This is not an article complaining about Etsy. On the contrary, I would just like to express how frustrating it can be for a new seller to get started on Etsy. I've been working at this Etsy shop project for almost a year now and I know the day will come when I get my first sale, but I feel like I'm really stuck where I am at the moment and have a hard time catching the eye of buyers.
MY SHOP'S PROS:
- My prices are affordable
- My tags are precise and trendy
- My photos look good & make my products look good
- I am polite in everything I say
- My descriptions are inviting
- I am in the process of translating my shop in French (as an option Etsy provides) to reach French speaking Etsians across the world
- My shop appearance (banner, icon) is personalized to look modern & professionalMY SHOP'S CONS:
- I don't have enough item (haven't filled out my first page yet)
- Shipping is high (don't have much of a choice, it really is what it costs...)
- The attention my shop is getting is coming from other sellers only
- Jewelry is a highly over saturated product on Etsy with lots of competition. There is way TOO MUCH choice. Despite my tags, buyers do not find my products at all.
- I only have 2 sales. To the same person. And that would be my mom.
All I can really do now, if I got this seller thing right, is add more items, keep advertising my items in Teams (which can at least bump my items up a notch in searches... though barely.) and continue translating my pages to French to gain a French audience that may or may not see me. I am constantly doing these things, because I am just chalk full of hope & won't give up. But that doesn't mean this isn't extremely stressful for me as time passes by and my efforts seem to be going unnoticed and result-less.
As for advertising via social networking, the issue is I have never gotten any luck with that. The problem has never been that my content is uninteresting, but rather that no one sees it in the first place. I do however have Twitter, Instagram and (obviously) a Blogger blog. Planing on a Facebook page as well.
The most frustrating thing in all this is that people around me (my adolescent sister and her friends) seem to have blooming businesses on Etsy the very second they open their shops without even trying. Their shops aren't very full at barely 2 pages and they don't have to bother with extensive daily advertisements like I do considering they already have enormous audiences on Facebook, instagram, and that sort of thing. I wish it were as easy for myself, and I wish I didn't look like such an idiot trying so hard with nothing to show for in comparison with their instant effortless success.
I have high hopes for the iPod case project. Looking forward to getting those cases in the mail. Maybe that'll help. Crossing my fingers and not giving up.
