Is selling on Etsy a good idea?

[Ephemerella]

@glendam Your bibles are G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. What attention to detail! they are literally the dictionary example of perfection. What lovely and meaningful work!

 

[AliOop]

@glendam I second that - so pretty! In case you want to expand, a friend of mine does something similar with wedding boxes. She gifted us one and it was just lovely! After the wedding was over, besides the cards that our guests dropped into the box, we added keepsakes from the wedding, and now it's all in one beautiful box. Ours is shaped like this one, but decorated with satin, pearls, flowers, etc., with our picture inset on the front. Your work really reminded me of hers - both so talented!!

 

[user 29214]

@Vicki C Thank you! This is one of her latest videos in case you want to check out her content

 

[user 29214]

@Ephemerella That made my day, thank you so much!

@AliOop That's a great tip! Thank you. I have expanded to kneeling pillows, and those boxes also sound interesting. I will check them out. I created Thankyou codes so it is good to have additional items for repeat customers.

 

[MelissaG]

I am now following Starla. She's the first person that's been able to explain SEO to me and didn't completely lose me in seconds. I still hate it but at least it makes sense. And I've been trying to understand this for three years.

 

[user 29214]

I am now following Starla. She's the first person that's been able to explain SEO to me and didn't completely lose me in seconds. I still hate it but at least it makes sense. And I've been trying to understand this for three years.

Agreed! I like her videos and have learned a lot from her free content. She also has a paid course but provides a ton of information for free.

 

[Johnez]

Beautiful creations Glenda, wow.

 

[user 29214]

Beautiful creations Glenda, wow.

Thank you so much!!

 

[MelissaG]

Agreed! I like her videos and have learned a lot from her free content. She also has a paid course but provides a ton of information for free.

I see that but can't find info on price. I'm still debating it. It's not always about profit, it's also about becoming known.

 

[user 29214]

I see that but can't find info on price. I'm still debating it. It's not always about profit, it's also about becoming known.

Oh it’s pricey but from what I hear, worth it. They will start advertising it when they open it (enrollment opens twice a year, in the summer and winter.). If I remember correctly it is around 1k and they have a six month payment plan. But they themselves say to learn as much as you can from their free content first. She has an instagram challenge and different free guides, most are usually linked in her videos description box, or here. I found her videos back in November so I was too new to her in that winter enrollment period. I am still thinking about joining and hopefully by June I have made up my mind about it.

 

[stanekster]

I sell our goat milk soap at farmers markets, online, retail, & tried Etsy. For me Etsy was an utter failure. I tried for 9 months with not a single sale. I think there are several reasons for this.
One is the photos need to be great to really pop and catch people’s attention. Secondly, without people knowing whom you are, your products get lost in the zillions of other soap vendors. And trying to distinguish us from the others people may use price as the determining factor…… not to mention no sales means no reviews. People fear that.

I even tried to give people coupons to buy online (50% off) and ask for review. But no sales…. I finally gave up. I also had a website at the time (free square one). The first year or so, not too many sales. But at farmers markets I remind people about the website every time and the free delivery to local to nearby towns. This helped a ton and got the people that don’t go to markets that often.

Anyhow, I would stick with your website if it does not cost too much. Sometimes it takes time to get traction there. Also you can try social media campaigns to give folks a coupon to join email list. Email out product photos or info about what you are up to… this will help generate online sales too. The importance of online sales is to make a connection to people you never met. You almost need Instagram or Facebook (for older customers), etc for online sales…

Ok this it too long. I will hush now.

 

[TheGecko]

That's one reason that I am not thinking about selling. I have never participated in any social media (I don't count this forum as social media, but if it is, this is the only social media in which I participate) and have never had any interest in doing so. Not even MySpace back in the day. I'm sure I would be doomed to failure no matter how wonderful my soap might be, because nowadays, it seems it's all about social media. Eh.

I'm not big on the whole 'social media' thing myself; I have FB and I'm perfectly fine with that...no interest in 'tweeting' or 'snapping' or whatever. As noted previously, it takes up a LOT of time and the more platforms you have, the more content you need. A simple 15 minute video can take you a good hour to film and another two hours or more to edit and upload.

IME, (In My Experience) this is typical. The only reason for having an online site is to provide acccess for your customers to buy during the off-season. Sad, but true.

That's one of the things I had to rewrap my head around when I first started to design my website (it's still a WIP)...I was going for the full monty of yesteryear when all I need was just a 'shopping cart'

Selling is a lot of work.

A LOT of work People don't realize you will work harder and longer being 'self-employed', than you do working for someone else. Even more so if you are a single-person business because there is no one else.

 

[MelissaG]

I'm not big on the whole 'social media' thing myself; I have FB and I'm perfectly fine with that...no interest in 'tweeting' or 'snapping' or whatever. As noted previously, it takes up a LOT of time and the more platforms you have, the more content you need. A simple 15 minute video can take you a good hour to film and another two hours or more to edit and upload.

That's one of the things I had to rewrap my head around when I first started to design my website (it's still a WIP)...I was going for the full monty of yesteryear when all I need was just a 'shopping cart'

A LOT of work People don't realize you will work harder and longer being 'self-employed', than you do working for someone else. Even more so if you are a single-person business because there is no one else.

I was already working 60-80 hours a week for someone else. So.....

 

[KiwiMoose]

I am now following Starla. She's the first person that's been able to explain SEO to me and didn't completely lose me in seconds. I still hate it but at least it makes sense. And I've been trying to understand this for three years.

Off to watch Starla now