So it seems that the current trend is to hop onto the Etsy.com bandwagon.
For those who might not know what Etsy is… it’s an online store for handmade art
by artisans around the country. Seems like everyone is doing it these days.
Which could also be a problem… too many artists all competing for the same buck!
But of course, I’m questioning if I should do it too?
My initial thought is… another place to sell my pottery is always a good idea.
My second thought is… I really hate to pack & ship my things. Yuck. Hassle.
My third thought is… it seems like a lot of organizational busy-work!!!
So then my final thought is… I’d rather be biking right now.
Anyway, a lot of my artist friends are having similar thoughts. Very few of them have
been doing it for any length of time. So we don’t have a lot of “practical” experience.
My gut reaction is that it is too much work, a lot of organizing, photographing, tracking,
packing, shipping and more! Plus, the fear of the accidental breakage during shipping
and how to deal with that headache?! And then there’s the fact that I really enjoy seeing
my customer’s faces light up as they admire & fondle my stamped-texture pots!
The newest entry into the Etsy foray is my friend and fellow potter Marjorie Woodruff.
She holds a special place in my heart as she was also my very first teacher at Lillstreet.
Early on, she encouraged me to give up my corporate job and become a full-time potter.
Well, here we are now… and I tell her it’s all her fault!!! And now it’s a lot of fun as we
both teach classes at Lillstreet now on Tuesday nights. I’m teaching beginning wheel class
and she’s teaching handbuilding.
Anyway, Marj has just opened her Etsy store online – featuring some really great plates
that she has done some nice sgraffito illustrations on them. Such sweet little plates.
Including this adorable plate that she made just for me… with obvious inspiration drawn
from my morning sunrise bike ride photo series – thanks Marj!
So now I’m looking forward to her progress on Etsy to see if she finds it successful.
Check out her store on Etsy… Marjorie Woodruff of Maplewood Clayworks.
Plus, just a few more of my artist friends who are on also Etsy.com for you to check-out…
Amy Taylor – nifty hinged jewelry
Roberta Polfus – small-scale carved porcelain pieces
Molly Bitters – Macabi Studios jewelry
Zach Medler – relief print ceramics
If you have any insights, experiences or opinions on Etsy.com… I’d love to hear them!
I’m leaning towards “no”… but that could easily change.
Ya know, I’d rather be biking too, but it’s 8 degrees and there is a foot of snow on the bike trail. 😉
The way I look at Etsy is that it’s a place for people to buy my work that normally would never see it. Granted, it’s nice to have people pick up something and ooh and ahh over it at a show, but I just sold some buttons to a lady in Wisconsin, and she loved them so much she special ordered $40 more. I know it seems like a lot of work (and it is), but think of it as your own personal little storefront, not in competition with all the other Etsy shops… just your way of pointing people towards pots that you have available. Good luck! 🙂
A couple of things to think about…
-You’ll have to have the pieces for sale set aside so someone doesn’t buy them from your studio at the same time someone buys the same piece off of Etsy.
-You’ll have to figure out the shipping costs ahead of time, and have the proper packing materials because semi-fast shipping is usually expected.
-It’s ok to have a very limited amount of work for sale through Etsy. Maybe you’ll only sell soap dispensers and mugs. Easy to ship; you know what to charge for shipping and what packing materials to have in stock. If you then decided to sell a platter, it’s a whole different shipping game.
-Are you willing to play the “Etsy Game?” Well, maybe back up for a minute. Would you be on Etsy just to add access to your work? Or do you want to sell a lot? If you just want access to your work for people to buy your work between sales, I’d say that you should just give it a try. But if you want to sell a ton, it’s a lot of work. People won’t magically find you. Having a blog and a good mailing list gives you a huge advantage, though. I think you could really enjoy the challenge of trying to be really successful on Etsy.
