{Hi there!  I’m Amanda (former member of the Seven Cities.)  Here are a few of my tips on selling handmade items and supplies online.  I hope you find them handy!}

Etsy!  A fun marketplace for selling your handmade goods, or vintage items and commercial crafting supplies.  I opened my first etsy shop, A. Bel Studio, in December 2006.  I stocked the shop with all kinds of handmade items, often leftovers from the craft shows I was in.  Eventually I started selling a few cupcake decorating supplies too, and soon after, I created a separate shop for these items called A. Bel Emporium.  That shop sort of exploded, and I had less time to work on the studio shop.  At some point, I opened a third shop, Out Like Bandits, to sell select vintage items.

Whew, so that’s my etsy history in a nutshell!  Now, two years and over 3,400 sales later, you think I’d have some wisdom to impart.  Not really.  At least, I don’t think I have any amazing, earth-shattering secrets to success on etsy.  I’m sure everything I know has been said over and over already: take good photos, re-list to stay visible, keep a full shop, etc.  Often times advice is easier to give than it is to follow, but I tried to come up with a few, semi-original tips:

1.  Ship internationally. A staggering percentage of my Emporium sales were to  international customers.  France, UK, Australia, Italy, Japan, and so on.  You are turning away customers if you do not offer shipping to other countries.  Yes, it takes a little more time.  You must fill out a small customs form, and there is a good amount of trial and error involved in getting your shipping costs straight, but I promise it can be worth the effort.  I realize this can be cost prohibitive if you make/sell heavy items (see #4.)

2.  Go for variety.  I’m sure some will argue this one, but I stand by my claim.  Variety is the spice of life, and there is a very fine line between having a niche and being in a rut.  The more you have, the more you can sell.  Colors, styles, items….it’s all about choices.  The more you have to look at and think about, the longer customers will stay on your site.  But, of course, there is a limit.  You must be true to yourself and your site.  I was browsing a packaging supply shop the other day, you know, corrugated boxes and duct tape, and there was a big link at the bottom that said “Click here for our selection of Country Cross Stitch Samplers!”  Don’t be that site.

3.  Stay away from the etsy forums.  They are full of miss-information, the promotions simply don’t work, and worst off all, they are a major time-suck.  If you have a question, look it up in Terms of Use or google it, someone has probably blogged about it.  I know people love the forums and the treasury, but with a small biz, time is money, and your time is much better spent elsewhere.  I guarantee you that the top etsy sellers spend little or no time with the forums or treasuries.  Follow their example.

4.  Make/sell lightweight items.  “But I want to carve giant slabs of marble!”-you might be thinking.  Too bad!  Be honest and ask yourself if someone is really going to pay $15 for you to ship them a $4 paperweight?  If I can buy heavier items (candles, soaps, paperweights) locally, I will.  The shipping on heavier items is just too cost prohibitive.  Obviously, more exotic and harder to find objects don’t really apply, but it’s still in your best interest to give your customers the best deal on shipping you can find.  I’ve abandoned shopping carts before because I just *knew* they were majorly overcharging me on the shipping.  If you want to add money for “packaging and handling”, that’s fine.  I just believe that that should be included in the price of the item, not the shipping charges.

5.  Be brutally honest about your profit margin. (This can be a real tough one.)  Factor in your etsy fees, listing fees, paypal fees, materials, time, etc.  If you are happy having a hobby-business and you’re not all that concerned about the profit-aspect, then don’t stress about it.  There is nothing wrong with that, and it’s your shop - you can do whatever you want.  For many of us, however, making money is not just a part of the business, it’s the point of the business.  There is nothing wrong with that either.  Just keep a sharp eye on your finances, and you will be OK.  If you find yourself getting wishy-washy with the details, get someone else to crunch the numbers for you, and don’t be scared of the truth!  Often times the brutal truth, no matter how dismal, does not force you to give up, but will encourage you to try harder.

6. Make/sell what you want, but play fair.  Touchy subject, I know.  I try to stay away from it, personally.  My opinion is it’s not so much what you’re selling/making, but how you are selling it.  The devil is in the details.  I do truly believe most people have good intentions, and that everyone makes mistakes.  There is rarely, if ever, a need to call-out, cat fight, or publicly humiliate someone.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t defend your original ideas, but just be kind to people and keep some perspective.  Deal with complex issues privately and people will respect you.  I know that the internet is an easy place to let loose, rant, rave, and point fingers in an anonymous and non-confrontational way (see #7.)  Don’t be one of those people.  Be a good-guy, and enjoy your moment in the sun.

7.  Get thicker skin.  If you stick around long enough on etsy (or the net in general), you are bound to come across people who are going to a.) not like you, b.) accuse you of something, c.) be irrationally mean for no reason, d.) all of the above.  If you go into it expecting that things like this are going to happen, you will not be caught off guard when they eventually do.  Don’t waste time or angst on these jerks, it’s just not worth it.  If someone gets to you, just remember: you have no idea who this person really is.  It could be a 12 year old that had a few hours to kill before his Magic tournament and decided to harass people on the web.  In these cases, I think a passive approach is the best one.  If you don’t fuel the fire, it will go out on it’s own.

8.  Don’t sell jewelry.  Ha-just kidding!  Seriously, though…how do you jewelry sellers do it?  There are just so many jewelry makers on etsy, I can’t imagine how hard it must be to compete in that arena.  What I’m really trying to say is, of course you should follow your passion, but if your market is very saturated (like jewelry) you are going to have to work extra hard to get yourself seen. You should expect this and be ready to fight a long, hard battle. Don’t act all confused when your charm bracelets aren’t flying of the shelves after a day or two.

9. Pretty packaging is nice.  BUT - make sure you plan for the future.  You might not be packing 30 orders a day now, but it could happen sooner than you think.  This is something I struggle with still; how can I create attractive packaging that is pretty, special, economical and earth-friendly?  I love the cello-bag, paper shred, ribbon and decorative card presentation.  It’s gorgeous, but it’s not very practical. Keep in mind that 90% of your customers are going to throw the packaging away almost immediately.  Of course you want to your packages to be lovely, but it’s great to be a little eco-friendly, too.  Also, do you really need to include lots of business cards with your orders?  Do you keep the business cards YOU receive in packages?  I’m switching to non-bleached, recyclable paper bags in my new shop…just one small way I can help do my part for Ma Earth.  I will continue to use recycled packaging materials too, like filler materials and such.  It’s not something to necessarily obsess about, but it’s good to give it some thought.

10. Don’t offer custom, made-to-order items.  Especially if you are procrastinator that gets behind easily.  After the Strawberry Sachet debacle of 07′ I learned an important lesson: don’t offer something for sale if you haven’t actually made it yet.  You never know what is going to take off (I never expected those strawberries to be so popular.)  The orders started rolling in and it was great!….until I had to actually make hundreds of tiny, intricate, scented berries.  My fingers were raw, the scented filling made me constantly nauseous, and I almost overdosed on SVU reruns.  The worst part was it totally killed my love for those little sachets, and now I never want to make on ever again.

There they are, my tips for selling on Etsy (or any online venue.)  I hope they were somewhat helpful!  If any of you have a special, secret, amazing tip you’d like to include, please add them in the comments!