New and need advice

[Former_Member]

Hello everyone,

I am new to etsy as well as selling my upcycled jewelery. I am wondering if any of you can offer me advice on improving sales and web traffic? I have been promoting through facebook, have approximately 133 likes but still haven't had any sales. I only get like 2 visits per day via etsy. What do you think of the prices of my items? What would be my best next course of action? I want to get the sales rolling!

Thanks in advance and your advice would be greatly appreciated! :0)

Milly

[DavidMeddingsDeSign]

Hello Milly - welcome although i am also a new member but have been selling online since 2002.
Firstly forget FB, pinterest is the way to go especially visuals
Your first 2-3 words on item title are key - you need to research what comes up on your search terms
And easy for buyer to buy and shipping worldwide
And your pics are not clear enough - messy backdrop - sorry

[TangleCrafts]

I'm afraid I'm no expert either; but I agree with David that your photos could be sharper - the backgrounds are quite dark, and the pieces you're trying to highlight just aren't standing out enough.

Once you've tweaked the pics, joining teams & contributing to the game & promotional threads can really help you with visibility. When other people favourite your items, your item comes up in the other person's activity feed, showcasing your item to a whole heap of new people (following the person who favourited you) who might otherwise never stumble across your shop.

There are also teams out there that are designed specifically to help you with SEO (search engine optimisation) and other practical selling advice. I would just join several then absorb & act on any useful information.

Sorry I can't be more help (hopefully some more group members will be able to step in with some tips), but good luck! :)

[Former_Member]

Hi Milly,

Like the others said I also think your photos are too dark but I think more importantly they aren't consistent/uniform enough; I don't mind the fabric backdrop with the bit of lace showing but I think it should only be a small amount of lace and similar in every picture. The lighting and colour of backdrop would also benefit from being the same in you front pictures, do you use the white balance function on your camera to compensate for different lighting conditions? this helps to get a more uniform look in your pictures.

Also, I noticed you haven't taken the time to fill in your 'shop policies' page; potential customers will notice this too. This is the main way you instill confidence in people (especially when you have no or a low number of sales) to buy from you; I would also check the spellings in some of you listings, the first one I looked at had 'broach' instead of 'brooch' which doesn't look very professional.

Like the others said, I would also try and do some research into SEO as I think you could use your shop tagline, announcement and listing titles more effectively to attract more views. This is a kind of 'learn as you go' subject which I am no expert on but it is worth trying to get your head round it if you can.

On the plus side, I do like your banner and avatar, the blue fits in nicely with the blue fonts on Etsy and your products are nice. Pricing wise it is hard to say as you have to weigh up how long it takes you to make and how much profit you need from it versus what people will pay and try to find a happy medium; I think this is also a trial and error type thing, I wouldn't worry too much about your prices until you're getting more views.

Lastly I would say 'be patient', although it's natural to want to 'get the sales rolling' it also is not a race - I see you only joined Etsy 11 days ago and although you read lots of things about people selling in the first 20mins and getting lots of sales in the first week in reality many people wait quite a while for their first sale - it took 3 months for my first sale and that wasn't even one of my handmade items - don't get disheartened with it and keep going!

Hope any of that helps,
x Natalie x

[TheIncredibleHow]

something is going wrong with my post - bits disappear but are there when I post it but not there to edit - I will start again....

[TheIncredibleHow]

take two: in agreement with Natalie, a good look at your photographs might help. When I first looked at your shop I noted the colour casts. Although Etsy has a preference for The White Background I think it is possible to develop your own style. Is the lacy thing a nylon petticoat, because that is what it looks like. Perhaps some old lace would be a good idea, you can easily set up a background that is the same or similar in every shot. Take a good look around etsy and elsewhere and see what you like, find your style.
Do you have a friend who could help with photography? Using the white balance doesn't always work for me, but I'm reasonably good at editing the photos afterwards.
Good photos get you into treasuries!

I don;t find Facebook any good at all and I have tried promoting it as I know others who do really well and generate sales via their page - I think who your firends are - and thier friends - does help.

yes tags and titles very important.

I am slowly building up sales. Most come from USA. Etsy still needs pushing in UK.

Don't underprice as you could end up working for nothing if you got a lot of orders.You have some lovely pieces so best wishes hpe your business grows - and not too slowly.

[Former_Member]

David, TangleCrafts, Natalie and Maura,

Thank you so so much for taking the time to provide all the insightful and constructive feedback. I really appreciate it!

I do agree I have to take better photos; being consistent and using plain lighting/background. I will also be more descriptive with my product write-ups. I sometimes find it difficult to It was an eye-opener to go through some of your shops and see how much effort and time you all have put in.

David - yes I will get on pinterest and clarify my pricing asp! Natalie, thanks for spotting the spelling error. TangleCrafts, good idea on joining a SEO team. Since I made my items, I already have a prenotion of what they are and might not perceive it as what most people might type in the search box. I will definitely discuss this with the SEO teams and get my friends to give the product page a quick look. Maura, thanks for the compliment and feedback about pricing. I guess I am so new with no sales, I really wondered if I was pricing my items right. Currently, all my products are priced proportionately to the time I spent on making them.

