Happy Australia Day, folks! Today I’ve got a fantastic guest post for you from my friend and fellow Aussie Etsy seller Cath. She has an amazing Etsy success story – hitting over 1,000 sales in her first year – but that was on her second time round! Find out the principles she followed to reach that success in today’s post…
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Hello Everyone, and thank you for having me Jess.
Those of you who visit my blog chunky chooky may be familiar with what I have to say about Etsy. I am always happy to help people with their Etsy shops as I had lots of help when I started my first shop on Etsy in March 2008.
Like many of you I found the creative juices started to flow after I had a baby. I was looking for toys for my little that I liked and I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t hideously expensive and made overseas so to cut a very long story short I started sewing and one step lead to another and I opened chunkychooky on etsy.
I made these……
Sales were slow at first of course but as I researched and read and tweaked and re-took photos again and again and I spent hours in the etsy forums watching and learning and reading everything I could get my hands on and I eventually starting to see a few sales. More importantly I learnt a lot and made a lot of mistakes…
Fast forward two years and I decide to launch My Bearded Pigeon. So it was December 2010, I had this great idea and have found a way to make it work, but this time I knew so much more, this time I was going to be far more organized and this time I knew where to focus my energy.
So in the spirit of what Etsy is all about – sharing and community- I thought I would share some of what I have learnt since I started selling on Etsy 3 years ago. Late last year I hit my 1000th sale on Etsy. It was a massive milestone for me and came at a time our little family really needed some good news.
Many people who have bought from me have returned again and again and told their friends.
So here is by no means a comprehensive list but a good start…
DO Answer convos’ politely and promptly, I think it is great to add a bit of humour be yourself … even if it is the tenth person that week asking if you would like to giveaway a cushion on their blog. You can say “No thank you” nicely. This includes being polite even when people ask you questions you have answered numerous times in your policies, listings and shop intro. For example “can I get the cushion without the insert?” I probably get asked this at least once a week despite it saying on every listing that they come without the insert.
DO Respond to treasuries– when someone puts you in one – go over to the treasury and at the very least say thank you! That is all you have to say- sometimes you can say more, but it is nice to acknowledge that some one has taken the time. This is how you get on the front page remember – by being in treasuries.
DO Say thank you when someone orders something from your shop. As soon as I get an order I respond with a thank you and let them know when I plan to post – usually within a couple of days. I respond to the email from paypal as people new to Etsy may not check etsy convos. I find it quite bad manners when people do not acknowledge your order. I am shocked at how often I get no response when I buy something.
DO Be an active team member, I am in quite a few teams and I try to participate when I can, but of course I am not perfect and cannot participate in everything.
DO Always have your shop looking tip top! You never know when you will be featured in an Etsy finds email or on the front page or maybe even on a popular blog. So if people are coming for the first time it may be the difference of them giving you a heart and returning later or not.
DO Always have high res images ready (if you load pictures onto flickr that will help as you can download any sizes) for magazine editors or bloggers who may be interested in featuring you.
DO Remember the customer is almost always usually mostly sometimes right!
DO Follow Etsy’s rules.
DO price accordingly. Include Etsy fees, paypal fees, packaging and stationary, plus the time it takes to list the item, take photos etc, package it all up, take it to the post office plus the actual making of the item, material costs, time taken to get these materials, time taken to actually make it… what are you prepared to work for?
Be realisitic. Don’t worry so much about what other people are selling items in your category for. What do you need to make a profit? To make it worthwhile for you? I see people selling cushions for $12 and wonder how they can be making any money at all.
DO think about how to market your product. What makes it unique? Why would someone buy it? When people buy from you what are they buying? For example when someone buys a cushion from me they are buying a souvenir. They are buying the memory of a lovely holiday, the place they went on their honeymoon, the town they grew up in, the place they met their partner. They are buying something eco friendly, so I make sure I tell them this. They are buying something unique they cannot get anywhere else in the world – (I get the fabric printed myself) so I tell them that. This is fabric no one else has, you cannot buy it online – this is what I am selling (and this is why they are priced as they are) explain to them why they want to buy it and why they should buy it.
DO look at your product critically. Is it original? do people get excited when they see it? Is it unique? Can you get it anywhere else? Does it appeal to a wide range of people? I am lucky that my products appeal to women and men and people also buy them for kids too – know who you are selling too and market accordingly.
DO offer a discount for customers who buy several items. I have had many people buy over 5 cushions from me, in some instances 10+. Reward their loyalty with free postage and/or a % discount. You can make your own coupons on Etsy and people love a discount.
