Selling My Crafts - Eloah James' Story
My sister and I began selling our arts and crafts online in 2004. We had long considered selling the things we made, but we lived in 2 different states and working out the logistics was tricky from a business point of view. My sister and I had both just started making some new things we were pretty excited about. We had some ideas on how to market them, but we still did not have a venue.
Then we heard about Etsy, an online marketplace where a person could sell handmade or vintage items (and only those things), without having to pay for an expensive website or deal with programming or too much promotion. Sellers pay a flat, per item fee to list as few or as many items as they like or have to sell.
At first, we just sent emails to our friends and coworkers, once we had the store up and running. We’ve also put our business cards in various places and bought online ads from places like “Own the Hour”. We use Facebook and Twitter and other blogging sites to showcase our items, too, since for most of them except Twitter there are widgets with pictures, so that people can see our top 4 items for sale, at a glance.
The downside is that, first of all, the fees do add up, especially when sales are slow. Listings don’t stay up indefinitely, so items must be renewed every few months if they don’t sell. Another drawback is that, while Etsy has grown more well known with buyers like we’d hoped, it has also grown more well known and more popular with sellers. This means that it is harder than ever to get our items seen without special promotion. When a new item is posted, it moves to the top of the search list, but with so many items available, that doesn’t last long – particularly in popular categories and during holiday seasons. Competition is fierce. So, unless we are updating everyday, we have to do a lot more promotion in order to get seen than was once the case.
There are other places available now, like Artfire, but since this is only a side business, Etsy still serves our purposes, despite the drawbacks. Changing the store or the available items is easy, billing customers is simple, images can be added at the click of a button, and all the information needed is broken down into steps to keep an absent-minded seller (like me!) from leaving out something important. Having the store has gotten us side orders, too. It isn’t quite a living, but it’s some nice extra cash from time to time.
To view our site please visit Pancakes and Noodles on Etsy.
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