In late October of 2009, i started up an etsy store. I make jewelry earings, which are very, very common types of crafts. I doubled up the "very" so it emphasizes on how common they are, did i say very?
This is an important factor to consider, there are plenty of other people who are selling on etsy. Similar items, sometimes you might come across the odd item that looks identical to what you are selling. Your item has to be unique, nothing standard that you can buy at Walmart for a low price.
When i set up my store, it cost 20c per item listing, this is very cheap, unless you are very poor. Not so poor that you can't keep the internet, but poor enough to survive on ramen noodles.
Once you have listed about 10 items or so, then you start looking for ways to promote yourself. They have the showcase feature, where you pay $7 to display your item in the category you choose.
I did this, it wasn't very helpful because i only received about 10 extra views on some items, some items views were very very low. It was a frustrating thing and made me believe my items were not good enough for people. I really believed it might boost up my views to maybe around 100 or so, but no i only received a very low amount of views.
I am stuck with an etsy bill of around $12, and haven't had any return on investment.
I went into the community forums and started posting there hoping people would notice me, but my husband reminded me that it is nothing but mutual masturbation. What it means is that everyone in there to get noticed. Don't use it as a promotional tool, but more of a place you want tips. It's best to get out in the real world and promote yourself and talk to flesh people.
To break it down,
- Don't expect to get noticed, you might go for days, weeks, months, years without getting noticed.
- It will take a lot of time to promote yourself. Everybody sells online, try to get yourself out to family, friends & public events and not just the people in the forums of etsy.
- You'll have to invest time & some money if you want to get anywhere fast.
- Remember, quality not quantity. Use up some extra beads and materials, go crazy. It's better to have items that you really really love then too many items you don't have any more room for.
- Stop thinking personally such as "omg nobody wants my crap, i suck for life" and start thinking business oriented such as "how can i appeal to the mass".
- Selling and Crafting will not support you, you'll need to support it.
Don't be a debbie downer, have a realistic approach & keep on chugging.
http://laolla.etsy.com
