Who's on Etsy?

[alforddm]

The 3% paypal fee is about what you would pay for any credit card processor (+ generally a monthly fee). As far as Etsy, the 3% transaction fee + the $0.20 listing fee adds up to about $0.50 for most of my items (average $10). I'd have to sell quite a few items to make paying for an online store worth my time. (Around 30 a month; I don't even come close.) So, in my situation, Etsy makes perfect sense.

Plus, with your own online store, you have to worry about driving traffic to your site. Etsy? Not as much. Plus, it's much cheaper than Ebay. :lol:

Not saying that Etsy is perfect, or that it's the right choice for everyone, but for me right now, its a good fit.

 

[Phacelia]

The 3% paypal fee is about what you would pay for any credit card processor (+ generally a monthly fee). As far as Etsy, the 3% transaction fee + the $0.20 listing fee adds up to about $0.50 for most of my items (average $10). I'd have to sell quite a few items to make paying for an online store worth my time. (Around 30 a month; I don't even come close.) So, in my situation, Etsy makes perfect sense.

Plus, with your own online store, you have to worry about driving traffic to your site. Etsy? Not as much. Plus, it's much cheaper than Ebay. :lol:

Not saying that Etsy is perfect, or that it's the right choice for everyone, but for me right now, its a good fit.

:yeahthat:

I also feel like people who shop on Etsy are looking specifically for unique, specialty items, and it gives you a better chance of getting found by the right people.

 

[alforddm]

Oh, and ramjet, I'm sorry about the house and floor. That had to be heartbreaking to lose something like that.

 

[Rainey]

The 3% paypal fee is about what you would pay for any credit card processor (+ generally a monthly fee). As far as Etsy, the 3% transaction fee + the $0.20 listing fee adds up to about $0.50 for most of my items (average $10). I'd have to sell quite a few items to make paying for an online store worth my time. (Around 30 a month; I don't even come close.) So, in my situation, Etsy makes perfect sense.

Plus, with your own online store, you have to worry about driving traffic to your site. Etsy? Not as much. Plus, it's much cheaper than Ebay. :lol:

Not saying that Etsy is perfect, or that it's the right choice for everyone, but for me right now, its a good fit.

:yeahthat:

I also feel like people who shop on Etsy are looking specifically for unique, specialty items, and it gives you a better chance of getting found by the right people.

My son has an Etsy shop ZachsWoodworking and it has worked out well for him. At first he was selling smallish wood items but in the past couple years he's sold mountain dulcimers, fiddles, banjos and maybe a mandolin. (He also sells on other places like banjo hangout) He's thinking about setting up his own website so folks can see the range of instruments and the different styles he can do. He just sold his 22nd banjo and has more under construction. I think it is helpful to him that there aren't many other shops on etsy offering instruments.

 

[Phacelia]

The 3% paypal fee is about what you would pay for any credit card processor (+ generally a monthly fee). As far as Etsy, the 3% transaction fee + the $0.20 listing fee adds up to about $0.50 for most of my items (average $10). I'd have to sell quite a few items to make paying for an online store worth my time. (Around 30 a month; I don't even come close.) So, in my situation, Etsy makes perfect sense.

Plus, with your own online store, you have to worry about driving traffic to your site. Etsy? Not as much. Plus, it's much cheaper than Ebay. :lol:

Not saying that Etsy is perfect, or that it's the right choice for everyone, but for me right now, its a good fit.

:yeahthat:

I also feel like people who shop on Etsy are looking specifically for unique, specialty items, and it gives you a better chance of getting found by the right people.

My son has an Etsy shop ZachsWoodworking and it has worked out well for him. At first he was selling smallish wood items but in the past couple years he's sold mountain dulcimers, fiddles, banjos and maybe a mandolin. (He also sells on other places like banjo hangout) He's thinking about setting up his own website so folks can see the range of instruments and the different styles he can do. He just sold his 22nd banjo and has more under construction. I think it is helpful to him that there aren't many other shops on etsy offering instruments.

Very nice! That is so cool. Did he make the wooden canoe in his banner photo too?

I think it's awesome that Etsy provides opportunities for such talented people to get found, without them having to pay so much overhead.

 

[Rainey]

Very nice! That is so cool. Did he make the wooden canoe in his banner photo too?

I think it's awesome that Etsy provides opportunities for such talented people to get found, without them having to pay so much overhead.

Yes, he made the canoe and hauled it on a trailer behind his bike into the Adirondacks for a camping trip in 2014. He's 7 ft tall and the first canoe was a little short for him--his legs went to sleep if he paddled very far without getting out. So he built a somewhat bigger, slightly different design canoe that he took for his trip this year and really liked that one (not sure which is in the etsy photo) He had the first canoe up on CL and didn't sell it but traded it to a guy for a crawler that needed "a little work". The crawler is now in the new barn where he took it apart and got the needed new parts and mostly put it back together last month. He says if he doesn't find it useful when he's done or if the cost gets too high repairing it that he can part it out and get more than the value of the canoe by selling the parts. And then he'd probably buy another crawler that needs "a little work" . . .

 

[Miss M]

Unbelievable dress... I've never seen anything like it!

Could you post some pictures of it?

Sure! I think you can still see the listing here: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1087156030

If not, here are some pictures of it. Kelly green silk chiffon. The skirt alone is two layers of silk, 14' sweep, each with a single seam down the back! And then there's the cape. The main damage was right where the cape meets the shoulders. A small tear at each. I sold it for $75 at 50% off. A real steal! My original price of $150 really was about the value of the dress, damage and all.







The last picture, though blurry, gives an idea of the movement of the dress. My mom is wearing it.

It's one of five dresses I got at a yard sale, though most of my vintage clothes come from my grandmother and great-grandmother. I still have three dresses listed, the other one having been bought by a theatre in Tennessee, I believe.

 

[Phacelia]

That is awesome!

 

[Miss M]

Eh , basically the insurance company gets to foot the bill to completely remodel my house .... new custom cabinets , granite counter tops , paint on every wall .... and tile through out the house .... which is kinda bitter sweet as my son & I had put in new hardwood last year with several multi-wood inlays in the entry way , dining and living rooms .... ebony , mahogany , oak , maple & walnut. I was pretty proud of that work , pretty spectacular ..

I am so sorry about your house, Ramjet... especially the inlay you did with your son. Do you have any pictures of it? It sounds gorgeous!

I also feel like people who shop on Etsy are looking specifically for unique, specialty items, and it gives you a better chance of getting found by the right people.

Yes, and this does help as well with being able to expect a good price for things. Galadriel tried selling some of her jewelry on Vinted, and it seems most of them want something for nothing on there, including lovingly handmade items.

My son has an Etsy shop ZachsWoodworking and it has worked out well for him.

I love his instruments! They're beautiful!

That is awesome!

Thanks! Not that I can take credit for it... but it's amazing, isn't it?

 

[Galadriel]

I also feel like people who shop on Etsy are looking specifically for unique, specialty items, and it gives you a better chance of getting found by the right people.

Yes, and this does help as well with being able to expect a good price for things. Galadriel tried selling some of her jewelry on Vinted, and it seems most of them want something for nothing on there, including lovingly handmade items.

:? Yeah...... :evil: I just wanna yell "Hard work isn't free, girls!" sometimes... :x

 

[skysthelimit]

I don't know.

Etsy has not been useful for me. I'm paying fees, but I get basically no traffic. All the marketing has to be done by the seller, and that's one thing I'm not good at. If I'm going to drive traffic to a site, I'd rather it be my own website. But I keep hanging on and wasting money on Etsy paying fees, hoping at some point it might pan out.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/FourSquareMicroFarm