I wish that Etsy takes a step in stopping the wave of massed producers from Hong Kong and China who seem to taking over this market at a fast speed now that we ok with "collective" work force. Doll shoes, handbags, hats, clothes you name it they are popping up like mushrooms. It's so frustrating to see the description saying that they are handmade. Buyers are buying because they sell them cheap. It's disgrace to this so call "handmade" community to have those people blatantly lied to buyers that they are handmade. Perhaps they are but via assembly line in a sweat shop versus one person labor. How can the little shops like mine keep up? Report them did not change anything. They are bad news for the individual handmade shops on Etsy. Sign....
Agreed, it's hard to be competitive when large businesses are permitted to operate here. This is why at Craftori we have a rule of no more than 2 people. Any more and it becomes more of a business rather than an artisan trying to make a living.
As a website developer, I do appreciate how hard it is to keep on top of a large site. However, I do feel that the rules on Etsy should have been tight from the beginning about this. We have to remember though that Etsy are in it for the money alone. :-(
Happy New Year everyone! I didn't know where else to put this but since USPS shipping rates are due to go up on January 27th and Etsy doesn't have a calculator yet, I thought this might be helpful. The csv & pdf files that USPS has online to download are confusing so I asked my postmaster for something simplified so I can start adjusting my listings to reflect the new rates.
This is a jpg file which you are welcome to download and print to give you a head start. Charts from USPS won't' be available until right before the change! Hope this shows up, I can email it to you if you like!
@Lang, It is never a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket. Selling from one venue alone is a little risky because if anything should go wrong, then you have nothing to fall back on. For that reason alone, it is worth having your own site.
Secondly, you don't have to pay out on commission so that helps. Thirdly, you can attract perhaps a clientele from a different sector with a different look and this then helps to widen your audience.
The most important thing is that your site must be easy to use and you need to use lovely big images if you sell anything online. :-)
on certain sites I meant :) for someone that has limited web design knowledge.. How is sites like Weebly?. I know a few people that have sites there but doesn't seem to bring any traffics. Thanks!
Building an e-commerce website is not so easy. We cannot recommend any programs because we have not tested or tried any. If you search on Google for diy ecommerce website builder you'll see lots that come up.
You'll have to purchase your own domain name too. No platform that builds websites will drive traffic to your site. This is something that each of us has to do, no matter where you sell from, even here on Etsy. You cannot simply list items anywhere and expect traffic. This is something you have to work at pro-actively.
@Lang, sorry I missed this before. No, I have no idea about FB ads, I've never paid for them nor do I know anyone who has. FB doesn't really work for us so it's unlikely that the ads would work much better than that but that's just my opinion. Perhaps it works for others. Would love to know this too.
I'll jump in on that. I tried FB ads -- twice. Neither one brought much if any increase in views and certainly did not produce a sale. I'm running a GoogleAdWord capaign right now. Views went wayy up. Better yet, NEW views went up. I have yet to make a sale but I'm hoping all those new window shoppers will include a shopping shopper! In 2012, I was making 1-2 sales per month. In 2013, I've made two. Ouch! Gotta try something new.
@Dix, thanks for the input. I didn't think FB ads would bring greatness, it's good to have it confirmed.
You're not the only one not making many sales at the moment. My art does not sell well here on Etsy either, despite all my knowledge of SEO and the promotion that I do. It used to sell so I really think this is just a sign of the economic times.
I've not tried FB ads at all simply because I don't use Facebook.
But I have noticed over the years that more and more people are paying for adverts and unless they are really targeted they are more often than not being totally ignored.
What I have found though is that more and more people are willing to pay good money for beautiful art. Be it wearable or not its sales have been really picking up over the last 6 months.
So as long as you are connecting with your target customer your sales should start to increase.
