Ragon
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Arty Business Ep. 2: Etsy Basics
🕑 Added 2019-06-03 23:02:25 +0000 UTCHello folks, and welcome to another episode of the Arty Business series!
Today I'm excited to talk to you about starting and running an Etsy shop, but you can generally use these tips for any online shop platform. Whether you've been dreaming of starting an online shop or have been running an Etsy for 10 years, I hope you'll find something new, interesting, or inspiring in this little guide. Or maybe you can teach me something! Either way, enjoy.
For a little background, I started my online shop in 2017 while I was still working full time at as a cook at a restaurant. I had made a couple pairs of sculpted clay earrings for myself and sold some to co-workers, and posted a little bit about it on my tiny art instagram. A couple friends from high school and college asked if they could order them online, and that was all the push I needed to open my first Etsy! I called my shop RagonMakes, got a few sales from people I know, added hand drawn cards to every order, and had an amazing time.
One of my earliest Etsy promo pics in November 2017!
But before I took the plunge and opened my shop, I was overwhelmed with things I didn't know. I didn't know how to mail a package, what to package it in, what to include inside the package, how to take product photos, anything! I felt like I didn't have the right tools and that I wouldn't seem 'professional.' Most of all I was afraid I was going to mess something up and make someone very very angry and ruin my artist reputation forever.
Luckily, I ignored my fears and opened my shop anyway. The good thing about not knowing how to do something is you can learn. You just have to get started.
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F E A R
-Time to Learn! Starting a shop can be scary because it feels like there’s a lot of things to learn and a lot of things to get wrong. But Etsy has lots of helpful articles in their awesome Seller's Handbook. And you can (and will) change your decisions later.
- Start Small! One of the things that kept me from starting a shop was the feeling that I had to have this huge perfect Etsy at first, with 100 products, printed business cards, and expensive bulk shipping materials. If you're experience is anything like mine your business will likely take a while to grow, so allow yourself to start small. Your experience and resources will grow along with your sales and funds.
- Get Support! Tell your most supportive friends and family about your intent to start a business. Their encouragement will keep you on track, and keep you from giving in to your fear. I'm part of that support, you can do it!
S H I P P I N G
- Start small, again! Before I started my shop I felt like a 'real' online shop would save money by ordering packaging materials (envelopes, boxes, protective sleeves, etc.) in bulk. Which is true in the long run, but when you first start out it's likely not necessary to spend $100+ on ordering bulk materials online. I recommend buying only what you need from the local post office, drugstore, wherever. I bought my rigid and bubble mailers from the Bartell's Drugstore down the street, and my protective sleeves from the closest art supply shop. I cut my cardboard backers by hand from cardboard boxes.
It took 1.5 years to get to the point where I was going to the drugstore every week to buy envelopes. After one day telling Zach to 'just buy all the envelopes they have,' I knew it was time to order in bulk. I'll link where I get my packaging at the end!
- Use the Post Office! (At first.) Etsy has a great online shipping platform that is a little cheaper than at the Post Office. But if you've never really shipping anything before try shipping at the post office first. Ask them any shipping questions you might have, they may be able to help you out! For me, shipping at the Post Office at first soothed any fears I had about shipping something to a stranger.
-Shipping Cost! This can get complicated so try a few things out and see what you like. At first I put a ~$1 handling cost on a lot of my items. After about a year I realized that probably discouraged customers from ordering multiple items, as that cost really stacked up. I didn't really understand the handling cost, and I still don't really unless it's a large/unwieldy item.
I suggest doing some further research on calculated/fixed shipping, as it is fairly complicated. But for reference, the majority of my items cost ~$3/$4 to the customer to ship in the US, shipping outside the US is ~$13. And you'd be surprised how many people are happy to pay the International Shipping cost!
-Print Labels at Home! Once I got the hang of shipping from the Post Office I switched to buying and printing my labels through Etsy's shipping platform. You can print your labels on scrap paper and cover them with tape directly on the package. Or you can buy large shipping labels from Fed Ex and use those (that's what I did.) After I was printing so many labels that it wasn't financially viable to keep using my printer ink, I bought a Dymo 4XL thermal label printer. Theoretically the machine will save me money and time in the long run, and won't wear don't my nice printer. But it wasn't necessary at first.
- Stamps! I've seen a couple stores use mostly stamps to mail their packages. If the pricing system of stamps makes sense to you and you like it, then go for it! But I only use stamps for my cheap orders that weigh less than 1 ounce, which means stickers! When you mail something in a rigid mailer it counts as a 'package' even if it's flat, which means it will cost around $3. Since stickers are relatively inexpensive to make, I mail them in a plain kraft envelope with one forever stamp. Saves the customer money and saves packaging for such a small product!
-Market Research! Order from a few Etsy stores similar to yours to see what they do with their packaging! It's easy to go way over the top with decorative packaging if it feels like everyone else is doing it, but sometimes it's possible to have simple packaging that still feels fun, personal, and professional.
A P P E A R A N C E
-Photos! This is very important and something I'm still learning about and improving.
This is one of my very first 2017 Etsy listing photos when I first got started!
Another earring listing photo, but from 2019! Same camera (phone), new techniques.
