How to Sell Successfully On Etsy

Etsy is a global online marketplace that was established back in 2005.

Individuals come together on the platform to buy, sell, make, and collect unique items. Since it was established, Etsy has grown tremendously and is among the biggest online marketing places in the world. Etsy has 4.1 million sellers and 81.9 million active buyers.

You might significantly scale up your business if you learn how to sell on Etsy, and you will also make more money if you use the platform appropriately.

What is Etsy?

Unlike other e-commerce platforms, Etsy specializes in selling and buying vintage items, craft supplies, and artistic goods that are not otherwise easily found in a conventional store.

Most buyers on Etsy search for products that are handcrafted instead of ones that are usually mass-produced. If you have a full-time or part-time small business and make handcrafted items or art, you can use Etsy to reach a larger audience and sell your products. The best part is that you do not have to create a website. Etsy will be an intermediary between you and buyers.

How Much It Costs to Sell On Etsy

Setting up an Etsy account is free.

Listing your products in the marketplace will cost you $0.20. Your listing stays until you sell the product, or it stays up for four months. When you sell the item, 5% will be deducted from your sale price as the transaction fee. Do not close your shop if you have been on the platform for a month and have not made any sales, or you are not making the sales you had expected to make.

Based on your listings, you will run expenses, so it is essential to consider the cost ratio to the long-term revenue plan. More so if you are selling several products on Etsy.

Note that $0.20 is the standard fee per product, which, as mentioned earlier, lasts for four months. Etsy operates slightly differently from other e-commerce platforms. Therefore, it is worth noting that a product and a listing are not the same thing. A listing can have multiple products.

For instance, if you are selling a t-shirt and it comes in multiple colors, you can create one listing that will cover the rest of the available colors. You will then give your buyers the option of choosing the t-shirt in whatever color they like. Therefore, after creating one listing to cover the different colors and numbers of t-shirts you have, you will post an update on the remaining pieces whenever you make a sale.

What You Can Sell On Etsy

If you have craft supplies, vintage items, or handicraft items that you would like to sell, Etsy will be an excellent platform for you. Etsy has multiple categories you can select from, such as selling clothes, furniture, home décor, toys, bags, and jewelry. It is worth noting that it must be at least twenty years old if you want to sell an item under the vintage category.

As long as your products are handcrafted, unique, and cannot be found in a conventional store, you can set up your store on Etsy. As mentioned earlier, you will list your products on this platform at a fee. If you have collector items up for sale, this would also be an excellent platform for you since most people often go on Etsy to search for collectibles and art.

How To Get Traffic

Listing your product on Etsy is not enough.

As mentioned earlier, several other sellers are selling products in the same category as you are. If you want to maximize the listing fee, you are paying, devise a way to generate traffic to your shop.

Luckily, there are different ways you can generate traffic to your shop.

Use Etsy Ads

Etsy introduced Etsy ads in August 2019. You have to pay for the ads, and the upside is that it can help your page gain visibility from the right clients. You can either promote your Etsy shop externally or internally. Once your Etsy store is up and running and you have made sales or have gotten a couple of inquiries, you could scale your business by incorporating ads.

As mentioned, there are multiple other sellers on the platform, and some may even have products that are way better than yours. You do not want to get lost in the multiple product search pages and risk potential clients never coming across your page. Therefore, help your store gain more traffic and visibility by using an Etsy or Google ads.

To set up Etsy Ads:

1. On Etsy.com, click Shop Manager.
2. Click Marketing.
3. Click Advertising.
4. Set your daily budget. This should be the maximum amount you’re willing to spend to advertise your items per day. The default minimum daily budget is $1.00. Remember that you can change your budget at any time.
5. Click Start advertising.

Customized Storefront

You can also personalize your storefront. As aforementioned, there are many other stores on the platform, so you need to stand out. Make sure that your store is detailed and visually appealing not just to bring in more traffic but also to retain customers.

One of the best things about this platform is that you can customize your storefront to your liking, which can help you grow and build your brand. It is also easy for you to create a niche, making it easy for your target customers to find you and reach them.

