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Browsing through the members list of our team and looking at all your lovely shops, I started noticing we are a very diverse group of shop owners. Some of us have been on Etsy for years, others are just starting off and have yet to make their first sale.

Experienced sellers, let's share our stories on making that first sale with new shop owners. We all know it's that one magical moment, just that one sale, we're all eagerly waiting for when just starting out on Etsy.

So let's share!

It doesn't matter whether you only had a couple of sales or hundreds: please share your 'first sale' experience so new shop owners can be inspired.

Here are some questions that could help share your story with us.

- What things did you try to make that first sale? Share your hustle!
- What effort do you think ultimately triggered it?
- How much time passed between opening your shop and making that sale?
- What lessons did you learn from making that first sale?
- If you could do it all over, what would you do differently?
- What is your best piece of advice for new shop owners?
- What do you think is the best path to follow in order to get that first sale?

I can't wait to hear about it!

- Deb

Re: How did you make your first sale?

Hi Ladies, 

I am quite new to Etsy and I was wondering how many views per product on average do you get to make a sale? I am selling tshirts designed by myself, and I get some with 20 views and no sale. I'm curious if the designs don't fit the person looking or if it's the price..why they don't buy it, or maybe I just need more views per item to get a sale :)

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

I feel like things are a lot different now than when I started. There are more sellers doing the exact same thing as everyone else now. Because of that, making sales is harder on all sellers today. I listed my first item in February 2014 and made my first sale that same day. I didn't do anything special because I didn't really know what I was doing yet. I probably had less than five items listed at the time, but there weren't as many people doing what I do back then. It's definitely not that easy today, which is unfortunate.

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TracysEstate
Inspiration Seeker

Re: How did you make your first sale?

I agree. It is hard for the newbies. I have been on etsy since 2014 but off and on selling. I have decided to come back due to the fees are not so bad. I am hoping to get my name out there. I dont know about pinterest. I don't know how it works or anything. Is there anyone who can tell me what to do on pinterest? I don't know how to join groups on there or anything about that site. 

Thanks!

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

I still struggle. I started really a few months ago. When i had opened up shop i did nothing with it till 2 months ago. So i feel like a noobie as well. If anyone has advice for my store, please share! I feel like im working for nothing. I just rely on hope! lol

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

Hello there
I opened my new shop at ETSY. I'm more new. For this, you can review my shop and give advice. The name of my shop is ArtCraftTR.

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KalmarHome
Inspiration Seeker

Re: How did you make your first sale?

Hi everyone,

This thread is great and I appreciate each response.  I also opened my shop very recently and was beginning to really wonder whether Etsy is the right platform for my products.  I actually made my first (and second!) sales this week and hoping that the momentum continues....  Good luck to us all....   hoping the warmer weather brings more sales!

Thanks!

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

I'd say etsy is a good fit for your product KalmarHome.

 

Great photos by the way! Having high quality and a variety of photos is probably the best way to convert those views and favorites into sales!

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KalmarHome
Inspiration Seeker

Re: How did you make your first sale?

Thanks so much!

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K2Woodcrafts
Inspiration Seeker

Re: How did you make your first sale?

We just opened our shop two days ago and had our first sale within a couple of hours of opening. It was really just word of mouth (FB) and the mother of one of our friends decided to buy.  We learned how important networking and marketing can be. Right now all of our items are displayed as we initially took pictures of them, but we're going to need to stage our products to look more appealing. We have no advice because we're just starting out, but would love all the advice we can get to continue our momentum! Thank you!

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

Rivervalleyconcepts.etsy.com

I feel like i'm doing somthing wrong....Yes i am just starting on Etsy but i'm completly confused as to  how to sell successfully on Etsy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.......Thank you

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

this store is new for me - just opened it this week - so no sales, but i run (manage) another one. that one started slow but once it got going, sales were steady. that shop is for charity, to benefit animals, so we dont have trouble with sales and i dont worry about making them. We dont make much but each penny helps. its certainly not anything that would sustain a living or anything- but since i dont keep the $$, its ok ... now for this shop, since its new, not doing anything special like not buying ads, just networking. all the proceeds will also go to animals for this one. i do think the more social media you are on the easier it gets. i'm on Twitter, Pinterest, Tumbler, Instagram, Linked in and facebook. i have been selling on etsy in various shops for almost 10 years now and i notice when i make a sale, i get more, like a dominoe effect. When we had the old teams, it was SOO much better. i had WAAY WAAY WAY more sales. These teams are horrible. i hate the setup. in old teams there was a well defined nice long list. each post had the persons profile pic next to it and you didnt see the body of the post (like here) till you clicked into it. so you could see a nice organized list of about 15 posts in the team at once, and it was so so so so much easier to do. i'm not going to use teams much now because its just too hard, too cold, not inviting, too confusing, very impersonal, not much participation at all. Its really sad. I actually think this is my first posting in the new TEAMS setup. I dont understand how it even works. Also in the old ETSY there used to be something called TREASURIES and that was something many people could be part of. it was a curated page that showed like 16 pictures from items of different shops. one person of the page made the treasury and included 15 others items...it was a amazing way to make sales and it worked. unfortunately, ETSY got rid of everything benefitting sellers. I cant beleive i even opened a 2nd one but i'm remaining hopeful. If it doesnt work, i'll close and go to Shopify. 

