Yes, more and more people are learning about Etsy! I used to sell a few things on ebay but then learned about Etsy and it is more up my alley. I'd say for anyone who enjoys making handcrafts of any sort, they should at least give Etsy a try. Or if you prefer not to sell online, it's fun to just go there and look around. It costs you nothing for a visual shopping adventure, only register with an email address and a password. They never contact you if you do not have a shop on Etsy.
It's fun!
Lynn
I stopped by your shop today and I liked everything. Sometimes I see pieces and think "what were they thinking", but not in your case. Great job
I was so surprised and happy to see this info about the Etsy Shops. I have always wanted to have a little store to sell the things I make. I have one question.....do you sell alot of stuff? I didn't know whether to have a little store on EBay or Etsy. Thanks for all the great comments. I'm glad I found this! =)
The great thing about Etsy is the community of sellers, now 200,000, and the many, many ways Etsy admin helps you help yourself. They do this in a number or ways. For instance, Virtual labs are where newbies (and anyone else of course) can ask questions in real time to a real person...the Etsy person is on a webcam so you can see her answer all questions that basically are submitted through instant messaging. It's great. They have a lab for critiquing your shop...how it looks, what it says - same idea, live person, real time. You get cool ideas.
The Etsy seller community is an enormous base of people to sell to...and they're interested in buying as well as selling. The trick is reaching them and somehow making yourself a 'presence' on Etsy. I'm still learning that part. The more ACTIVE you are, the more people you can get to view your shop and potentially make a sale. And by ACTIVE, here's what I mean. There are lots of activities for participation. There's a tab at the top of the home page where you can get a fun look at some of the things offered - choose the Community tab and then go to 'forums' where you can read great threads on Etsians asking questions of each other. Or try the 'Storque' tab...that's the Etsy magazine so to speak - great articles on selling and improving your shop. When you participate in these things, other sellers get to know you and stop by your shop.
Take a look at the Treasury tab along the left side of the homepage. There you'll see 333 photo groupings of 12 items each, all current items for sale. It's created by an Etsian with some theme in mind - a color, a holiday; you'll see when you take a look. They are pleasing to look at. This is another way to be seen as a seller...either create a treasury, make comments on other treasuries and if you're very lucky, have something from your store appear in a treasury. People see your "avatar"...a pic you have chosen to indicate you as a seller... on every forum thread you participate in, every lab you take, every comment you make etc.
It's all about getting yourself visible, and it takes time for sure, and I'm convinced there's a learning curve. Like most things, I think results are directly proportional to the time you put in. To answer your question about do you get alot of sales...not yet for me, but I truly feel one can. I've had just 4 sales since I opened in Aug, but someone just bought 6 more items which I have reserved for them. I'm getting the feel for how this all works....now I just have to make more time to get out there and promote my shop. I've sold on EBay and it's nothing like the Etsy community. AND your costs on Etsy are considerably less than on EBay.
Busy season for me - I'm selling in 5 stores right now, and have a four day show just before Thanksgiving...so after the holidays I hope to have the time to promote, promote, promote.
I'd highly recommend getting involved on Etsy - it's alot of fun, you meet great people, and it's a continued learning experience. It doesn't get much better than that!
Again, here's my shop: www.touchofsilver.etsy.com
Hope this provides some good food for thought!
Barbara
