is different so if you're less of a cheapskate than me you might find it's worth giving them a try.
You can sign up to get 'Google Analytics' for your shop to see where people are coming from and what search terms they used, to help refine the tagging of your items; you also get Etsy statistics on 'number of views' so you can see how many people have looked at an item. (Not that that means very much - I've got something with well over 2000 views and it's still in my shop!)

Do make sure you tick all the boxes as far as buyers are concerned, i.e. fill in your location, add a nice banner and a shop announcement (short and sweet so there is still room to see some of the pictures without scrolling down), fill in your profile and some clear policies, purchase a couple of small items from other sellers so you have some feedback (and an understanding of how the checkout procedure works, as this is something that new buyers often find confusing!), tag your items fully and accurately (uk, lampwork, sra, fhf, glass, bead, focal, colour, shape, pattern, your business name if it's different from your Etsy username...), have at least a full page of items in your shop so there is plenty of choice, use all five of your photo spots for each item, make the photos as clear and the description as informative as possible (this is all that your customers have to go on when they can't see the beads in person), give measurements in inches and centimetres, tell them the unique selling points... All seems like a lot of faff and takes ages but it is definitely worth it (plus it makes you feel that you are doing something positive when sales are slow  ) - then once you have a nice shop, get out there and promote your socks off to drive traffic to it!
I was doubtful whether Etsy would work for me, but now (15 months on) I am so glad I gave it a try - and there are plenty of jewellery sellers on there (yours truly included) who buy 'supplies' (i.e. beads!) on a regular basis 
Sorry, I've gone on a bit there, hope at least some of it was useful, it IS possible to do well on Etsy even in the supposedly saturated bead/jewellery market, so hang in there! 

[sublimekate]

Lynn, that is fantastic, thank you so much for taking the time to write all that down.

Brilliant advice and encouragement!!!

Thank You 

[Steampunkglass]

Some great advice here, I need more patience and perseverance I think!

How did you tell more people were looking, is that something you can see on Etsy are there stats you can see, or was it referrals to your website that went up??

I did add the google analytics thingie, but I just normally view the shop and you have option to show by gallery or list; choose list and it shows how many views it's had. It won't show how many people who've breezed in and breezed out but which items people are clicking onto for a closer & more detailed look. It's also helpful to see what style gallery photos you take 'work' to make people interested enough to find out more

[Vicki.White]

Thanks Kate for doing this thread... cuz after janey's success It did lead me to look "back" into etsy... as I had given up... though was happy to watch a few lovely people "heart" my shop. hehe. I have a shop for my jewellery but am definatly thinking of setting one up for my beads!!! :-D

xxx

[sublimekate]

I've spent ALL day sorting my Etsy shop out, making it look pretty, sorted my policies, shop announcement etc. Then listed beads, dimensions in cm and inches, I've done all the tagging Lynn suggested too including my name, uk, sra, fhf and so on.

And guess what I sold a set already.....yeeeehaaaaaa, I'm so happy 

It's Action Stations now http://www.sublimebeads.etsy.com

So I've put a page full up, and I'm going to list another bead every day and see how that works. Also I'm going to carry on reading all the Etsy stuff which is brilliant. Please please anyone reading this that's on Etsy please heart me, and I'll heart you right back.


Feedback welcome in fact appreciated, I've been so tired today and there are quite likely lots of typo's.

Thank you, thank you all, you've inspired me to get on with it. Kate xx

kate xx

[Vicki.White]

Kate... you've already had 6 sales!!! they way you were talking I thought... you can't of had any! hehe you silly thing!!! 
I wish you all the best with the etsy sales... you're shop looks fantastic! I wanna sort mine out too now 
xxx

[sublimekate]

Just thought I'd give you an update, I started this thread on the 13th, listed some beads on the 14th, and since then I've had 13 sales, and 6 brand new customers 

It does take a while to list things and it's been hard work updating it regularly and my shop too but worth it, I'm thrilled, and I know I've said it already but thank you for all the advice and encouragement.

Fantastic. Kate x

[lesley]

Kate, do you get charged twice, by both Etsy and Paypal?

I see you're up to 18 sales now.

[sublimekate]

Yes you do Lesley, so it's pricey, that's the main downside in my opinion, your paying double the charges!! Also having to keep your eye on the exchange rate, so there's more to think about when your pricing your work.

I'm very aware that I'm selling stuff on my website too, and don't want to rip anyone off because I'm asking them to buy through etsy, I've charged what I would charge on my website because the way I look at it is this, Etsy provides a doorway to significantly the states and uk customers too, a potentially much bigger customer base, looking long term whatever the pinch now I'm thinking will pay off in the long run.

I could list the items in my shop and make more money, but my cutomer base could take a lot longer to grow, and I actually don't think most people would ever have found me, it's swings and roundabouts isn't it, so far worth it for me, hope it continues.

[nemeton]

Kate, that's brilliant, you've done really well to have got sales going so quickly - long may it continue!