# ETSY low sales + insurance



## Guywithsoap? (Sep 21, 2011)

I have looked at a lot of the stores are ETSY. Some of these people have very few sales ( if I am reading the stats right).

How can they afford insurance, if indeed they are using insurance?

From what I read here, and with how litigious people are, insurance seems like a must.

But if you aren't selling enough, you are losing money? the number I saw for insurance was several hundred a year.


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## Deda (Sep 21, 2011)

I've got very few Etsy sales, only 144.

Most of my sales come straight from my website and from my wholesale customers.  I also sell at a local farmers market.

From a business owners prospective, the dumbest thing you can do it run a business without insurance.  Same as driving a car, you wouldn't drive without insurance.  I certain that most, if not all, customers would assume (I hope rightly so) that any business they deal with is properly insured.


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## LauraHoosier (Sep 22, 2011)

Insurance costs actually vary almost as as much as soaps do.  I've seen groups offer it as part of membership and charge $400 per year.  My quote through my home and auto company who has contracts with RLI quoted me $250 per year for a 1 million dollar policy.  $190 a year for 300K.

Many Etsy'ers also have sales away from Etsy that are more substantial.  Etsy is used as a gateway to direct people to their store website.  That's not uncommon from what I've read about Etsy.  Its like a perpetual craft fair that in the end drums up business for outside craft fair times.


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## AmyW (Sep 22, 2011)

1. Most business don't start seeing a true profit for many years.
2. Doing any sort of business with out protecting yourself can end up far more costly than the insurance would have been, even if you make squat for income.
3. I have 1 etsy sale for my web development. I like etsy ok but it's not where all my business comes from. I have had hundreds of clients over the years - etsy is definitely not an indicator of my true earnings. Same with soap - I'll list some stuff, but most will be on my site and through farmer's markets and hopefully wholesale.


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2011)

Yeah, I am not planning on starting to sell yet, but I will have insurance long before I will begin selling. Because I am just uber paranoid that something bad might happen   I don't know about the low etsy #s, because alot of different things may be going on there. Maybe like a pp said, they don't use etsy as their main platform. Or maybe they just got started but already have insurance. All I know is you should def. get insurance. Just like you have to sink the initial funds for supplies, same goes for insurance imho.


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## Soapy Gurl (Sep 27, 2011)

I think the problem with Etsy is that it is overloaded with product.  Last year around the holidays I went through and counted the new pages in one day, in the bath and body catagory.  It was over 100.  The default is to "most recently listed" and they do not have a random sorting order.  So your product is 100 pages in, in one day!  No wonder no one can find it to buy.  I think most small soapers don't have insurance.  Plus they don't know what they are even selling.  I have seen soap listing rose EO and other expensive EOs that I know they are not adding to a $5 bar of soap.  Listings with no ingredients or just impossible things.  It is kind of scary...


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2011)

Soapy Gurl said:
			
		

> I think the problem with Etsy is that it is overloaded with product.  Last year around the holidays I went through and counted the new pages in one day, in the bath and body catagory.  It was over 100.  The default is to "most recently listed" and they do not have a random sorting order.  So your product is 100 pages in, in one day!  No wonder no one can find it to buy.  I think most small soapers don't have insurance.  Plus they don't know what they are even selling.  I have seen soap listing rose EO and other expensive EOs that I know they are not adding to a $5 bar of soap.  Listings with no ingredients or just impossible things.  It is kind of scary...



Yeah I have seen the no ingredients soaps. I also kinda found that kind of odd. I am not going to buy something when I don't even know what is in it! :roll: 

I read somewhere (maybe on here) that you should list in a calculated fashion so you always had a product every five pages to make people become accustomed to your product and be more likely to buy. 

I do think there are some people on there selling that have no business doing so, for sure, but overall I like etsy. You just have to weed through some of the stuff, kwim?


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## Bigmoose (Sep 30, 2011)

I have done OK on Etsy But the bulk of my sales are direct sales and craft shows.  Etsy is a small part of my total sales.

Bruce


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## Soapy Gurl (Oct 1, 2011)

I wish it was easier to sell on Etsy.  I really love shopping on there and I spend a ton of time looking at things.  I love going through the soap pages for inspiration.  There is just so much to go through.


