Question for all of you who sell on Etsy.com???
 

For all of you fabulous and talented SCSer's out there that sell on Etsy...can you give me some tips?

1. How to start? (I already know the basis rules of how it works)
2, Picking a shop name? How did you do this? Suggestions for me on how to do this?
3. How to market yourself? (I know the cards out there on Etsy...well there's a ton!) So, how do I stand out?
4. How do I establish store rules, any suggestions?
5. How many items should I be listing at one time?
6. Do I need a banner for my store or where or how do I get that?
7. Establishing costs of cards and cost of shipping???
8. What forms of payment should I accept?
9. What type of card/s seems to be selling the most? ie. plain and simple, multi layers with alot of embellies

Anything else I missed that may be helpful before I decide to open up shop? Please help me out! I love to strategize these things before jumping in head first!;) Thanks!

Anyone that can help???

Sorry! I have never heard of www.Etsy.com. Maybe other people are not familiar with it either. I went to the site though and I tell you, I would never buy cards on there. Often the cost of shipping is more than the cost of the cards people are trying to peddle. Good luck! I hope someone can answer your questions. If not, why don't you try contacting someone there who sells in a different category than you would.

im afraid i dont know either , but ive often seen the link on many blogs and have looked at it - i would be interested in any answers you get - ive often been curious myself !

seen some really cool things on etsy I would think alot of the tips you get for ebay would also cover etsy but I did find this on the etsy site

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5021995

Thanks! This was really helpful!:-D

1. How to start? Just jump in- list a few items and you'll learn as you go. That's what I did.
2, Picking a shop name? How did you do this? If you have something that goes along with your blog name, that will help. But not necessary. Something catchy, easy to remember, etc.
3. How to market yourself? This was the first thing I did- establish my look. I did this through packaging, logo, the items I sell, the way I write up the listings. Make sure everything ties together. Put links on your blog, you can even mention when new items are added. If you start BUYING things on Etsy, that will help get you some positive ratings, which will help bring in some more people to check out your shop.
4. How do I establish store rules, any suggestions? Check out what the other shops do.
5. How many items should I be listing at one time? It depends. Start slow, then list more as you want. Just remember each item listed is twenty cents.
6. Do I need a banner for my store or where or how do I get that? It's not mandatory but it really helps. You can make it yourself in Photoshop, GIMP, etc. Or ask someone who does watermarks/banners to make one for you.
7. Establishing costs of cards and cost of shipping??? It helps if you take one item to the post office and see how much it costs. Then go from there.
8. What forms of payment should I accept? PayPal is easiest.
9. What type of card/s seems to be selling the most? ie. plain and simple, multi layers with alot of embellies Can't help you on this as I don't sell my paper items there. But check out the time machine- I think they have one for recently sold items.

I hope this helps!

hello! i just opened an etsy shop. it was kind of time consuming to set up - i wanted things to be just right so i took my time and thought alot about what i wanted to do with it. i don't yet have a banner but i'm working on designing one. i also don't have anything in my store yet. i'm working on photographing the merchandise i want to sell. make sure the quality of the photos is excellent. quite often a really nice non blurry, good color photo will sell an item before any description will. you can look at my store policies to get an idea if you want. my (non-stocked) store is www.evenstardesigns.etsy.com
It really isn't as complicated as you might think. Go for it!

i just opened an etsy acct, as well, wont hurt to try it ;)
lets see how it goes ;)