DO have postage listed to lots of different places, and make sure it is accurate. Do not make money out of postage, put your prices up if you need to. There is nothing worse than receiving something that cost you $10 in postage to have it say $2.20 on the envelope. Take the items to the post office and get them weighed.
Do have all your shop policies filled out. How long will you reserve items for? What about returns? what about if an item doesn’t show up? What are the postage times?
DO check your convos regularly. I have heard people say “I have a life I don’t want to be chained to the computer all day.†You don’t have to be, but you do have to check your emails at least 2 times a day I think. You have to allow for time differences. I still have most of my traffic from the US so I need to be up early answering convos and emails and also checking in again at night for responses or new convos. I think it is a huge part of an online business to be able to respond to people quickly.
DO take a really good look at your shop. Look at it from a customers perspective. Does it look neat and tidy with all the sections filled out and all the photos looking nice? Really, does it? Is it full of lots of items so you show up in searches a lot. Are you items in sections so people can easily find what they want? have you used every tag for every item?
DO BRAND EVERYTHING: when someone buys a cushion this is what they get:
There will be no confusion as it to where it came from, so people can tell their friends about you too. Put your logo on shop name on everything!
DO have your shop announcement filled out: it doesn’t have to be a huge amount of writing just a little bit about the products, same with your profile, just a little bio about yourself, why you started making what you make, what materials you use.
DO have lots of detail in your listings and your item title. Who would this be a good present for? On what occasion would you buy it for someone? How can it be used? How is it packaged – say if you are selling artwork people want to know it is going to arrive safely. How big is it? Put the size in cms and inches. It drives me mental how many people put a coin next to the item to show size? how would I know how big a coin from another country is? Are all the tags filled out – every single one?
DO have a good read and think about Etsy ads and about renewing? The thing with renewing is you need to have a bit of a budget in mind and think about when peak times are for you. I seem to get a lot of sales on Thursday and Friday night Australia times – so I renew a lot then. I seem to get less sales and traffic on the weekend so I don’t renew as much. Maybe invest in some Etsy ads? See how it works for you after a week or so…
DON’T Tell the customer that you think something is a bad idea. For example I contacted a necklace seller, and when I asked if I could have the chain longer I was told ” the chain is long enough” . Long enough for whom I thought? I have had people suggest things to me that I think are not great ideas but I am polite and talk my way around it.
DON’T Spam your customers… don’t send them loads for convos/emails one to say you received the order and have posted it is suffice.
DON’T Feel like you need to have a facebook twitter blog and flickr account before you can sell anything. All of these things can be very useful but they do take a bit of time to get the hang of and can be done as you go along.
DON’T Put a bad photo on Etsy, you may be tempted to quickly list something but it may be the difference between a heart and a future sale or nothing. Are you photos looking tip top – with the help of some free photo editing like picnik? Just changing the colour contrast and brightness will make a huge difference you want your pictures to really pop off the page. I use a white background for everything and I don’t put my products in a styled way. For example having the cushions on a chair etc but others swear by this so you will have to decide what works best for you.
DON’T Leave bad feedback without discussing it with the shop owner first. Be reasonable, this is someone’s business. If someone does leave you bad feedback you can use the Etsy kiss and make up feature. I have used it when someone left bad feedback because an item had not arrived – in a week from Australia to Brazil! I politely explained how huge bad feedback was for me and my business and she was happy to change it using the kiss and make up feature.
DON’T COPY!! I see people blatantly copying the work of sellers who do really well – orginal is best. Always. And people will know you have copied and think that is not very good.
DON’T obsess about the number of sales. Yes there are shops that have sold 10 000 items +++ but why worry about them? You cannot compare your shop with other shops that sell different products to yours, so don’t.
Most of all have fun! Working at home running an online business can be very difficult. Being part of a blogging community or other online groups does offer great support for you as it can feel overwhelming at times and you can feel quite isolated.
Don’t stay on the computer all day, step way for large periods and stop playing with your phone – it will do you the world of good.
Cath Young is a  crafter, blogger, mother and wife living an eco friendly life in a tiny town on the mid north coast of NSW. Cath likes taking photos and going for walks in the forest with her dog.
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Thank you so much for sharing all of this, Cath! Extra-special bonus for you, lovely readers, Cath is offering 10% off everything in the My Bearded Pigeon shop until the end of January… the coupon code is: PIGEONFRIENDS
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This post was very informative. I do not have an Etsy shop but am playing with the idea.