-I suggest doing a little shopping. Buy a couple of pieces from random people. It’s a good way to see how a customer experiences shopping from Etsy. Then see why you’re drawn to some pieces vs. others. Do you like the professional photos? Or of pieces “in action?” How does the cost of shipping effect your decision to buy a piece. When it arrives at your house, how quickly did it get there- and did you care how quickly it did? Was it packaged up with fancy wrapping or in recycled packaging. Did you care about the packaging…
Just a few things to think about!
I’ll see you in a couple of weeks. I’ll be in Chicago at the end of the month.
HEY EMILY –
I knew you’d be good for a bunch of advice. You always have been!!!
On this topic, I’m still conflicted. You know my motto… “If it’s not fun, don’t do it.”
And not much of this sounds like fun. It sounds like a LOT of work?!
But for some reason I almost feel like I’m “supposed” to be doing it.
Like everyone is doing it, and somehow I need to jump on the bandwagon?!
I’ve had a couple people ask about where they can buy my stuff around the country.
And I always hedge on the answer because I don’t want to ship anything!
That might be that “proverbial straw” that does me in on Etsy?!
I’m looking forward to reading all of the comments to see what else comes up.
And see if anyone can “convince me” to hop on board.
Can’t wait to see you when you make it to Chicago.
I’m sure we can discuss it even more while you’re here!
Thanks again – GARY
I agree with Emily. Put a few things up and see what happens. One thing I have found is that you need to list items like once a week so people see your work often and then can get to your store.
I say go for it…I see it as a 24/7/365 worldwide store front that’s working while your sleep’n. Even if your sale aren’t great to start, for a 20 cent item listing fee you can’t beat the potential exposure. Sales on Etsy for this past December were $41.1 million with 950 million page views for the same period. Pretty impressive I think.
Etsy has spend time working with its SEO and Google and this has vastly improved the visibility of all items being listed that use proper Titles, Descriptions and tags.
Yeah, it’s a lot of work, but what isn’t?
Michael
http://shyrabbit.etsy.com
Actually, “getting to my store” is one of my concerns. It seems very “non-user-friendly” to search for anyone or anything on Etsy. I’m sure I would learn more if were to jump in. But from my very limited experience, it seems very random when searching unless you’ve bookmarked someone’s store already?! I do have a pretty healthy mail list, and access to a lot of art fair patrons all summer long. So I think I could do a pretty good job of getting my name out there… and then connected to my store.
I wouldn’t mind having a bit of that $41.1 million!!!
But I guess I would have to get my act together before I can ever hope to get some of that action, huh? Thanks for the encouragement Michael.
I think Emily covered some good points. I decided to do it because my branches were in Chicago magazine’s Dec. gift guide and I wanted a way to sell them online. Since then, I’ve slowly added some other pieces…that were sitting in my display at the studio, gathering dust and looking lonely. My first upcoming fair isn’t until May.
Only one sale so far, but the packaging note that Emily mentioned was true–it was the biggest piece I had and I had to do some creative packaging (I double box items and use recycled stuff). Most of my pieces, since they are small scale, will fit in more reasonably sized boxes. Crossing my fingers anyway…
I’ve been on Etsy for a little over two years and have sold 51 items. This may not seem like much, but I also don’t put much time into it. I photograph things many once a month, and try to keep around 20 items in my shop at any given time. Many of those items are made to order items so my inventory for Etsy is pretty minimal. To me weekend shows are a lot of work too so if I can do a little work spread over the year instead of adding another show, it’s worth it to me.
I think one of the important things though is driving traffic to Etsy with your other sites and social media. Some of the sales I’ve made have been people who just found my stuff on Etsy, but most of it has been a result of finding me in other ways and following my Etsy shop from there. That part is more work to me than Etsy itself. But I would also be blogging and facebooking even if I weren’t on Etsy.
The way people shop is changing as new generations come of age. Etsy seems to fill the need for younger shoppers and I don’t see so many of them at shows.
