Started from a thread here, post stuff you think is helpful to those selling or thinking of selling effectively on ETSY :)
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California
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Sun, May 11, 2008 - 11:59 PM(this was taken from a thread...)
From the Etsy Dos and Dont's Page:
If a single person holds more than one account ("multiple accounts"), you do so at your own risk. This is not something Etsy encourages, as it has the potential to cause confusion in the community. If you have multiple accounts, you must follow these rules:
* Do be up front and fully disclose if you hold multiple accounts by posting all of your usernames in each account's profile.
* Do recognize that if one of your accounts is reviewed for abuse, it may result in all of your accounts being terminated.
* Do keep in mind that separate accounts cannot be merged in any way.
* Don't buy items from yourself or sell items to yourself (no shilling).
* Don't expect refunds for accidental activity, like listing items in the wrong account.
* Don't list the same unique item in multiple accounts on Etsy. -
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Mon, May 12, 2008 - 10:13 AMI'm told that my problem (aside from the economy) is that I need a rating. So.... buy buy buy if you can't sell. (But buy inexpensive stuff you need.)
???
www.SilverSunbeam.etsy.com -
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Mon, May 12, 2008 - 12:19 PMI think that's part of my problem too, need some kind of rating. I've bought a few things off of etsy now. To bad I can't transfer my buyer rating on ebay over to Etsy. LOL!
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Mon, May 12, 2008 - 12:39 PMI was wondering if that was my issue as well. I get lots of great feedback on the items but no buyers, and I have lowered my prices to the bare bones. Well here is to hoping for sales in the future for all of us! -
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Tue, May 13, 2008 - 7:15 AMHere are some advices I have seen many times in the forums:
Do not sound desperate to get a sale. Do not offer sales constantly, or free shipping, or gifts. Do not run into the forums and complain you don't have sales. Do not lower your prices. Many people won't buy a cheap item because they will think there is something wrong with it.
Let me ask a question: what is it that you sell? Is it the same thing that other 1000 sellers are offering? Then make your product stand out. Make great pictures and write great descriptions. And don't use the word "Auction". The Etsy community it's turned off only because of that. Sell the product. Tell its many qualities and convince people they NEED to get it because they are not going to find something like it anywhere else. - When I went to Etsy in October of 2006 and search for "belly dance" only 5 pages came out in the search, and many of the items were not even related to belly dance costuming. Now that number has grow up considerably.
Work in your shop. Make a banner and an avatar. Or buy one, if you can't make it. Write your shop policies: how do you ship, if you accept refunds, in what conditions a refund is accepted... List often. If you don't have something new to list, then relist. It will bump you up in the search engine.
Spend some time in the forums. Let people know you.
Buy from others. It doesn't need to be something expensive. A gift for a friend, a small treat for you... You will discover too how Etsy works from a customer's point of view. It will give you some feedback that your customers can read.
Write a blog; put pictures on flickr; join a street team (if you want). The key is promote, promote, promote.
Have confidence in your work, keep your prices as they should be and sales will come. Give it time. -
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Tue, May 13, 2008 - 7:35 AMHere is one more thing: put links to your shop. Anywhere you can. In your blog, on your flickr profile, at the end of your e-mails, in business cards, in your tribe profile...
Nadima, I wanted to check your shop, but I can't find a link to it. I went to your profile, but nothing there either. Suppose I am a customer. A lazy customer. I am interested in checking your stuff, but can't find a link. And I am lazy to go look for it myself, so I say, "Well, no matter, I'll go somewhere else". You just lost the opportunity of a sale.
What April does is great, putting her link at the end of her posts. Specially in tribes like this, or in any Etsy-related tribe. We are here to promote and to know each other. If we do that in every post in every tribe we will end up being annoying to others and lose customers, LOL.
Anyway, if you want to set up a link in your profile, here is a simple method:
First, upload your shop banner to your gallery (as if it were a regular picture). When you are finished doing this, go to your profile.
Click the Add modules tab.
Click My Photo.
Change the module title as you see fit.
Click Select photo. This will take you to your gallery, in which you have to select your shop banner.
Write the name of your shop in the Photo caption.
Click Save and it should work!
kaleidoskopicromance.etsy.com -
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Tue, May 13, 2008 - 10:00 AMKass, I guess I am just worried about being perceived as a Spammer. Some of the forums I am a member of are very strict on things like posting your site over and over. I love to do it, but wasn't sure how picky things are on this new forum. (Having gotten in trouble once before in other places, I am reluctant now everywhere.) SO.... I will keep posting and I guess asking for forgiveness later. ;)
www.fabulouspants.com
www.fabulouspants.etsy.com
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Tue, May 13, 2008 - 10:04 AMOh and my shop is listed in my profile in the links section, the second one down. I guess I need to make it more prominent. Thanks for all the constructive feedback and tips. I appreciate it and keep it coming. -
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Tue, May 13, 2008 - 4:02 PMI don't list my shop on all my posts- especially if I'm making multiple contributions to a thread. Some forums I don't do it at all. (But I figure on an "Etsy" tribe it'll be OK.)
Flickr will apparently cut you off if you put your WWW in the picture description or end a comment with it. Your only reference to etsy or any shop is either as an 'etsy' tag or in your profile. Another thing I do is post pictures on any Tribe or MySpace group I think might be interested in my artwork, again, not always with the WWW, in the hope that people will follow it to my profile page. I also post my art as a listing and promote it on possibly interested tribes. You have to belong to a tribe to post a listing to it, however, so I belong to virtually every faith and religion tribe I see.... and yes, I read them all & contribute a lot.
A really simple way to promote through Tribe is to upload new pictures on a regular basis. They show up on your friend's home page and then they'll click through. You can add a seemingly infinite number of pics to your public view. Here's a friend's as an example: people.tribe.net/ninapak
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Re: **ETSY SHOP TIPS**
Wed, May 14, 2008 - 6:47 AMList and/or re-list items often.
I try to list something new at least once a week. Saturday night (eastern time) gets the best response and views.
If I don't have a new piece to list I will take my oldest piece and re-list it.
Include your business card in every order that goes out.
I get my cards for free from Vista Print (I do pay $6.00 shipping for 250 cards). They have lots of free offers.
I have had tons of orders from friends of customers and it helps when they have your card to pass along to others.
