Questions about Etsy

[Saltysteele]

can anyone tell me about their experience with etsy? I keep seeing everyone with their etsy links, and it makes me curious.

i've got all these soaps made, and don't want to just give them all away (need to make the cost back). do you find your soaps sell well there? what are most of your customers; new buyers or repeat customers? are the fees reasonable?

etc.

 

[Tabitha]

I love it & do very well. I suggest searching the threads here. We have had quite a few discussions about etsy.

 

[Saltysteele]

okay, will do

Thanks, Tabitha!

(sorry if this was one of those "wth-don't-the-newbies-search-previous-threads-for-things-we-talk-about-all the-time threads)

i've got other questions about the fees (do they eat you alive), shipping, etc., so i'm off to search right now

 

[chrisinflorida]

I've been on there for a couple of months and can't get anywhere. I've had 3 total sales in about 2 months. One was a local sale that I did outside of Etsy.

The fees do tend to eat you alive when you don't really have the extra money. Plus, there are a lot of soap sellers on there.

Chris

 

[Mandarin]

Like Tabitha, I do very well on Etsy. I am a firm believer that using good tags, great photography, interesting descriptions, and having a stocked store are keys to success on Etsy.

 

[beautifulbay]

I do well on etsy, but maybe not as well as other soapers. I have to stay active on it to get my sales. I've had about 125 sales in the past 6 months....not too bad, but could be better.

Fees are reasonable, I think. It is simple and and easy to run, but very high competition. I sell better with shows.

 

[TheSoapyEwe]

I've been with Etsy for almost 4 years now and I love it.

HandspunandDyedToo.etsy.com

I have opened up a shop there for my soaps and skincare but haven't done much with it as I'm so busy doing shows and our local farmers market and have a large customer base locally but I hope to get more serious with it soon.

When I first started out I had and Etsy and an Ebay store. The ebay fees were eating up all of my profits.
Etsy's fees are reasonable, it's free to upload pics to your listings, there's not a monthly fee to have a store as there is on Ebay.

You do need to list daily or relist items already in your shop to stay current in the search pages, you can buy showcases there to promote your shop too.
Etsy itself offers tons of advice on how to promote on and off of Etsy also.

I'd say give it a try!

 

[Lynnz]

Etsy is something I am keen to give a go, just waiting on my registration with NICNAS here in AU which is compulsory if you want to sell and not risk a very large fine if caught. I am sooooooooo computer illiterate that a web page scares the hebbie geebies out of me.............For me venturing into Etsy is brave enough LOL. Saltysteele I say you have to be in to win and hope it brings you all the sales you would like and more

 

[JenniferSews]

I've had no luck on Etsy. In my previous business I would sell things within minutes of listing them, but then nothing at all until I relisted those same items. Now I just don't have the massive inventory, time, energy or funds to relist every day. They have GREAT support though. I signed up for a new sellers lab and get an email once a week or so on selling and being successful on etsy. Although I no longer sell there I still read the emails because there's usually something business worthy in there.

From my gatherings, you have to be part of the community there to sell well. That requires a commitment of time, but if you're good at message boards that may be great!

 

[rubato456]

i liike etsy for the most part. i've had 22 sales in the last 4 months there, but quite a few of those were for 3 or 6 bars...and some lip balm too. i think it's easy and user friendly and the support is good. not as flexible as i would like w/ issues like sales tax or coupons for repeat customers, but nothings perfect and i'm not ready to spring for my own individual web site yet.