Anyway, it doesn’t cost much to give it a try. Go for it.
SUE – This seems to be the general consensus so far. Everyone seems to think it’s worth the effort… if you put the effort of promoting yourself into it?! I’d like to think I’m pretty good at “shameless self-promotion” and have a fairly comprehensive mailing list already. So maybe I’ve already got a good start and don’t even know it yet?
I forgot to mention that my work is considered small scale…not miniature. Miniatures are itty bitty, which is smaller than small! 😉
We started selling on Etsy in October of last year. We’ve sold 52 items so far and it’s a great way to get your work out there. Yes it’s some work but it beats the hell out of shlepping to a craft fair only to watch someone buy glitter covered bottle caps instead.
Well said.
Damn bottle caps!!!
I’ve been on Etsy since the early days of Etsy, though it was a long while before I thought about taking it seriously.
Etsy IS a lot of work, but it allows me to sell between shows and gives me more control over getting my work out there. I’ve had almost 800 sales resulting in over 1000 items being shipped out and my average sale is $30. Not bad, right?
In that time, only one item has ever broken in shipping and it was something I sent to a close friend who lives less than an hour away and I skimped on the packaging because, “It’s only going over the mountain!”.
Gary, If you haven’t already read it, here is a good discussion of this very topic:
http://baumanstoneware.blogspot.com/2010/11/busy-days-on-etsy.html#comments.
Also, check out John’s Etsy store; that could be YOU!
HEY LISA… it’s kind of looking like “my mountain” is just getting my Etsy store started, huh?! All of the comments have been very encouraging… and I think I’m getting precariously close to being convinced! Thanks for the encouragement! GARY
This is a great discussion about Etsy. Many of his concerns at the beginning were the same as mine are now. I enjoyed his analysis of Etsy’s strengths & weaknesses. And the conversations that followed. All of the discussions here have been very positive & encouraging. It’s looking “quite possible” that I may have my own Etsy store in the near future. Thanks for sharing this blog post about Etsy! And thank you for being my 500th BLOG COMMENT!!!
It’s a lot of work to make and sell pottery. No matter how you do it. Etsy requires work, but less than traditional shows and sales.
I’ve been full time since 1994. Over the last year, we’ve begun a serious switch to online sales through Etsy. I couldn’t be happier. As an example of how things are going online, my wife and I decided to cancel our December in-home sales last year because Etsy was performing so well for us. And skipping our December sales was a good idea – we tripled our usual numbers from the home based sales.
This is what I see as the benefits:
* Very inexpensive to list and sell as compared to an Art Fair, travel costs and time away from the studio.
* Etsy never gets rained or snowed out.
* International Audience- we ship about once a week to Canada.
Etsy takes a while to get going. A shop without customer feedback and no sales won’t perform as well as an established shop, but as the reputation grows, so will your sales. This last year it became over half of our income. Over the next year I expect it will become closer to 90%. Every time we put up fresh work it sells. I am having trouble holding stock back for our other events. All this without leaving the home.
Boxes are free from USPS for priority mail shipping. Bubble wrap can be found on Ebay at really good rates, I buy from Pack-it-Right through Ebay (we’re going through 4 rolls a week, or 400 feet)
We’re coming up on 1000 sales (952). Most of them in the last 12 months.
Yes, it’s worth it.
WOW – now that’s encouraging!!!
I love to hear success stories like yours. And you pointed out some great ideas. I love that your sales have shifted enough to “online” that you’ve been able to cut-back on other shows! And I laughed when you pointed out that Etsy never gets “rained out.” Let alone all of the shlepping! I guess it makes sense to shlepp to the post office instead of an overpriced art fair?!!!
I think the decision has been made.
I need to give Etsy a try.
And hope that my success is somewhere even close to yours!!!
Thanks for sharing! GARY
Not only that Gary, but you can actually have the post office come and get them if you get too busy for the schlepping.