Etsy.com
By Connie
@connierebel (1557)
United States
January 6, 2009 4:37pm CST
I've been reading some posts about this website recently, and I was wondering if it is a good idea to sell crafts here. Do I have to have a regular craft business, or can I just sell a few handmade items that I've done in the past? I don't think I could make enough stuff to have a "store", but I occasionally make handcarved items that I would like to sell.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@creationsbyrobin (3071)
• United States
7 Jan 09
A store on Etsy can be as little as one item or as many as 200 or 300 items. You have a store regardless of the your number of listings.
Since having a store doesn't cost you a monthly fee (unless you have nothing in it, then I believe it costs 25 cents per month... and you don't pay Etsy until you have $1 in fees) there is no fees except for your listed items.
Listing an item costs 20 cents. The listing ends either 4 months later or when it sells, whichever comes first. Once it sells, Etsy will charge you 4.5% final value fee.
Your listing gets you five free images of your item, so give potential customers a really good idea of what you are offering. Clear, detailed images will improve the chances of your items being sold.
You don't need to have a regular craft business... as long as you are making the items you sell, you are permitted to sell your items on Etsy. Etsy has a forum where you may promote your items in existing threads or you may start a thread to help show off your creations to the public. (promoting through the Etsy forums has led to many sales for me and I've made several repeat sales to some of those customers)
If you are trying to sell your handmade items to a community of people who prefer to buy quality handmade items, then there is no better online site than Etsy.
I've been there for almost 18 months and have made nearly 150 sales, selling primarily handmade jewelry. Let us know if you join... I'll stop by your shop and send you a "heart" (which means your shop goes into my favorites category)
Good luck!
@busyB4 (874)
• United States
7 Jan 09
This is good to know, and five free pictures wow, that is great! I have some handmade crafts left from where I used to sell to several stores, so that could be a good outlet for me if I would get around to it. I have so many things going on all the time, sometimes I think I am just "spinning my wheels"!!
Robin, is yours listed under creationsbyrobin?
My sister has a site on ecrater which I think works pretty much the same way so that might be another thought for those of you selling things. I am not that familiar with them either just have been to her site, and she tells me that alot of former Ebayers are selling on ecrater for lesser fees. That is all I know about it. My sisters is littlelambs
Thanks for sharing the info!
@connierebel (1557)
• United States
8 Jan 09
I think I will try to put a few items up as soon as I can take some pictures and decide on prices and stuff. It's good that you don't need to generate the traffic to the site. I don't have the time or patience for that. thanks for the info.
@Kmarie923 (875)
• United States
7 Jan 09
I have thought about selling things on here. I don't think that it matters much how much you have, as long as you have something to sell.
@Aurone (4755)
• United States
6 Jan 09
You don't have to have a lot of crafts to list on Etsy. They charge you a listing fee per item and the item lists for 3 months and then there probably (don't know for sure) a percentage of selling price fee. I have listed a few items there but haven't sold anything there yet, but I haven't pursued it very much. I very rarely make anything that is not going to be a gift for friends or family.
