Have you ever knitted a scarf, made jewelry, or sewn clothes mxke your kids? Can you build a bench, take intriguing photos, or make a picture frame from scrap wood? Or do you have a good eye for vintage styles and know where to find them at a bargain? Tori started her Etsy shop when her second child was a baby, and says the flexibility it affords is a key requirement at this point in her life. It brings in etzy supplementary income and fulfills my creative urges. Or. According to a survey. But make no mistake — selling handmade items on Etsy is a business, and a big one at .
Here is how you can sell on Etsy successfully from someone who does this today
How I used Etsy to give myself a substantial raise each year and eventually make more than everyone I know…. Welcome to the wonderful world of being a millennial…where our parents made TWICE our salary 30 years ago, and paying the bills is a constant struggle. But can you actually make REAL money with a side hustle? Or is the internet just full of liars and thieves trying to convince you this is a real thing? And that was the day it occurred to me: this might actually work. So I started to expand. Soon my shop grew, and I created new products to reach a different audience:. I noticed that wedding items were pretty damn popular on Etsy. So I decided to join the ranks of wedding sellers with my own options for less conventional brides. My wedding shop is no longer active Explanation to follow. But the fact is, starting a website from scratch is a bit harder than it looks. There are literally NO website platforms that send you traffic not enough, anyways. Most side hustlers create a website and then expect to make money immediately. But that traffic will run out quickly.
What to Sell?
I never ONCE had a low income month on Etsy, but it took me about a year to finally realize I could trust the business. In , I decided to start a blog.
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After a series of professional twists and turns and a graduate degree because why not? Over the next five to seven years, I began to feel resentful, cheated, and lost. Jumping on the crafty bandwagon, I started sewing at night as a creative outlet until I experienced my epiphany. I LOVE sewing! I could enjoy total flexibility and be more available for my daughter! I would make things that other people would buy and be creative and find total fulfillment in my job! So with my inventory of random baby accessories and a whole lot of wide-eyed optimism, I joined handmade marketplace Etsy. I sold a few small things, set up a business, and designed my branding. I researched SEO and filled out all the fields in my online profile. I wrote descriptive, keyword-rich product descriptions. And I sewed the same three patterns over and over again in every possible fabric permutation. In order to stay competitive in the handmade market, I had to lower my prices to such an extent that I could only barely cover the cost of materials and supplies.
Mixing Art and Business
Have you ever knitted a scarf, made jewelry, or sewn clothes for your kids? Can you build a bench, take intriguing photos, or make a picture frame from scrap wood? Or do you have a good eye for vintage styles and know where to find them at a bargain? Tori started her Etsy shop when her second child was a baby, and says the flexibility it affords is a key requirement at this point in her life. It brings in a supplementary income and fulfills my creative urges.
Or. According to a survey. But make no mistake — selling handmade items on Etsy is a business, and a big one at. Successful sellers learn to balance the creative side of the process with bookkeeping, buying supplies, customer service, and marketing. So what should you sell?
What about that fun embroidered hat you made that everyone raves about, or the stylish-but-practical coin purse you gave your friend? Sometimes, the right product just makes itself known. Another option is to resell vintage items. If you have a tasteful eye for trends and enjoy spending weekends at flea markets, yard sales, and thrift shops, you could consider buying underpriced retro items and reselling them on Etsy or.
The most successful sellers offer something unique: They either put a new spin on a classic product, come up with an entirely new look or idea, or simply sell in a more customer-friendly way than others — with lower prices, a wider selection, or more striking photography, for instance. That patronage may not be sustainable, but it can give your shop a valuable kickstart and some helpful positive feedback. Name your shop. Design a banner.
You can start with something simple, but if you have a graphic designer friend, now may be the time to call in a small favor. Choose a profile picture.
Etsy shoppers are on the site because they want to buy something unique from an individual person — not a generic plastic gizmo from Amazon or Wal-Mart. So show them who that person is. Set up your profile page. Tell customers who you are, what you make, and why and where and how you do it. Fill out your shop policies, including returns and exchanges and shipping fees.
Signing up as a seller is free, but it costs 20 cents to list an item for four months or until it sells, whichever comes. Etsy also collects 3. When creating a title for your item, consider what keywords a buyer would search for when looking for your product or something like it. This includes physical descriptions of the item itself — e. Remember to tag items with keywords, as well as alternative search terms used in other parts of the country or world. For example, what one person calls a teapot someone else may call a kettle.
One of the biggest factors in driving sales is attractive photography. For years, Etsy has offered free photography workshops online and at its Brooklyn, N.
So your photos have to show all of those things. Many successful crafters establish their own visual style that permeates everything from their listing photography to their logo, banners, and the products themselves. You need to photograph it, write up a description, and list it for sale. But you also have to consider customer service, packaging, shipping, and restocking.
All of this factors into your pricing. When trying to set a price for an item, consider the cost of all the materials you need to make it. Include other expenses, too, like shipping supplies, equipment, even the electricity to run the space heater in your garage workshop. Then, add in your labor costs — what you should be earning per hour. Finally, add a degree of retail markup — your desired profit plus a bit of wiggle room for seasonal sales or promotions.
But as I established a reputation, I began selling higher-priced items and custom orders for sets of things. Of course, there are other places to sell crafts. Some how much money do you make selling on etsy set up booths at craft shows, farmers markets, concerts, and holiday fairs to sell their goods and bring their brand to a new audience.
When you display your work at a fair or show, concentrate just as hard on branding. This means earnings can vary drastically — from nothing at all to a respectable full-time salary. Jessi VanGundy echoes that sentiment, though she hopes to earn enough to be a full-time potter before long. Entrepreneurship Making Money Small Business. What to Sell? Listing an Item Signing up as a seller is free, but it costs 20 cents to list an item for four months or until it sells, whichever comes.
Photography One of the biggest factors in driving sales is attractive photography. Loading Disqus Comments Featured on:.
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Creating your own ecommerce shop takes more time and involves a steeper learning curve. It can be way over your head. Good news is, you have tons of opportunities to start an online store without jumping through technical hoops. Etsy is the biggest handmade marketplace online today. Millions mney people shop on Etsy daily, and your store could be one of the many that’s making sales.
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It’s free to open a shop. Transaction fees are only 3. Read on for how you can get your first 40 listings are free! Now that you’ve figured out your specialty, you need to identify your ideal customer group. Etsyy ideal customer can take many forms, but let’s focus on finding out your major ideal customer group. For example: yoga practitioners, home schooling stay-at-home moms, bus drivers, teachers, lawyers, accountants, nurses, dog lovers,foodies, wine drinkers and so on. The reason we’re identifying your ideal customer group first before even thinking about what you’re going to sell is an important one.
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