Banner Sponsors

Daphne Feb 12, 2007

I just learned about a website called Etsy where one can sell anything handmade. http://www.etsy.com/index.php
Have any of you heard of it? I know Yvette sells on it.
Have we discussed it some where already? I don't want to beat it to death so please just post a link to the discussion if there is one. I couldn't find it.
I'm curious if any one has feedback, thoughts, experience, etc.

nimbleknot Feb 13, 2007

I bought something there. I also have something for sale there. In the month I have had my item there the site has gone down three times and taken my view counter back down to zero. I know some people do really well over there. Other folks haven't.

My general opinion is that people are looking for a "deal." I have scoured the site and generally things are underpriced. I put something up there I thought was a very fair price, I had several hours into it with hand stitiching. I thought certainly somebody would pay $25 for a well made kitty softie with removeable clothing that was baby safe (nothing a baby could eat). But no bites.

I see people that have hundreds and hundreds of items sold. But then I look at the items and they are selling a bag of $3.00 buttons. Some folks have their niche on etsy and love it.

Remember, this is just my opinion. Perhaps my item is priced too high. Perhaps I didn't give it a chance since I only put up one item. I am probably not a good person to ask. I think East Bench Bears sells over there.

melissa Feb 13, 2007

Hi Daphne

I have just started using Etsy (made my first sale today!).  I have had my bears on there but don't see it as a main selling avenue for my bears - but it is one more way for making people aware of artist bears.  I mainly sell my cards and other paper things.  I'm still trying to build up a decent inventory but in that respect it's great.  Anything you list is there for four months - so you can build up to a shop and not worry about having to relist items.

Also - it's so darn cheap that I have decided to abandon ebay all together - as an overseas seller it is so not worth my time and more importantly the money that I spend putting up an auction. - on etsy it's only 20 cents to list an item - and then I think 3.5% of the final value no matter what your selling price is.  I might feel differently if my bears routinely got $$ of dollars on auction, but  If I want to auction, I'll use bid4bears.com

I like the alternative handmade-ness of etsy.  I like that I'm not trawling through piles of commercial crap and I am always discovering new treasures.  There are some very very talented artists there and I intend to do all my present shopping on etsy in the future.  I am all about instant gratification and so the fact that it's not in auction format appeals to me.

I really really love the functionality of searching and the whole 'web 2.0' aspect of it.  Once you get used to tags and searching them (every word must be separated by a comma) it's sooooo much easier to find specific things you're looking for than trawling through somewhere like ebay- if you want a yellow baby card  just enter the search string yellow, baby, cards and that's what you'll get.   I love the different ways you can search and looking at what people heart opens up a whole new world of stuff to buy!  (You can keep your favourite items private if you wish).  It's also fun to use the color thingy and click on a colour and see what is there.

I think it helps to have a decent inventory, especially if you are selling low priced items.  People do sell their patterns etc on there - but check the rules on that as I know it's primarily finished hand-made items.  People complain in the forums about how quickly their stuff disappears off the front page, but I think that's a very retro view of how shopping works in today's digital world.  Buyers are much more savvy searchers than they used to be - and if you utilise the tagging features well then people will find your stuff. 

I'm having fun there - and my sister has been using it too for her art prints and she's been selling pretty well.  I've linked my etsy store below - as I said it's very bare at the moment and I took my bears off for my summer sale on my website so you can't see how I've tagged them.

nimbleknot Feb 13, 2007

I think Melissa's right, the more inventory the better. Otherwise it looks like you aren't dedicated. You only get back what you invest. So I am not a really good example. 

Laura Lynn Banner SponsorFeb 13, 2007

I just set up my 'shop' last week after seeing Yvettes.  I have not had much time yet...but there's a link in their forum to "Successfully Selling on Etsy" here:  http://www.etsywiki.com/index.php?title … ng_on_Etsy

Hey... if ALL of us set up a shop... since setting up is easy and listing is so inexpensive... maybe they'd set up a catagory??

Right now my bears are listed in toys.... :redface:   I think next time I'm putting them in "art".....

melissa Feb 13, 2007

Laura Lynn

You can easily re-edit your listing and change them over to art if you want - just open your store and look at your active listings view and click on the edit button. 

If you utilise all 14 tags, you can have them show up in a number of places - and if you use tags like 'artist' and 'art' they will show up when people search a string that looks something like  'art, bear'

I would say that the majority of people who search etsy don't search the "traditional" way of categories but search by tag

Daphne Feb 13, 2007

Hmmm... very interesting girls. Melissa, thanks for all the details. I'm going to spend some time on it...poke around... keep my eye on it! Probably spend some money! Melissa, how did you hear of it??? I do like the feel of the site. Clean and crisp!

Delartful Bears Feb 13, 2007

Mmm Etsy I think could be good if you have fairly cheap items to sell, I don't see bears selling - at all.

I tried Etsy for my handbags but found they were price too high to sell on there.  They weren't your simple quick to sew up bags, so I wasn't going to sell them so cheaply I would get basic material costs back, so I ended up leaving.  But there is SOOOOOOOO many people on there, that to be noticed, you need to keep adding items to get bumped to the top of the listings - or find a category that doesn't have very much listed in it (But then I don't think that would get very many visits anyhow)

I think Etsy would be great if you had the right product, I Just don't see it working for bears (I mean Daphne you have your webpage - so your customers can find you there) So, by listing on Etsy, you'd be wanting the Etsy visitors to visit your bears and buy.  It is cheap though, so it might be worth a try - but for you I'd try Bear Pile for sure - it's the place to be!
Danni

Laura Lynn Banner SponsorFeb 13, 2007

Thanks Melissa!

I also finally read part of the article on Etsy with tips for selling....(the link I posted in my previous post)  I'd say it's a must read... NOT for selling on Etsy only... but really for promoting your website in general!