Starting out... I need your help!

[dayrenne]

Hello team,

I am really new to Etsy and the Etsy community.... I need your help!

I have opened my shop in July, and have managed to get a few sales only from friends. I can't understand what it is I am doing wrong: I have researched on SEOs, I've improved my pictures, I've listed many items and invested a lot in Etsy ads (and still investing), and still, I don't seem to receive much traffic nor sales. If any of you could give me some advice on how you reached your success or on what you think I am doing wrong I would be so appreciative of it!

Thank you in advance!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/19centimeters

[dayrenne]

Hello team,

I am really new to Etsy and the Etsy community.... I need your help!

I have opened my shop in July, and have managed to get a few sales only from friends. I can't understand what it is I am doing wrong: I have researched on SEOs, I've improved my pictures, I've listed many items and invested a lot in Etsy ads (and still investing), and still, I don't seem to receive much traffic nor sales. If any of you could give me some advice on how you reached your success or on what you think I am doing wrong I would be so appreciative of it!

Thank you in advance!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/19centimeters

[LuxArt4U]

From the first glance I see that your pictures are too busy and detracted. Your item need to be on a neutral background. You have beautiful items. Good luck!  

[dayrenne]

Thank you so much!

[HappyTwiddle]

Your items look really great! 

But,....... they are not very clear on the pictures with the light background. (for example take a look at my pictures: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyTwiddle

Play games on the etsy teams; join teams, post items and favorite items from other shops, fav their shops also etc.

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Love-Handmade/Post-2-items-and-favorite-or-refav-20-above-you/gpm-p/12...

You can do this also without teams. Go to your 'Dashboard' and fav back and more the shops which fav your items.

Your items will get more favorites too from other sellers and will be found easier by buyers.

I just gave your shop a fav and did also with 12 items.

The game is to help each other on etsy!!!!

Good luck and Happy sales!!!! Mandy

(Sorry, I hope you understand my English 😊)

[dayrenne]

Hey Mandy!

Thank you so much for taking time to check out my shop and give some feedback! 

Yess, definitely some pictures are not good enough, I'll work on them on Monday first thing!

Again, thank you so much for the feedback and will keep your advice to heart.

All the best!

:)

[IngDesignVintage]

Ciao, amico!
For a new store you need to reduce the price by 5-10 times.
The first items I sold cheaply and with a symbolic price for delivery. Profit was minimal.
I see what you creatively did to the photo) But be sure to redo the photos!
Make friends with other sellers, help them, and they will help also. It is work)
And wait. Need time)
Happy sales!
Inga

[dayrenne]

Ciao Inga!

Thank you for the good insight!

You know, my job requires a lot of time to make every single piece, and they all are made of precious materials, so the prices are what they are because of this (and I really didn't count all of the realistic hours I take to make the pieces). Plus, I set free shipping for everything because I didn't want to add more costs since I knew my starting price is high. I have some items that are cheaper, but it really is not worth for me to be on Etsy if I have to lower the prices!

Thank you for the feedback, it is very much appreciated! And yes, the pictures I need to retake them asap!

Happy sales to you as well :) 

[ItsallforHim]

Hello- Your jewelry is beautiful. Your photos do not show the beauty of your pieces. The white backgrounds make it hard to view your jewelry. Also, laying your rings flat doesn't show the buyer the product. You had at least one photo with a ring being worn and that showed the ring perfectly. Also, when you are adding photos to your listings, try using the adjust thumbnail to enlarge the photos. Your photos should focus on the beauty of the jewelry (filigree) and not the background. Also, go to other ETSY shops and see how they photographed their jewelry. Good luck. You have beautiful jewelry, just show it off better!

[dayrenne]

Wow, you’re so kind! I’m really amazed by how this community is so positive even in giving feedback.. thank you!

I’ll keep to heart your precious advice, and will keep up with your shop! I just favourited it :) (I’m not sure this is a word)

all the best!!

[JdvintageCreations]

Your shop looks really good. My few suggestions are: 1. more close up photos with less items, maybe a pendant and a portion of a flower or something in the background. 2. I wouldn't spend the money on Easy ads unless you want to. Try this instead...renew two or three of your items everyday. It's 20 cents each to renew and keeps you current on the first few pages of people searching for necklaces, bracelets or rings. It will bring more traffic to your store. I also did Fiverr.com once or twice and that also brought traffic to my store and it's $5.00 each time. 3. Make sure you have good tags and more keywords in your titles, for example your silver, wedding necklace, add to that...Sterling Silver Jewelry, Sterling Silver Necklace, Medium Length Necklace, Pendant Necklaces, Flower Necklaces, etc. as much as you can fit. That gives the person looking more search options. Your title is your keyword search optimization. The tags help but that is key. I think your prices are fine since you're creating with expensive materials.

[dayrenne]

Thank you so much for your feedback! I'll give the Etsy ads a bit more time and then try out the renewal tactic you gave me. 

I'll rework my titles for sure, you're right!

Thank you again for your time and happy sales! 

[LuxArt4U]

I would use some help. I have no sales for a long time. I am working on my shop every day long hours trying to research SEO, improve pictures. Nothing helps. Please help and look at my shop. 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LuxArt4U

[dayrenne]

Hello! I was here to ask for help, so I might not be the right person to give you advice... :)

But.. To be honest your pictures (just like mine haha) are not very good: The ones with the models in the picture are clearly photoshopped, and the ones that have a mannequin make them a bit impersonal... perhaps try out with a real model? I have my friends model for me, I just ask them to dedicate an afternoon to me and then I offer them a dinner or a drink later! As far as your still life pictures maybe try out a more warm background, not a mirrored one. Try to put your pieces more in context and give a uniform vibe to the whole shop. 

