New and Existing Seller Questions & Advice

[#1]

The holiday season is fast approaching and with that comes a slew of questions about running a successful business during this busy time.

We will be hosting a live Q&A session in the Online Labs on September 24th at 12:00pm (ET) with a special guest, Claire Comfort.

Claire, who works on the Seller Education team here at Etsy, spends most of her time working with veteran Etsy sellers. She will be with us live to answer some questions from those of you who have a little more experience with selling online.

Whether you're a new or established seller, this is the place to share your questions as we enter the holiday season on Etsy. Some of your questions and advice could be featured in this upcoming Online Labs Q&A session on the 24th! - www.etsy.com/community/online-labs

[Former_Member]

I am new to etsy and have 30 plus items posted. I get views and favorites daily but have not had an ordered placed. Any suggestions?

[khuskuy]

Thank you Sara! I appreciate the help, I will work on it.

[Former_Member]

Mine is pretty much none. Tried to look it up on search but didn't show. What have I done :(

[Former_Member]

Victoria Wilton, I'm not a jewelry seller and others could give you more detailed advice, but #1, jewelry is INCREDIBLY oversaturated here on Etsy so you have to work extra hard to stand out; #2, your photos are much too dark, so you should find a way to lighten them up (I use Photoshop which most people don't have, but I know there are tons of other options); #3, you should probably "stage" your items more glamorously, as I've seen most other jewelry sellers do; #4, more items will help and make you look like a well-established shop.

Hopefully someone can chime in with advice on lightening the photos. And I suggest you look around at shops with a lot of sales to get an idea of how to stage your pieces.

[Former_Member]

Purple Anvil Metalworks, I would also suggest lightening your photos. Such pretty things, but I bet the colors, even black, pop a lot more than they are in your photos!

Also, you say you're getting lots of views, but apparently they're not from people who are looking for what you're selling, and I can see that your titles and tags are not helping you at all. There's tons of advice here on Etsy about that, and you could start by reading at the SEO & Relevancy team.

Also, I have a specific method I use which I've written about all over Etsy and on my blog. It's highly successful for my company's clients.
http://cleverruthie.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/a-sweet-secret-to-seo-and-etsy-happiness/

Good luck to you!

[Former_Member]

Stephanie from CrazyCute2,

I think your items are adorable... some of your pictures are a little bit dark. (I have the same problem), I noticed all my items with better picture (light, color, position, etc) get far more views and better sales.

Also, I suggest you to find a better display for your tutus and maybe a close up picture for the crowns.

Just like Mathew and Sara said, don't forget to make clear who made your products, if they were handcrafted by you, then add it to your description... I noticed one of your feedback mention how well made the item is, so make sure you tell your customers who made your items.

I hope this helps!

[AnneVitellDesign]

Thank you Mary from CleverRuthie. Your blog post is very informative and helpful. I am selling lots of quality vintage from my own collection now, with one finely crafted handmade item. I will moving over the course of time to more and more fine handmade accessories. These will be one-time-only pieces, as I follow inspiration, so I liked the beginning of your blog entry right off. As a fiber artist, I want to stay creative and inspired and not get too repetitive. Similarly to others commenting here, I am also getting a fair amount of looks and favorites, but only one buyer since opening this July. Anyone interested to see my process and interests can look at my blog: www.whispermoon.typepad.com

[AngelMcNallphoto]

Hi! I've been on Etsy as a seller for almost a year, but only started to really build my shop in Feb/March. Anyway, I get about 15-30 views per day on a regular basis, sometimes more, sometimes less. I get favorites and lots of folks feature my items in treasuries. I've only made a handful of sales though. I know there is a lot of competition with photography on Etsy. Can anyone give me some advice on my shop that would increase my chances of making more sales? (I know I need to add more items, and I'm working on that!) thanks in advance for your help!

[maydaylabels]

You need to take a careful look at your SEO; your titles should be composed of a reader-friendly series of phrases that people looking for your type of item search, and your tags should reflect exactly these phrases plus more phrases that people search.

Right now it seems like you're mostly guessing on titles and tags, which is not the way to go. You can use Etsy's suggested search and google's keyword planner tool to see what people are searching.

I really like the pillows. As a buyer I'd like to see the back of the pillow, the side, how it closes/ removes for washing (is it washable?), etc. "photography pillow" is a suggested search on Etsy, meaning people look for it relatively often, but you don't show up on the first page, though you certainly could.

[AnEnchantingCreature]

I have been open over a year & I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I am not very good at searches so I'm sure my Seo is bad. I'm up to 236 or so items & still my best sales month had 12 sales. When I check other shops their tags seem like the same as mine. Pls help!!!

