There is no cost in actually opening your Etsy shop. Etsy does not charge any money to open a shop, and there are no monthly fees to run an Etsy shop. The first money you will need to pay is when you create your first listing and place it for sale. The fee for each listing on Etsy is 0. Once you spend. It expires after four months ; at this point, it will auto-renew at another. Please note I also receive 40 free listings.
Here we can sort out those who are willing to invest in their business and those who want just to try and see. As we previously read the cost of setting up an Etsy shop is little, but there are other costs to consider. Read my top Etsy mistakes to find out where I messed up when I opened my first Etsy shop. Running any business costs money. You do need to invest to make money. These investments can seem to mount up when you first start — but I can tell you that taking shortcuts never really works out.
Suzi — Start a Mom Blog runs several courses everything from starting a Website , to creating printables to sell. She has a natural tone and her teaching style is bubbly and simplistic. Anyone can learn from Suzi. Canva Pro: The more I log into this powerhouse, the more I love it. I love it. Over 50 pages to print out and fill in — covering everything from Branding, competitors, stats, and SEO.
Etsy will charge you costs when you sell the item and when you renew an item. Providing valuable tips and strategies to stay at home Mums who wish to grow their online store on Etsy. Many of which have a…. In this post we will cover how to Open an Etsy shop the right way. Starting to sell on Etsy is relatively simple and easy to…. For example, when you walk into a mall to look for a pair of shoes, you are bombarded with options.
There are several shoe stores, not to mention the department stores which also sell shoes. With Etsy, it's the same. Buyers land on the homepage of Etsy and they have hundreds of options other than your products. They can easily get distracted by the other options and if they do land in your Etsy shop, Etsy itself has so many options that they likely won't stay there.
There are a bunch of different sellers that sell the same thing, so the very website is competing with you. When I look up my product for instance, I typed in some keywords that I know a lot of people use, and there are twenty different products listed before mine. It doesn't matter if my product is better than those products. It doesn't matter if the quality is higher or the shipping is faster or if I have better reviews.
They still show up in front of my listing. When you have your own website and somebody lands on your homepage, their only option is to look at your products. In retail, one of the best practices to drive revenue growth is to focus on increasing average order value , through up-selling, or suggesting add-on products.
If somebody is buying one thing from you, they are easier to sell a second or third item to than somebody who isn't already purchasing. The section suggests products the customer might also want to buy. Etsy doesn't have this functionality. When a potential buyer is looking at your listing, there are no add-on features.
You'll want these features to grow your business. It's one of the core principles of marketing. Your Unique Selling Proposition or USP is what makes you unique and different: why should people buy from you rather than another company? But the reason why the above point is problematic on Etsy is because it's difficult to communicate your brand or USP through that platform.
When you use the search function to find what you need in Etsy, all you see is a bunch of tiled photographs and listing descriptions. You don't see the company's specific brand or how they are different. As a seller, you can't even include that information in the listing title, because you need to optimize that for search.
In Etsy, I can't make a choice based on what brand resonates with me. I don't have the ability to see what makes each of these options different, what makes them stand out. All I can go on is price and a picture.
Have I stressed how important an email list is yet? Ah yes, I believe I have. Unfortunately, Etsy does not allow you to ask buyers if you can add them to your email list.
Meaning you can't communicate with buyers after they buy from you. It's far easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one. Since you've already sold something to your existing customers and assuming that you did an amazing job with their product and they loved it, they are far more likely to want to hear from you and buy again.
You can even develop a deeper relationship and trust with your customers through email. However, Etsy doesn't allow you to connect with those buyers again through an email list. The money is in the email list, so you're limiting your earnings drastically by relying on Etsy.
If you're serious about making it with an online store, just relying on starting an Etsy shop is not the answer. But after you've grown your Etsy shop to the point where you feel limited by the factors I listed above, there's one thing you can do to help you fix most of these problems.
It's not rocket science. It's not even difficult. But it's something that many people are needlessly daunted by:. Create your own website to feature your products. Sure, you can keep your Etsy shop open. In fact, you should. Etsy is a great search engine and you wouldn't want to lose out on the sales and exposure you get from it.
