I enjoy running my Etsy shop, and it's come a long way, albeit rather slowly, since I started it. When I think back to when I put it together, I wish I had some help at the time, in the form of a live person that would have sat right next to me. Since not everyone can have that kind of help, we must rely on the support of Etsy itself, and that's nothing to sneeze at. They are famous for their seller resources.
There are other ways to improve your Etsy shop, and today I am participating with three other Etsy sellers and blogging friends to share three selling tips with you from our experiences. I hope you will learn a little something, and please visit the other three Etsy sellers: Laurie Romanaggi from Magpie Ethel; Laurie Jackson from Indulge Your Shelf; and Beth Leintz from Gathering Dust. There will be links to their Etsy shops on their blogs, so be sure to do a little shopping when you visit them!
My Etsy shop, Mitzi's Collectibles:
Tip #1: Take the time to use the new "Rearrange Your Shop" feature on Etsy, which allows you to organize your listings visually. For example, you can put all of your better selling items together near the top, so they are viewed first; all of your jewelry listings together; etc. Prior to having this feature, all items were arranged by the date they were entered into the system and couldn't be moved.
You can hopefully see the "Rearrange Your Shop" feature under "Your Shop" in the bottom left of the image below:
Tip #2: Keep working on your photography. I am always trying to raise the bar for myself here, but still could make some improvements. Because customers can't touch your items, good photos have to tell nearly the whole story of what you are selling.
Here is an old picture I used in my Etsy shop of yoyo clips I took in bright sunlight, which is a no-no. The sun caused distracting shadows and bleached out the yoyos that were in direct sunlight. That's why taking pictures on a cloudy day is better:
Tip #3: Once you discover what your customers like, try to keep it coming! This might be sort of obvious, and if you are a crafter, you can step up production of what sells the most. But with vintage items, that's easier said than done. I have sold many vintage letters and numbers of all kinds, so I'm always on the lookout for more. I've got my picker looking for them too!
I wish I had more of these wonderful theater marquee letters, but I'm scrambling to find something similar at a reasonable price:
These gas station numbers have been popular too, and I have more in my shop now:
I hope these three tips helped a bit, even if you haven't set up an Etsy shop yet. I began collecting tips way before I started my shop, which is a good idea. I know I'll learn something from the other participants, because we haven't compared notes ahead of time. They have more experience as Etsy sellers than I do, so I better get going and see what they have to say!
Mitzi
