Comments on: Reporting on my first week on ETSY – what I’ve learned so far…

By: Melanie

Melanie — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:41:16 +0000

I’m finally catching up on your blogs, so please excuse me if I stalk you a little today….

I’m enjoying my Etsy experience, especially considering that I haven’t been able to put the time into it that I have wanted.

One of your pieces of advice answered something that I had been wondering about… whether to scatter the listings of items that you have a few of. I’ll be doing that from now on.

The only thing I wish was (and you’d have the same issue), I wish I could find a good accounting program that would help me with the different currencies (on eBay/Etsy) that I sell in. I have spreadsheets set up, but in a dreamworld, it would all be in one place. Mind you, earning in different currencies can be great as different markets rise and fall.

Melanies last blog post..Rain Boots

By: Lisa Lam

Lisa Lam — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:25:10 +0000

@ melissa:

Good question.

I understand that some higher priced craft items might be a bit too much for our transatlantic cousins. I think that it might still be a good idea to open you etsy shop (and market it!) because of the amount of users and you can then opt to ship to European customers only. You can ask others to email you if they would like your items delivered to rest of world.

Open an Etsy shop is not very risky in terms of expense, it only costs $0.20 to list an item and there are no set-up fees.

By: Lisa Lam

Lisa Lam — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:19:27 +0000

@ Laura Bucci: Yes definitely! I understand that a lot of crafter would rather spend all of their time making their lovely items, but if you're in business you gotta tell folks about it too.

By: Lisa Lam

Lisa Lam — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:16:52 +0000

@ Jan Foselli:

Hi Jan,

Yes I agree. I have found that folks on my Etsy shop sometimes pop over to my main site which is great!

Yep Etsy does give a good amount of flexibility.

Wishing you luck in your business!

By: Lisa Lam

Lisa Lam — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:15:12 +0000

@ nichan:

Sorry to hear about your experiences on Etsy.

Yes it’s true that a lot of copying does go on in Etsy and outside of it. It’s very depressing.

It look like you have done the right thing. You have to be happy with what you do, if you are making money but you are unhappy with what you do it’s not good for you soul (or your health!)

I wish you every success on your other site and you blog.

By: Jan Foselli

Jan Foselli — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:04:04 +0000

I agree that Etsy is a great way to bring additional businesss to your customer base. In response to Melissa’s comment, as sellers on Etsy we can decide where we ship to. For example, as an American, I decided to keep my shipping within the US. You can decide to sell just to Europeans. The flexibility is great!

Good luck and continued success!

By: nichan

nichan — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:54:01 +0000

Don’t mean to be synical, but the story is too good for some people…
Me and a friend gave up for now in etsy…we can’t see any mistake of our own in trying to sell things in etsy…but…I see that it’s hard to compete with some crafter that only make things by using other’s work (design, pattern)without giving credit especially in sewing world…especially the level is very-very advance…I can do the same, just using other people work just to make “quicker sell” and production, but that’s not my thing at all…
yes, etsy drives a lot of customer but may be it works for USA sellers only…personally, I find it’s quite rare to find Asian (not Asian that live in USA) craft sellers succeed in etsy unless they are also selling supplies or sellers that sell digital/.pdf product, no matter how good and original their creation is.
now, i only make a noise through my web, flickr, blogs…moreover, after i see that some products in etsy is quickly and easily copied. I feel like, listing in etsy is like killing my self. I get sales, but my products get copied and I get no name…may be, I may the one who can get the bad name: the copying seller…uh…especially when I have no sales, yet…
I said to my husband, I’ll get back to etsy when my own sales outside etsy get better or succeed; he said, when you are succeed, you won’t get back to etsy. Yes, I guess, so…
My sales is very slow outside etsy, but it’s better for me personally…

for me, etsy is great for supplies. that’s it…for craft buy and sell? I rather go to the craft show to buy things (my country is a crafts country)and sell my crafts not in etsy anymore…

nichans last blog post..Remake, remake…a Blouse remake-hanbok style

By: Laura Bucci

Laura Bucci — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:10:13 +0000

I agree with you, it is important to market elsewhere besides relisting to sell you etsy items.

By: melissa

melissa — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:39:57 +0000

How are you finding the transatlantic divide though? I was thinking about starting an etsy shop, but I figured that my products would be too expensive compared to US-based etsy sellers since the dollar-pound difference is so great (and I have to price in pounds to make it worth my while), and then charge international shipping on top of that. I know there’s Dawanda and Folksy that would cut down on the monetary disparity, but they just don’t seem to get the same amount of buyers etsy attracts…