Buyers will take you more seriously, you will enjoy more freedom and flexibility key for a lifestyle business and perhaps best of all, you can actually build and maintain important relationships. It takes 5 minutes to get set up with WordPress , and then all you have to do is find the perfect theme, upload an eCommerce plugin that will allow you to create listings and inventory like Woocommerce and start creating those listings.
Or, you can sign up with Shopify and get up and running in a few hours. You can't rely on rented space to build a lifestyle business you'll love.
If you want to turn that side business into your dream business, your perfect job, and break free into entrepreneurship, relying solely on Etsy is a bad idea. I started on my Etsy shop right around the time you published your guide. So I backed off and have been brainstorming along these lines instead: setting up the shop on my own site, refocusing the niche, using the existing Etsy shop to support the real shop. So they are definitely in it to make Etsy money rather than you.
Etsy also constantly makes experimental changes to the site that force users to relearn aspects of the platform every few months and other changes that sometimes hurt sales. I was hired for graphic design and my job has turned into customer service and dealing with order issues. Answering Etsy messages is a huge timesuck especially since most are basic questions that on a normal website, could be handled with extra product photos or custom layouts to better portray items.
Not to mention all the Etsy copycats out there that will copy your item and charge less to beat your price point. Etsy is not prepared to hep you handle large volumes of sales. For me, the painful customer service side of things has greatly turned me off of this even for a side hustle.
I second and third, and fourth! I so agree with you — it can be an awesome platform for a side hustle, or a side business or a hobby site. Soap can be easily found at the grocery store or drugstore. Soap listings using the same keywords online shoppers are typing into search bars are more likely to be discovered. What price are they willing to pay? What are they using it for?
What other items might they need with that soap? Those answers would vary greatly if a teenager was buying my soap versus a mom. Happy 5th Birthday Jane as add-ons, etc. There are items that can be purchased from a local store but are more convenient to buy online and have them shipped right to the doorstep. Keep in mind, the people who could drive to a local store to buy an item but choose to shop from their computer and pay extra to have that item shipped to them instead, tend to be busy.
Consider if your online shop can appeal to the convenience side of online shopping and how you can create more ease for your customers. Trends will have an influence on what shoppers are searching for, as well as how many Etsy shops are selling a similar product.
If you capture more of those sales and rack up reviews, your product is going to be more appealing to other Etsy shoppers. Etsy has recently encouraged its sellers to offer free shipping. Aside from Etsy, eCommerce sites such as Amazon, have changed the expectations of online shoppers.
When online shoppers must wait two weeks before their item will even ship, they may second guess their purchase and search for another Etsy seller who can ship a similar item quicker and cheaper. Items that require a lot of packaging to get them to their destination in one piece, or are bulky or heavy, can drive shipping costs up, making the items less appealing to shoppers.
The best items to sell on Etsy appeal to online shopping behavior, trends, and shipping in mind. Looking at some of the top-selling Etsy shops, they tend to make over six figures a year, some look like they may be earning over a million dollars in revenue per year.
The more products you create and sell, the higher your expenses are. Check out The Success Planner for more clarification on business numbers and how to improve yours. I took a closer look at an Etsy shop that sells jewelry and has consistently been a top-selling Etsy shop for years.
Yes, her products may not have as many handmade elements to them as someone who assembles every piece of their jewelry, but they still have amazing business practices in place that any business can implement to improve their sales. You can take a closer look at a top-selling Etsy shop here. The sky is the limit…if you put the work in. The key to more sales is to go after a bigger piece of a small pie, rather than a small piece of a big pie.
But targeting women is going after a very big pie. Making a bunch of products and then looking for customers is like making a key and running around looking for a lock for it to open. This approach will give you a more accurate idea of how much money you have the potential to make on Etsy. Go to the category your products would fall under on Etsy.
For example, if I sell candles in jars with humorous labels, I would look for candles with humorous labels. They may have only sold 5 items their first year and then really ramped up their marketing in the past 2 years to increase sales. The prices of their products may vary, but you can find a rough average by adding the prices of what seem to be their most popular products, and then dividing by the number of price points they have.
Now you can multiply how many sales your competitor has by their average price point, to get an idea of their total revenue. There are material costs, Etsy fees, marketing fees, etc. Be critical and consider if your photography, product descriptions, branding, etc. Do they have a Facebook page, Instagram shop, Pinterest account? How active are they on those social media platforms? How many followers do they have? Do they seem to be driving traffic from their social media accounts to their Etsy shop?
