I just opened a Shop on AF

[#1]

I bit the bullet and decided not to put all my eggs in one basket. The stress and drama not to mention where Etsy is going made the decision for me.

Any other AF sellers here? Sage advice?

My goal in 2011 is to finish my two websites, blog my butt of and continue to hate FB and Twitter...none of my friends care what I sell anyway since my products are really to a specific audience.

Your comments are really appreciated, Karen

[squarepaisleydesign]

You guys have me thinking... Should I or shouldn't I?

[HomeBeamCo]

Has me thinking too..I might try it!

[WildcatLeatherCo]

I love it there!

[PrairieSilverSupplys]

I'm peeking through the window. Do I or don't I???

[Former_Member]

They have a referral page...I won't post it here but You put the name of the shop that referred you and they get one free. Then af gives you your 3rd month free.

My fees for what I sold here, if I had to keep with the renewing frenzy, became too expensive. So the flat rate at AF works better for me.

[teaman]

I had an account and neglected it. I signed up last week with a Pro account and already a dozen sales there. I like it.

Oh yeah, here is the kicker...you can promote there....they encourage it!

[Former_Member]

I found that it takes more work there. The only sales I had (my other shop) were by posting in the forum that I wasn't getting sales. Been there with this shop since Oct and just downgraded to free because there were no views and no sales even though I promoted it.
My other shop has had 9 sales but I have been there since 2008.

[Former_Member]

So glad you started this thread crememagnolia.

2 Ignorant questions please:

What's the difference between etsy's "syndication" and Artfire's "upload feed"?

Do you click the 'upload to google' tab after you've completed listing?...or do you just 'enable' the google feed tab before you start listing?

[Former_Member]

I have a shop over at artfire. I love them. They are seriously just a people loving community. And the Admin ACTUALLY care - go figure./

Here's my shop :) - - - -> http://www.artfire.com/users/MyMagicMe

[PrairieSilverSupplys]

I just opened my Artfire shop. I listed some things but need to do a banner and look around to see what all I can do. It was very easy to list! We'll see what happens.

[Former_Member]

I was looking at Bonanza. I saw where they bought 1000 Markets. I didn't know Artfire had a free acct. Maybe give one, or both, a try! I only had (3) sales in this shop last year. My sewing supply shop has all the sales.
Helene

[Former_Member]

It cannot be denied that Etsy's market venue is large and does have the lions share of the attention at the moment.
On the other hand,
a site wide average of about 5 sales per month per store which has not made a significant change over the last 5 years also has a few things to say.
One of which, Etsy's venue growth has not been matched by Etsy's individual store sales growth.
Which makes one wonder what is wrong with that picture?

[Former_Member]

How long does an item stay listed on AF?

[Former_Member]

An item stays listed indefinitely on ArtFire. Once you list it, and there are no fees to list it, you don't have to keep renewing and paying renewing fess. The longer your listing is up, the better they are found in search results and have better SEO standings. All of my sales on Etsy were driven by me. I brought my own customers here from Twitter, but a lot of my sales on ArtFire are organic sales. Just ppl finding me over there through Googling something. I got in on the 5.95 special back in October and love the PRO account. The best feature to me is the Etsy Item importer. You can upload all of your Etsy listings onto AF without having to relist them all individually. But that's a tool you only get when you have a PRO account. As long as I make sales on both, I will keep both my Etsy shop and my ArtFire shops open.

[Gypsymoondesigns]

I am getting nerves having all my eggs in the Etys basket. I had a Artire shop that I never utilized. I just upgraded it to Pro and am starting to add items.

I will have to see where the Etsy uploader is. That sounds easier.

I found after a few hours I could find my items already on Google! That is great.

[Former_Member]

LastChantsStudio I tried to look at my AF active items but cannot figure out how too see what people are googling to find my listings... Anyone know what I am missing?

To answer the original question, I signed up a couple of months ago. No sales but I really have not spent much time there at all yet.