Need Help!

[Former_Member]

I don't know what I am doing wrong with my shop. Please give me some advice.
I've lowered my prices as low as possible. I don't know what else to do.

[Former_Member]

You should try opening a fan page if you still don't have one. Post your pictures on flicker, I even have my items listed on yardsellr.com hoping that if they don't sell on Etsy, they will sell somewhere else! From what I have been reading on other threads, it seems like it is slow EVERYWHERE! Hope my info helps, good luck with your shop! =)

[Former_Member]

hI,

You have a pretty shop. You could try using all photo spaces, maybe cross promote with pics of other items.

Most importantly stay positive. Hugs

[MuseSilkPaintings]

I think you should give your pictures more love. Try shooting in the day light or with an ott light and making use of the macro feature. Also start a blog if you haven't already to document your processes, invite readers into your creative world, announce new collections, etc.. Blogs, FB, twitter, etc.. all social media will build up momentum an drive traffic to your store.. and I agree with Bibs and Bobs on staying positive!

[EviesToolEmporium]

Hi and welcome to Etsy!

There is so much to learn when you first open! When I was new I was so excited to find the virtual labs! They have labs for newbies and they are super important! If you can sit in on one! Etsy Admin leads the discussion and you will be amazed at what you learn!
http://www.etsy.com/community/events

Best of luck,

Michelle-

[Former_Member]

Thank you for the great ideas:)

[simpleneedleart]

Patience.....!

[QuiltsByPaula]

I agree with SimpleThymePrims ... patience is key. I looked at your shop and thought it was beautifully set up. There was nothing that stood out to me as obviously wrong. Then I noticed you've been on etsy less than a month! There are a million little tricks that you can do to get yourself out there more, but none of them are an instant magical formula. Building a presence takes time ~ stick to it and don't give up!

[HildesJewelry]

Your jewelry are beautiful.
You should work on the photos. Some are blurry and too dark. The pink flower is too dominant, I think. Try to take the photos i day light .

[SesenDesign]

You have some lovely items there. It will help to build up your inventory,people like choice. Plus I have to agree with hildes over the flower, it tends to dominate the image rather than the jewelry taking pride of place. I have been here for over a year and it took a few months before I got my first sale, there was lots of tweaking of pics. http://gimp.com is a great free photo editing site if you don't have a program. I use both photoshop and gimp for my pics.

[Former_Member]

I find that lowering your prices too much can actually be counter productive.. Remember not to sell yourself short. You have lovely items and you could probably price them at a few dollars more.

[Former_Member]

lots of shops don't even get ONE sale in their first month.

But when you're not busy shipping orders you can:
-work on your photos- while nice, some of they are a little washed out with grey and your items don't pop as much as they could. I've taken as many as 30-50 photos of one item just to get 5 photos that I liked. If you don't have any editing software, try using something like Picnik (www.picnik.com). If you have a macro feature on your camera, use it! You want your item to be in focus, not whatever is behnid or around it. Scrapbook paper also makes for interesting backgrounds, and is available in solid colours so you could pick some up and play.
-Add some oomph to your product descriptions to intrigue and entice your shoppers.
-Don't price your items too low, that can often have the opposite effect and scare your buyers away. Price your products appropriately to cover your costs and your time.
-Inventory! People like to shop- if you go into a store that only has one rack of clothes and the rest of the place is stark and bare, you're not going to stay there for very long even if you happen to see something you like. So fill up your shop so that people have more content to browse through.
-Get a Facebook page for your shop if you don't have one already.
-Check out teams and threads for bloggers who are looking for artists to feature.
-Read crafty entrepreneur blogs like Blackburg Belle, and check out the Etsy Success reading lists. If you're not selling right now, invest some time in learning as much as you can about how to get where you want.

And have fun! Don't get stressed out because you're not selling RIGHT NOW. Build your shop and your brand so that when people ARE spending, you'll be ready to happily take their money :)

[Former_Member]

you open your shop a few days ago, you already have a sale, so keep working and have patience.
Good Luck

[Former_Member]

there's some great suggestions here and i have to agree with all of them...be patient, it takes a long time ot build a following. work on your photos...i notice quite a few that were out of focus. start a blog and facebook page. get more inventory so you can list almost every day...super important.

and mostly if you love what you're doing...creating jewelry ...you'll keep doing it and build a lovely business and eventually get lots of sales. But get out there...leave business cards every where...tell all your friends and co-workers...do a craft fair or two...go around to boutiques and try and sell there...take accounting and business classes...there's so much to do to start and build a business.

[Former_Member]

Thank you everyone for the advice I will definately fix my photos. Have more patience and build my inventory. Very good advice I appreciate it.

[sammysgrammy]

all the above - great advice. Your shop is just 11 days old. And already you have one sale. I'm trusting it was a "real" sale, not a relative or friend purchasing from you just to encourage you. I hate to have to learn patience too. It's a bummer. I can only add one thing to all the great counsel you already got and that is: On the upper left of your store front, you have the name of your shop. Under that you have the name of your shop again. Your shop name isn't telling them the whole story about what's inside. Go to "your account"; >shop appearance& >;I think its called announcement, and put in that little box what you sell. This is what google sees. In your case, something like - "savorski crystal bracelets" or "bracelet bling", Grab people's attention by telling them exactly what's inside of A Little Bead of Michief

[sammysgrammy]

sorry, it's called "shop title" not announcement. So your shop title should describe in a couple words - whats inside. Also apologising for adding "little" to your shop name. It's too late for me to be up ..............

[Former_Member]

http://www.etsy.com/listing/69799795/amethyst-shard-bracelet

This photo has a better angle than the other. the flower moves from the top right to the bottom left, if you look at the great jewellery photos on etsy, this is what they do. As mentioned previously the flower might be too dominate but it doesn't bother me.

You need to get closer, the flower or marco setting on your camera or Crop closer. There is too much white space.

If you are relisting, it might be better to copy your listings instead. Fill a whole page with your listings. An empty shop looks, well, empty :)

Hang in there, you're doing a lot right. Jewellery on etsy is hard. Find what you think is a perfect shop, one of those big ones on the FP all the time and look at what they are doing.

[Former_Member]

You can't be expecting sales as soon as you open. So patience as many have said is the key. Meanwhile I find it very helpful to go through the SellerHandbook, there is a lot of great advice on pictue taking, pricing and many other things. Don't lower the prices - rather work on you pictures, descriptions, tags (all in the SellerHandbook), and keep listing new things! Participating in the Etsy community is another good thing you are already doing. Join a team, participate in forums, check out other store and add people you like to your circle.

[Former_Member]

Read up on SEO. That means Search Engine Optimization. There is lots of great info all over the web on it. It's basically how to get noticed on Google and other search engines. It's another thing that takes time. Once you make a change to improve SEO it isn't instantaneous. But I learned tons and it's helped me. Still trying to build my shop and I think it is really slow for everyone right now. Sales should pick up towards the end of summer and into fall before the holidays. One thing that might help is to list one thing everyday, or renew an item if you don't have one to list. This will keep you at the top of your category for a little while and keep your shop name out there instead of being burried in all the hundreds of pages of listings. If you've already made a legitimate sale (not a sale from friends or family) then you're doing something right. Bring your prices up a bit, don't sell yourself short. The best advice I ever got was tweak, tweak, tweak. You're bound to hit on the right formula for boosting sales, but you have to be able to adapt and go with the flow. Don't be afraid to try something new. You can always change it and you learn best from your mistakes. Have patience, and good luck. :0)

[Former_Member]

All great advice!