Or, their website may simply be a blog that helps drive traffic to their Etsy shop. Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing techniques. Customers pay for every expense of your business. Customers may not think about everything it takes to get a product to market, but you must keep each step in mind and work those costs into product prices. The money your business makes must cover every single cost of your business, such as:. And since customers paying you money for your products is likely the only way your business makes money unless you have other revenue streams , the money your customers pay you must cover all of those costs.
You cannot pay for them out of your own pocket. The first step is to look at your numbers and make sure your prices are covering ALL expenses and leaving you with a profit …at wholesale prices. Please follow this guide for the right way to price handmade products. Once your products are priced properly, you can adjust your shipping costs to be more appealing to the customers, which will help with your sales.
Taxes can cause confusion for business owners. There are a few things you must consider when it comes to taxes:. Which vary depending on what type of business you have, your sales, where you run your business, where you ship to, and other factors. How you report your income will depend on what type of business you set up e. You pay taxes on your income, which is the money left once you deduct expenses and costs of goods sold.
So you must track and keep records of your expenses and costs so you can reduce the amount you pay taxes on. This brings me to the next point…. If you work out of your home, use your car for business, travel for trade shows, etc. The success of many Etsy shops has less to do with what they sell and more to do with how they promote and sell it. These articles may help:. Your photos must sell your products. Etsy is constantly changing and your business must work with those changes to continue seeing sales on the platform.
I cover the most recent changes Etsy has made and how your shop can adapt to them here: What is Going on with Etsy? As Etsy continues to change its algorithm, update its rules, and grow, more and more makers are questioning if Etsy is worth it in The bottom line is, Etsy is worth it IF you make a profit from it.
Do you enjoy putting time into your shop or does the idea of starting an Etsy shop excite you? That will be reflected in your results. I used to be filled with dread thinking there was going to be a day I would have to go back on television, have more and more, and bigger and bigger media interviews, or even have to talk to a room full of employees. You can make your own goals and you can achieve them in a way that makes you happy.
Passion must be behind everything you do and only you know what sparks that passion. You may even find running your own website is more rewarding than an Etsy shop because you get more control over the design and functionality of it. For any business to survive, it must have profits. And you must know how much you profit from each sale before you can make solid decisions for your business, such as which sales platforms to use.
As I mention in The Success Planner , profits should be used to determine how much money you put towards growth. Based on your profits, Etsy may be a better fit for your business than a sales channel such as craft shows. There is no profit and no extra money to spend on more supplies, marketing efforts, sales channels, or wages. You could put more money towards products, marketing, and selling to earn more than you did last month.
The expense of selling through Etsy is lower, and lower risk, than selling at a craft show, so if you have lower profit margins, Etsy may be the better choice between the two. However, you may find that making sales through your own website is the best option and may not cut into your profits as much as Etsy does.
You will have domain and hosting fees when running your own website, but those may be lower than Etsy listing fees, depending on your business. Know your profit margins and how much each sales channel eats into them to determine which is the best option for you. Are they likely to search online for your product or visit a store and buy it when shopping for other products?
When shopping for a special occasion, most people go to boutiques or department stores so they can try on a gown and see it with all the accessories; the clutch, earrings, necklace, etc. She wants to see the jewelry in person and try it with the dress before deciding on it. Selling that jewelry wholesale to high-end boutiques carrying special occasion wear would be a better option than selling it through Etsy. In this case, Etsy would be a good option if the proper SEO tactics were in place.
Consider your target market and if those customers typically head online to shop for your product. If the answer is yes, start researching which keywords your target market might type into a search bar and create Etsy listings using those same keywords.
But then the question is; how much? If another sales channel brings you more sales and requires less time and money to make those sales, it deserves more of your time and money.
Consider how your products will do when placed next to thousands of listings on Etsy. Will they catch eyes and encourage people to click or get lost in a sea of photos?
Different products attract different types of customers and feedback. And, everyone has an opinion. If a customer receives something different than what they were expecting, based on photos, they may not be happy and leave a negative review. Some people prefer lightweight oils for summer while others want oil-free options to avoid that greasy feeling.
The moisturizer is likely to be too light for some but too heavy for others, and could result in mixed reviews.
0コメント