Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Business Matters - Marketplaces - Etsy

So, in writing a weekly post about different artisan marketplaces, you just have to include Etsy in there sooner or later! Etsy is the largest and has the highest traffic ranking of all artisan marketplaces.

Etsy has lots to offer - with good support, there are loads of groups you can join, an-overly active forum (which gets a bit too heated for me), virtual trunk shows, alchemy, community interactions,....gosh, it just has so much.


And while that top ranking is great in getting numbers of potential buyers, you can also easily get lost in Etsy and no one will ever find you.

It's quite daunting in a way. You list one of your items and in a few seconds, its buried in the millions of other items and only 6 people ever viewed it! Personally, it seems that only a few months ago did it get so overwhelming. When you listed something new then, it would always get a good number of views - but now, you blink and it's gone.

And if you haven't joined yet as a seller already - it is tricky to begin with. You do need to be found from the depths. When I first started, I did do two showcases. These are where your pieces are highlighted for the day and you pay a certain amount for that. While I didn't get any sales from either of them, I did get a lot of views and a lot of hearts. Hearts are the system that Etsy uses that people can tag your item to show that they like it - or they can tag a seller to add them to their favorites. I believe it is my wonderful team of taggers who are the ones that, some time down the road, become the buyers. To check out who hearts you - click on this link. Here's a view of my Etsy store:


Apart from showcases, other people favor posting often on the forum to promote their store but the forum messages change so quickly, unless you have a lot of time to do that, it seems the occasional comment just isn't going to have an impact. Others create a lot of treasuries which is where you make a collection of other people's items and these then get published and viewed. I'm afraid I'm just not quite the treasury maker. I wish I was...... but there are so many people wanting to get one that you have to sit and wait for one to become available. I don't have the patience for that.

What I do find that works for me is listing new items regularly. Nothing does better than this I think. Something fresh for people to see with good photos. Then also link to your Etsy store from outside of Etsy.

To be a seller on Etsy, it costs 20c to list an item for four months and then Etsy takes a 3.5% commission on what you sell. Most transactions come through paypal although there are other options.

There are lots of how-to guides, lots of ideas, and I think you just need to find your niche. Some people love it, some people hate it and some people are indifferent - but you can't get away from it's size!

I actually like it a lot. I get a reasonable number of sales, meet some lovely buyers and enjoy being part of the Etsy Metal clay group. If you are one of those people out there who isn't selling on Etsy - I hope you have taken a look at least!

For the rest of us, buried in the vast number of sellers and buyers - keep your head up and keep listing!

6 comments:

'fancypicnic' said...

Ruth, you are so right about 'getting buried'!! I'm sure it wasn't like it is now nearly a year ago...but it's more than made up for with the way the whole system works, and actually the friendships that we build up.

I totally am with you about the treasuries - hence the Shopping List Saturday blog meme!

florcita said...

I used to like it too until one day for some reason my IP got banned. I didn't know this first so I contacted my server thinking they were having problems...nothing. In fact, my husband can view my etsy shop (which is now empty) from his job with the same server, but not from home. So it's the IP (no cookies or stuff like that).
Since hubby has a degree in programming apart from physics, he spent hours going through the whole thing, and made a whole report and sent it to Etsy support. Never got a reply. Sent a quick email, nothing. Sent another one, asked pleeeeease for help... checked the forums and saw that many people had the same problem. From one day to the other, no images. I can open the page but it takes at least 10minutes of constant refreshing to actually sign in. And once in I don't see images which makes it pretty hard if you are selling and/or buying. The only way for me to see etsy with images is through an anonymous IP (what hackers use basically...)... but like that, because Im anonymous, I can't log in.
So, after stocking my shop to the top, paying de .20c and all... I couldn't really work on it anymore. And right... it's only a few dollars one would say... but it doesn't matter... those were my dollars... and I at least should have gotten an explanation as to why I wasn't being able to sign in and operate as I had been doing for months before that. Sad.

florcita said...

I used to like it too until one day for some reason my IP got banned. I didn't know this first so I contacted my server thinking they were having problems...nothing. In fact, my husband can view my etsy shop (which is now empty) from his job with the same server, but not from home. So it's the IP (no cookies or stuff like that).
Since hubby has a degree in programming apart from physics, he spent hours going through the whole thing, and made a whole report and sent it to Etsy support. Never got a reply. Sent a quick email, nothing. Sent another one, asked pleeeeease for help... checked the forums and saw that many people had the same problem. From one day to the other, no images. I can open the page but it takes at least 10minutes of constant refreshing to actually sign in. And once in I don't see images which makes it pretty hard if you are selling and/or buying. The only way for me to see etsy with images is through an anonymous IP (what hackers use basically...)... but like that, because Im anonymous, I can't log in.
So, after stocking my shop to the top, paying de .20c and all... I couldn't really work on it anymore. And right... it's only a few dollars one would say... but it doesn't matter... those were my dollars... and I at least should have gotten an explanation as to why I wasn't being able to sign in and operate as I had been doing for months before that. Sad.

Nicola said...

Very fair review...
Now please put some more fabulous pictures of your latest makings!
We need eye candy, lol

I just gave you a "blogs that make you smile" award because you deserve it and I wanted to link to your site :)
http://pmctips.blogspot.com/2009/05/etsy-treasury-blog-award.html

Nic xx

Ruth said...

That's the problem Nicola! I haven't been making anything while I've been in England. Just got back a few hours ago and am raring to get back in my studio!

Thanks for my award too - looking forward to checking the other blogs who you nominated.

So glad you are a new member of the Etsy Metal clay team too.

Ruth said...

Oh dear, Marian. Not a good story. Thanks for adding it to show another side of Etsy. Yes, the real shame is that you didn't get any support nor even acknowledgment that you had contacted them with a problem. Etsy is all the worse for not having your lovely colorful creations on their site.