I spent the AM posting things on Etsy, listing some craft samples I had lying around.
What? You’ve never heard of Etsy? Well! Let me school ya…
Etsy is a site for artist/crafters to sell their creations… and for folks to love to buy unique, hand-made or one of a kind (OOAK to the uninitiated) items direct from the artisans. You can also find craft supplies on Etsy, as well as Vintage Items.
In their words,
Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.
Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice:
Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.
If you are a potential buyer, Etsy is wonderful because you can search so many different ways: by material, kind of item your looking for, theme, color, etc. I am amazed at how many fab-u-lous items can be had there… and at so many price points. Don’t expect your run-of-the-mill craft bazaar here!
If you are like most artist/crafters, at some point you have so much *stuff* that you’ve made, or you have excess supplies from crafts you now longer make. Why let them clutter your home? iSell some of it off to earn money for more craft supplies! So here’s some of the dish on listing to get you started:
- You need to create a profile and login. This is free, and it’s just so that they can contact you & monitor the Etsy community.
- It’s cheap to list. Only .20 an item- the same fee they’ve charged since the beginning. And you can include photos for free, too. (Take that, Ebay!)
- Take good photos, and plenty of them. Make sure you show your item from different angles, and use a coin or soda can to help your potential buyer get a sense of size/scale.
- Use descriptive words. Make sure your potential sellers know what goes into your creation. Recycled materials? Vintage lace? Organic ingredients? Hand-sewn? All of those details help you sell.
- They have a great step-by-step process for categorizing your items- and helping you select tags so folks can find your work. So use as many tags as you can!
- It is NOT an auction. (Take that Ebay, again!) So you set your price. And you can change it if you want. And a special tip from me: don’t undersell yourself. Your time and workmanship count & you should expect to be fairly compensated for it.
- You can accept forms of payment like Paypal, check or money order, and set your own price for shipping. And decide where you’ll ship to. (Overseas? Contiguous US?)Â You can also designate if the item is for pick-up only. (Good for selling your old vintage sewing machine.)
- They have some discussion groups and “circles”, so you can caucus with other artisans . There are also “Street Teams” you can join based on a geographic location, so you can also bond with crafters in your area in real-life, too!
So go take a peek, wander around, get inspired…and maybe get selling.
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