sbs Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Been on Etsy since January, no sales, plenty of views... I'm thinking about cancelling my account. Do you find it necessary to sell on Etsy and have a website anyway? Seems to be over saturated with candles... some cheaper than mine. Just wondering how many of you find Etsy successful? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcbrook Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I have an Etsy store but I have not sold much on it. You really have to work it and promote it a lot to get it to work and I just don't have the time. But at least this way if a potential customer asks if I have a website I just give them my business card with the Etsy store address and tell them they can order from there if they want to. Cheaper than a website and right now that is all I can afford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbs Posted April 25, 2011 Author Share Posted April 25, 2011 I have an Etsy store but I have not sold much on it. You really have to work it and promote it a lot to get it to work and I just don't have the time. But at least this way if a potential customer asks if I have a website I just give them my business card with the Etsy store address and tell them they can order from there if they want to. Cheaper than a website and right now that is all I can afford.Yes this is what I do with my website. Promote it. I really don't see a point for Etsy I guess. So off to delete it...Thanks for your input.P.S. My website is free and I use paypal for my shopping cart, same as etsy. Check weebly.com I love it so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuminousBoutique Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 yeah, etsy is hit or miss. if you are ever a featured seller, you gain lots of customers and sales continue. otherwise its very hard to sell candles on etsy. I've sold maybe... 50 total. Compare that with a "bad show" being 50 candles... yeah. its not really worth listing all of my candles there, so I'm really narrowing it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DebM Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I use etsy as my catalog because it's easier than the one that came with my website. I don't think I've sold anything to anybody that wasn't already a customer. I've been looking at blujay.com, may switch to there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wessex Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 I've looked at blujay.com before and it reminds me a craigslist type place. Just seems a bit "trailer park" to me. Just my opinion.Cheers,Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EccoLights Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Well Etsy for us has been good =) We love the sense of "family" we have over there (do have to say that the recent changes have kinda killed the family tho) but all in all it's been a great source for us and we get many new customers from it. Now Ill also say that jar candles are hit and miss, tarts sell very well, we do oils over there too and they go well, our glassware is hit and miss, but combine all them together and I would say it's worth it =) It is alot of work tho =) As far as Blujay, we haven't looked into them but will check it out =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbs Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Well Etsy for us has been good =) We love the sense of "family" we have over there (do have to say that the recent changes have kinda killed the family tho) but all in all it's been a great source for us and we get many new customers from it. Now Ill also say that jar candles are hit and miss, tarts sell very well, we do oils over there too and they go well, our glassware is hit and miss, but combine all them together and I would say it's worth it =) It is alot of work tho =) As far as Blujay, we haven't looked into them but will check it out =)I checked out your shop and you sell tarts and oils alot cheaper than mine. My clamshells I am willing to sell wholesale at 2.50 but not retail. I retail them at 3.95. You can get away with selling 1oz oils at 2.40... at that price I don't want to even say what I charge. And I thought my prices were low... Compared to alot of people mine are low. But yours I can't compete with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EccoLights Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 sbs, one of the big pushes that we truly support is to buy local, we are very luck in that we have all the suppliers we need within "driving distance" from us, so we are able to avoid shipping that many others can not... Our prices are your standard mark up and we just didn't see a reason to charge more then that =) I'm sure that has helped with our success but as far as Etsy goes, I have seen many of others with much higher prices do very well too. One thing we found with Etsy is its all about being "seen" and to be "seen" you have to stay on top of the search results (renewing or listing new). We did an experiment some time ago with it and renewed or listed new items each day (5 or 10 each day) and our sales were amazing! At least a sale a day if not 3 or 4, then we stopped doing that and sales were still there but at a much lower pace... still had our loyalists but new sales died totally! So I would swear that being seen over there is key =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 By the time all the fees are taken out from etsy and paypal it is like selling at wholesale prices, but in onsies and twosies. I don't have time to do all that work, listing, packaging etc. for wholesale dollars. So I have really slowed down on etsy. I did like it at first