New Members:

[#1]

Hello to all our new members. Helo bawb!
Please feel free to introduce yourselves here.

I'm 'Bopa' - but, just to confuse you all, you will often see me signing in under other etsy IDs (most notably sewmuchfrippery).
My 'real' name is Rosemary and I live in Abermaw/Barmouth, Gwynedd. 'Bopa' is my much loved 'alter ego'!

[CottageCoppicing]

hello,
my name is lisa and i live in griffitstown, torfaen (south wales), about 8 miles north of newport. i am 35 yrs old, married with 2 young children and i work with wood. i coppice a hazel wood near caerphilly and then make items out of that hazel but also out of other wood that i come across, firewood, recycled timber etc. I'm having fun with buttons at the moment which seem really popular! As are my crayons and woodland whistles.
Its great to find a welsh group!
Lisa x

[Former_Member]

Hi Lisa
Welcome to the team! Chris my hubby is on Etsy and is a woodie- his website is www.furniture4stargazers.co.uk We live in the Rhondda valleys not far from Caerphilly really.
I draw and illustrate the welsh landscape mainly.
We both work together on furniture making courses and restoration drop ins when we have the time!
Hope to see you on the main chat thread! Off to check out your store now ...Cheers Gayle

[Former_Member]

Hi Lisa, love your shop! Some great items there. It must be lovely working with wood :)

Kim

[Former_Member]

Hi Lisa
Love your buttons!

[CottageCoppicing]

thanks for the warm welcome ladies!

[Former_Member]

Come and join us on the chat thread when you're ready. We don't bite!

[JoniVeeArtStudio]

Hi everyone, my name is Joni. I used to live in Cardiff but now I live in Canada now and despite being Canadian, I want to move back to Wales; I loved it so much there! Anyhow, this team keeps my toes in Welsh waters :)

[Former_Member]

Welcome Joni!
I used to live in Cardiff but now live in the Valleys so I have not moved as far away as you!
Hope to see you on the chat thread...we like a good chat!
Cheers Gayle

[sewmuchfrippery]

Hi to all our new members - Lisa, Debbie, Lisa and Joni. A very warm welcome to you all. 'Bopa' here under my other guise.
It's great to see so many new members.
I am motified - and embarrassed - to have been away from etsy for so long. Sincere apologies to you all. I am eating a very large portion of 'humble pie'.
The last few months have been a real slog - I feel as though I have been lurching from one domestic crisis to the next. I have barely had time to draw breath - let alone spend time on etsy. However, I am hopeful that we have now turned a corner. I should be here on a daily basis again from now on.

I look forward to catching up with you all on the chat thread - and taking a peek at all your lovely shops!

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone, I'm Llinos from Pwllheli on the Llŷn Peninsula. Joe Jevon and myself have been making and selling as Celtic wood and art for almost 3 years. Our etsy shop has been open since the beginning of December, I got all exited as we had our first sale less than a week after opening the shop, but that has been the only one!
We would really appreciate any feedback you may have on our shop and stock.

[sewmuchfrippery]

Haia Llinos
Croeso i'r tim! Welcome to the team!
'Bopa' here under my other etsy ID
Sut mae'r hwyl? Dwi o Griccieth yn wreiddiol felly yn gyfarwydd iawn a Phwllheli!

I took a peek at your shop - you have some beautiful items.
Don't lose heart - you have been here less than a month. It really does take time to get established - and noticed - on etsy. Some sellers take months to get that first sale!
Here are some suggestions that may help

You need to work on your SEO and your titles and tags. That is crucial to getting views. The internal etsy search engine is now more responsive to phrases rather than single word tags - and even more responsive if the phrases are repeated in your titles. Use all your tags, even if they may seem repetitive- e.g. photo frame, photograph frame, handmade frame, wood photo frame, wooden frame, home decor etc. If you work on your titles and tags you will find that your ranking in etsy search will improve

It is worth renewing items from time to time as this also improves your ranking in search. It will also improve your visibility under the 'Browse' sections. Take a look at the browse sections (accessed from the front page) and try to place some of your items in as many different sections as possible - for maximum exposure

List more items if you possibly can. The more items you have listed the more likely you are to be found

Buyers are often reluctant to purchase from sellers who have no feedback - especially more expensive items. Buy a few cheap items yourself so that you gain some feedback from the people you buy from. It may help a bit.

