Favorite Free Etsy Tool

[#1]

Hi All! Someone thought it was a good idea to put me in the team spotlight (they have no idea what they've done).

When I started my shop it seemed like there was a lot of great advice about different tools available online for everything from comparing keywords to picture editing...but scouring the threads for those awesome sites was hard. Let's make a running list of our favorite *free* Etsy tools, along with what we use them for.

My newest find:
www.canva.com for making banners.

It was a little trickier than some other banner sites, but the results look way more professional. I also like TagWars (www.tools4etsy.com), but the site is currently under maintenance.

[Former_Member]

Any improvements to a banner is great. Many thanks.

[Former_Member]

Thank you everybody for sharing such amazing tools! I am playing with PicMonkey now :)

[MaryKempStudio]

I use Gimp a lot for photo editing. It's taken a lot of learning though.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for all the info! great stuff. My shop has only been up since July so I'm still pretty new and I want to learn and grow to make my shop successful!
Any advice?

[Former_Member]

I love this thread! So much useful information. ☺

I use both Picasa.com and PicMonkey.com to edit photos, depending on what I want to do.

If you have an Android phone (I have a Galaxy S4) you can do some good, quick basic editing of pictures right on your phone.

Thanks to everyone who shared.
Happy Sales,
Sandi Walker

[Former_Member]

Crafty Base: It looks like an interesting program. Starting rate is $14.95 a month. If I were making $2500 or more a month in sales it would be worth it. But I'm not. for now an Excel spreadsheet works for me.

[Former_Member]

Find & buy an older version of Photoshop Elements on disc. You'll have everything you need and you won't be paying a monthly fee for using it.

The new stuff is crammed with features you'll never use. I'm using Photoshop Elements 10 on Windows 10 and it works just fine for all my photo editing. And it keeps stuff on my hard drive, or thumb, and not on the "cloud." (Guess I have trust issues.)

[Former_Member]

I love a lot of the apps here, but I'm wondering if I'm so old school that I find Excel to be able to do all of these inventory & pricing things without monthly fees?

Am I too old to not want to be tied into monthly fees? I set up some quick easy formulas that tell me ho much I've paid for my supplies, how much the Etsy & Paypal fees are for the listing, and eventually...my actual profit. AND what I've found most helpful is I can get Excel to chart this data instantly, which gives me the opportunity to discover "holes" where I've priced something too low or a point where I thought I should be giving a quantity discount--and I shouldn't be.

[ShereesAtelier]

Thank you all for sharing! I have not been using of these tools.

[TutuUSA]

Thanks so much for the tips! Can't wait to try them!

[Cuddlythreads]

I had no idea there are so many helpful sites! Thank you so much everyone for all your help!

[Former_Member]

I used fotofuze to outline photos with white backgrounds but the page doesn't seem to be there no w;-/ I like the idea of Photoshop elements but am often working on phone or iPad instead of laptop atm

[goddessinthegroove]

thank you!

[VenusDanielle]

That fotofuze.com is amazing! Never knew how to make my pictures pop. Thank you for such valuable info:)

[NatureProvidesBeauty]

If you don't want to pay monthly fees for Craftybase, there is also ABC Inventory. It is a real-deal inventory management system that enables you to manage the manufacturing and sales of your business.

It has a free version that is literally free. The only caveat is that you can only use it on one computer instead of on several in a network like their premium version allows. It pops up a promo to upgrade a couple times while I use it, but it's worth that little annoyance to be able to track my inventory and print professional reports and invoices.

You need to be familiar with database software to use it or you might get lost. I'm happy to help, since I've figured out a lot of the kinks already :) I was using Excel before and am so glad those days are behind me!

[AuntMaymesAttic]

Charlotte, you're not the only one who uses Excel as I don't want to pay expensive monthly fees if I don't pull in a lot of money. I'm curious how you've got your formulas laid out; mine are pretty simple linear ones. Maybe you can convo me to share?

And I'm leery of those "free" sites, as nothing is ever free.

[SweetSwaddle]

For those artist, who wraps your items by themselfs, there is wonderful sait. You can create a box for your items! Measure it up, choose a template and print it. It contains an ever growing number of templates for gift boxes and increasingly more other interesting things that can be made out of paper. What makes this site special is that the templates are all dynamic: you can customize almost all dimensions. All templates are free, no login is required.
http://www.templatemaker.nl/?lang=en

[PaddedEnvelopes]

Not listed here.

See who loves your shop and products:

http://www.craftcult.com/heartsitems.php

[Former_Member]

Thanks for the advice, I love Canva as well.

Van:)