How do Team "hits" at your Shop really help in the long run?

[Former_Member]

I am fairly new to Etsy and have joined a half dozen or so Teams. The advice is great but the "games" have me a bit confused. I understand that Views and Favorites boost your shop in the search results and gain your shop a wider audience but it does nothing for sales as far as I can tell.

I know a lot of you "Fave" items without even looking at what you are clicking on (we are all guilty of it). And frankly, I believe a lot of people play these games to gain, what I feel is false gratification. Getting 150 views from other shop owners is not the same as getting 75 views from potential customers that searched your shop out and picked your item by choice..is it?

I get over 100 views and favorites a day but no sales from any of it. Am I missing something? I work every day to improve my shop and market my product inside and outside of Etsy but it seems the only real traffic comes from Teams that are playing games.

I know I have a good, unique product but my sales in Etsy do not reflect that, I have sold more on outside sites and auctions, Please help me understand this whole Etsy thing. I want to succeed but it seems to me, that if we as shop owners do not buy from each other when the need arises, then how can we expect to make sales from the outside consumer. I have consciously gone out of my way to purchase my supplies from Etsy Shops. My thought is, we should support each other. I don't know just frustrated I guess.

Thanks in advance for helping me work through this:)

[CozyDawg]

The games are a waste of time.

[Former_Member]

If your target customer is the person who is playing the team games, then by all means continue with them.

I'm a member of many teams but the only ones that I actively participate in are the ones with an ongoing chat thread. Through those threads I've made many long term friends from around the world. Some of those threads are product related and others are not.

I'll personally purchase from someone I know before going to someone else.

As for sales, I've probably had about 200 sales from team members only because they truly needed what I have to offer. The majority of my sales come from people who find me from outside of Etsy.

[Former_Member]

I used to spend a lot of time on team work, but have learned it is more important to spend time on my shop - views from teams may turn into sales, but I find most of my customers are outside etsy.

I do realize that there may be customers who have found my products while looking through one of their favorite shops here on etsy so some team participation is helpful. I tend to participate in the new and relisted items threads and color connection games - somedays I will participate in a chat or two, but those are not for the purpose of getting sales, but rather to interact with other estians.

Good titles and tags are a BIG must here on etsy as is the number of items in your shop. My shop was "found" this past summer and this holiday season was the best one yet - I have continued to get weekly sales and have several new products just about ready to list.

Teams are nice and can be a stress reliever on those difficult days, but our own efforts are the key to our shops success!

[PaperBoundLove]

Honestly, a lot of my buyers, I'd say 90% of them are not shop owners.
So, for me, I personally think those games are pretty useless. It might help a little, but I think the time would be better spend working on new products for the shop, etc.

I find that tagging the products properly and working on SEOs help with getting found.

Hope that helps.

- Khin

[Former_Member]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your candor and advice. Time to refocus my energies. This is the kind of stuff that I love about Etsy....the advice and tips:)