question on esty

[ike]

My wife fell a couple of weeks ago and fractured a vertibray I don't know how many showes we will be able to attend and was wondering  if anybody does any godd on esty? My wife is improving but still has lots of pain. she get's fitted for a brace on monday.

IKE

[Iguanadon]

Hi Ike, best wishes to the wife, I hope she gets to feeling better.

Etsy is great, but the tough part is getting seen.  There is so much out there overall it's difficult to be found and seen. I'm sure there are some ways to highlight your Etsy shop and become more visible, but it does take work.  Maybe others here have found some magic ways to get noticed.

[WayneMahler]

Ike

Sorry to hear about the wife. Prayers for a quick and full recovery. Cindy and I are looking into Etsy. I believe Kevin, kmmcrafts (?) sells there. I will have to look to be sure. But he may be the one to talk too about selling there. There was a discussion here in one of the forums about this recently. I'll look when I get a chance and post the link when I find it. Maybe sometime tonight, have tons of yard work to get done today.

[WayneMahler]

Ike

Just did a quick search on the forums here. Here is the link to the discussion on selling on line. It was actually started by Travis with a quote from kmmcrfts. 

Hope this helps.

Selling on Line

[tuner]

No ideas on the selling, but  take good care of the wife .

[JOE_M]

Hopefully she recovers quickly and the pain goes away.

 

I don't sell on etsy. I used to buy there years ago but I found searching to be a pain and then they just opened the floodgates to all the mass produced stuff and I stopped visiting.

[kmmcrafts]

Wow, I hope she has a fast recovery..

I sell on etsy and would say that etsy is the easiest place to get started and seen.. but.. for long term I'd suggest setting up a web site too.. Also.. just thought I'd say.. just starting out it does take time to get some sales going.. that said.. if you are going to do it.. in the next month or so would be the best time to get set up.. as this will give your shop time to get indexed with the search engines and get some ranking with them just in time for those holiday shoppers...

Also just wanted to mention.. don't worry about pricing too high / low.. sell at prices you need to get.. because setting prices low because you are new to selling doesn't = better chance of selling... instead.. focus on using words in your titles and descriptions to describe your item to be found in google.. selling cheap doesn't attract buyers.. if no buyers then focus on tag words that people might use to find you... Buyers of all price points are online.. but without good descriptions they cannot find you no matter what your prices are if they don't find your items then they cannot buy..

Kevin   

[spirithorse]

Hello, Ike,

I don't sell on etsy but, I had to reply to your post to wish your wife a full and fast recovery.
You are both in my prayers.
God Bless! Spirithorse

[ekud1946]

19 hours ago, ike said:

My wife fell a couple of weeks ago and fractured a vertibray I don't know how many showes we will be able to attend and was wondering  if anybody does any godd on esty? My wife is improving but still has lots of pain. she get's fitted for a brace on monday.

IKE

Been there for five years and have done very well. It's hard work and takes time.

Edited July 30, 2017 by ekud1946

[MTCowpoke22]

I've been on Esty for just a little while. So far, I have had absolutely no luck there, but I also haven't had much time to work on it.

[meflick]

Ike, no words of wisdom or help with Etsy or other online selling sites but wanted to say I too hope that your wife is on the mend and heals up well.  Having had vertebrae issues myself -  I have and do feel her pain.  I pray that it heals well for her.

[zimmerstutzen]

Ike, prayers for your wife.  My Mrs. went through a real rough patch with a back injury and after five surgeries and 14 years, her doctor said she could go back to horse back riding. (no jumping)   There were times when I thought she was giving up on everything because of the pain she was in.  Some days she just stayed in the recliner for 16-18 hours.  After a couple years, something just clicked and she went back to college and finished her nursing degree got her license and she now works as a registered nurse doing 12 hour shifts at our local hospital.    Some folks do make miraculous recoveries.

 

I wish I could offer some advise about Etsy.  I look through it for ideas, not so much for buying.  It is difficult to find some things, and a myriad of stuff that really isn't craft, but foreign production junk.  I must say though, seeing some items on etsy has given me ideas for things I could make jigs/ machines to produce items normally thought of as handcrafts.  For instance, trenchers to sell to Colonial re-enactors. (a type of oblong wooden communal bowl for dining.)    I had begun making some items that I saw on etsy, that were sold through a really nice local consignment shop.  Just when sales were starting to trickle in, the landlord refused to renew their lease and it closed.           . 

[tonylumps]

When I was looking to sell pens on Etsy.Some of the prices were so low I could not buy the kits and blanks for that kind of money.In a discussion with another penturner He told me that the pens are made in a shop outside the US with China counterfeit kits. So that was the end of etsy for me.

[kmmcrafts]

18 minutes ago, tonylumps said:

When I was looking to sell pens on Etsy.Some of the prices were so low I could not buy the kits and blanks for that kind of money.In a discussion with another penturner He told me that the pens are made in a shop outside the US with China counterfeit kits. So that was the end of etsy for me.

While I understand where you're coming from with this statement.. I certainly wouldn't let that stop me from trying to sell.. You see... something that you can do is SEO to be found.. just because they have cheap pens doesn't reflect on anything you might do in your shop or your prices.. Why? because who knows how much they are even showing up in searches.. This is not like a craft fair where two booths down you have someone selling the same things with a lot cheaper prices... this is online and no matter where you try to sell at.. cheap pens are going to be found in an online search.. unless... someone steps up and starts dominating the SEO and knocking out the cheap pens market.. Selling online isn't about what others are doing.. you find a path that is right for you and work to dominate the market by having lots of products with good SEO  .. the important thing is not to worry about your prices or theirs.. but rather.. worry about being found.. What difference does it make if cheap pens are found on etsy or on walmart.. there is a market for cheap pens.. and there is also a market for high end pens.. You have to be a salesman to convince people your pens are better.. also working hard on SEO to get your shop seen.. 

There are a lot of shops with the same type items as I am selling and at half the cost or less... But they are also not selling much because they don't put any effort into selling or being found in the online world.. plus their pictures are very poor quality..... There are many things one can do to stand out above the rest.. If you try selling your pens on your own web site.. it would be much harder to do than dealing with competitors on etsy... why? because etsy dominates the search engines over a small web site.. so selling on etsy is easier to do and be found..  in many cases etsy is dominating eBay and Amazon in searches..  Amazons handmade site is ( I believe) 3 years in now.. and I rarely see them come up in a search.. 

Like I've said before... selling online is work if you really want to sell.. otherwise if not worked and SEO'ed you'll never be found.. well you will be found but like at the last part of the pages of a certain category.. but most shoppers only go back a few pages before giving up and putting in a different search phrase or choosing an item within those first few pages.... It's important to try to get your items in these first few pages.. or at least some items in the first few pages and good photos to grab the eyes attention to make the shopper click that photo to get them into your shop.. once in.. many times they will look around at your other things..

 

[amazingkevin]

On 7/29/2017 at 10:04 AM, ike said:

My wife fell a couple of weeks ago and fractured a vertibray I don't know how many showes we will be able to attend and was wondering  if anybody does any godd on esty? My wife is improving but still has lots of pain. she get's fitted for a brace on monday.

IKE

Ike ,This is the best pancake maker you ever married.Take good care of her and make her some pancakes in bed!Let her look at live with out pain on the web,naturally.I got rid of my pain in 5 days from the web!