Etsy Shop Losing Money For The First Time

[kmmcrafts]

@BadBob For me since I sell ornaments I just selected all of them.. When I first won that free ads thing I just advertised the whole shop. One thing to note on is new listings. I was late in the game to get some of my new designs of ornaments up on the site.. it takes sometimes 4-6 weeks to get crawled into the system search.. since I am just now getting some of those listings up.. I for sure advertise those so they get seen for this holiday season.. otherwise it's likely I wouldn't sell any of them. Just as in the case posted above.. One person seen the new listing of the "lineman ornament" I had just listed a couple days ago and he ordered 17 of them for his work crew.. that was approximately $300 of that revenue I made off of advertising. 

I also advertised my clocks.. so there is a mixed bag of products advertised.. in various price ranges. I can tell you that my $2 a day is usually already spent by morning when I get up as it's so minimal.. but I don't have a huge pool of funds to throw out into the advertising either.. 

One thing that might help you though is.. when you go into managing your ads.. it shows the search terms the viewer used that brought up that ad.. you can then ad those keywords to your tags or titles if fitting for the title. Seems like there is another place that also shows that.. 

I hope if you do try the ads that they work for you and the products you sell.. They do help me quite a lot, but it's not for everyone so please understand you might loose the money you pay out for them. I'm merely saying what works and helps me make some extra sales that I normally wouldn't get. If you have the funds to sort of gamble on then i'd run them through the holiday season and see if it helps at all. If you don't really have the funds to do that then I would suggest trying to make time to hammer 3-4 social entertainment type content based on your products. 

Since I know you sell toy cars I suggest making a make shift ramp to roll your cars down.. make it a race track and race the wood cars.. showcase several other cars at the end of the video and ask the audience what cars they'd like to see in the next race.. If you can get some interaction with the followers more will come and follow and also you get into the social sites algorithm because getting seen on social sites is also a thing just like it is on any other site.. Not sure if making bets would be legal but LOL You could say if the blue car wins I'm going to give away the loosing car or the winning car.. It cost money to do give aways but it gets people interested and they'll look forward to your next posting of a race or a giveaway. Giveaways can be written off on your taxes as advertising... advertising is a write off expense.. Just throwing out ideas to help you.. maybe they'd work... maybe not.. trying something is better than doing nothing.

The thing with selling that many don't get is.. it's not just time making a product and putting it on etsy.. it's also working at social sites and many other things.. It's work if you trying to make a go at it.. but it's also an outlet for retired folks to just showcase items and maybe sell something now and then to recoup some lumber money.. You have to be creative to stand out above everyone else trying to do the same thing.. 

I struggle with social sites.. how do you make entertainment things with a Christmas ornament or a clock? LOL.. I started doing the puzzles and just assembling them on video.. people took interest in it.. some started commenting if I could make this or that dog bread.. I finally asked in one video "comment what breed you'd like to see next? Most popular asked breed will be featured next week or" ? I ended up with like 200 comments and that blew up my social content for a while.. That got me interaction.. I can sell puzzles easy, but making money from them.. well "good money" just isn't going to happen unless I sell them for $40+.. the time it takes to make 1 puzzle I can make 20 ornaments.. Ornaments sell pretty good at $18.. puzzles sell "okay" at $20 - 40.. But anyway.. the puzzles do bring people to my store and look around because of those social postings.. many look around and buy a cheaper ornament.   I have now slacked for a while on the social sites, and now when I post it's crickets again.. so that in itself is a full time job just to get people interested and maybe come look at your website.. Never said it's easy.. You have to enjoy the "whole process" of selling to get to a level of making money at it.. because it is work.. unless you love doing "all" of it... which I do...    

 

[BadBob]

@kmmcrafts

Before I forget, "wood toy car" is not the best search term to test with. Competition for these words totals 5,609,713, according to Erank, so it is not surprising that you didn't find any of my toys.

I turned on ads and have configured it, so only my Christmas ornaments are advertised. They sure don't make it easy.

[kmmcrafts]

You also have to consider what are the search terms a customer would use then? If someone is searching for wood toy cars what do you suppose the search terms they'll use would be.. The first logical term for me was in fact wood toy car.. I'm not a wood toy car buyer really so maybe my thought was wrong.. Making titles and tags I always ask myself.. How would I search this item if i was looking to buy one.. then I try to make my title and tags based on words that would be used to search it out. 

While there may very well be 5,609,713 competitive products under that search, but if it's the most popular used term then ask yourself what / how do you get in a 1-3 page search ranking under that term.. You don't want to not use the popular term.. use it and find a way to get it ranked higher..? I don't know.. I just know that it's hard to sell an orange if you don't call it a orange, LOL.. Maybe a very saturated market for the cars.. Might be a lot of ornaments too.. but since ornaments can have a specific theme.. I can say "nurse with stethoscope" Intensive care nurse or ? it can be broken down other than just "wood ornament" or wood car, LOL 

Maybe too technical but could you make stickers for the cars and have a "police car" Airo-med Helicopter etc. so you could make themed toys that might catch some more search terms. 

Yeah they made the ads harder to configure since a few years ago when I stopped using them. Used to be able to select certain sections and select all.. then go back and unselect the few that you might not want.. now it's a mess..  Good luck with it.    