I have lots of vintage things that can be sold– and go to a home where someone will love to have it. I just hate to ship it off to Good Will (thrift). I don’t want to jump on the Etsy train just to make money—I think right out of the shoot with that kind of thinking will cause me to dislike doing it.
I’ve been looking for good articles with great tips for Etsy. This is one of them! thanks for posting it.
Pat
cath, GREAT tips and I really appreciate your take on things. thank you so much for a great post.
Great post!!! Lots of excellent pointers. I, too, started over on Etsy, and was a little better the second time around .. and much better yet the third, haha. 🙂 So many great helpful tips here – especially about responding to a sale with a convo right away .. I don’t always do that because I’m afraid of flooding them, since they’re already getting a PayPal notification and a Etsy notification, that includes my message … but still, I know I prefer to be contacted by the seller directly, so I’ll start doing that more now. Thanks for all these helpful dos and donts! 🙂
Congratulations on your well deserved success on Etsy Cath 🙂
Great to see an Australian maker producing an original & quality product & pricing it accordingly.
Thanks so much for the feature Jess and thanks to everyone else for your kind words.
Thanks for this article, Jess and Cath! I have saved it and will refer back to it as I put my etsy shop together. xx
Excellent article Cathy (and Jess). Thanks. I really should try to do more of this.
A great article, an important & honest read for anyone that has an online shop.
thank-you
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MerryGoRoundHANDMADE
🙂
Thank you for this article…I have been a little frustrated by my lack of sales. These are great points and I plan to look at my shop and apply .
Hi Cath!
Thank you for your wonderful Post! It has really got me thinking about my shop and how I can make it better. If you have the time to pop over and a look, I would really appreciate some of your advice.
Many thanks again!
Love, Penni
Great article for anyone with an online shop!
Those pillows are great!
i recently bought from a etsy art seller with about 9000 sales. I did not receive an acknowledgement of the sale- and even worse she did not even mark it as “shipped” on etsy.
So i convo’d her to ask about my order, and i got a convo back saying that she usually “forgets” to mark it shipped. It seems to me that once seller s get a certain number of sales and that a negative in feedback is not going to affect their 100% pos, they seem to drop the ball a bit and basically not care about their customers. After this experience i am going to make it my business to convo every seller and thank them no matter how busy or “famous” i get . I am approaching 1000 sales
great post, i picked up a few tips thanks for taking the time to write and post this article.
Great post!
I have to ask though – do you really respond to every treasury convo?! I sometimes get up to 15 a day, and just don’t have the time to respond anymore! I try and reply to a few once a week or so but I think you have to balance politeness with efficiency.
I admit that I don’t message people after they purchase – I am of the camp that I think the automatic message is enough – where I thank people for their purchase and remind them it is a made to order item and will be a wait.
I do always answer questions promptly and politely though – I just don’t want to overwhelm customers.
Hi Gaby,
Yes I REALLY respond to EVERY single treasury convo, upwards of 10 a day.however it takes less than 30 secs to do per convo, I click the link make a comment to say thank you and that is it, like I said it is how you get on the front page so i reckon its pretty important.
wow ,I am lucky to get 10 views ,so to get a treasury I would be over the moon.
Thank for sharing all this information. What a great post, well written and insightful.
These are all good advice items! I know that I should do a better job on my photography. Thanks for sharing!
This article was full of so many useful tools! Thanks so much for taking the time to post this! You have given me so many things to consider about my shop. I am so thankful for such an awesome read….time well spent!
Great read, thanks for sharing…definitely gives a lot of insight to new sellers on etsy like myself.
great tips,thanks so much.
I too am having a second go on etsy.
have noted your points ,great of you to share.
cheers claire
This article was very useful – thank you for sharing your custom work ethic with us. l think it is important to add the personal touch if you are offering a personal service.
Very good article.
Invaluable as I’m about to open my easy shop today.
Hey, thank you for the great tutorial! I had no idea you can do so much business on etsy!
Wow, this is a fantastic resource Cath! Thank you!
This was amazingly informative. I have to say thank you for taking the time to post these tips and also wanted to say that you are surely someone who gives back what they get to help others.
Ronn Mason
You write a wonderful and informative missive. ‘Just thought you might want to correct a snafu: “you” instead of “your”.
Your text:
…a heart and a future sale or nothing. Are you photos looking tip top…
Again, thanks. Much appreciated.
