Should I Open an Etsy Store?

I recently received 2 emails asking if they should open an Etsy store. Now, you must know I am not the Etsy expert, but I have been selling there for a little while.

Here are some of the questions and my responses.

I’ve heard that you have to work to promote your store more on Etsy than on eBay. How do you do that?

Yes you do have to promote a little bit more. That’s why I join a team. I’m in the homeschool moms team and a Christian team. I will be sharing a post on this specific topic very soon.

You can also promote with business cards, twitter, facebook, blogs, etc.

What should I look for to list on there?

**Handmade items sold on Etsy must be made by you. You can’t sell other people’s handmade items for them unless you open a team shop. Vintage handmade things made by others are fine because they go in the vintage category.

**Supplies are a great thing to sell on Etsy. Paper ephemera (paper that can be used for collage, scrapbooking, etc–vintage book pages, ledger pages), yarn, game pieces, buttons, jewelry supplies.

**You really need to poke around Etsy a little and see all the options. As you look light bulbs will go on in your mind and you will find something to sell that you can specialize in.

I don’t think that one handmade item is enough for a store.

Many stores on Etsy have one specific theme or item. There are some who think it’s odd to have a variety of items in their Etsy shop. You do what works best for you.

Things to consider:

1. Handmade items must be made by you.

2. Photographs are very important on Etsy and need to be more artsy. eBay photos tend to be more utilitarian–just show the item. Etsy photographs need to be pretty and you need to work on getting nice clear photos.

3. Learn Etsy. It’s not eBay. Things that are normal and accepted on eBay are not always accepted on Etsy. You need to pay attention.

4. Budget in a little time for the forums. It’s some exposure for your store and you’ll find tons of helpful information.

5. Tagging your items on Etsy takes a little getting used to but helps your items show up in searches. Learn to do it well! Here’s an article on tagging.

6. Don’t worry about starting slowly. Learning how to sell online is overwhelming. So is learning a new venue. Just get started  and then do the next thing. You can learn as you go. You can also go back and improve things and change your store. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing!

7. Look at what others are doing. See what you like or what you would do differently. Looking at other shops and sellers gives me an idea how Etsy works.

8. Realize you may be doing a lot of reading and looking things up for awhile until you get the hang of things.

9. You cannot change your username so choose carefully!

Here’s an Etsy article for beginning sellers

What can and cannot be sold on Etsy

A blog post on picking your Etsy name

Help Guide for Listing an item

Etsy FAQ

The Storque–Etsy’s blog full of info!

A thread in the forums–the ultimate “newbie” guide

The Etsy Seller’s Handbook–enough reading for many days

I hope this helps those of you considering opening an Etsy shop. Please let me know if I can help you find anything else!

**This post has been submitted to Works for Me Wednesday. Find other great tips here.