Join a few more teams - especially teams within the UK. It will increase your visibilty - and you will hopefully gain some friends/advice as well as more exposure

I have found the forums to be very helpful. You can search the old threads so it would be a good idea to look back through some of them - especially the ones on tagging etc. There is lots of invaluable advice there.
Also the Etsy Sellers Handbook - if you haven't already done so. It's essential reading - especially useful for advice on getting seen within search

I hope all of this helps!
Pob lwc gyda'r siop. Galwa heibio'r tim yma unrhyw amser os byddi di'n teimlo fel sgwrs! Da ni'n griw croesawgar iawn! Mae gyda ni 'Chat Thread' arbennig ar gyfer hyn

Pob hwyl, Rosemary

[Former_Member]

Blwyddyn newydd dda Rosemary, a pawb arall!!
Gobeithio ges di hwyl dros y Nadolig.
Roeddwn yn arfer gweithio yn caffi morannedd yn Griccieth pan yn teenager!
Sorry I took so long to reply, but with Christmas and new year I've been way too tipsy most of the time to post a reply ;)
You have given me a lot of good advice and once my little 'angel' is back in school on Tuesday I'll start putting your advice into action!!
Diolch yn fawr, mi alwa'i heibio'r chat thread i ddysgu mwy.

Cofion, Llinos

[sewmuchfrippery]

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda Llinos! Dwi'n gyfarwydd iawn a chaffi Morannedd!

You're always welcome to join us on the new chat thread for 2013

[SilverFoxDesigns6]

Noswaith dda.

My family is from Abercynon and Pontypridd. It has been so long since I have spoken Welsh that I have forgotten most of what I knew. I been to Wales a couple of times and finding this team set off a bit of hiraeth.

I've had my shop open for less than a year on Etsy. I have been getting lots of views but no sales as yet.

Pob Hwyl.

Brenda Arianrhod Davis

[sewmuchfrippery]

Hi Brenda,
Noswaith Dda! Good to meet you. Welcome to the team - the more the merrier!
Do you prefer to be called Brenda or Arianrhod? I think Arianrhod is a beautiful name - and it seems quite appropriate for a jewellery maker!

I took a peek at your shop. You have some beautiful items. I can't understand why you haven't had any sales yet - although jewellery is quite a saturated category here on etsy and it can be a tough nut to crack.

Come and join us on the chat thread any time. The other members of the team will be pleased to say hello!
Rosemary (aka 'BopaJones')

[SilverFoxDesigns6]

Hi Rosemary,

Thank you for your kind words about my shop.

I usually use Brenda because most people trip over Arianrhod, but my personal preference is Arianrhod.

I had a look at sewmuchfrippery. You have some beautiful items there. The vintage knitting books remind me of the books that my Mam and Nana taught me to knit from. I probably still have a lot of them tucked away somewhere.

See you on the chat thread.

Arianrhod

[Former_Member]

Hi Arianrhid!

Welcome - hope to see u on the main chat thread
I don't live far from Pontypridd
I'll pop over to your shop now.
Cheers Gayle

[Former_Member]

Hi all,

Very new to this, just wanted to say Hiya. From Barry. Hope you all enjoyed the snow :-)

[Former_Member]

Hi Geoff! You have caught us around tax return time and snowtime! Hope to see you on the main chat thread! Greetings from the welsh valleys!
Cheers Gayle!

[sewmuchfrippery]

Hi Geoff. Good to meet you. Welcome to the team!
As Gayle says, many of us have our heads down at the moment, as we sweat over our tax returns (myself included!).
Please do come and join us on the main chat thread. We always like to see new faces!

[Former_Member]

Thanks guys, will do. :-)

[TheIncredibleHow]

bore da i bawb

Seems such a good idea to link up with others on Etsy - especially more local.

I'm near Crymych - or Crymmych as Etsy wants to call it, even though it says it recognises Crymych.

And I noticed a friend of mine had her location as Wales, England, United Kingdom...If I try to locate in Wales in general, it indeed just comes up Wales, England UK - this also means you don't come up in searches for Wales, UK

[Former_Member]

Hi
Welcome to the team!

Not really sure about how all the glitches pan out on Etsy. I always put Wales in the title and the tags so the items come in a search.

See you on the chat thread!?
Gayle

[DragonGlassUSA]

Hello! I'm originally from Pontypool, but have been in the US for about 10 years now and currently live in Colorado.
I make fused glass jewelry.

[sewmuchfrippery]

Hi Flo Fflach and Sarah. Croeso cynnes! Good to meet you both.

I find it infuriating that we have to select from etsy's drop down list of place names - especially since they don't recognise the accepted Welsh versions/spellings!
I live in Abermaw/Barmouth and, prior to the introduction of the drop-down list, I was able to insert both forms within my location. After the drop-down list, it would only accept Barmouth! And I feel strongly that I shouldn't be forced to only use the anglicised version of the town's name
So I decided to change my location to Dolgellau instead - near enough geographically and there's only one version of the name in everyday usage. It worked fine for awhile - until they decided to change the drop-down version to 'Dolgelly'!!! It was so embarrassing having that corrupted spelling under my shop details - not to mention the fact that anyone trying to 'shop local' from the Dolgellau area would never dream of searching under that spelling - so I was forced to 'move' yet again!
I now have Harlech as my location. I'm just waiting for them to corrupt that spelling too!
Oh the joys of selling on etsy! It's like playing 'stations'!!

You have lovely shops Flo and Sarah. I'm off to take a poke around to see what you have to offer!

Please join us whenever you feel like it on the main chat thread