Selling your work on Etsy - some basic information

[crochetgal]

Selling on Etsy takes a fair bit of effort in order to be successful. Its not just a matter of listing things and having them sell.

Firstly decide on WHAT you want to sell. This should be fairly easy.

Etsy allows you to sell Handmade items, Vintage items and Supplies.

Determine your pricing, and don't sell yourself short! Be realistic and ask a fair price for your work. Remember that people are willing to pay good money for well made items.

First you need to register. Remember that the name you use will be your SHOP NAME so make it memorable.
Etsy - How do I get started on Etsy?
When you initially open your account, it is a BUYER account. If you want to sell, then you need to change it to a seller account. You will need a valid Credit card for this step.
Etsy - How do I become a seller on Etsy?

This article will outline how to set up your shop once you've got a seller account.
Etsy - How do I set up my shop?

Remember that its the shop policies, shop profile, and announcement that are the most important things to do first so please take the time to complete this information.

After that, its just a matter of taking photos, writing descriptions, and posting listings.

I'd strongly recommend to anyone wanting to set up an Etsy shop to read the Etsy Seller's handbook
The Etsy Seller Handbook: All Our How-To

as it provides some very useful information.


Remember that Etsy provides you with the store front only. Its up to you to do your own marketing to bring in the traffic.

My shop can be seen at affordable yarns soap dishes mannequins wearable art by crochetgal

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to post them in this thread and I'll be more than happy to try to answer them.

[Foreverlefty]

Crochetgal,
Thank you sooo much for all the helpful information you just wrote about selling on etsy, I appriciate all the links you gave us as well. I have been thinking about trying to open a shop myself so having this information from you will help enormously. Is there any tag names that you find are better then others? & how do you keep track of all the items you have sold or have for your inventory etc? Do you have any other information such as the best ways to pack items for shipping or shipping costs? I would love any & all info you could provide. Thank you again for all your help. Your crochet friend, Patti

[crochetgal]

Patty,

You are quite welcome.

As for tags, tags are used to describe the item being sold. So the tags that I use for my hand crafted wooden soap dishes would be much different than the ones used for a ball of yarn.

How do I track my inventory?

I use spreadsheets.... lots of them.

If you've looked at my shop recently affordable yarns soap dishes mannequins wearable art by crochetgal , you will see that I currently have over 500 items listed. That is a lot of inventory.

I have a financial spreadsheet that I keep track by month of everything that is listed in the shop. If something is sold, it gets moved to the 'sold' section and all the sales details are recorded. I also maintain a balance sheet to keep track of the bank deposits.

As for packaging items for shipping, the way an item is packaged will depend entirely on what is being shipped. My main concern is that the items arrive safe, quickly and undamaged. Some things can be sent in a simple bubble envelope, others are fine in a tyvek envelope and others require specific sized boxes.

Shipping is entirely dependent on the weight and size of the package so I'd suggest that you get very friendly with the UPSP web site at www.usps.com to see what the rates are.

I do use the USPS priority packaging if its appropriate to do so. My mail carrier delivers all my USPS packaging directly to my door if I order it online.

[celticthunder]

Appreciate all the useful info you supplied for us about Etsy.

[crochetgal]

If anyone has any other questions about selling on Etsy, please feel free to post them here.

[chp]

i checked out your site and i love it ! i got an idea on how much to sell my items i also discovered what ive been looking for those yarns that already have beads on them you made me a happy camper chp

[crochetgal]

I'm glad you found it to be useful chp.

[Anaisa]

Still dry camping but have crochet a few items and was thinking about selling them...thanks for your help; because most people want me to sell what I've made for so little and I wish I could but my time is worth something and I can't just keep buying thread to give away ALL my works. Thanks again. When I have more time to examine your information I will.

[crochetgal]

Anaisa, I don't give away any of my work at all. My crochet business is how I make my living and pay my bills. If I were you I would tell the people who want to purchase your items exactly what you've said here. That you cannot afford to give your work away.

[grandmajenny]

Crochetgal, I have been trying to figure out if, what and how I would like to sell the things I crochet. My girlfriends love the sweaters I make, but of course they are hooked on their coupons at Macy's where they can get a machine crochet sweater for around $15 on sale. One friend really wanted a cardigan I made that is beautiful it falls to the knee with ribbing and is a lace pattern throughout. I thought o.k I will make it for the cost of the yarn which is $60, and 5 cents a yard in labor which it takes about 2200 yards of yarn which is a $110 and breaks down to about $5 an hour if I am going really fast. What do you think of pricing a custom sweater this way? I look on Etsy and in comparison this seems like a good deal. Do you know of any type of rule of thumb when charging for your labor?