ETSY SPAM - is it a site for people creating objects or a kind of business?

[elisavetasivas]

Hi, everybody!

I was wondering about how etsy.com is working.

I am new here and I am trying to make my shop work for already few months. I am reading the material, which is supposed to help, advice, trying to understand, how are things working.

I like very much the idea of a site where creative people could sell there handmade things. I think etsy.com has wonderful possibilities for such people.

I was just noticing the way etsy.com functioning. If I've understood right (I can be mistakening, of course!) you are supposed to pass a lot of time to promote you your creations, to put again and again your advertising, to make circles, to leave comments here and there. Somehow, this kind of promotion becomes anti-creative. From a nice idea, it becomes a promotional game. Spend more time, advertise, put and put again... Finally, it becomes like a big spam instead of a creativity promotion. And there are many shops making business and actually spamming the space with cheap non-quality and non-handmade products.

Are there some ways to make esty work better? Could it be still creative? May be more proper tagging could help? May be I am making a mistake and don't understand something? I hope for some answer. I hope somebody could help me understand.

Thank you very much in advance! I really appreciate any help and any advice.

with my best wishes!

Elisaveta

[Former_Member]

oh boy...

[Former_Member]

I'm with you charms... oh boy...

[Former_Member]

It's kinda up to you whether you want to put time into the selling of your pieces - marketing and promoting are a big part of that.

If you just want to sell the odd thing here and there, then that's grand, but if you want to make money, you have to put the time in on the other parts of business.

[Former_Member]

Agree with blythehopesvintage.
It is like that with any business or venue... you have to work your business, and Etsy isn't going to do that for you.

[Former_Member]

well, i do agree with you in one way, the amount of time you put in to promote takes away the time you could be creating things,

but with any business if you dont put any effort in to get noticed you wont..
so the more you promote, make tresuries, add people to your circle etc etc etc, the more you will get noticed.. etsy is a massive site, with lots of competition and we are all competing with each other to get the sale.
and thats not going to happen unless you work your butt off :)

[Former_Member]

If you want to sell, you have to promote. And one of the ways we promote is on site, leaving comments on Treasuries.

When I first joined, I thought if I listed it, they would come. Well, they didn't. It takes work, and you have to learn to balance creativity with business. It's not easy to do, but you find out what works for you.

[Solandia]

Hm.. I still keep asking the same question as Elisaveta. And believe me, this is not a negativism. But when something needs critique it needs it. Otherwise it is just self-contentedly plunging into non-moving waters deeper and deeper...
I have observed one thing - my items are not visible. If there are no treasuries, when I'm usually reaching first places, they won't be seen ate all. and believe me, I spend tons of time in front the PC, as much, as there is no time to create my things....
I think Etsy all needs a great change in the way it works.

This is my opinion.
Best regards,
Savenna

[Former_Member]

it definitely takes time and a lot of blood, sweat and tears. but if you are proud of what you make, and want to make your shop work and be successful, then you just have to keep ''pounding the pavement'' - it can definitely be frustrating and discouraging at times, but you just have to have the ''don't quit'' mentality. I would suggest outside advertising. A lot people here on Etsy have blogs you can advertise with, sometimes for free or for a small price. Join some teams for support, and make treasuries just so you can get out in the community... as what others have already said, it's just like with any business, it takes work.
Chin Up and Good luck.
kat

[Former_Member]

I get involved in the community because I enjoy it. I like chatting to other work at home people, I like seeing what they create, and it's social outlet in an otherwise lonely work environment.

The marketing aspect is secondary to me, but a nice bonus :D

Work on your tags, work on your photos, learn SEO... for me that's the key to making money.

[twovagabondsvintage]

Although it is a creative community, if you want this to become a business, you have to treat it like any other business and that includes marketing and promoting. That's just the nature of the beast. Unfortunately you can't just open your shop and let the sales pour in (for most of us anyway). There is so much competition here (and wonderful goods) that without putting some promotion in it, you'll just get lost in the mix.

By the way, your shop is gorgeous! It looks like you are doing everything right. Keep it up!

[Former_Member]

Well, you pretty much nailed it on the head, as far as how things run around here.

And I'd much rather spend my time creating than promoting, to tell you the truth. But as Blythe said, there is a community here and I like being a part of that.

As far as answering your questions: yes, and yes. Yes, you will find yourself spending way too much time doing other things instead of creating - this is the case with any small business and you need to realize that each and every seller here is most likely running a small business with their craft.

And yes, you've pretty much nailed Etsy in general. I don't have time to give you the history, and I just joined this year.

All i can say is you just summed up what I've read over the past year in complaints on etsy.

i suggest doing some reading, it's too much to explain in here.

