Seeking thoughts on Etsy

[firecat]

Things I made are overrunning the house and I'm thinking of starting an Etsy store to sell some of them. If you have any thoughts about Etsy either as a seller or as a buyer, I'd like to know them.

Comments

[sogwife.livejournal.com]

I have only sold one item on Etsy, BUT, I just put a few items up and then ignored it for months, nor have I promoted my store to any significant degree, nor taken advantage of the "featured item/store" function available. What I'm hearing is that, like any business, you get out of it what you put in.

It's free to set up a store. It's 20 cents to post an item with just the basic set up, which includes up to 4 pics, lots of key words to associate with the item, and the ability to add your own keywords. A listing is good for 4 (or is it 3?) months, after which you can repost, for another 20 cents, or not, as you like. You can also repost itmes that have sold, to simplify things if you have or make another one. There are various "featured item" categories you can buy into, for as little as $7, or maybe even less, and I hear that doing so significantly increases visits to your store, by an order of magnitude.

[firecat]

Thanks! Once I have a bunch of items up I will look into buying some advertising on there. It certainly looks as if there's some fierce competition...