On a side note, where do most of you get your sales from? How were your sales like in the first few months...and how long do you spend on your shop per week?

Thanks again for all the invaluable info! Keep it up team! :)

Milly.

[TangleCrafts]

Only got a few mins free at the moment, but I looked into which countries my sales come from for another group in October & it was fascinating! These were my findings up to Oct 2013:

Sales for Canada, Australia and 'other' (mostly European) have been fairly steady over the last 4 years, with figures at 4%, 4% and 6% in 2009, compared with 4%, 4% and 7% so far this year. The interesting statistic is definitely the difference between US & UK market shares...

The US had a massive 70% share of my sales in 2009 with UK at only 6%! But the high percentage of US sales dropped to 56% in 2010, 36% in 2011, rising slightly again in 2012, with 2013 year-to-date sales to US of 44%.

By contrast, UK market share grew from 6% in 2009 to 16% in 2010, nearly doubled at 30% in 2011, climbing to only a fraction away from the US with 2013 year-to-date sales to UK at 41%.

I think increased postage has affected quantity of US sales for me (tiny items such as badges have leapt up postage-wise due to the 5mm letter restriction), but the proportional increase of UK sales suggests that Etsy is becoming better known over here, and making up for the deficit. I'm having a good year, anyway, with already more sales so far this year than in total last year (and this despite having to close for a couple of months for family issues, earlier in the year.)

I've definitely noticed the increase in UK sales this year (with comparatively fewer US sales), but it's fascinating to see how dramatically the market has shifted (for me) during the time I've been here.

[TangleCrafts]

I just checked and I averaged around 5 sales a month in my first few months (my first sale was 5 days after I opened the shop). I'm not the best person for advice on promotion as the blog is my only social media - I don't have facebook, twitter, tumblr, pinterest, or anything else you can think of. In the last year I have joined a lot of Etsy's teams and I am positive participation there has aided my visibility (sales have certainly been higher in the last year, but it's hard to say exactly why). I now average 15-20 sales a month, with a balance between 'just a badge' sales and multiple, 3+ item orders.

I check out the activity on my store daily, promote through various team threads most days, and try to renew old and add new listings regularly (new listings are important for your store's visibility). I'm always working on new ideas; sadly, there just isn't enough time in the world...

I've never added up how much time I spend on my shop each week, but it feels like at least as much time as I spend at 'real' work (& somewhere inbetween I eat & sleep... ;) ).

[Former_Member]

My sales for my vintage items have all been from USA or Australia and handmade I've had sales to UK and USA. I've only sold my bags to UK as I think postage rates and the exchange rate are making my stuff expensive in the US and Australia at the moment. It's amazing the range of countries you get views from though, I had a lot coming in from Serbia a couple of weeks ago which I thought quite strange but maybe that just shows my ignorance about other countries

[MooseintheMint]

What is your insurance about shipping overseas? My present one excludes the US, which is one reason that I have stuck to just UK at present.

[TangleCrafts]

I sell mostly low value items, and over the last 5 years, I don't think more than 3 items have been lost in the post, so at the moment, I just accept the risk. Given the volume of overseas buyers on Etsy, I would definitely feel I was missing out on sales by not offering international delivery! (So far this month, I have received 6 orders from the UK and 5 from USA.)

I put the following statements within my policies:

"If you wish to be certain of compensation in case of loss or damage in transit, please ask for recorded or signed-for delivery when you place your order (additional fee required)."

"I cannot be held responsible for items which go missing in transit. Ask for recorded or signed-for delivery when you place your order to guarantee compensation."

Despite saying this, on the occasions when I've been notified of non-received items, I have always re-sent (so far) for the sake of good customer relations. On the other hand, up to this point, the items concerned have been easily replaceable zines & badges etc. I would probably have to be stricter if a one-off item was concerned, which would involve a lot of extra work to replace with something similar.

GOOD ADVICE: Always ask for 'proof of posting' (which is free) at the Post Office; then keep these somewhere safe & organised! The Royal Mail will compensate lost overseas mail up to the value of £20, so long as you can prove you posted it: http://www.royalmail.com/business/help-and-support/available-compensation-for-our-international-serv...

If I sold higher value items, I would definitely be looking at offering AirSure or International Signed-For options, which offer more tracking and/or delivery confirmation, as well as compensation up to £50. It would be possible to list it as an optional add-on in your store by creating a separate listing for whatever the current price is (see Royal Mail site: http://www.royalmail.com/international-parcels). You can then make it clear that refunds (or whatever your policy is) will only be available if the extra insurance option has been purchased by the customer.

[Former_Member]

Really enjoyed reading every ones advice so far, have picked up a few tips myself and will be definitely be adjusting shipping and look into SEO more. Currently trying to build up my stock as I have been told listing more helps. Any advice on my shop? Happy to have a look at other peoples, though obviously I rant an expert either :)