[BadBob]

@kmmcrafts

I have done and still do all of that. "Wood toy car" is on every toy car listing and so is "wooden toy car" because "wood toy car" and "wooden toy car" return different results.  I have a spreadsheet where I score keywords using data I gather from eRank. Every listing in my shop gets a periodic review. Not on any schedule. I have them all configured for manual renewal, and they are reviewed before they get renewed. Things that sell a lot rarely get changed.

My sales increased slowly until January 2021, when they started decreasing. The number of views and visitors kept increasing. What is paying the bills for me now is a few large custom orders. I made a profit in 2020.

I don't make anything anyone needs so when the economy gets trashed this is what happens.

[Puzzleguy]

im not sure if you've though of this - but maybe a sale is in order

or a percentage off might get it moving -you can pick and choose

what you want to get moving ---

[BadBob]

17 hours ago, Puzzleguy said:

im not sure if you've though of this - but maybe a sale is in order

or a percentage off might get it moving -you can pick and choose

what you want to get moving ---

Yes, I have considered the sales, but only for a few seconds. I'm not WalMart.

[BadBob]

I have enabled Etsy ads running as a test to see if it works for me. It will need to be profitable for it to work for me.

[Puzzleguy]

Bob , I've noticed because I'm running a sale - i'm getting noticed .

I also got a few likes this morning - i'm hoping like you do to make some Christmas sales !

this is my first time percentage off selling  - keep your fingers crossed 

 

Im not sure about paying for Etsy adds - maybe maybe not 

 put a small discount like 10 percent doesn't amount to much -

and limited the number of items ( you can pick and choses ) -just as a trial for a few days etc.

 

if you need more info on how to do percentage off on Etsy , just google " running a sale on Etsy "

 

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Puzzleguy

[kmmcrafts]

Yes, running sales can help.. especially when you pay attention to Etsy's big site wide sales because they make a special category for sale items and promote the shops that participate in the sale.. Most times requirements are at a minimum of a 20% off.. Another reason to price items accordingly so you have wiggle room.. I see a lot of crafts people say they aren't a discount store, and that they just charge the low price all the time so they don't run sales and that running sales devalues the items or the work put into the items blah blah blah.. more power to you to get sales then.. if it works for you then that's great.. I used to say the same thing.. It's easier to promote your store if you can go out on social sites and say "hey everyone, running 20% off select items in my shop" .. Big box stores send out fliers dang near every week.. Harbor Freight is a big example.. I think that is too excessive though.. I myself will wait purposely for certain items to go on sale because I know if it's not this week it will be in the next 3-4 weeks so I'll wait, LOL..  

Etsy has been and will still be running a sitewide sale through Cyber Monday.. I've been in the sale all this week as they are running Black Friday "Week".. My sale will end Tuesday.. It's been busy for me this whole week.. You have time to jump in for this weekend and Monday.. They probably run another shortly as a Christmas sale.. Not sure I'll do that one or not.. Depends on what I have left to sell, LOL

[Puzzleguy]

Thank you Kevin for your insight !

 

[barb.j.enders]

This has been an interesting thread to read/skim over.  I have only done 1 craft sale a year for the last couple.  This year I will have done 3 in total.  Reading this and the work involved affirms my decision not to sell online!  

[kmmcrafts]

28 minutes ago, barb.j.enders said:

This has been an interesting thread to read/skim over.  I have only done 1 craft sale a year for the last couple.  This year I will have done 3 in total.  Reading this and the work involved affirms my decision not to sell online!  

It's not for everyone that's for sure, as is selling in person at the craft fairs.. I'm not one to sit in one spot for very long.. I have to be "doing something"  or changing the scenery.. I have a hard time setting at the shows and talking to the people. I get anxiety in crowds so for me it's not fun .. IF it's just a couple hour show then no problem.. but to stay all day long and multi-day shows is not for me.. nor is setting up and taking it all down.. I set up once with makeshift photo booth for a photo shoot then create a listing page once.. BUT no matter how you look at it.. it's all work, just mine I can work at my own pace at it.. don't have to be at a location and be set up at a certain time or be packed up and out at any certain time.. 

[barb.j.enders]

4 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

It's not for everyone that's for sure, as is selling in person at the craft fairs.. I'm not one to sit in one spot for very long.. I have to be "doing something"  or changing the scenery.. I have a hard time setting at the shows and talking to the people. I get anxiety in crowds so for me it's not fun .. IF it's just a couple hour show then no problem.. but to stay all day long and multi-day shows is not for me.. nor is setting up and taking it all down.. I set up once with makeshift photo booth for a photo shoot then create a listing page once.. BUT no matter how you look at it.. it's all work, just mine I can work at my own pace at it.. don't have to be at a location and be set up at a certain time or be packed up and out at any certain time.. 

Hubby dear helps set up and is turning out to be a great sales guy.  He is a total introvert and prefers to not go anywhere, so it is a total surprise when we are at shows.  He engages the people as they are walking by saying "Welcome to Puzzled Plus" and then moves on to his sales pitch.  We always have a couple of "demo" puzzles available.  

[Puzzleguy]

Bob , just by putting items on sale -people look . If it brings them to your site

and they buy something else - thats good --

Id look at other sellers who are selling things that are simalar to yours -

I bought a etsy guide for dummies a couple of years ago - not going to say it

was worth the money i spent on it - but doing anything is better than nothing-

We learn from our mistakes !