Etsy.com is an online marketplace for all things handmade. The possibilities are truly endless. Besides handmade Etsy it includes vintage items (at least 25 years of age) and arts and crafts supplies.
What should I sell?
Sell something you enjoy creating. Something that is good to do. Something you're proud of. Something that is unique. If you can find a way to ship, and then go right ahead and sell it. Explore Etsy to get your wheels turning. The sky is the limit!
Do not let the logistics of shipping box you in, though. If it is something that can not be sent, you could sell a pattern or tutorial to do? You can sell digital creations on Etsy too, so patterns, photography, drawings, web design and many other ideas are fair game.
You have total control over the product price and shipping costs. You can decide where you are willing to send. Many handcrafted items are made to order and production times vary, so you can specify in your profile how long before the item is shipped.
Do not let the price that you believe should be charged (either high or low) that deter now. Let's talk about pricing in another post. At this point, just brainstorm all the possibilities of what could be sold.
How much does it cost?
Etsy charges $ 0.20 per ad. Each list can include five photos and lasts four months or until the item is sold. If you have more of the same item available, you can set your list automatically renew when an item is sold. If you have not opened an Etsy shop, however, you can get your first 40 free listings.
When a list sells, you are charged 3.5% of the price (excluding shipping). This is added to your monthly bill.
A monthly Etsy bill that included sales commissions ($ 0.20 per ad), transaction costs (3.5% of sales) and shipping labels you buy through Etsy is obtained.
You can determine the payment methods you accept. PayPal used to be the main form of payment, but now Etsy has its own payment system, Direct Checkout, which also accepts credit and debit cards. You can also allow customers to send personal checks or money orders.
PayPal charges a $ 0.30 per transaction plus 2.7% of the money raised (Item price + shipping). PayPal takes the fees and add the rest of your PayPal balance, easily transferred to your checking or regular savings.
Order directly charges a fee of $ .25 per transaction plus 3% of the total money raised (Item price + shipping). Etsy leads Order direct costs before making the rest available in your account Pago Shop. The deposits are made weekly into a bank account of your choice. With the push of a button, you can request that a deposit will be made soon, however, if the week is not soon enough.
For reference, eBay charges 10% of the sales price + shipping price (and still PayPal fees are charged on top of that)!
Etsy has a lot of traffic. Etsy Alexa global ranking is 136 (41 in the US), which is pretty impressive. You will not get anywhere near that on your own site.
People looking to buy (and willing to pay for) handmade Etsy start searching.
Etsy listings appear high in Google ranks.
There is nothing wrong with creating your own site (in fact, it is a great idea) and there is nothing wrong with selling directly from their own site, but until there is a large following, it will not be as profitable as his shop Etsy. And even if your site grows surprisingly, you will miss the clients who are looking directly at Etsy.
Etsy else really has going for it is trust. You can read the reviews of the products and services of a specific vendor. When I buy from a random website I have always afraid that an operation could be fly-by-night that has no reason not to just take my money and run.
Etsy site is easy to use and efficient. You would have to do a lot of design and coding to achieve something that seems so nice and work as well as Etsy. Some people complain that all the shops are very similar and are not sufficiently adaptable. Personally I think Etsy unified look is much classier than eBay, where shops have their own look.
A lot of the strategy is on the way items are listed, the frequency with which they are listed, and the number of elements has an Etsy shop at any given time.
Many Etsy sellers find it beneficial to become a part of the community Etsy. Chen received a flood of messages from marketers eager new every day for advice. She says most of the questions you get can be answered by simply browsing though forums, blogs, and threads on the site. Besides offering a wealth of useful information, forums and blogs help new marketers gain exposure to their peers.