though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbs Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Yes and unfortunately I DO have to pay shipping for everything and can't afford to buy in bulk so prices that low wouldn't get me much of a profit at all if any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuminousBoutique Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 (edited) I understand etsy has its cheerleaders but I really suggest that once the hard math is done, it is not always an economical option for cheaper items. An example. A friend of mine was featured seller around christmas time a few years ago. She does soaps and such. (she also said it was almost too much to handle and wouldnt do it again)She made a ton of sales and continues to do so. She renews at least 10 items every day.. 2.00 in renewal fees. Also generally lists or renews sold items.. at least 10 new items everyday. 4.00. Assuming (i have a pretty good idea...) shes making 1.50 off every bar of soap (and she prices competitively) she has to take then, that .20,.40, or even .60 in renewing fees out of that one item. Then the etsy fee. Then the paypal fee.so. Lip balm, listed for 3.50. List for .20. Renew for .20 to get up in search. Sells. Etsy fee, .11, paypal fee, .44.3.50 - fees = 2.55 not bad. But if it costs you even 1.00 to make that lip balm, you've made 1.55 on that lip balm and if you renew it again (which you generally have to renew things multiple times) you've taken another .20c ding.As I say.. to each their own. I maintain my etsy because I make random sales from it and I'm not going to turn down a sale, ever. But its not the wonderous thing alot of people make it out to be. If you are selling $100 pieces of art, $50 necklaces, or even $20 prints- those fees dont seem like alot. But when you are selling an entire shop full of items for less than $5 on average, those fees add up. You cant trust etsy search. Not all shops are google syndicated. And your chances of being featured are slim. Does it happen? yes! but lets just put it this way.One of the most successful soap sellers on etsy (I know we're talking about candles but just an example) is dennis A. He has 36,686 sales in 4 years. roughly 9,000 sales a year. NOTHING to sniff at, thats great! lets assume (given his most expensive product is around 8) that his average product price is 5.00, and he makes $3.50 profit off all those sales (probably stretching it, he renews hundreds of listings per week. Hes ALWAYS renewing) thats $32,000 a year. (averaged, of course)He is a shining example of someone who's done fabulous, but admits he works ALL DAY LONG, doesnt do it alone, and im pretty sure I remember him saying his etsy fees top hundreds a month sometimes. And my numbers are all speculative really.. he may make less on each item, although im sure hes getting great deals considering the volume of his sales- im sure hes buying his supplies dirt cheap because he buys so much at once.and I just have to admit straight out that 32,000 a year isnt enough for me to spend that much time on the internet, put that much effort out... its just not. I dont feel comfortable giving specific numbers but lets just say I'm entirely confident more than that can be made with wholesale, wedding, and shows. Even more with your own retail location.. for less effort. Add in shipping costs, packaging, the time that goes into packing orders...I simply refuse to underprice my time. My time is worth something.. i dont work for free... I dont have the time, or skill to re-vamp my website right now- I'll be hiring someone soon, and yes that will cost 500-1000, but they do fabulous work and are going to do SEO work with me, something etsy doesnt provide- and the only fees I ever pay are the ones to my bank and my monthly hosting fee. My etsy fees are more than $20 a month to NOT be featured in google search and be on page 2 of listings only 1 minute after listing a new item.. so I do the math.. and its just not viable long term. Many of my soap making friends from etsy have jumped ship and opened their own websites.. i envy them and hope to join their ranks very soon. I was turned down for a feature because they sneered "dont you have another website?" when i sent my etsy link. they wanted something more professional. Ouch. 10 years of business.. that stung. Edited April 27, 2011 by LuminousBoutique Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caryfh Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 I think that if you already have a website, then I would not do the Etsy thing. I tested it out with some of my body products, and have had 1 whole sale since November. It's just really overpopulated with candles and body products so in order for your items to be discovered you kind of have to list them in a daily showcase which carries the $7 fee. And yes, while you don't have the time put into building a website, or the monthly hosting fees, you do have the $0.20/item fee and I personally didn't like the fact that each item had that fee, so if I wanted to say I had 10 of one item available, it would cost $2, and who knows if even one of those items will sell. It certainly wouldn't take much for all those fees to add up to the same as a starter website would cost, and the websites may not carry with them hidden fees, or per piece fees like this. The upside of Etsy that I do like is that you don't have to tell people that your items are hand-crafted, because that's what the whole site is about. So with a stand-alone website, sometimes the products may get looked over because the consumer may assume that the items were mass produced in Taiwan, but your loyal customers will help spread the good word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.