Etsy is a fun place to sell your handmade crafts. In becoming a very effective seller, start by preparing these four things before you are opening your Etsy shop.
1. Your Bio
Once you open your account you can update your “Personal Profile”, which includes a space for your biography. Explain to your readers what makes you unique or drives you to create arts and crafts. Many customers who buy handmade items want to know a little about the person behind the product. This is also a good place to mention your blog or other Website.
2. Your Avatar and Banner
These two graphics are going to represent your shop. If you chat in the forums your avatar will be the first thing that anyone sees. If a potential customer visits your shop their eyes will be drawn immediately to your banner. If you don’t have any expertise in graphics, I have found that you can find someone on fivvrr.com to create these cheaply.
3. Your Shipping Policies
How much are you planning on charging for shipping? Which countries will you ship to? Will you accept returns? Your experience will be much less stressful if you decide on the answers to these questions before your first customer makes her first purchase.
4. How Customer Will Find Your Items
New listings on Etsy are buried quickly under other new listings. There are many ways to promote your items, but primarily based on the name of the listing and the tags. You have fourteen tags, which may be more than one word, that you can attach to each item you list. These are simply words that someone may search for, such as “crochet hat” or “dog scarf”. Spend some time thinking about how a potential customer might think when looking for an item like yours and make sure you use all the tags. Now that you have learned the basics, go open your Etsy shop and have some fun selling your handmade crafts.