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

Hi all! My shop is only 2 days old so no sales yet but looking forward to getting involved with the community. Feel free to share your wisdom and rules. I am happy to play my part. Thank you

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

This is such an important discussion....I've just started my Etsy shop as well, haven't made any sales too, and sometimes it can feel abit sadz, but hearing from everyone, the motivation, tips and encouragement, it really gives courage. I hope to make a sale soon too :') and will keep learning from everyone. Would love to get some feedback on my store too----wonder what could be improved! Been trying very hard but....seems like some things could be done better?? gimme halpp sos

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

- What things did you try to make that first sale? Share your hustle!
I am yet to make my first sale. At the moment I am working on creating more items for the shop, my goal is to have at least 30 items by the end of August. Besides that I am reading up on Etsy, SEO and other things I might have to know. I try to improve my shop 1% every day, hopefully that will get me my first sale some day :) 


- What do you think is the best path to follow in order to get that first sale?
Since I am not there yet I am not the one to give the advice, but I will try to be active on forums, learn about SEO, spread my shop in social media and create new pieces and put them up. I can only put up a limited amount of pieces since I don´t have an income and have very little to get my shop going. So hopefully I will have my first sale around 30-35 items so that I can afford to put some more up there :) 

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

Hey again @JoyfulLivingCrafts, just checked out your store, your handmade bracelets are beautiful, and the photography is neat! Suggest perhaps you could photograph your products with a model? Maybe grab a friend to wear your bracelets, and take photos of the bracelets on a real human hand, because customers might wanna know how it would look like on different skin tones, etc...am sure it will look beautiful! All the best. Perhaps take the photos in a natural setting too, with nature in the background.

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

Hey! I feel your frustration, I just started as well and have also yet to make my first sale. It really can be frustrating when you try so hard, try to market so hard and still, nothing. However, it is one meaningful learning experience. it's admirable that you are doing your best to start entrepreneurship, all the best for your journey, and don't give up! 30-35 items sounds good, boost in listings should help draw people to your store, so I heard. The first climb is always hard but will also be the most meaningful.

Recently I got some advice from friends to list the more important or attractive items for sale on your shop, much more visibly at the 'featured' shelf, so I guess curatorship is important....been trying to increase the variety of tags I put on each of my items so that more search words would be captured, and improving my photography too....I'm a newbie too haha so I welcome feedback on my store as well!

Let's keep pushing on! <3

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SlingsbyCrafts
Inspiration Seeker

Re: How did you make your first sale?

@UnicornBirthday  I took a look at your shop this morning. I would say that you may need to make the images easier to read. The pictures are very clean and bright, which is great! 

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

I just Opened my shop feel free to give me advise feedback on my items that would really help me. Thank you 

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

Hi, I think I'm very worried. It's been a long time and I only have 1 sale. Got a 5 star good comment. But then I couldn't make any sales. I wonder. Is my payment method a problem for me? Your thoughts on this are very important to me. If the payment method is a problem, I have to give up. Your thoughts are very important to me. Thank you from now.

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

@CERCIHANDMADEI wonder what other methods you set on payment. If not credit card or paypal, yes, it will be difficult for customers to pay.

I also live in the country that still did not support etsy payment. I accept paypal only. No problem with payment so far.

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

i have not long my own shop and i have only 1 sale but i love the one sale i get :D 

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

My first sale happened many years ago with my first etsy shop (not this current bybeejang shop). It was a great feeling.

- What things did you try to make that first sale? Share your hustle!
Actually, I did nothing special with my first shop. I just listed the items, filled all info and tag. The first sale came within a day or two. For my second and now current shop, my first sale was from my follower in my FB, also came within a day. But keep in mind that etsy ten years ago was not the same as this now.

- What is your best piece of advice for new shop owners?
Working on SEO is a must. Find and think of the keywords that best describe your items. Use all tags available. Add those words here and there in your title and description. Customers must be able to find your items first before they can click or make decision. Then, came other things like photos, price, shipping method, etc. Keep promoting on social media, promotion groups, pinterest and others.

Good luck!

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

I sell chainmaille, but my best sellers are my tutorials and kits, for other people who make chainmaille. I joined 4 different chainmaille groups on Facebook for inspiration, and noticed that others were offering their tutorials. I bought a few, to learn more about how they were put together, and when I came up with an original design (I checked with others to make sure no one else was selling/making it), I posted pictures in the groups. Requests came in pretty quickly for a tutorial! It took me another year to get one together (I was in pharmacy school at the time), but once I had it posted, I made several quick sales. I continue to see sales when new members ask for tutorials and I share my link! 

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Re: How did you make your first sale?

Hoping to make my first sale soon, am still setting up shop, joined team today for inspiration😊😊😊

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Betreff: How did you make your first sale?

I open my Shop at August 22 an I don‘t know how , but I make my first sale 😊 

At the Moment I‘m working to fill my shop. I think it’s better to have a few Products. And I‘ll send the Items in other Countries than Germany. 

I would love to get advice.

maybe we could start a „Game“ like. Write about the last 3 Shops a thing you like and a tip what could be improve - or something like that ?

 

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