Top Tips for Selling on Etsy – Etsy Seller Tips
To sum up my Etsy Seller Tips series, which has been a great success, I’ve compiled a roundup of the best tips for selling on Etsy.
This list contains a summary of ideas mentioned throughout the series, plus some great extra tips that didn’t get their own posts.
Top 10 Tips for Selling on Etsy:
1. Learn SEO on Etsy and off – most of my sales have come from Etsy searches. Some have come from Google searches as well. Knowing how Etsy’s search engines sort listings will give you a huge advantage over other Etsy sellers.
2. Choose an image and stick to it – throughout your branding and marketing campaigns. Consistency is the key to putting yourself out there as a legitimate brand, and Etsy buyers are very wary of legitimacy.
3. Create compelling listings – Once you’ve gotten your listings to to show in search results, get people to click on it buy using great photos. Once they’ve clicked, get them to buy with your description.
4. Choose a target market and stick to it. This means sticking to a price range. I think every Etsy seller goes through a phase of wondering if high prices are deterring sales… This has been my major flaw in marketing my Etsy shop – I tend to fluctuate between prices. I can tell you one thing: dropping my prices DID NOT bring more sales. Of course, you don’t want to overcharge either.
Here’s a little tip:
This is a standard calculator many artisans use when pricing goods. Your final price point will depend on how much your hourly rate is, and the quality of your supplies. This is how you can set yourself up as upscale or mid-range.
5. Be unique, be yourself, stand out. There are so many items out there. Why should someone choose yours? The answer lies in the uniqueness of each human. If your items are YOURS, they will stand out as such and be unique.
6. Keep your customers. I made a huge wholesale order recently from a website. Out of that $150+ order, they left out one item I had paid twelve cents for. When I contacted them, they immediately issued a replacement order. They provided me with rush shipping as a courtesy.
In contrast, I had recently ordered two items of baby clothing from a popular chain. They completely messed up my order of two baby boy outfits, and sent me two toddler girl outfits. When I called, the representative was rude, treating me as the irresponsible one. One item was out of stock, so they refunded me. There was no apology, or courtesy, and I was annoyed at the time wasted, plus the fact that I had no clothing for my fast-growing baby. They re-sent the item that was still in stock, but via their regular one week shipping option. There was no accountability.
Guess which one I still shop at?
As a shop owner, you must think like a customer when providing customer service. While I was living in Israel, I had a couple of times when orders never arrived. I relied on the consumer’s word 100%. If you don’t want to do this, you can get a tracking number (which I now do) but if you don’t, you will NEED to take responsibility.
In addition, you can offer a coupon code to encourage buyers to come back. Etsy now has that feature built in. When you create a coupon code, you have the option to have it sent as an auto-response to buyers.
Convincing your buyers to follow you on social media for updates on sales and promotions is another great way to keep them in touch.
7. Maintain your shop and keep things fresh. Almost all of my stretches with no sales have been due to inactivity. Expired listings do not sell. The more active you are, the better it is for SEO, and the more likely it is you will be found.
8. Stay motivated. It’s so easy to give up and say it’s not worth the time or investment. But in reality, the investment is minimal and the time is negotiable in comparison to the potential selling on Etsy really holds.
9. Network as much as possible. I don’t just mean by tweeting and pinning every item you make. I mean chat with other crafty people. Find Etsy groups on Facebook. Start a craft blog, like me, and you will surely meet some nice, crafty people as I have.
10. Enjoy it.– If your Etsy shop is turning your hobby into a dreaded job, you know you’re on the wrong track. You’ll be better off getting a steady job with solid income, and keeping your hobby just that…
I have let my Etsy shop fall to the side instead of growing it because I was growing tired of listing products. I monetize my hobby instead by sharing tutorials and keeping this blog.
What are your best tips for selling on Etsy?
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I just opened my Etsy shop, so this is more timely for me than ever. I’ll keep at it as long as I follow #10, enjoying it!
Great tips! Thanks for sharing this. 🙂
Great tips!
Thank you so much for your informative Etsy series. My shop Whim’sue’cal Embroidery has been open since July 2012 and I am just now starting to see consistent sales. I have read everything Etsy has to say and still struggled.
Your series is so logic based and understandable. You have definitely taken the mystery out of it. I started redoing my key words once again before reading your series and now I know that isn’t the whole story either. I was viewing the title, description and key words as separate entities. Now I know they are inter related. I continually work at improving my pictures.
Again, thank you for such an awesome informative series. I’m a believer.
Keep on believing, and good luck!
I’m just starting my Easy selling shirts for parents and toddlers/babies. Thanks for the tips! It gets hard to feel like you stand out against the other shops at times.
Good luck! Just be yourself and your personality will shine 🙂
Thank you for the help tips ?