[Former_Member]

I am an artist
I made an exhibit last month in a local museum
This month I will be part of another exhibit in a local art gallery
None of them came knocking at my door, I had to get my work out there, I had to reach them

The same happens in Etsy

And that does not make me less of an artist or less creative, it just means that I haven't enough resources for an art agent, so I must find ways to get my name and more importantly, my work out there (and out here)

[elisavetasivas]

Thanks to everybody for so many messages! Such a great reaction for my theme! Really helpful!

Thanks to quirkyessentials for critiques for my shop! I am actually awaiting some help and advice for my shop already for 1,5 month. So thanks for this!

Thanks to Savenna for support!

[elisavetasivas]

Well, I absolutely agree that you need to spend time to promote your shop. Even if we are talking about creative things, I agree that we are trying to sell them here. I don't like very much to say that i make money here. I think, there are very little people who really managed to make money with creativity. So, I prefer to say, we are trying to sell the artistic and creative things. Actually, it's how I feel myself.

I am a member in few etsy teams. I really do enjoy to be a member, to meet people, to exchange opinion, to make treasuries, to see what the others are doing. It's a nice part of promotion and I am not speaking about this. We do have to spend time here on these things, even much time, than we spend for creating and it's ok.

What I am trying to understand here, is there a way to make the creativity work here, without letting the people SPAM the etsy space by putting again and again the same cheap objects, by commenting and re-commenting, by making noise of nothing. I suppose, some technical imporvements could be made on the site to make this SPAMMING not possible. So that it could be possible to PROMOTE, but not to SUPERPROMOTE and SUPERSPAM. This is my question actually.

Could a nice idea work nicely?

Thanks again!

Elisaveta

[Former_Member]

ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I see what you mean now - sorry - I totally misunderstood your OP.

Yes, some people do super spam (love that term), but I think eventually they realise that they're just annoying people, and stop.

[elisavetasivas]

By the way, here is my thread, where I was asking for some advice and some help for my shop. If somebody who is more experienced on etsy, could give me some advice on my shop, I would really appreciate such a help!

http://www.etsy.com/teams/5002/etsy-success/discuss/8910359/page/1/

Best wishes again!

Elisaveta

[elisavetasivas]

Thanks a lot, blythehopesvintage!

Well, I've called it a "spam" or a "super spam". I don't know really, how to call it in English. I was wondering, if this could be avoid on etsy by some technical means. This would be really nice!

I hope, that this "annoying" could be stopped:-)

[PatchHappyPauper]

Its a balancing act. You have to promote to make sales. I personally can't buy materials to create art unless I make sales of my items. Its a great motivating factor for me to dedicate a set amount of time daily doing the promotion end of it so that my artistic time-stays artistic.

The point is not to "spam"; the point is to sell. So use your threads, teams and circles to describe why you love to create, or to explain some of your work. Help people get to know you and your creative genius will sell itself. But to do that you have to participate--and unfortunately that means promoting yourself and your work.

[elisavetasivas]

Thanks, PatchHappyPauper!
Positive promotion of course could help! Thanks!

[Former_Member]

Etsy is what you make of it... You can list your items, do nothing and just hope they sell, or you can hang out in the forums, be social, get circles and make friends...

Being social does not mean being spammy. Spam is a huge no-no and nothing will turn people away from you faster than spam!

[elisavetasivas]

Thanks! this is nice to make of the things what you want it to be. It's still us to decide, I agree! thanks a lot!

I was just wondering, if some nice ideas could work nicely.... I hope so!

Best,

Elisaveta

[Former_Member]

Love you work elisavetasivas and I agree with everything in this thread so far.
It seems you may be noticing a few people in your activity feed repeatedly. That is their promotion work for their shop. If you are annoyed by certain seller's activity you could always remove them from your circle so they don't show in your feed, but you may want to check out what they're doing and emulate their methods to promote your own shop.

As far as the time factor, it is very time consuming to promote. I've found marketing is better for me in the morning and because I'm really a night owl, I create late. Usually after morning promotion, the sun is right for photographing my work from the night before. In the afternoon, I put new listings up, make treasuries, work on team stuff.

I would encourage all Etsians to check out this newsletter for great tips for marketing your Etsy shop. Its free and I've found it very helpful. Also sign up for the Etsy newsletters, they have great info too.

http://marketmyshop.blogspot.com/

[Former_Member]

Well, I think you have great ideas, don't let the sarcasm fool you.

it's just that you have specified ideas that are ideas on here every single day.

This isn't new, it's just you specified exactly what we are all thinking - and talking about - at length.

Seriously, go check out a few days worth of posts on the Business Forum and you will see what I am talking about.

[Former_Member]

hmmmm..... i try not to worry too much about what other people are doing, or how creative they are. and focus on my own shop.