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## Tabitha (Oct 1, 2011)

95% of my sales come from etsy, repeat customers that found me 1st on etsy, referals from my etsy customers & wholesale accounts that found me from, yep etsy. Etsy dos work if you are willing to work it like a job. In the begining I spend many hours *ever*y day figuring the system out, doing research, networking, etc. It can work- IF YOU WORK. It does not work if you list 12 bars & 'wish' for a sale. Wishing won't get you anywhere, it's all about hard work & long hours, like any other job.


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## CarolynD (Oct 17, 2011)

Soapy Gurl said:
			
		

> I think the problem with Etsy is that it is overloaded with product.  Last year around the holidays I went through and counted the new pages in one day, in the bath and body catagory.  It was over 100.  The default is to "most recently listed" and they do not have a random sorting order.  So your product is 100 pages in, in one day!



Just an FYI, Etsy recently changed this and the default search is now by relevancy, not recency.  There is still the option to see listings by recency, but I don't know how many buyers change to that sorting option, or even realize it's there.  This means you don't have to space your listings out the way you used to, but it also means you need to find a new way to get to the top of the listings, which has eluded me so far.


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## CarolynD (Oct 17, 2011)

Soapy Gurl said:
			
		

> I think the problem with Etsy is that it is overloaded with product.  Last year around the holidays I went through and counted the new pages in one day, in the bath and body catagory.  It was over 100.  The default is to "most recently listed" and they do not have a random sorting order.  So your product is 100 pages in, in one day!



Just an FYI, Etsy recently changed this and the default search is now by relevancy, not recency.  There is still the option to see listings by recency, but I don't know how many buyers change to that sorting option, or even realize it's there.  This means you don't have to space your listings out the way you used to, but it also means you need to find a new way to get to the top of the listings, which has eluded me so far.


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## Guest (Oct 17, 2011)

CarolynD said:
			
		

> Soapy Gurl said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



If that is their sorting algorithm then they are doing it via keywords


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## CarolynD (Oct 17, 2011)

TikiBarSoap said:
			
		

> If that is their sorting algorithm then they are doing it via keywords



Yes, but it takes into account words in the title as well as your tags, and it seems to change from day to day, as my items move up and down in the search results without me making any changes to them.  And I'm not talking about them moving because of other shops' listings and sales that are in front of me, I'm talking about my own items that flip-flop before and after each other, etc.  Somewhere I think I read that they spread out listings by the same seller to increase variety, but I'm not sure if that's true or not.  The fact is, some of my very relevant items that are very recently listed are still way down in the results.


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## rebobinar (Oct 1, 2012)

Could you tell me what kind of insurance you're talking about?
I'm thinking of starting to sell on Etsy, and never considered needing insurance to do so...


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## Bigmoose (Oct 1, 2012)

See what happens if you google RLI insurance.  I had them years ago directly through them, no other agents.  I paid $210 for 1M of insurance back then.  The good with RLI is they are cheap, the bad is once your sales are 5,000.00 or more in a year they will not cover you anymore.  RLI is a good way to start.

Bruce


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## rebobinar (Oct 3, 2012)

Thank you - I appreciate that!


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## WitchWayBeauty (Oct 23, 2012)

I have £5 million product and public liability insurance in the Uk from Direct Line, which is about £15 per month or £180 per year. 

I have only been selling on Etsy since Feb and didn't have my first sale for 6 months, I'm waiting until I've been on the site for a while to see how it goes. 

There are a lot of Soap Sellers on Etsy so you do have to find your unique selling point, I'm still working on mine and trying out lots of different stuff. 

I am always on the lookout for craft fairs and markets to try selling at.


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## SilverMaple (Nov 5, 2012)

Look locally for insurance as well.  I have $1 millon of liability coverage from a local insurance agent for about $100/year.  Because we insure our home, car, and life with his company, he was able to get me a great deal.

As far as Etsy sales-- a lot of people sell on Etsy AND other venues.  You just can't link your other venues (even if it's your own website) to Etsy per their rules.  A lot of my customers check on Etsy to see what I have available, then call or email me to place their order.   Etsy is a mere fraction of my business.


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