I hope this helps.. again, I am the first one here that has to change pictures and improve, but this is what I thought of first glance.

Happy sales!!

[IngDesignVintage]

Dear Eleanora,
at first glance you are all right. Try photographing some of the stuff on a darker background.
Try to put more likes to other sellers, and they will put the like for you. True, not all sellers love it, but you can see on my page those people who love it.

Unfortunately, now many sellers and artisans have problems with sales.
I can assume that there is one problem it is China. There, free delivery is a State program. And people are now spoiled for free shipping and one-dollar items. The fact that they are not of high quality and send not what is in the photo is not important. People love to buy and they buy.
Although in the USA, as I know, they love different bows as your)

And maybe you need to lower prices? Usually sellers are very outraged by the proposal to lower the price. I repeat that I sold my first items very cheaply with a minimum delivery price.
But if in China there are similar items for 1-5 dollars, then it is very difficult to break into the market.
I myself am a seller, a buyer, and an artist. I know the psychology of both the buyer and the seller)
I also do my shop all the time, study Seo. And I am very surprised that some interesting things have 0 monthly views.
When a potential buyer chooses 10-30 similar items, I am also surprised that he chose not my thing - and the price is optimal, and the delivery is inexpensive, and the photo is good. Maybe he chose the cheapest thing, but does not monitor delivery. Or thinks that the old thing of the 60s cannot look so good. Many factors can play here.
So:
- darker background for the photo,
- put the likes for sellers,
- reduce prices.
Good luck!
Inga

[artworkbylili]

Ciao, Movi!

I don't want to duplicate the comments by the others who have replied to this thread but I want to offer a few points from my perspective in response to your request for help/advice.

 - As Inga pointed out earlier in this thread, the average price point is a bit high. While this makes sense given the materials with which your items are made, I would suggest offering a range of prices in order to expand your reach to customers who are sensitive to price. That said, don't price your items too low - you have to take into account your materials, expertise, cost of running the shop, advertising, etc.

 - From the perspective of a jewelry buyer, I think it would be helpful to see different angles of the items. For example, on the earring photos, it would be helpful to see the earring post. A buyer would want to see the style of the post and how it closes in the back or does it require a holder to keep the earring in place? Most of the earring photos that I've looked at from your shop only appear to show a flat one dimensional view so if you offer more of a 360 degree view, I think that would be better.

 - From a photography perspective, some of the other commenters have mentioned this already but since photography is an art form that I am intimately familiar with (although not product photography per se), I have a few suggestions here as well. First, light colored items need to be on a darker background in order to look good in a photo. Keep in mind that most people have bright screens on their mobile devices as well as on their monitors so if you have light on light, the photo will lack dimension. I would also suggest that you invest in some photo editing software because there is a slight blue tint to some of the pictures (which may be because of the silver material's reflection) but the photo editor will help to smooth out the color spectrum. Apart from the backgrounds for the light colored items, I would suggest investing in some better background materials for showcasing the jewelry. Some of the backgrounds have bent edges and when someone is looking at a piece of fine jewelry, they will also notice the detail on the background so if it's not perfect, it will turn off the buyer. I noticed that in a few cases when you are using models, there is no retouching on the photos so I am able to notice their skin and hair (imperfections) more than I am able to concentrate on the jewelry. Maybe that is because I am used to focusing on these things because a camera is my tool, but just something to consider.

 - If possible, I would include some more detail about the silver materials as well as a distinction between the different types that you offer (oxidized heliotrope, 925 sterling silver, fine granulated silver, etc). A prospective buyer of fine jewelry may want to see certain details listed in order for them to be made comfortable that you are an expert in your field not just with respect to the design aspect but also with respect to the procurement of materials, etc. This is my own personal benchmark when I evaluate jewelry that I am interested in purchasing; I want to know that the person selling me the jewelry knows more about it than I do and when you're selling online, the listing description is your best chance at conveying your expertise.

 - For the sizes, I see that you are using metric sizes which is fine for the entire world except for UK and the US but since a great number of potential buyers are located in the US, I would suggest that you include non-metric sizes (dimensions) in your product descriptions. Buyers will not take the time to do the conversion as they scroll through the listing even if you have included a chart (as you have been kind enough to do in your product photos). They want to see the information right there in black and white so if you can add it, that would eliminate the guesswork that an otherwise interested buyer may have to do on their own.

These are just some first impressions that I noticed when browsing through your shop. Overall, I think you have lovely pieces and hopefully with a few minor modifications, you will see a noticeable improvement in your sales.

Wishing you the best,

Lili

Artwork by Lili on Etsy 

[dayrenne]

Dear Lili,

Thank you so much for your thorough reply!! In fact, thanks to all of your kind tips I made my first sale (to a stranger :) ) yesterday! 

Definitely the photography should be improved, I'm doing that as we speak.. I'm not a photographer so it is a constant improvement and learning process.  But definitely you are right, I will add some pictures with the view of the back of the pieces as well.

For the description definitely, I thought that keeping it brief would make it easier for people to read (I thought maybe they are not interested in reading a really technical description) but definitely I'll be happy to improve that too.

For the sizes I placed the US size in my attributes although it is not the scale I use, because I know that most people will be purchasing from the US, and unfortunately I can't add other scales (like the Italian and all). But for the dimensions certainly I will make the conversion to inches so it is more straight forward for most buyers. 

Thank you so so so much for all your precious insights, and I will keep on working on the shop to make it as best as possible. I want to stress how all of your insights really push me to keep on working hard on this, and the positivity around here is really incredible for me. I hope I will be able to be a precious member to this community as much as all of you are.

All the best

Movì

[artworkbylili]

Dear Movi,

I'm happy that you found my tips helpful and am thrilled to hear about your sale! Congratulations!

Wishing you continued success,

Lili