How did you make your first sale?

[#1]

Hi there Daily Etsy Sellers!

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.

Let's start a discussion on making that first sale. 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

[JustCoolJewels]

I made my first sale 3 DAYS after I opened...so you can imagine my happy surprise......it was a key necklace and the lady told me she collects keys...aha!

I need to stay more active in my team promotions....as I have another shop which is called sweet angel vintage.

Plus I have to make some new products...

Otherwise, just do what you love and try to open a shop, it can take a little time and tweeking, but it can work.....there are no set rules..but Etsy offers wonderful tutoring on everything you want to know!!

[littledebskis]

Hi Everyone,

My first sale was from my husband's cousin who has enjoyed getting my Christmas cards for the past 10 or more years. The next two sales were also relatives. I appreciated their help but not the feeling I was expecting from a sale. Then came Mary, my first non family customer. She made my day by ordering 6 cards and to top it off she wanted custom cards. Long story short...Happy ending for all :)

[bennaandhanna]

It looks like everyone has a different story, different lucky time, but bottom line is not to give up. I believe once we hit the first sale, it will be continuous. Debbie, thanks for this idea of discussion.

[TickleMyIQ]

My first sale came within the first couple weeks of opening. These cards were my best sellers in my other shop but didn't fit the overall style so that led me to open a second shop. I think it helps that I have a unique product and I'm very clear on who my target audience is so its easy to cater to that audience.

For several months, I got up at 5am every morning to get this shop off the ground before my kids woke up. I had almost 100 designs in my journal already sketched out. I spent the time to make those designs come to life and uploaded them on my computer. I just came up with my logo this past week. It's been a work in progress. My sales are pretty steady and I'm still sketching up new designs every chance I get.

When you finally make a product that people really want, make other variations of that product. You have to keep evolving and finding your niche. Persistence and a positive attitude during uncertain times really help too,

[Former_Member]

I had my first sale today! I believe posting in forums and asking people to critique my shop helped the most.

[Former_Member]

I opened my shop a little over a month ago and have not had a sale yet. I send my frames to people with my business card and ask for a critique and that they share with friends. I feel that word of mouth is very good advertising for me. I got a request for a picture frame from a cousin in Arkansas. I sent it to him and he said that he loved it. He tried to pay me for it but I refused because he has been so good to send my mom CD's of his musical group. Still waiting for my first sell as I think I do make beautiful picture frames. I hope that didn't sound too conceited! If anyone is ever looking into my shop I would love a critique and any advice.

[HuckleberryHearts]

My first sale came a few days after I opened my shop. It was totally unexpected, and I didn't think anyone was even looking at items in my shop yet! I was at a restaurant eating brunch with my mom. I had my phone volume up very loud and heard the 'cha-ching' and about fell out of my chair! Everyone there turned around and looked at me! It was a great moment. After that the sales slowly starting coming in. It was very slow at first. Most days I had no sales at all. But its been picking up. I started in February 2014, and as of this morning I'm up to 533 sales. It definitely takes time, and no shop is the same. My advice is to focus on your items, listings, and building good quality links to your shop first before focusing on sales. Good SEO is the best foundation to build your Etsy shop on. Good luck to all those new store owners out there! You can do it :)

[Former_Member]

I actually had my first sale on Etsy almost 8 years ago. I've had four shops, this being the forth and hopefully the last LOL. I love selling.. but I love creating more.
That first sale was actually made because I'd seen someone ask for a particular item, vintage, that I just happened to have. So, I opened a shop and listed it and within 20 minutes it was sold. I was hooked.
One thing I have noticed over the years is that as Etsy has grown and more sellers have come on board, the harder it is to make that first sale. Having an outstanding shop, proper SEO, etc.. is more and more important and a bit harder than it was when there wasn't so much go wade through when looking for an item.
My struggle right now is with time. I work a day job as a school photographer and I travel extensivly for my job. I'm often up at 3 AM to be on the road and don't get home until late in the day. By then I'm just too tired to create or list or market. I'm trying to find work arounds with automated programs like HooteSuite but still, it takes effort. Maybe when I win the lottery and can retire I can have more time in my day for this :D

[busylittlebird]

My first sale was on the second day after I opened shop. I was also very surprised to hear the cha-ching so soon! I have a handmade shop that opened in 2011 - it took a couple of months for that first sale.

I worked on my listings, and had a bunch ready before I opened. I think I had about 40 items to start, and I kept adding new ones every day. In contrast, my other shop started with 5.

I also joined some teams right away. That is a big help in getting more exposure!

[CutiecraftsbyAndrea]

Ive had my shop opened 10mths now and no sales! The last month though Ive been spending a lot of time promoting items, adding new listings and improving photos & tag words...but any advice would be appreciated!

[Former_Member]

My shop has been open for two months, and wow, what a learning process! After a few weeks, I decided to focus on wreaths, deactivated everything and started my inventory all over a few weeks later!

The only sales I've had so far are to people I know and I didn't have to ship them. I am learning more and more about social media, but by reading comments here, need to focus more on my Facebook page.

Except...for some reason I am embarrassed to use my personal account and ask people I know to like my page. I don't have a lot of self confidence in my work yet.

[Former_Member]

It was in my other shop where I sell my paintings. Got the first painting sold after 8 weeks.
My buyer was a 'first time Etsy buyer'.
- so we were each others first :-)

She asked me to send some more photos of few paintings hang on the wall, so she could imagine better in her room.

I checked my shop daily from the opening and observed slowly who visited and hearted my works. I clicked the hearted what I liked but without any conscious strategy. Made some treasuries from my favourites.

So I did send the requested photos.
Had noooooo idea what a sale looks like and how it actually works.

Then a bright January morning I look into the shop and found the magical number 1 under sold items :-D
Packed with shaking hands and throbbing heart and was quite proud.

