Etsy - worthwile?

[Works-in-Wood]

I've only recently found out about Etsy......which to my mind doesn't make it seem like the thriving community I want to try and start selling in - but am I wrong?
I've had an Ebay shop for a while - but closed it down due to spiralling costs, I've got my own website - still '.....under construction' but don't expect to sell anything much from there for a while.

Is Etsy any good - or is it too much US biased ?

Chris

[lucykate crafts...]

etsy is huge, not just US based, but worldwide. i'd give it a go, it doesn't cost much to list items, cheaper than ebay by all accounts.

[Blooming Felt]

I've had quite a few sales through etsy (from all over the world, not just the US). I've also just opened a shop with Dawanda, so it will be interesting to see how sales are through that

[Donster]

I had concerns when I first signed up with etsy but there's a nice community out there if you take the time to get to know it. :) You do have to work at being seen but good luck with your etsy shop.

[Shipbuilder]

I signed up for Etsy yesterday & was surprised at how easy it was. The listing fees are extremely low and the five pictures that I put on were magnificent. They could be enlarged to almost fill the monitor screen by simply clicking on them. Even the payment process is very simple & the commission on sales is half the amount Ebay want. It remains to be seen whether I manage to sell anything, but I do like the site itself.
Bob

[woodtattoos]

I've had a few sales through Etsy. Most of them have been for either larger pieces (which don't often sell at craft fairs), personalised items or multiple purchases. I think it's definitely worth a go as the listing costs etc are much less than sites like Ebay, and the items stay listed for several months. This means you can use your Etsy page as a mini-website, directing people there to view your work... such as my page in my signature!

I'm going to have a major revamp of my Etsy page soon and relist a lot more work. If you put items on fairly regularly, you will ensure that you are always high up in searches.

Best of luck with your decision!

Si.

[JBJB]

I'm on Etsy and have had nothing but one question and that never came to anything.

The only thing I don't like about Etsy is you're stuff is only on "public display" for about half a day and then it goes on to the next page. That's great if you've got a "following", but how are you meant to build one if people can't find your stuff? I simply haven't got the time to keep updating it each day with a new product to ensure I'm always on a page.

I do agree that it's cheap to list etc, but I personally haven't felt it to be a worthwhile business decision. However, having said that, I have "met" some great people through it and get to know them through their blogs and flickr photos etc.

[cloudhopping]

I've been on Etsy for a short while (about 8 weeks) and have sold 3 things, I like the community on Etsy and the ease of use. I think you need to promote off Etsy as well to "drive" customers to your Etsy store, and if someone knows how to do that please tell!

[brad]

Hi all I just made a post about this , but just incase you miss it has anyone come across fairertrade , I see they offer a good place to sell home made crafts etc. I am going to set up a shopfront and give it a try.

Hope this helps

Brad

oh just google fairertrade

[Anne]

Hi,
I only found Etsy in February this year and was suprised I'd never come across it before. It certainly made me wonder the same...

I was selling my jewellery on Ebay, but got fed up with it in the end. I make dichroic glass jewellery and if you search for dichroic glass on ebay, you mainly get pages and pages of cheap stuff from China showing up. Combined with the expensive fees and lack of shop exposure, I decided to try out etsy.

I definately prefer etsy. I love the layout and the way it works. It definately helps to be active in the forums and chat rooms. There are lots of groups out there all promoting etsy shops. I've sold 5 pieces so far since I joined in Feb. I'm certainly getting alot more viewers on etsy than I ever did on ebay.

[Works-in-Wood]

It seems that quite a few people are selling on Etsy, I opened a month or so ago and haven't sold anything yet. Though I've only got 2 products there, so no great surprise really.
Just gonna have to set up the light tent, get the camera out and take some more photo's - drip-feeding listings is the answer I'm sure.

Chris.

[badgerhill]

This has been a really helpful thread! I've been thinking about opening up with Etsy for a while.

maybe I'll just get on with it!! :pc:

[colourart]

I'm not convinced Etsy is for me, I think the postage on my paintings is too pricey for the US market and I don't think that it is showing enough on search engines in the UK to get the traffic. If they had a UK etsy then I would be more interested because I think the site is very professional and they are lots of ideas on there to promote items along with some very talented makers. I'm just not sure people have heard of it too much outside the crafting community.

[Christine 1]

I have got as far as signing up & that's all, not sure how i will get on, but been doing well on E Bay recently & also sold a couple of bits on I Boot that i found the other day.

Perhaps over the weekend i might sit down & advertise on there as well - worth a try isn't it?

Christine

[MrSwirl]

I think that one of the things that you need to do to get the most out of etsy is to spend time on the forums there as well - chatting in their forums helps increase traffic to your etsy shop, which in turn should lead to sales.

You do seem to need to spend plenty of time promoting your own work on there (either by regular new listings, forums etc.) to get the most of it.

[Donster]

If they had a UK etsy then I would be more interested.

There's a UK etsy team. :) I'm part of it. Pop in the UK Chat thread in the teams section, some nice people in there, good community.

[Smile]

All I was wondering was, only people who like do crafts and stuff would go onto Etsy anyway, and if they already do crafts, then why would they want to buy something you've made???...

[cloudhopping]

The crafts on Etsy are so varied and unique, I've had other Etsy folk buy some of my stuff, and I've shopped on there too.

I think if you are a bit crafty you really value what other people can create, and are probably more inclined to shop on a craft site.

[Donster]

All I was wondering was, only people who like do crafts and stuff would go onto Etsy anyway, and if they already do crafts, then why would they want to buy something you've made???...

It is true that a fair amount of the sellers are also buyers but as the person above said, that's good in some ways as they have more of an appreciation of what you do rather than somewhere like ebay for example where people are expecting a bargain.

[swirlyarts]

All I was wondering was, only people who like do crafts and stuff would go onto Etsy anyway, and if they already do crafts, then why would they want to buy something you've made???...

Etsy do a lot of promoting of their stuff on the Martha Stewart show - with both Etsy and individual sellers. I think that is really helping a lot and there has been some press over here about it. I really like Etsy - it is time consuming but in a good way. I'm like Donster and belong to the UK Street team and I also belong to the Eco Etsy team and being in those has given more exposure than if I had just been a 'regular' seller on there.