–Ellie
Some really great tips and tricks to selling on Etsy here.
I’ve read quite a lot of articles about selling so far and there were a few new tips here. It’s great to get advice from a successful seller.
Very encouraging, informative, uplifting and super positive.
Thanks Cath for sharing and inspiring and thanks Jess
Anita – myclectic
Thank you so much for the feedback~ I am “totally” new at the buisness aspect “sales~ presentation” part of this and it really can be quite overwhelming!
I can learn from the pro’s & save myself alot of grief, so please if you feel so inspired, advice~ constructive critisysm would be more than welcomed
Have a great day, Diana<>
I’m an american who lives in saudi arabia and i love photography , i want to sell on etsy , i want to sell iphone 5 cases does that have my photo on it .
So will costumers have a problem with an item that ships from saudi arabia ?
Great post! Very informative! I’m in the process of setting up my Etsy shop right now and this has been really helpful 🙂
Th was wonderfully informative! Thanks so much!
Thanks so much,I was just at the store on esty. I’m very worried because so far I have not sold.
I’m Vietnamese, my English is not very good. Very difficult for me in different languages ​​Fisheries Service
You can see my scarves with sleeves here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LYLYwoolscarf?ref=si_shop
I managed to get my first few sales so I know how you feel. I started interacting with other Etsy users. I think that helped!
A long time has passed, even if I have to run ads cost $ 7/1 week.But I have yet to sell any one product. Can you help me one advice?
So beautiful product I do not or I’m not going in the right direction?
Thanks for sharing useful
You have given me some great ideas for describing my items. Thanks!
Thanks this is great really helpful. I have made a few sales but want to really have a go at this Etsy thing. Please anyone let me know of any more information that would be great.
Thank you , very informative especially because I am a newbie . Mahalo Sanoe
Brilliant blog. I shall save this in my favourites. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to put it together. Just set up my Etsy shop and this information is very encouraging.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ZooCeramics
Regards, Tracy from Zoo Ceramics in England
Great tips, all common sense of course but we need to be reminded. I think you are completely right about how important the little things like quick replies to any queries and of course, just to be friendly, it doesn’t hurt of course but it is so often ignored and will have an impact down the line.
direct and simple tips (well, not that simple to do 🙂
merci! dawnaparis from etsy
Thanks for the tips! They’re helpful and I strongly agree with your last point…always remember to have fun. Have a great day!
Would like to thank for such an informative blog. It was very helpful. My Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/PriTrendz has applied some of the suggestions given above. In fact to inspire others I have written a blog to share my experience on Etsy.
How to reach 225 Favorites and 1800 views on Etsy shop with just 25 products in 90 days?
http://www.PriTrendz.com/blog
Hope you will find it useful too.
~Priyanka
Thank you so much. Got lot of great tips. I started my store 2 years ago and not doing well. I sell bead jewelry and I know lot of people are selling jewelry. I am going to follow your tips and hope to get good sales.
Hi Cath,
Am just starting out in the handmade etsy world and came across your article. Absolutely love it and made some great notes.
I really appreciate people like yourself who have had success and are willing to share their stories, positive actions make this world a better place!
Thanks again,
Kirsty
Hi, Really loved this article and is one of the first that takes you on a logical and sound route to success. Recently just opened an ETsy Shop and super thrilled with the quality and high standards that the community has established and maintained. Thank you for all your work in writing this business plan of sorts.
Sincerely,
Nicolas R.
What suggestions do you have for sellers looking to “jazz up” their product descriptions? I am a seller of jewelry, both handmade and vintage and am having a hard time coming up with the perfect product description without it sounding like a template for each piece of jewelry for sale. Have you found any perfect way to maintain consistency without sounding like a record on repeat?
Many thanks to take your precious time to help other shops. Congratulation for your shop! Very interesting your post and helpfull.
I am from Spain and I opened my etsy shop is 20 days ago. I have favourite items, treasuries and complimento from other shop but unfortunately I do not have one sale.
If you please, could have a look in my shop, to comment if I am going in a wrong direction. It will be very helpful.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SABRINASHANDS?ref=shop_sugg
Thanks.
This post was really helpful. I will take on board your advice about prompt and friendly customer service.
Thank you,
margretmaria
https://www.etsy.com/shop/margretmaria
Great tips. Very Informative. If time permits, do give our new Etsy Seller tool a look – 1-Click Pinterest promotion app for Etsy Sellers called GrowEtsy (http://growetsy.com) . Hope you will find it useful.