Here in RubiaCraft, sadly the first wanna-look-like-buyer was a bad ass cheater. Luckily had my common sense on so didn't get his(or her) plan done, but I took him seriously first.
Then got the first real buyer :-)
long gap, the shop was practically on hold
...now waiting for my second buyer.

Advice? Do your best, spend time.
Good sales everyone!

[Former_Member]

I sold my first item about 2weeks after opening my Etsy Shop. A stranger, yeah! I had a second the next day! I haven't had any since. I was so excited about both of them and am still excited about making jewelry, but disappointed in not getting noticed more. Also, they didn't leave reviews for my shop, which was disappointing, since I know how important reviews are.

I have joined several groups and have a facebook page. My family is supportive and have purchased several items, unfortunately before I opened my shop. But a couple have spread the word for me.

I would appreciate any feedback to my shop.
Thanks! : )

[Former_Member]

We cheated. We had a friend buy an item for $1 and then write a review. It helped kick start our amazing first year!

With big dollar items, no one wants to be the first to go so we help them out.

[byDadandDaughter]

We had our first sale the day after we opened and we just had our second sale yesterday! Its is a very exciting process. We are still new to Etsy, we opened our shop about 3 weeks ago so we hope to have more sales and a review soon!

[MooMooHandmadeCards]

After about a month, someone in my extended family made a purchase. That gave me the start I needed. At times it was slow growth, but tomorrow is my one year anniversary with Etsy. Today I have 84 sales and 29 great reviews. I was hoping for 100 sales the first year, but I am happy with 84 - unless I get a few more today :-) My SEO tags and titles were really bad to begin with so that limited the amount of views I received and sales I got initially.

I have had a lot to learn about running an Etsy shop, but with the help of some great Etsy Teams and forums I feel I have learned a great deal. There is more to learn everyday. I have gained confidence and pride in my work and I absolutely love having my shop! And I have met some wonderful Etsy shop owners, through my teams, that are willing to help me with any questions I may have.

I encourage all of you that are new and struggling to hang in there and continue to learn about SEO's, marketing, photo taking, etc. I have a lot to learn and more growing to come but the motto "one step at a time" helps.

Blessings,
Cathy

[Former_Member]

I got my first sale in 2008 and I'm pretty sure it was random. I was not promoting my shop that much. And I think the only place I had photos of my work was on Myspace lol. I didn't get another sale for months. That 's when I started to take my shop a little more seriously. I worked on improving photos, descriptions, making more items, and checking out forums for advice. All of these things helped but sales were still very slow. Like one every couple of months slow.

It was until 2010 that I started to see regular sales and I think several factors helped the increase including better photos, more inexpensive items, learning about tags and seo, and being more active in forums. And of course social networking. This was around the time that I became active on Facebook and Twitter and I definitely saw an increase in sales and interest in my jewelry. And though I've been less active on these networks, I know they're important to have.

My advice for those waiting on their first sale is to improve photos (a never ending process for me) learn about seo and tags, and branding which is something I'm still figuring out. Promote where you can online and off. Also, having a full shop helps too. And have a few items in your shop that you can make quickly and sell inexpensively. Have fun!

[Former_Member]

I opened on Easter this past April and still no sales. I was definitely new and trying to get the hang of things but now, I am getting more of an understanding about the things I can work on to make my shop better. I have lots of editing to do and keywords to add. My work is cut out for me but I will keep going until I get better results. I encourage anyone with no sales to slow sales to just keep pushing until you get where you want to be. I enjoy what I do so my patience comes easy because I know in due time, it will be where it should be. Good luck all!
P.S, Any critique given to me will be greatly appreciated

[Former_Member]

I just made my first sale tonight! After putting in many hours making my product (handmade cards) and promoting on Etsy, the sale finally came. So excited! Although I don't have much experience, I'll put a few things that I've been doing over the last week.

1. Increasing the amount of cards I sell. Making lots of different varieties, for many different occasions.
2. Promoting through the Etsy teams. Found lots of different teams to join. Not just those for card makers. Also started promoting (liking/favoriting/viewing) other people's shops and listings.
3. Reading blog suggestions/articles for optimizing search engine activity, for best title practices, and for description help. These various articles gave me lots of good ideas.
4. Working on creating accurate, descriptive titles.

Hopefully the sales keep coming! And good luck to everyone else. Thanks to everyone here who has given Lilybelle Cards a look :)

[FusePrints]

Thanks for sharing your first sale stories! They inspire me. I am still waiting for mine.

[HappySweetPrints]

i opened my shop in September 25th , no sale yet but i am working so hard to promote my listings, adding more items, working on photography , figuring out how to stand out, i believe so much in my products and i wish to have a successful business , thank you for sharing your stories

[Former_Member]

Dina, great items and great photos!
The only thing i think you need is a clearer banner photo, better resolution, as for now it looks a bit poor quality!
Happy selling!

[Former_Member]

Hello,

I haven't made any sale yet. If anyone has advice and critique for me, I take it gladly.

[Former_Member]

My first sale was within 2 days of opening my shop. The listing was taken down for copyright images, but it was really popular while it lasted.

Now I'm working on getting more products up on my shop. More designs are coming soon!

[Former_Member]

I have had my shop open since Nov 2013 and didn't get a single sale until last July....then nothing until a couple of weeks ago.

I finally have a good number of items and started running the Etsy promoted listings, joined a few more teams and have been trying to gain likes, views, and followers. I sold 2 pairs of earrings and now it has dropped off again. And with those sales, not a single review.

Most of my sales are in person or to friends through facebook, or on eBay, but they kept changing their rules so that I don't even want to deal with them anymore. I have no idea what I am doing wrong here on Etsy. When it comes to marketing and sales, I am clueless.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.