June 28, 2006
Do you Etsy?
One of the fastest growing sites for crafters of all types is Etsy - the online store and auction house that caters to only handcrafted items. On all the boards and discussion groups I belong to, crafters all over are setting up their Etsy shops. The thing that I’ve noticed most about Etsy sellers is they use the word “FUN” when describing their online stores.
Hmm. I’ve sold on eBay and one word I’d NEVER use to describe it is FUN.
So what makes Etsy so different? Well, number one, it caters to crafters. You are not going to have your lovely handbeaded purses showing up in a search for “beaded purses” alongside a made-in-whereever purse that sells for $5.
Number two, for sellers, the fees are totally reasonable. .10 (yes, that’s TEN CENTS) to list an item, and 3.5% of the selling fee when it sells. Wowsa…that’s a lower commission fee than I get at any of my retail locations!
Number three, you can list your items once and they will stay in your store for up to six months. Imagine…doing that marketing set up only once every six months! (Of course, you are going to want to “rotate” stock, so I’d advise updating more often than that!)
In terms of how payments and transactions between the buyer and seller, and feedback are concerned, Etsy even admits they do it “just like eBay.” I find that to be the easiest thing to deal with on eBay, so that is okay.
Give Etsy a trial run and see if it works for you. I’d love to hear your store success stories – email me a beadingpublisher@consumerhelpweb.com
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