Coffee shop meetup!

[Former_Member]

Hey there!

My name is Melinda. I'm an admin here at Etsy and work on the product development team. I'm headed to Seattle to spend some time with my family for the holidays and would love to spend a bit of time with some of you as well.

Please join me for a small (20 max), informal chat about Etsy. I would love to hear about how you all got started, am open to your feedback about Etsy, and will try my best to answer any questions you may have.

If you can't join us, no worries! I'll be collecting feedback and questions left on this thread for us to talk through and will come back to share and post what we discussed.

www.eventbrite.com/e/home-for-the-holidays-seattle-wa-tickets-9755542089?ref=rain

[Former_Member]

FYI- I've set up the event on Meetup as well!

http://www.meetup.com/EtsyRAIN/events/155104582/

[Former_Member]

I'm in! Looking forward to it. Safe travels Melinda.

[imakecutestuff]

Yay! See you there! :D

[Former_Member]

Thanks, Kate! Likewise, looking forward to meeting you!

[Former_Member]

Hey guys- FYI, we've hit the 20 person event max. So if you can't join us in person, please feel free to drop us a line (here!) if you've got feedback or questions you'd like us to discuss. Thanks!

[Former_Member]

Just a quick note that I've opened up two spots for folks who won't be able to join us later today.

I'm really excited to meet all of you. See you soon!

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks so very very much to everyone who was able to swing by! Here's a brief recap of our chat and a nifty tip below that I didn't get the chance to share:

I asked, "What do you love about Etsy?":
- Easy and safe eCommerce aspect of Etsy --> more than a website, you get an online store
- Etsy as an online and real life Community --> you find other people "who are just there for you!"
- Specific products and features of Etsy like shop stats (https://www.etsy.com/help/article/541), treasuries (https://www.etsy.com/help/article/82), listings (i.e., how setting up a listing forces you to describe your work and organize it with care and how easy it is to copy listings and then make small modifications); shop profiles
- Etsy as a broad marketplace --> bringing the customers(!) to you; cheaply test if there's a market for your items; being a 1-stop-shop for a large variety of items
- Etsy's members/buyers --> "there's just a certain kind of person who shops Etsy"; customers from all over the country and internationally

Then I asked, "What would you change about Etsy if you could?":
- Some design-related changes
- Mobile apps are only for buying
- Down with resellers(!)
- New policies seem to conflict with the spirit of Etsy
- Need shipping improvements
- Want better shop setup including vacation mode changes
- Enhance listings with smarter variations and combination (i.e., digital+physical) items
- Support multi-shop checkout when sellers have the same payment options
- Have Search Ads terms not key"words"
- Improve how search works for sold orders, for "not" Boolean searches, and for Forums

To get shipping upgrades, join this prototype group https://www.etsy.com/teams/17793/shipping-upgrades-and-shipping-profile.

And my tip that I didn't get to share with everyone: Have great item pics! It does make a difference for things from sales to even being picked up by media. We have an article that outlines how to take great pictures (http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2013/how-to-make-your-photos-publicity-ready/) but one part in particular is about 'adding a human touch.' Having pictures with a model or with a hand holding an item, possibly more than giving a size reference, may help your customers imagine your items as theirs. Give it a try!

Thanks so much for chatting with me. Have a great holiday!