What have you found best?

[ArtisticCreationsbyD]

I am considering expanding my shop from paintings and hand painted items to include my newest hobby--crochet. Some people have multiple shops, others have it all in one. I feel like "Artistic Creations" can encompass anything that I make, but sometimes I feel like when there are multiple things in a shop it looks cluttered. But also, wouldnt I want the most traffic brought to my one shop so that all of my items can be more easily found in the vast sea that is Etsy?

Any suggestions? Personal Advice?

Thanks :)
Deidre

[Former_Member]

I say do what's easiest for you. If managing only one shop works better put everything there. If it drives you crazy to mix it up then split into two shops.

[judithbelloriginals]

I personally would have only one shop, keeping like items arranged together. Perhaps taking advantage of the "Featured" items, across the top of your shop under the banner, giving the viewer a first impression of painted and crochet creations. .....Judy

[PrairiePrimitives]

It depends on the items ... and also how you feel about your own work. Mixing lots of different things in one shop can make it end up looking like a church bazaar, so it may depend on how you want others to view your shop ... like a church bazaar OR like a booth at a juried art fair. Just a thought. :-)

2 shops really aren't that difficult to manage. I don't know about other email programs, but with Gmail, it's really easy because I can have up to 3 Gmail accounts open at a time (I usually only have 2 open); and my two "main" shops use those accounts ... I switch back and forth between them several times a day.. If you use PC-based email (such as Outlook), it's just as easy (or was back when I used that). But if you have to log into different email sites (i.e., Yahoo for one shop and Hotmail for another), I can see how it could be a PITA!

[WoolWench]

I have two shops, my other was was already fairly ecclectic but all art based, although I have stretched that from prints and cards right through to art dolls. Anyway I decided to also do handspun yarns, something I have always loved doing, and there was just no way that was really going to fit with my art shop (suzyjaneb.etsy.com), so I opened my WoolWench shop. I have to say its not always easy to manage both, simply because I feel bad if I am favouring one over the other and 'neglecting' one - in fact the my yarn shop is already doing much better than my art shop, so my tendancy is to focus on that more.
Basically I use two browsers, one for each shop, that way I stay logged in and dont have to switch all the time, and I have everything related to each shop separate (facebook twitter etc) so I also dont have to switch accounts and logins, just open the other browser :)