10 Things I Wish I Knew When Starting My Etsy Shop

1. The Fees Are Insane

This isn't saying don't start an Etsy shop because the fees are so bad, but this majorly plays into pricing your items and is certainly something to consider. They charge for listing, shipping, selling, re-listing... and it all adds up. So make your choice of platform based on what you can afford. For me, I wanted a site that would help me get discovered by people, so the fees are worth that price until I am able to start selling successfully on my own site. What I did was set up an excel sheet with all the fees listed in a formula so I could calculate how to reasonably price my items based on the fees, supplies, and time it takes to make them. I found this super helpful.

2. Calculate Shipping Supplies Into Your Price

   In addition to fees... make sure you're

   adding anything extra shipping related (Custom packaging, packaging tape, business cards, plastic sleeves for prints, any freebies you hand out, etc...) to your price when deciding what to charge. Etsy used to allow you to add specifically to shipping, but now it has to be added to the price of the item. Basically make sure the money that is coming in is helping cover this expense as well as the price of materials.

3. Prepare Inventory Ahead Of Time

It is so much easier when you aren't doing made to order items and instead have inventory in stock and ready to package and ship out. I have very few custom items in my shop because this takes so much longer. I can prep a bunch of one design, print them, and have them ready to ship right away. However, the downside to this is being "stuck" with inventory if it's not selling quickly. So do what's best for you, but I know it was much easier to make a bunch of things when my Cricut was having a "good day" rather than trust that it would work when I needed it to.

4. Outsource ASAP

Now, I don't mean this for proper handcrafted items. I will never be able to outsource the beaded keychains I make by hand. I'm talking stickers, cards, pins, etc... Anything that you can send your design and have it put on an item is going to save you so much time. Not only will it save you time, but it will probably be better quality. For example, I can make a decent laminated water resistant vinyl sticker with just my printer and Cricut, but ordering waterproof UV resistant stickers have much better quality and I feel better about giving them to my customers because I know they'll last even longer. But this is also not something I recommend doing right away. Do it when you can as an upgrade. Start small, slowly build up better and better products.

5. Photos Make A HUGE Difference!

   I found that the items that had more unique, better quality, or just more appealing photos always sold better than photos of just a sticker flat on a table. For example, I put my pins on a jean jacket for photos. I'll prop stickers up so you can see one really well with others in the background. I'll put stickers with other props that are related to the sticker. Like putting my D&D Class Cats on a page of one of the books with some dice.

   For art prints, I'll show what they look like hanging on a wall with a frame. And videos help items get discovered a lot more too. Any shiny sticker I have, I'll make sure there's a video really showcasing the glitter or holographic material. These things help customers be able to picture a product in use and get a feel for what it'll be like having that item in their home.

   

6. Branding Matters

   Now I'll be the first to admit that my name and branding is not the best, maybe I'll do a revamp in the future. BUT R100red is something that has followed me from the old school Club Penguin days, okay, I can't just give it up. It's a part of who I am. And at least it has the color red in it, that's art related, right? Not me trying to defend a terribly unmemorable shop name. But my point is, get creative! Make your shop something fun and memorable and make cohesive branding. Use a distinct font, colors, logo, etc... and include it on your product packaging! Every sticker sheet I make has the same fonts as my website does. I like to keep everything the same general style on packaging stickers and thank you cards. However, I do not really have a consistent art style that people can look at and go "That's R100red" (props to you if you do) so remember this is a journey,

7. Use ALL The Tags You Can

   Etsy let's you put tags on items to help your items pop up in the search when people search for those items. USE ALL OF THEM. Seriously. The more tags you use, the more likely people will find your item and more importantly, buy your item.

8. Posting On Social Media Matters

   Etsy does an OK job with marketing your items, but you certainly can't rely on that (unless you have the $ to pay for advertising on their platform). I am not great at marketing, but I do know that I should post more often. I tried scheduling posts for a while, but honestly just making it a part of my routine makes it a lot easier for me to stay on top of. If I set it and forget it with an app, I will forget to update it again when the time comes. It's better for me to film a bunch of Tiktoks at once and post throughout the week or take a bunch of pictures all in one go and slowly put them up rather than use an app like Later where you can plan out all your posts and schedule when they go live. But you have to do what works for you! I personally find TikTok gets the most views, but I enjoy using Instagram a lot. But whatever you choose, make sure you are putting your art out there for people to notice and be able to follow and find your stuff. Post when you have a new item, or a shop update, or even behind the scenes of working on a new product, WIP, etc... Post everything. Even the boring stuff. Some of my most viewed videos are just me putting pins onto backing paper. You might think it's boring, but trust me, post it anyway!

9. If You Sell Prints, Offer Frames

   I've found that a lot of people buy art prints as gifts, not just for themselves. Having a framed option makes a big difference. It's one less thing they have to worry about. If it's ready to hang or give, it makes the decision to buy a whole lot easier. This can apply to other things too. it doesn't have to be just a print in a frame. For example, if you sell pins, offer a bag or box they can go in as a gifting option. Maybe you sell custom cups; offer gift wrapping. Anything that makes gift-giving a little bit easier and more fun for the buyer.

10. HAVE FUN WITH IT

    Yes, I know. I had to end it with a cheesy what. What can I say, it's true. If you go into Etsy expecting to make bank, you're doing it wrong. Do it for the fun of it and for the chance to get your art out there into the world. I think it's awesome that people resonate with my artwork enough to want to spend their hard earned cash on it. Every time I ship out an item I think of all the other things people could have done with that money, but they chose to spend it on a little piece from me. That's why supporting artists is so important, you're supporting a real person not a big corporation. So yeah, have fun, enjoy the ride. It won't always be fun, but it'll be worth it.