Would you recommend Etsy?
Replies
A friend and I are looking at websites where we could list knitted/crocheted crafts and prints. Everyone who I have talked to only knows about Etsy, but the reviews I've gotten on it are mixed. Some friends who I know have sold there say that they wouldn't recommend it for the listing fees, but they don't have any other suggestions of where else we could go.
My question is what are your thoughts of etsy? If not etsy, where would you recommend selling?
The listing fees aren't all that bad if you figure them into your overhead. Not to mention Etsy gets a LOOOT of the traffic for that sort of thing. There's also Zibbet and The Craft Star that I know of, but getting sales on Zibbet is similar to getting sales on your own isolated website--you have to drive your own traffic and it can be a lot of work. And the Craft Star...well, I watched their launch last year and honestly I'm surprised to see they're still up and running. I stopped checking up on them after 4 months when they still hadn't set up any sort of secure servers and the owner only had lame excuses about it. They might have shaped up, but the launch was enough to turn me off from using them for the next long while.
The listing fees aren't too bad. It's nice that you can basically relist things without any hassle. I found though it was really hard to find a foothold on Etsy since there are SO many shops that sell everything. The biggest thing is it if you are going to go with Etsy is to tag your items correctly. I also paid for the advertising on there, but never got any sales because of it. Overall it's okay.
As a customer, I love Etsy. The thing is though, you need to stand out, because there will be tons of other people selling very similar items. Before taking the plunge, I'd recommend getting some sense of what sets you apart. Do you make loads of fandom items? Buy your supplies from a local source? Or maybe you take custom orders to show off your ability to work on the fly? Whatever if is that differentiates you, make sure it's mentioned! You need to let folks know what makes you special :)
Etsy's okay, I suppose, especially if you reside in the US. Other than that, it's pretty much average and all.
Thank you for all the feedback. I will definitely take it all into consideration when looking into those different sites.
Storenvy appears nearly perfect for what we are looking into doing. Thank you so much for that recommendation.
I really enjoy Etsy. There are a lot of items other people make that will be similar to your own but there will also be a lot more customers on there as well.
@ ELVIS (My reply is late to the party, sorry.) I used to be a seller and buyer on Etsy, and I'd say overall I had a decent experience. From the first day I made my shop, I sold my first item within a few hours and I made sales from then on every couple few days. The listing fee isn't bad (at least when I was selling... I don't know if the price has been raised?), especially when I compare it to the fees of say, eBay. Etsy was really easy to use and understand, and that I liked, lol. My tip for you though would be to make sure you have nice photos of what you're selling! If the quality isn't very good and the pictures are dull and/or dark, it won't draw people in. And like someone else said, tag your items properly. And I tagged the shit out of mine, lol. If it related to my product (down to the color), I used all the tags I could so it would show up in searches. There's also that site Artfire.com, but I've never used it, so I don't know a thing about it. x:
Good luck!
Edit: Oh I just remembered, if you're starting a craft business, you should start a Facebook fan page for it. You can update your fans/customers on what you have been working on, what's coming soon to the shop, and just interact with them, etc. A lot of people like interacting with a company and feeling like they are a part of making it better, so Facebook pages are awesome for that. B)
my roommate uses Etsy to sell items he makes and he likes it alot
