Introduction – How to Sell on Etsy
Around the world, thousands of people with unlimited artistic talent struggle with having jobs that are unsatisfying or boring and which suppress their talent. However, in today’s world, the “starving artist,” with a little bit of dedication, might just be able to make a living using that artistic talent.
Learning how to sell on Etsy is a way for people with an artistic knack to make money from their creativity and talent. There are millions of things to sell on Etsy, and, with the right commitment and understanding of how to make money on Etsy, you could also be selling your handmade and vintage goods.
In this brief article, AdvisoryHQ will provide helpful information on how to sell things on Etsy as well as how to make money on Etsy using what you make with your own hands. There are literally millions of artists who have learned how to sell stuff on Etsy and who have created their own online businesses and brands.
We will give you some tips for selling on Etsy, as well as help you think about what to sell on Etsy, so that you, too, may be able to walk away from your current mind-numbing job to start your own artsy business one day.
What Is Etsy.com?
Etsy.com is, by far and wide, the best place for individual sellers to sell their handmade and vintage goods. Whereas eBay and Amazon are other popular online outlets, Etsy stands apart because of its niche focus on handmade items. According to its website, etsy.com is a “creative marketplace where 24 million buyers around the world spent more than $2.3 billion last year.” Over one and a half million artistic folks have learned how to sell on Etsy.
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Besides providing the premier seller platform to market handmade goods, crafts, and vintage items, etsy.com also offers client support to help you discover what to sell on Etsy and how to make money on Etsy. Its seller services include a helpful seller’s guide that you can download for free. This guide is loaded with tips for selling on Etsy. Furthermore, you can always request help via email support from its customer service team who is available to assist you in the learning process.
Etsy’s website also comes with a host of powerful tools to help you custom design your shop. Once you learn the basic ins and outs of how to sell on Etsy and have chosen the things to sell on Etsy that will set your page apart from the rest, the powerful tools offered by Etsy’s website will help your business take off.
Selling on Etsy won’t cost you an arm and a leg, either, as Etsy only charges a 3.5% transaction fee and a 20-cent listing fee. With the right business savvy and a host of quality handmade products, you can be selling on Etsy within weeks and discovering how to make money on Etsy to turn your one-time artistic hobby into an income-producing business.
How Do You Sell on Etsy?
To begin selling on Etsy, you will want to know exactly what items are permitted on the website. Etsy is not an online marketplace like eBay, where you can try and sell anything. Rather, Etsy is solely dedicated to selling handmade products, vintage items, and craft supplies. In a sense, Etsy is like an online antique store and a craft boutique rolled into one, so don’t try to sell your used iPad or old college text books.
Selling on Etsy is a relatively easy process. The first step to begin learning how to make money on Etsy is to read the seller handbook that you can find here. To begin, you will need to set up a seller account, which is a fairly straightforward process. Before deciding what to sell on Etsy, you will need to come up with a name for your shop and then set up a basic design for it.
Image Source: Etsy
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Etsy offers a number of different tools to custom design your shop, which may help to attract customers to the things that you sell on Etsy. For each product that you plan to sell, you will need to take an individual photograph, write out a product description, and list the price.
Each listing will be active for four months or until the product sells, and Etsy notifies you when your product does sell. You are then responsible for shipping the product to the person who purchased your item. Of course, in your product listing, you should include the shipping and handling fee. In order to get paid, Etsy will offer you a few payment options when you are setting up your seller profile.
As you can see, selling on Etsy is quite simple, and anyone with basic computer skills can set up a profile and shop.
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Top 5 Tips for Selling on Etsy and How to Make Money on Etsy
Selling on Etsy is pretty easy, but it is not a magical process of simply uploading a bunch of photographs and waiting for the money to start pouring in. You will also have to dedicate time and energy to your online business. To assist you in starting off successfully on Etsy, we have created five essential tips for selling on Etsy.
1. Quality Photographs
First and foremost, you will need to have quality photographs of the products you are selling. There is nothing worse than when a customer isn’t able to clearly see what he/she is buying. Since online buyers can’t actually touch and try on the products they are purchasing, they need to have a quality visual view from a number of angles of what they are purchasing. No matter what you sell on Etsy, the most important part of your marketing process is quality photographs of the product.
One Etsy seller recommended that Etsy sellers should “take photography seriously. Invest time in every picture. Take close-up, bright pictures that showcase your product in a visually stimulating way. Keep your photography standards high.” In order to learn how to sell on Etsy, you may first need to take a short introductory course into basic photography or have a friend with good photography skills help you out.
2. Investing Time
Next, in order to learn how to make money on Etsy, you will want to invest time in building your own brand. If you simply throw together a bunch of random things to sell on Etsy that you made in your spare time, you may get lucky and make a few sales, but you won’t necessarily be growing a successful business in the long term.
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3. Choose a Niche
When thinking about what to sell on Etsy, consider sticking to one niche and building your brand around that artistic niche. There are millions of things to sell on Etsy, so spend time looking around the website and try and find an area that is under-represented.
For example, handmade jewelry is one of the most common things to make and sell on Etsy, so you may want to find another niche in order to avoid stiff competition. Once you have decided what to sell on Etsy and created your niche, research how to build a strong brand that will be recognized by consumers.
4. SEO Knowledge
Now that you’ve settled on what to sell on Etsy and created your brand, you will need to understand your market and create product descriptions that are appealing to your customer base. For example, if you are selling homemade candles, your market is probably for young to middle-aged women, and you will want your product description to be oriented to that consumer base.
Even if you have quality products with stunning photographs that make up a well-marketed brand, in order to be successful in selling on Etsy, you will need to have SEO knowledge. SEO stands for “search engine optimization” and is a way to make sure that people who are searching for your product can find it relatively easy.
For example, if someone plugs into Google “homemade scented candles,” you ideally want your Etsy store page to show up as one of the first results. In order for that to happen, you will need to plug in a number of keywords into your product descriptions and throughout your store page.
Image Source: Etsy
The website Handmadeology offers a manual on Etsy SEO that you can find here. You can also use the Google Keyword Tool to help you discover what keywords your potential customers are searching on the Internet. Once you have begun to master SEO skills, you will find that selling on Etsy is more than worthwhile.
5. Social Media
And lastly, be sure to use social media to market your products. Discovering how to make money on Etsy is a lot easier if you have mastered the social media world. You can gain much more visibility and publicity for your handmade products if you are able to generate interest via Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. Facebook, for example, is filled with pages that markets things to sell on Etsy, and it is a fairly easy process to set up your business page to redirect potential customers to your Etsy page.
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How Selling on Etsy Can Change Your Livelihood
Learning the process of how to sell on Etsy isn’t hard. Like any business, it does take time and dedication. Since there are literally millions of things to make and sell on Etsy, almost anyone with a little bit of creativity, dedication, and business savvy can start their own Etsy store. Learning how to make money on Etsy can also help you escape a job that is stifling your creative and artistic side. Selling on Etsy could give you the economic means to support your artistic dreams long term.
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