Etsy is a marketing platform comprising independent, small-scale creators, artists, and collectors. It is mainly for customers searching for gifts, collectibles, and handmade goods with a more customized touch. Etsy was just two years old when it had secured nearly half a million users and had almost $26 million in sales. By 2018, this fast-growing company was a family of around 2 million sellers with 50 million products. Etsy’s community of online shop owners is the ultimate reason for such a tremendous success rate in this era of warehouses.
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What Is Etsy?
Etsy is an online shopping mart where crafters and artists, who are independent, can sell their products. Here, you can sell only handmade or homemade stuff. These things involve jewelry, handmade toys, handicrafts, home goods, holiday items, antique furniture, collectibles, and so on. A huge variety of shipping options is available on Etsy and various types of payments like card payments, NetBanking, Etsy gift cards, and even Google pay.
Everything on Etsy is collected, made, curated, and sold by its sellers. It is not the case with the shopping giants like Walmart and Amazon. Etsy helps those independent, smaller creators to sell off their products all over the globe. It offers them a ground to showcase their items and performs the role of a middleman to get a good number of customers.
With the products of the small-scale producers on its platform, Etsy keeps up with other brands like Amazon Handmade, Big Cartel, Shopify, etc. It has also made a place for itself globally, which has more than 80% women sellers.
Open Your Shop
First, you have to create your Etsy account or sign in to open your shop on Etsy. Using this account, you will set up your shop to sell items and even buy from other sellers. After successfully creating an account for yourself, complete all the information required in the profile, like adding a profile picture and writing a good bio to let people in the community know more about you.
Get Started
After entering the website of Etsy.com, you’ll find the option “Sell on Etsy” at the top right corner. Then, click on “Open your Etsy shop.” Select and fill in all the following requirements like your shop language, your country, and currency. Click on “Save and continue.”
Choose a beautiful shop name of your choice and then select “Save and continue.”
This first step of shop opening has to be done on a desktop web browser. Once you get your shop opened, you can complete the rest of the management on the Sell on Etsy app.
Get More Knowledge About The Opening Of A Shop
Various questions can arise in your mind, and every question has its answer. You may want to enquire about the requirement of a business license on Etsy. The explanation for that is no, Etsy doesn’t require sellers to own a business license to sell on Etsy. The sellers on Etsy must follow any law that might apply to them from time to time. You can also contact a qualified professional to know more.
Complete Setting Up Your Shop
After signing up, complete the steps for setting up your shop to make arrangements for starting to sell your products. Setting up a shop in Etsy is equivalent to any online business. So, you should know about all the essential factors in your selling flow. Check all the factors like production time, plan for shipping, policies, and other such stuff for finishing your setup.
Necessary Shop Information
- Shop logo and banner – Any shop’s logo or banner decides the first impression of its customers. So, make sure that you upload clear pictures of your brand. It will also help in the trust-building process of your customers. Shoppers will be inclined to browse through your products once they are impressed with your logo and banner. So choose your banner carefully.
- Announcements –This is the warm greeting or message you want to welcome your loyal customers or random shoppers. Pin down a beautiful message that will hold the shopper’s heart captive. Words are the best tools for marketing. Thus, when used correctly, it can surely increase your sales and attract more visitors.
- The section – In this place, you can upload the images and videos of your products. You can also add other details of the products, like the story behind them or their utility. You can add more information about your business and your vision for the future of your brand.
- Shop members – In this section, you are free to introduce your shop members or any collaborating person.
- Policies –Clearly mention all your policies and rules for shipping, payments, returns, exchanges, or any other important guideline you would like to add for shoppers. All the terms and policies of any shop are essential for any shopper before making any purchase. The US sellers should purchase USPS shipping labels on Etsy after completing their shop setup. Please read about the USPS Shipping labels to know more about them.
- Attach listings to your shop – After completing the other shop sections, it’s time to add the items to your shop. A listing is a product that you add to your shop. The listings are the real thing that makes the shops so popular.
- Promotion, Marketing, and branding – Apart from selling high-quality products, the marketing strategy is the reason behind the success of any company or business. Marketing effectively will allow you to attract more customers for your products and also help your customers to stay up-to-date about all the items in your shop. Marketing can surely help in the overall increase in your sales. Optimize your shop and link it to your social media accounts. You can also go for the paid version of marketing, which will bring in more sales. Shoppers love discounts, so offering a frequent reduction in prices can be a great way to increase sales. Marketing is the ultimate way to reach new shoppers. So, the better the marketing, the more the shoppers stop by your shop.
- Manage your shop well – After completing the listing procedure, you have to manage your shop well as your transactions start increasing and your business starts growing.
Ensure that the customer service you give is the best, as it’ll help you qualify for Etsy’s Seller Protection Policy. Learn more about methods and giveaways on your first sale. Gain more knowledge about the review system in Etsy. And most importantly, when you feel you need a break, take it. It’ll help you to rejuvenate and come back with greater power. Managing the shop well matters a lot to increase the faith of customers.
Pros Of An Etsy Store
- You get a large audience for marketing
Etsy is an excellent place for entrepreneurs to flourish in their business. It has over 81.9 million active buyers who are looking for natural handmade products. When you list your products on Etsy, it’ll naturally bring you customers. It’s a great way to make sales in your Etsy shop.
- The built-in analytics will help you a long way
It would help if you always kept an eye on the analytics that Etsy provides for your improvement. Business is a data-based job and should take all the decisions after carefully studying the metrics. All the details like traffic to your shop, the number of items in the customers’ favorite list, revenue for products, orders received, and more are available.
Cons Of An Etsy Store
- you can sell only Handmade products
Etsy is designed explicitly for selling handmade goods, craft supplies, or antique products. You have to be one of those small-scale producers to be able to sell on the platform. Unless you made that product or they are vintage, you cannot sell it on Etsy. It prohibits the selling of repackaged commercial items.
- Listing and transaction fees are charged
For each item that you list on Etsy, $0.20 is charged. It also consumes 5 percent of your sales as transaction cost, which includes gift wrapping and shipping.
Moreover, if you choose to use Etsy payments, it’ll allow the price to be completed by credit card but charge an extra fee of three percent along with $0.25. Now, you can choose PayPal for the payment. But it is processed through Etsy. So, still, you have to pay the extra amount.
The Final Say
Etsy is an excellent marketplace. It’s a significant association of shoppers, crafters, and makers. Take out some time to study the seller policies and get to know more about the fees for selling on Etsy. Before getting into it, know well if it can suit you and your business. After creating your shop, it is essential to keep a check over your prices and digital appearances. Successful sellers decorate their shops with beautiful usernames, high-quality photos, themes, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to attract more people to your shop.
