Regarding Etsy

I've been wondering about the whole Etsy/Artfire thing and whether it's honestly even worth it to try to sell finished items or to concentrate on supplies.  I'm mostly convinced that what sells on Etsy is supplies, to other Etsy folks who use it to make stuff.  It's the same pool of cash, traded around endlessly... and there are very VERY few instances where Joe Q. Public goes to Etsy to find a present for his wife/GF/mother/whatever.

I could be wrong... I've not seen actual figures (though I've been looking)...  but I think the only people getting rich off Etsy... is Etsy :P  That's fine.. I never had any ideas of doing this instead of a day job... more as a way of making my hobby a little bit less expensive.  No real plans of 'paying myself' to do beadweaving... I enjoy it.. and I suspect that if I _were_ to pay myself a wage and do all the spreadsheets etc, it would wind up being a regular job, and then I wouldn't want to do it anymore...  I'm sort of contrary that way.

Made this little ring last night... took about 45 minutes total.

Here is a link to Missy's post on the Look What I Made goosemoose thread about Etsy.  I have heard the '100 item' number a lot.  That's my next goal.  I think I have 32 items in my shop at the moment... but I probably have at least 30-40 more items that are done and sitting here and only need to be photographed and posted.  (haha.. 'only').

Here's a partial quote from Missy's post:

I talked to my friend who has been selling on etsy a lot.  When I found her, she only had a small shop and now she has over 300 items.  She told me that she started getting orders everyday when she HIT the 100 mark in her shop.  She had 100 different things for sale.  Apparently her husband is a nerd and he figured out that if she were to list 700 things in her shop she could definitely live off selling on etsy.  Her advice was, make up an appropriate price for your item.  If you are selling something that is similar to someone else, you have to make a price that is the better bargain I guess.  You HAVE to research your items before you list them.  Also don't be afraid to make up for prices to list etc.  It cost .20 to list an item on etsy.  You can include that in your shipping but don't try to supplement your listing by jacking up the price of your shipping.  Honestly, who wants to pay $7 to ship a pair of earrings?  I've seen that all over etsy and it's a shame because there are some awesome items with jacked up shipping costs that I will never be buying.  I can understand if it's been shipped out of country (like your stuff Annie) but shipping a pair of earrings within the USA shouldn't be over $3 and even that is pushing it.
Tag the hell out of everything.  It gets your item out there.  If there is a blue bead in your item, tag it.  I try to tag everything as much as I can WITHOUT misrepresenting the item.  Search Twilight once...there is all kinds of things that pop up that has nothing to do with the movie whatsoever.  I think you can report those items, but people are just trying to get their shops out there.  I won't ever do it because I don't want to have to refund someone's money because they claimed my listing had nothing to do with what I tagged it with.
Advertise like crazy!  I got business cards printed up for fairly cheap and I also put a coupon code on the back.  That's another thing!  Run specials in your shop...even if it's just 5% off a purchase.  Everyone likes a discount.

I made a facebook page for my shop because I thought it would be way to promote and for people to buy directly from my shop without even having to visit etsy.  At first I didn't have any likes, just a few friends...then I joined a giveaway where I donated one of my items from my shop.  My likes went WAY up and although I don't have any orders yet, I'm hoping that after the giveaway is over I might get a few.  I'm hoping they are just holding out on the item I donated...LOL...there are a ton of groups like that on facebook that help promote your page.  I would never pay for their services though, I've seen them as well.

I've also heard that it's a good idea to add your shipping cost to the cost of the item and then offer free shipping.  I wonder if that's something for me to consider.  Obviously not with really low ticket items.. but maybe with the more expensive stuff.

I was looking for the SEO tutorial on Etsy.. but of course I didn't bookmark it last night and can't find it now.  Blargh.

Ok.. enough for now.