[AngelMcNallphoto]

Matthew and Sara, thank you so much! :)

[Former_Member]

Hello Firends,

I am just 2 months old on Etsy.

I am getting 2-3 views daily only once it was increased to 2o.Where as others are getting 100-200 views on daily basis?


What should i do to increase my views?

Please help me.

[Former_Member]

Hi Friends,
How to tag my products correctly as I am very new here and needs lots of advice .

[Former_Member]

Hi Friends,
How to tag my products correctly as I am very new here and needs lots of advice .

[Former_Member]

Hello, I have recently re-opened my Etsy shop. Now can someone tell me how to find "help" or the Seller Handbook. I get Teams or blogs instead of the actual Handbook where I can look up things.
Specifically, I would like to know how to get back to an order I got today so that I can print a detailed receipt. (It's not showing up in my stats.)
Thanks!

[StellaMagiaDesigns]

I really appreciate this thread and will continue to follow it. I've only recently been active in my shop and working on getting more listings into it, but I still wish I had more views. I thought I had good tags for the most recent items. I have been sharing them to Facebook and twitter but that hasn't been helping, especially because of how Facebook has been working these days. I'm going to go in and add tags to my older listings. I think my photos look pretty great. My problem is that I just haven't gotten my head wrapped around SEO as well as I should, I guess. People say put up better tags, but how do know what makes a tag better. It's hard enough knowing what makes a tag a bad one. But for good ones, I have absolutely no clue.

[AngelMcNallphoto]

I'm following too... I found this article helpful...

http://www.workyourart.com/guide/etsy-seo/

[maydaylabels]

number 9 in that list is 100% wrong; Etsy does not read descriptions for relevancy rankings. This in particular "hen it comes to the number of times you use a keyword, your listing description does in fact have a higher chance of boosting your Etsy ranking when you use targeted keywords about three times in your descriptions." is completely made up.

number 18 is also incorrect (or at least, not precise enough): views/favorites overall do not increase your ranking, but views and favorites that you get from searches do.

This also makes #19 BS.

#20 same story - if it is added to a treasury from search, yes. If not, probably not.


She also fails to mention the most important thing for Etsy's relevancy search: to rank well for a phrase or word, that phrase or word must be replicated exactly in title and tags (as much as possible - if the phrase is too long to fit into one tag, two tags will do since everyone has the same limitation).

So if your title has "blue earrings," one tag must be "blue earrings" to have a chance to rank well for the search "blue earrings."

[4JOY2YOU]

I am always sort of weary about buyers who just created an account and then made a purchase. How do I know they are legit? What if the payment ends up being fradulent or something, will Etsy let me know and am I protected? If someone could send me a message and let me know if it is ok to feel safe with these type of buyers and that I am protected by Etsy or is there something more I should do to ensure that my payments received wont later be retracked.

[maydaylabels]

Many many buyers make an account in order to purchase. Everyone has their first purchase at some point! :)

You are protected with Etsy and with Paypal - if you ship it, and provide proof of shipping, you're generally okay.

[TinyEpicMoments]

Newbie question: I bought my shop name's URL and have that forwarded to my Etsy shop. When I google my shop's name, it doesn't come up. Does anyone know how to make that happen, especially if it doesn't involve giving my home address. Thanks so much for all the help!

[IsabelDesignStudio]

When is the best time to list new items so they get noticed? In my case I'm referring to handmade jewelry...

[SerenityInChains]

Luxe,
There really is no 'magic time' to list and get views. It really depends on your target market and when they are online. My best advice to you, as a newer seller, it to list often and at various times of the day. If you list at 8am, 5pm, and again around 9-11pm you should hit both US major time zones, and early morning abroad customers. This will allow you to determine your 'sweet spot' for your target market over a 3 month period or so. But beware, even if you find that, say, 2 pm get you the most views your shouldn't restrict to just that time. Patterns change, and not varying your listing activity enough will mean you lose out on opportunities to capture new audiences.

[VintageRedo]

Things have slowed so much , I have worked on my titles and tags and hope I am doing them right but the slow down has me wondering what is going on as it seems even people that have been here a long time are saying the same thing. Maybe it is all the changes Etsy is doing...

[Former_Member]

April Bell, I know how you feel. I have spent the last 3 days editing each and everyone of my 32 listings. Better pictures, titles, tags and keywords, or so I hope. Opened shop on July 31st and have had 0 orders. I had 1 sale, but it was from a customer that came in our gallery and decided to purchase an item she saw while in our store and went through etsy to order. I probably won't list many more items as it is extremely time consuming, if there are no benefits. I wish you luck and will visit your shop