Etsy Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Another way to gain significant traffic to your Etsy shop is through using Etsy SEO. The Etsy SEO accordingly governs the listings. Depending on specific factors, it will compare your listing to that of other sellers in the same category and select the one that will pop up first when a buyer conducts a product search. Therefore, you must master the Etsy SEO if you want your products to appear at the top of the Etsy search engine.

Master the relevance and keywords and use those when creating your listing, and your product will stay at the top of the search engine. It is worth noting that the SEO algorithm may frequently change, so it would help if you kept up. Your listing components must be optimized if you intend to gain traffic and keep up with the Etsy shop improvement. Other factors that might help are knowing the customer’s preference and keeping up with your competitor’s listing quality.

How Much You Can Make on Etsy

How much you can make is relative to your business and the kind of strategy you have when setting up your Etsy shop. As mentioned earlier, you will not make sales simply because you have unique products, and you set up a shop on Etsy and list the products. It would be best if you had an effective marketing strategy in place. You need to bring traffic to your page, and that traffic should end up in conversions that translate into sales. Some people give up after a month of not making any sales or getting any inquiries.

It would be best if you had in mind that multiple other people are selling a product in the same category as you, so your unique products are not enough. If you would like to make sales, you need to personalize your store, establish your brand, and maximize the use of keywords. Advertising will also help significantly. Do not forget to promote your store on other social media platforms. You can make sales that will translate into huge profits, but you have to put in work.

How much you make is relative to your strategy. With an effective strategy in place, you will be able to make frequent sales, and you will also grow your brand and keep gaining new customers. Therefore, take your time and figure out how the app works.

How to Successfully Sell on Etsy

Most people will often give up selling on Etsy after a month of having signed up on the platform. Often, they forget that, you need to figure out how to make your store stand out. Listed below are a couple of tips you can employ to ensure that your shop is successful on Etsy.

Target Audience

The first mistake most people make when setting up their shop is not having a target audience. Remember that you need to have an excellent understanding of your product, what makes it unique, and why people should buy it. Without defining your target audience, you will be selling your products to everyone, so you will not sell anything at the end of the day.

When you are specific about who you are selling your products to, that is the first step to running a successful store. Remember that there are many active buyers, and they will find your store if they are your target audience, as long your products resonate with them. It will help if you thought about your buying process, think from a buyer’s perspective when coming up with your target audience.

Make Your Business Stand Out

It is essential to have a good understanding of your business. What is it about the business that makes it unique and different from other businesses selling products in the same category as you? There are so many people selling products in the same category as you are, meaning it is very easy for you to get sucked in and get lost on the platform if you do not set your business apart.

Devise a plan that will set your store apart from every other store. When you think about it, you will realize there is no such thing as a saturated niche, there are so many people selling clothes, and while some make huge profits that sustain them, others can barely make a sale. Be smart, figure out your unique selling point, and communicate why you are different from the next store selling a similar product.

Pricing Your Etsy Products

How you price your products can significantly impact whether your shop will stay up or not. It is okay to check out your competitors’ prices to gauge the average. However, do not base your prices on what you think is fair. Your prices have to be based on the materials you are using, the labor, factor in the marketing charges, and the listing prices.

Always factor in all your expenditure and profit when pricing your products. You may be surprised that you are not selling anything because you have underpriced your products so much that people think the quality is terrible. This does not mean that you should have exorbitant prices either. It simply means that you should be able to earn what you invested in a product plus profit.

SEO for Etsy Stores

Please maximize the use of SEO, research if you are not sure how to go about it, or hire an expert to do it for you. Employing SEO in your Etsy store is essential, mainly because there are so many other vendors on the marketplace. It will help your store have more visibility and gain traffic to your shop when you use it well.

Besides being a marketplace, Etsy is also a search engine, so when potential buyers are searching for items on the platform, you want your business to appear at the top of the search results. With SEO, your product description matters. What would a client search for when buying the product you are selling?

Etsy is an excellent platform for anyone with a small or established business, where they make the products themselves. However, you need to do thorough research and employ all the helpful tools offered on the platform if you want your business to be successful.