etsy

threeboysmummy

has anyone sold on etsy with any luck.... its hand crafted item that i make and sell i was woundering if etsy was any good and if you could earn enough to make a living ......
thanks

soolin

threeboysmummy wrote: »

has anyone sold on etsy with any luck.... its hand crafted item that i make and sell i was woundering if etsy was any good and if you could earn enough to make a living ......
thanks

I am not sure there is enough money there to make a living, I know two people with shops there, one has sold 2 things in the past 14 months, the other nothing - but she has only had her shop open since Feb this year. You might also want to take a look at Folksy.

It is always worth a try though alongside other sites.

lovinituk

I can't see it being enough to make a living on alone as soolin says, but I put 3 of our products on there (all similar) and in a week have already had 7 sales. As a quick test that only took me half an hour to set up I'm pretty pleased with the results. In the new year I am going to add a lot more products which will hopefully see an increase in sales.

It certainly seems one of the better 'other' marketplaces and I find it very easy to use.

Hermia

threeboysmummy wrote: »

has anyone sold on etsy with any luck.... its hand crafted item that i make and sell i was woundering if etsy was any good and if you could earn enough to make a living ......
thanks

I think some people do make a living, but it is hard because there is so much competition. I think the ones that make a full-time living are the ones who REALLY promote themselves (i.e. have a YouTube channel, get themselves into magazines etc).

Have you had a look at people selling your type of product on etsy to see what they are charging? A friend makes polymer clay charms and says etsy is a nightmare because there are a lot of youngsters who charge silly low amounts for their charms. She says there is one teenage polymer clay artist who is quite well-known on YouTube who actually states they only charge for the cost of the clay because they don't want to 'rip off' their young fans. Obviously someone who needs to make a living cannot compete with their prices.

I think give etsy a go by all means, but if you want to make a living you need to create an online brand for yourself (twitter, YouTube, a blog) and really promote yourself.

campdave

I had one item on etsy which I'd forgotten about, and then was quite surprised when it sold earlier in the month - then got a second sale on that item the same day.

One thing I hadn't taken account of was that the payment would be received in $ so I was charged a hefty fee by Paypal to convert - is there an option to be paid in £? Had a quick google, but couldn't find any information.

Will be listing some more items in there after Christmas once things calm down, but will need to take paypal conversion costs into account if there isn't an option to receive in local currency.

soolin

campdave wrote: »

I had one item on etsy which I'd forgotten about, and then was quite surprised when it sold earlier in the month - then got a second sale on that item the same day.

One thing I hadn't taken account of was that the payment would be received in $ so I was charged a hefty fee by Paypal to convert - is there an option to be paid in £? Had a quick google, but couldn't find any information.

Will be listing some more items in there after Christmas once things calm down, but will need to take paypal conversion costs into account if there isn't an option to receive in local currency.

I'm half considering an Etsy account, so would be interested in an answer to your currency question as well.

threeboysmummy

thankyou.... had not thought about convertion fees for diffrent curency, i do sell on ebay to difrent countries through paypal so what is the difrence with etsy ? and paypal, ......hope that makes sence , full of cold this morning, ! what the kids get i get :cool:

sequence

Folksy is better for UK sellers. I have sold a few items on there, but not enough to make a living!

lovinituk

campdave wrote: »

I had one item on etsy which I'd forgotten about, and then was quite surprised when it sold earlier in the month - then got a second sale on that item the same day.

One thing I hadn't taken account of was that the payment would be received in $ so I was charged a hefty fee by Paypal to convert - is there an option to be paid in £? Had a quick google, but couldn't find any information.

Will be listing some more items in there after Christmas once things calm down, but will need to take paypal conversion costs into account if there isn't an option to receive in local currency.

soolin wrote: »

I'm half considering an Etsy account, so would be interested in an answer to your currency question as well.

You can add a UK bank account. I've just had my first payment and it credited the same £ amount as is showing in my Etsy account.

You can set your payments in Your Shop->Shop Settings->Payment

Don't forget to set your default currency to £ as well.

Or you can open a USD pot in your Paypal account and you will receive the funds from Etsy in USD in to that pot. You can then change it up when you need to or use it to pay US suppliers if you have any.

campdave

Thanks! I'll have a proper look over the Christmas break

soolin

campdave wrote: »

Thanks! I'll have a proper look over the Christmas break

Same here, I'll also take a look at Folksy.