Slow Month

[Former_Member]

February has been just awful in both of my shops, and makes me want to scream every day.

Fortunately, I have ideas for new products for both shops, and I feel that that is the only thing keeping me positive about Etsy at the moment.

I'm not meaning to whine, though, I'm aware it's been a slow month for a lot of people.
Has anyone had much success, or any suggestions as to what's going on? Was it like this last year?

[Former_Member]

I started in March last year, so I don't know about comparison, but my year was slow until I started taking matters into my own hands. I've been doing several facebook contests to get new followers (300+ in the last 2 weeks) and have then offered sales in my Etsy shop and am currently doing an Auction on my facebook. I went out and found new customers ... which I never do and it really helped. This has been my best month yet - better than the holiday season.

[bapsicrafts]

it's been very slow for me this month as well.

money's extremely lean for this reason as well, so making design prototypes is out of the question right now as well :\

maybe next month will be more promising. good luck to you too, kim.

[bapsicrafts]

great to hear, kori!

if i can ask, how exactly did you go about finding new customers? do you mean catering to the audience that better matches your products, or are you talking about attracting customers locally?

the latter is something i'm really interested in doing, but next to sharing with classmates/family/friends and planning for craft shows i'm not sure what else i can do.

[beatknits]

My Feb. started out surprisingly busy for the first two weeks. I had sales every day. I was running some Valentines Promotions and had just added some new items. But, after valentines, my sales have dropped way off in spite of adding more new items and running more promotions.

However, the first quarter of any year is usually really slow for sales in any sales industry.

[Former_Member]

@bapsi

I follow several handmade "shops" on Facebook, ones that have over 1,000 followers (but none are in my category). They have giveaways a lot or some do shout outs to other businesses if you give them your info. With the 300+ new followers lately, those have come from 1 location. I've done two giveaways with Talking Chicken Scratch on Facebook. She does them every Saturday. The thing is, if you want to enter the contest to win something, you have to LIKE every single shop's FB page. She has over 3,000 followers which is amazing. I'm currently the only Bath & Body shop in her giveaways, but I literally put up a $5 item to giveaway and get 150 followers each weekend. But at the same time I'm getting those followers, I'm also doing a sale or auction (like right now) on my FB page while those new followers are coming in and I'm directing them there, therefore I'm getting more sales. Hope all that makes sense. You should check out Talking Chicken Scratch. At the top of her FB is the link to the vendor form with the rules, etc.

Locally, I do craft shows and am working on getting into a monthly handmade market that currently has no bath & body shops. Once I'm in there and can stay each month, that will be like my local store front.

Feel free to convo me if you'd like further details.

[Former_Member]

my february is not that bad compared to other months. i sold 4 items and had 1 trade, so i cannot complain
i cannot compare because i started my shop in august so next year i will know better

[Former_Member]

It has been slow for me but I just added new items and hoping to make a sale soon..:)

[bapsicrafts]

thanks for the information, kori! it's been a huge help.

[Former_Member]

You're welcome! Good luck to you :)

[RedRiverAntiques]

February is typically a good month for me, and this one has been no exception! Better than the holiday season, same as last year...

[Former_Member]

I made a sale like the first day of the month so I was excited...and then it stopped. BUT I've made 4 sales this week so that's fabulous! I just started in January so I have nothing to compare it to though!

[hipposdream]

Terrible slow and not sure why. My last sale was on 18/02 , it almost never happens that I have to wait so long for a sale...Hope March will be better.

[Former_Member]

I have also noticed it is a bit slow, but I had a few valentines day sales, and more questions about custom orders for easter. Not many sales, but seems like the tire kickers are out there though.

[Former_Member]

I had 5 sales in the first 3 days of February! But it's definitely dropped off. Cheers to a fabulous March!

[absolutelyevo]

Well I'm confused, because I check out your sales in your one shop of monster plushies, and Feb so far is the month with the most sales since you opened...so what do you mean by slow?


My Dec I was crazy busy (for me) and January wasn't much slower. I ran out of items to list and didn't want to pay to renew some of my cheaper items. I had been waiting for my huge leather shipment to arrive to make and list more books, and I've still made a few sales this month (my usual) so I'm still happy!

[TheDorothyDays]

January was slow for me but Feb has been good and sales have picked up :). Hope that they will pick up for you too. We all get slow months so don't let yourself get disheartened.

[Former_Member]

February has been very good to me on Etsy. I cannot complain. That's good because personally my life is incredibly stressful between a teenager who has chosen now to rebel and my mom dying of cancer. Ya, my real life pretty much sucks! :(