Custom Orders Only?

[Former_Member]

Besides my Etsy shop, I have 2 booths in local craft markets.

I've been very busy with life in general lately, not having time to spend making new inventory for my B & M venues, so the shelves are looking sparse and stale. This is especially a problem, since Fall should be my busiest time of year for selling Candles!

Looking at my total Etsy stats from the beginning, 9 out of my top 10 most viewed items are custom order listings. Also, the bulk & custom orders bring in the majority of my revenue, as opposed to single item ready-made purchases. This is causing me to wonder if I should re-vamp my Etsy shop to Custom orders only and take all the individual listings to my B & M stores to re-stock the shelves...

I would love to hear from any of you who have shops that exist solely on Custom Orders and how that is working for you, especially if you have had ready-made items in the past or currently as well -- which do you prefer? which works better for you?

[Former_Member]

I have both custom/made to order cards and place cards in my shop as well as ready-made greeting cards. The bulk of my revenue comes from the custom orders so I try to add new designs for those as often as possible. I enjoy making the ready-made cards too though so I focus on those only when I am caught up on everything else.

Maybe take your ready made items to your B&M venues for now and see how your shop does with custom orders only. You could always add the ready made items back at a later date if you want to.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

Custom made orders are fun, because of the close contact with the customer.

That being said.... I prefer ready to ship listings.
I prefer making things that I want to make, when I want to make them, listing them, selling them, and shipping them within 24 hours.
That means I am in full control and I do what I do, when I want to do it.

With custom listings, the customers have control. They more or less control what I make, how much I make and when I make it.

(I have chronic health issues and can only be active for a couple of hours a day, on a good day, so I prefer ready to ship listings.)

In general I think a mix of both custom listings and ready to ship listings work best for most sellers.

Ow, and I forgot this: most purchases on Etsy are impulse purchases!
You loose out on those sales if you only have custom listings.

[CopperLeafStudios]

I sell mostly customized items, but have a number of made-to-order and ready-made in my shop. The extra listings are definitely purchased over time, but mostly they act as marketing for my custom items. They act as a portfolio, in many ways.

If you prefer custom items, or find that it is where your customers' interest lies, I would go for it :) But don't be afraid to have other items in your shop, even if they take longer to sell -- they will still be beneficial to your shop as a whole.

[AuntBsAttic]

I have always had a mix of both ready to ship, knit to orders and custom listings available. This gives buyers the choice of speedy delivery or waiting for exactly what they want - and it affords me the luxury of continuing to make regular sales even when I'm up to my eyeball in knitting previous sales! I generally have had to cut off Christmas delivery custom items around Dec 1st . . . the ready to ships then fly off the shelves for folks who just have to have a gift under the tree Christmas morning.

[flauntdesignsjewelry]

I take custom orders, but having ready to ship and easy to adapt items helps me a lot as the customer can see what they are getting and order right away. Much as I love the customer interaction of a custom order, the amount of communication, trial and error, photographs; etc mean they are very time consuming in relation to the revenue produced...