Etsy - Wifey's new thing

goldy6660

goldy6660

goldy6660

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Bit of a random one, my wife's recently started an Etsy shop selling jewellery she makes (she's an amateur silversmith) currently she has beadwork on there and soon she'll start putting more substantial silver work on it.

It doesn't get much traffic/sales on it but I see loads of people getting traffic and sales, question for the people on here who have sold on Etsy what's your secret to success? Guessing just loads of marketing at every opportunity?

link removed, feel free to ask questions but not to advertise
 
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R.P.L said:
I'm not experienced in this sort of thing, but I think that's the key for any fledgling business in a competitive market. If you rely on people coming across the site by chance then it will remain a fledgling business, unless you're extremely lucky.
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Figured as much, at the moment it's a case of adding more pieces, trying to price fairly, hers are fairly cheap imho but I think she's after some sales to kind of bring in more sales. If it were a covid free time she'd be able to get out to places and take orders. I think at the moment it's basically making the switch from a hobby to a business too.
 
RxR said:
the contest winners face on it, would be appealing.
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Contest thing could be interesting and maybe affiliate thing with not sure how that would work entirely

SideWinder said:
@goldy6660 I am not an expert but i am aware it is a very crowded market and you have to find your niché. What makes the product stand out and different to others?
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As for the niche all her items are handmade there are loads of mass market things on there so she's focusing on the small handmade element.

dLockers said:
Make sure she isn't a busy fool. Selling too cheaply can have an impact on the overall brand and direction. If it is bespoke she could do well to charge a premium but perhaps offer custom elements.
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Yeah agreed, she's not doing them cheap where she's not making a profit but I feel like they could sell if they were more expensive. The bespoke thing is definitely where it'll hopefully get to, we've just got her kiln and workbench set up (recently moved house) so she'll now be able to get her head stuck in to some more solid pieces and do bead work as a side from the solid silver rings and such.
 
Puzzled said:
Problem with jewellery is that are so many sellers doing it making it hard to stick out, etsy is big on personalisation so is she able to add personal touches to things (Names, birth dates etc)?

Etsy have started a new ad campaign option now where they will promote your products outside of Etsy but take a larger commission from each sale, she'll need to be making a decent profit on each one to make that work though. Being honest with how much time each piece takes and what you need to charge to make it work is key, people are so used to buying cheap now that the cost of bespoke handmade products (in the uk) can come as a shock.
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Thanks, the personalisation part is a good point, she's can do letters and numbers and is looking in to some other options too.
 
billysielu said:
I wouldn't see the etsy as the main source of sales, but instead get a market stall for sales and print the etsy on the bag or something so people can tell their friends.
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Yeah fair, tbh Etsy take quite the cut from any sales anyway so in person orders work out far better
 
SideWinder said:
@goldy6660 Saw your reply to my comment about being homemade but as there are LOADS of homemade jewellery sellers..again it would be finding that niché. Is it metal? Wood? Is there a story to the brand? Etc.

Just trying to make you/your wife think of what can make you different. :)
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Just seen your comment, the story is she's always wanted to set up a shop doing jewellery, particularly silver, she went to uni did a silver smithing HND finished that and went back and took a marketing and business degree. We've now finally got somewhere she can work indoors and out (recent move) so we're getting the garage done up with place for the kiln and indoors she's got her indoor work area for the beading.

In terms of niche it'll be using techniques she picked up on bigger pieces but doing smaller versions for her beading and then when we're all set up she'll be doing heavier solid pieces like rings, commission pieces and silver boxes but needs to get properly set up with tooling before she can do the bigger pieces.
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
Goldy, does your wife have a presence on any forums for jewellery crafting? Reddit might be a good starting point. She might be able to discuss tools of the trade and learning about getting exposure. The forum(s) might let her plug her Etsy shop too if it's allowed in their forum policy.

Etsy itself is kinda like deviantART, but as well as selling prints and digital art, you can sell all things custom. It's worlds apart from the pyramid scheme MLM (multi level marketing) bots and so-called social media influencers (again "bots") that are over Facebook and Instagram like a rash.
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Cheers for the nudge, other forums, not really yet. She's on Reddit a fair bit along with all the learning pages and groups like the jewellery schools and metal working places. The forums are a good shout but I don't actually think she's aware of them (will ask). The tools of the trade she has or is aquiring but the actual driving traffic to a place put of nothing is the hard part I think even with the marketing background she has. She's got the Etsy but I'm also looking at a standalone website for her too but then it's drawing the line between Etsy and own website and the maintenance of them.

And agreed on the influencers that occupy the whole of insta FB and everywhere else that don't really influence anyone.
 
philstanbridge said:
I've just started my own business selling some of my better photographs snd my mum's paintings. I did consider Etsy as an alternative to my own site, but in the end I wanted more control so I developed my own off the back of Woocommerce. (Recommended by the way if you want your own ecommerce site). The problem with your own site is traffic. So you've got the opposite problem with Etsy really. Too much competition, and too much traffic going all over the place. There seems to be a very fine line between the two. I'm still glad I opted for my own design, my own control, and bespoke look, but I haven't ruled out Etsy as well.

A for maintaining the website, yes it's a lot of work really, but not as much as developing it from the ground up. I'm finding the social media side of it almost a full time job in its own right. I've had some success with Facebook ads and one with Instangram (I'm on Instagram also) but word of mouth tends to be better on all couints.

But it is a slow buirner for sure.
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Cheers, how did you get a design for your site? I'm tempted to go through something like fiver or another freelancing service to get it set up.
 
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