How long did it take for your first sale?

[Former_Member]

We started our Etsy store January 22, 2012 and so far we have gotten 12 listings up. I have been working on promoting our listings through social media for several hours a day. We have seen a pretty big jump up in traffic (326 listing views today, up from 30 or less before the social media) but we are still not seeing any sales. Personally I think our stuff is pretty adorable! :) I guess I am starting to get a little concerned that we haven't sold anything yet. How long did it take for your first sale? Is there something I am missing here? I have been read several threads on marketing but I feel like I am doing most or all of these things already. Any other tips that don't usually get thrown out there?

[Former_Member]

i joined a day before you did and ive had two sales. I guess you can call it luck because I dont get half those views, good luck! and youre right you do have some cute stuff

[Former_Member]

Well thank you David! Congrats on your sales! Any recommendations for success?

[Former_Member]

many people on here say it takes months sometimes to get that first sale. i got mine about 2 weeks after opening but didnt get another one till 2 months after that.

[starflycreations]

Congrats to David!

Lauren, your shop is still new. It may take a while to get it off the ground. It took close to two months before my first sale came in. Then the second immediately followed the same weekend. It sounds like you are doing the right thing by continuing to work on your shop and add things. Though search is done based on relativity, recency still matters when you are competing against another listing with the same tags. Recency wins.

It seems like you are taking the right step in getting active in teams (by joining Etsy Success).

You may also want to create treasuries and start some social media networking to gain shop exposure.

Also, the length of time will vary from one shop to the next depending on what type of item and at what price point you are selling.

You have a great shop start already.

I love your clever titles. Unfortunately, clever will not be found on Etsy unless one searches for those specific word combinations. Try using descriptive titles and expanding on your tags.

You may combine words to create a complete thought or description for tags such as "Polymer Clay Sculpture", "Hand Sculpted Turtle", "Whimsical Turtle Sculpture", "Original Turtle Sculpture", etc. Remember to repeat your keywords from your title and order your tags by importance with the first tag taking priority over the next.

Hope this helps,
Starla

[Former_Member]

It took me three weeks to get my first sale. Three more weeks for the second sale. Then three more weeks... then gradually things started to take off. Patience is a big factor here. Just hang in there & keep at it - it will happen.

[Former_Member]

It took me about three weeks as well after listing my first item. Then the next sale was about two to three weeks later. A little patience is all it takes. And congrats on all of the views that is wonderful!

[Former_Member]

Ohhh Starla! Thank you for the great tips! I do love my little titles. That cheesy pun sort of humor is absolutely part of my personality. Bummer it doesn't translate well for searches.

As for the order of my tags, I had no idea that made any difference! I will go and re-evaluate those!

Thank you to everyone for responding with the time it took for your first sale. Sounds like I just need a little time to build things up. Obviously I'm a little impatient! :)

[Former_Member]

It took my a week and I've been steamrolling since! I hope to keep the momentum and create printables that people like!

[Former_Member]

Hi there, I will just point out some of the biggest issues:
Your titles are irrelevent. The first 3-5 words need to be keywords your potential customers will type into the search when looking for your item. So for example this listing:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/91916733/fly-blue-bird-fly
Is titled in such a way no one will ever find it by searching. No one is searching for 'fly' when looking for a 'blue bird necklace' or 'polymer clay bird necklace'.
Your shipping with another item could be reevaluated and lowered, imo.
Your photography needs work, take pics in natural, indirect sunlight and without the busy backgrounds you have going on.
Most importantly: you need at least 3 pages of items. The more, the better; the more people can choose form and the more items you have in the vast sea of items on etsy the better.
Are you doing any social networking, advertising or promoting outside of etsy? That is key. Find your target customer. It's very important.
It took me over one week to get my first sale from someone I didn't know.

[Former_Member]

Thank you Tarren!

We are in the process of re doing some of our listing photos to look more like the blue bird pendant so it's good to know we are headed in the right direction on that.

As for titles, as much as I hate to do it I think I am going to take your advice and change them to descriptive titles rather than the playful ones we have now. I just happen to love those titles. lol. (Silly I know)

The odd thing is that we get a lot of traffic but no sales. Maybe we just haven't found our niche yet. I'm sure once we figure out our target audience we will be able to make our efforts much more effective!

We are definitely doing a lot of promoting outside of Etsy. At least 5 other spots, including Facebook, Twitter, and Pintrest.

Thank you for your feedback!

[Former_Member]

I understand, as an artist, I wanted to title my things artistically. But, if you've taken a look at one of my items, they are clearly titled in the way that will drive the most traffic from search engines.

[Former_Member]

I started listing mid october in 2011 and got my first sale 2months later!!

[Former_Member]

I started listing in November and got my first sale that same month...I haven't had another sale since then but I've made some changes to titles and such this week, that I hope it can help!
I saw your store and I agree with the rest, maybe some title changes may help you.

[Former_Member]

Took me a month to get my first sale, and another month to get my second.

It took me 2-3 months to really figure out what I was doing. Etsy Seller Handbook was a big help. I started at the end of May and started getting a "steady" stream of sales in September.

[Former_Member]

Thanks for posting this question! I'm wondering about the same thing... I started on 1/30/12 and only had 3 views so far and no sale at all. Any tips on how to get more traffic?

[PetiteFiligreeShop]

LuckystarsHawaii:

I think that you should try to do some networking, like create treasurys, add people to your circle and visit other shops..

Also you have a beautiful products, but the images for my opinion don't flatter them. Maybe you should picture your products with better lighting and get more contrast to them.

Also you should think more tags to your items. Use them all, and use your imagination. Color of the product is always good in tags, also words like: gift, birthday, flower etc.


Hope you find some of my tips useful:) Good luck to you!

[Former_Member]

I started listing my items on January 3rd, and didn't get a sale until January 29th. And now I've had 8 orders total. In the time that I was waiting for that first sale, I just kept tweaking. I worked on better pictures, tweaking my tags (which still need more work!), coming up with new designs. And, it was the two newest designs that have gotten the most sales! So, my advice would be to tweak (the folks above have already given you great advice), and come up with more ideas for products - you never know which of the great designs you have in your head will be your best seller. Good luck!

[Former_Member]

Keep in mind that you only have 12 items up. A lot of people say that the more listings you have, the more opportunities you have to be found on Etsy, which is where the shoppers are! Plus it takes time to accumulate shop hearts and item hearts which helps you be found in lots of different places on Etsy, too.

And I also have this critique, if you are interested: your pictures need some work. My first impression of your shop was SHADOWS! A brightly lit photo with natural light can make any item look so beautiful and make people want to get their hands on it! I use a white poster board and go on my back patio out of direct sunlight or on my porch in the shade. It makes such a HUGE difference!

And remember - no direct sunlight! Many sellers make that mistake, too. Make sure you are in the shade or it is a cloudy day!

Those are my two cents!