Some basic listing photo recommendations are use natural light, choose a nice simple backdrop, and edit your photos! (I use my iPhone camera for photography and Google's free Snapseed app to edit my pictures.) Again, do some market research on Etsy stores that you like, and see how they take their product photos, why do you like how they look?
- Honesty is Key! Be honest with product photos. Make sure the photos represent the item well but honestly, especially with size and color.
- Prints Mock Up! I can never remember exactly what this is called. For prints can use editable pictures so you don’t have to take a new picture each time. Take photos of a piece of white paper in the right size, edit the photos to make them nice and pretty, and then edit your print in. I highly recommend taking your own mock up photos, that way your products don't look too stock/generic, and you don't have to worry about any copyright payments. This tool will save you SO! MUCH! TIME!
- Branding, baby! Have so much fun with branding your store, but remember that it can always be changed and improved in the future. Make a banner and logo, and add pictures of yourself, your process, and your work space! People come to Etsy to buy from a person, not a huge corporation. They want to connect with you, give them the chance!
I think branding would be a fun Arty Business topic to expand on in the future. What do you think?
P R I C I N G
-Mathin'! Calculate the price materials, how long it took you to make it and how much you need to be paid (labor), and packaging materials (backing cards, protective sleeves, etc.) as well as taxes if you’re paying taxes for your business. I’m bad at this, I’ve been roughly winging it. Do a little research on calculating prices because there are very easy and specific formulas if you're in to that kind of thing!
-Calculate 'Client Intake' Time! When calculating pricing for commissions, don't forget to add time to email with a client. You should be paid for that too, because that takes a long time! I estimate an average of 30 min total per commission for emailing. Sometimes a client takes more than that, sometimes less, but I make sure to add that to my pricing calculation.
-Prices aren't final! Can always raise prices in the future, and you should. If you're like the majority of artists on the internet, you probably aren't charging enough for your goods or services. Your work is worth getting paid for!
M A R K E T I N G
-Get Offline! Try selling in person in addition to selling online! Try art walks, craft fairs, local art stores, conventions, farmer's markets, wherever you can! I’ve had a lot of customers who met me at a market or art walk who later bought something from my Etsy. And it's fun!
- Use Social Media! Advertise on social media! Share photos of your products and direct them right to your website (a 'call-to-action'.) Don’t feel bad, remember that people want to know what you have to offer. And, they can’t buy from you if they don’t know you have something to buy.
-Think of the Savings! Try hosting a sale! Don’t feel pressured to do this and don’t discount too much, but this can be a fun way to continue to spark interest, or to sell items that haven't been kickin' around your inventory.
-Add new items! Aim to upload a new item or a few new items every month, every season, however frequently you can. A new item will bring new eyes to your store and encourage previous buyers to shop again.
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PRODUCTS I USE FOR MY ETSY
SHIPPING
- 100% Recycled Rigid Mailers in 6"x8" and 9"x11.5" from EcoEnclose
- Dymo 4XL LabelWriter and thermal paper rolls
- Avery Internet Shipping Labels (before I bought my label printer!)
- Weighmax Shipping Scale
- Do Not Bend Stickers
- Compostable Plant-based Sleeves from Clearbags.com
- Bubble Wrap: I save leftover bubble wrap from packages to use in my own packages!
PAPER
OTHERS
- Epson XP-15000 Printer
- Square Business Cards from Vistaprint
- Firbon Paper Cutter (but I need a new one but this one's worked great!)
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I hope this overview of starting and running an online shop is helpful! There's so much more information out there about Etsy etc. but hopefully this and the Etsy Seller's Handbook will be enough to get you started!
Did this answer some of your questions you might have had? Does this remove any mental road blocks you might have ad with starting your own online shop? Let me know if you have any other specific questions or overall questions, I'd be happy to add to this guide!
I hope this empowers you to give the wonderful world of online shopkeeping a try! I can't to see what you create!
xoxo
Ragon
Comments
Ragon Dickard
Hello! Great question! I definitely focused more on the latter, I put all of my efforts into my social media and in person platforms and used Etsy solely as a storefront. The majority of my Etsy sales have come from links in my social media, and it’s only recently that I’ve had a growth in sales come from the Etsy search function. I definitely haven’t tried any of those ‘Etsy games’, and honestly it sounds exhausting haha.
Erin Black-Kurtz
I've heard there's an Etsy "game" that one has to play to really break through on the platform. Such as constantly liking people's work, commenting, frequently uploading new products and re-uploading older products etc. Did you experience that, or did you use it more as a landing for your social media / in-person efforts? Thanks!
Ragon Dickard
Ah that’s such a bummer about your printer! Yes I had so many color issues with my printer when I first got it. It took a lot of experimenting but eventually I realized I was using the wrong paper and or print settings. Usually if it happens again it’s because I accidentally chose ‘printer manages colors’ instead of ‘photoshop manages colors.’ I’d recommend experimenting for a bit until you find the right setting, print some really small segments to check the color.
Codi Bear
Love this post so much! I have a couple of questions maybe you could answer: I have an Epson Artisan 50 and I always have problems with the color coming out incorrectly. (Terrible brown tint on everything!) I had to close my Etsy shortly after opening it because I can't get my printer to work consistently. Do you ever have color issues with your printer? And/ or have you ever outsourced your prints to a website/ do you know of a good quality printing website for such things?
