Experience with Etsy?

Jewelry Discussion
1

My daughter sent me a link to Etsy, an online crafts marketplace.
They seem to have a large jewelry section with a wide price range.
Does anyone have any experience with them?

Janet Kofoed
http://users.rcn.com/kkofoed

2

I sell on Etsy and love it.

Here is the link to my shop

I started out thinking I’d just put some on there at least as
exposure. But there is so much jewelry - it is the biggest category

  • that you really need to keep up with it to do well. Last month was
    my best month yet! A group of us formed a street team “EtsyMetal” -
    we work on promoting metal jewelry and higher quality and higher
    priced jewelry than a lot of what is on there. There is a lot of
    cheap things - like earrings for $5, or less! Which is why we try to
    stay active and bring in higher paying customers!

I really like it though, and on the whole, the Etsy community is
really fabulous, and I’ve made quite a few really good friends! Email
me directly if you want, I could go on for pages!

Beth Cyr

3

Janet -

I joined Etsy in March I believe, and have been pleased with my
sales so far. There is a lot of jewelry on the site, but I believe
the longer you stay with Etsy the better the sales will be. I looked
at your web site and your jewelry is beautiful and different from
anything on Etsy. Your price point is also good, so I think you
should give it a try. It’s only.20 cents per item you list and Etsy
only takes 3.5% of the final sale. You can decide if you want to just
ship to the US or all over. Another place you should try if you
haven’t already is www.wholesalecrafts.com Great exposure to many
retailers.

I used to make beaded jewelry, so when you look at my site, I have a
lot of findings for sale to get rid of my inventory which is fine
with Etsy as long as you are selling them as “supplies.” I’m slowly
getting more of my sterling silver jewelry up.

Holly
Holly Eve Designs

4

Hi Janet,

I’ve been selling on Etsy since late last year. It’s a tough market
for jewelers without name recognition. There are a group of
metalsmiths which promote each other who are a sanctioned “street
team” but they don’t seem to be accepting new members. OTOH, who
needs to be officially sanctioned? We’ve been encouraging New England
artists to include “Nesty” as a tag and then tell friends/customers
to look for “nesty” in their searches to buy from NE vendors.

I’ve done better selling handmade supplies than I have done with
handmade chain bracelets. A friend jenmaestre is pulling in about
$1000 a month selling pencil jewelry but she did it with the help of
a Chinese website similar to del.icio.us and she has name recognition
in the art industry.

But you can’t go wrong for the price. It’s 20 cents to list an item
for 4 months, and 3.5% of the sale price to Etsy, and if you use
Paypal, it’s another 3.5% to them. Paypal is THE way to go on Etsy.
(Just get logged on to Paypal and get a confirmed checking account
and address and register as a business.) People pay with a credit
card through Paypal and the money goes into your paypal account - you
move it to your checking account.

It’s kind of nice to wake up on a sunday morning and see that you
made some money while you were sleeping.

At the moment, I am pointing my website page
(www.moonscapedesigns.com) to Etsy and using Etsy to point potential
wholesale customers to wholesalecrafts.com

Now all I need is buzz.

Hope this helps,
kathi

5

Hi Janet,

Etsy is a great site for artists. Very slick and reasonable to list.
In my experience, there’s very little traffic other than other
artists buying from you. In the 4-6 months I was listed there, I had
no sales. It does help to build up your profile if you make a couple
of purchases first.

I found I get more traffic and sales off my Ebay storefront, so I
decided to focus my efforts there. It’s cheap enough, that it won’t
hurt your bottom line to list a few items. It’s a good advertising
point, but with your own web site, probably not needed. If you have
the time & can promote the heck out of it, it might be better for
you.

Hey, on a side note… I’ve started a page on squidoo dedicated to
artists (mainly for Ebayers) but also have links on there to
e-commerce sites. Please feel free to add yours to ours! It’s free
to join and we get a pretty decent amount of traffic. We were
supposedly featured in a publication that squidoo handed out during
Ebay live this year, so we’re hoping for good things. Anyway, have a
look if you have the time & good luck with your sales!

http://www.squidoo.com/lensworthy

All my best,
Tracy Burlison
Tracy’s Treasures

6

I sell there, although not so much jewelry. Are you looking for
input on sales volume or on other aspects? All in all, it’s a good
site, but you have to bring the customers yourself. Have you done
searches to find other jewelers selling work in the same genre and
price range as yourself on Etsy? Quality ranges from stunning to
novice. Prices also range from stunning to extra-cheap.

What specific questions do you have? I think there are other Etsy
sellers on Orchid. You can also register on Etsy, without setting up
a store, and participate in the forums. As long as you are
registered you can ask questions, without being obligated to sell or
buy. Etsy won’t put you on all sorts of terrible spam email lists.

Kirsten
www.kirstenskiles.com

7

Thanks for all your responses. I think I’ll dip a few toes in there
and see how I do. It’s certainly inexpensive to try.

Janet Kofoed
http://users.rcn.com/kkofoed

8

Janet,

Have you considered Ruby Lane? They charge a set fee for all the
extensive advertising they do and your “site”. I pay $27 a month,
period. There is no charge when you sell something and Ruby Lane is
advertised in wonderful publications like Martha Stewart and other
popular magazines. Plus, Ruby Lane sends out several very lovely and
well presented “Newsletters” that contain pictures of select items
for
sale on Ruby Lane, bios, etc. Really nice.

I have had quite good success there and the site is very easy to use.
I looked into Etsy but felt that there were lots of costs, similar to
ebay and I prefer my costs to be predictable.

I recommend Ruby Lane. I hope you will check it out.

Laura

Laura H. Hastings
Eclectica Jewelry
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/eclectica

9

Etsy is good I have made findings for people and some specialty work
I have also bought components and worked them into pieces.

It is cheap and it is advertising if it goes beyond paying for
itself monthly then it is awsome!

lol Teri believes there can never be too much advertising

Silver & Cameo Heritage Jewelry
www.corneliusspick.com

10

Hi

Are you looking for input on sales volume or on other aspects? All
in all, it's a good site, but you have to bring the customers
yourself.

I checked this site some months ago when the question first popped
up. For some reason, at that time, I only came up with 5 dollar odds
and ends and plastic things. I was disappointed.

This time was completely different. I like the work of angryartisan.
Such cool stuff. Very different.

If you have time, I would like some more input on sales volume and
other aspects…like turnaround time…custom orders…shipping
issues.

I would send a mass mailing to the customer list and announce my new
Etsy site (if I were to join). I would have a link on my website
directing potential buyers to Etsy and a link in the bio on Etsy
directing potential customers to the website. What are some other
ways to bring the buyers to me (you)?

Thanks
Kim
Kim Starbard
http://www.kimstarbarddesigns.com