Etsy - anyone sell on here?

[grocerymama]

Does anyone sell on the Etsy website? I've been looking into it and One, I love the crafts and am going to order some. But I was also thinking of opening a store myself.
Does any one have experience with them?

[kblurbs]

I've actually written a small blog about them..  i if i'd be much help, i dont have a store.. but i can try to answer you questions..   my email is info@kblurbs.com

[Aimee]

Yes...I do. LOL I just started, and am hoping to increase things in my store this weekend (I have a bunch of stuff, just have to take pictures to load it up!)  I too, have a blog of all my creations, however there are only 5 posts on it, as I haven't kept up with it-but soon will!!!

[zimkandace]

No, I don't sell on Etsy but I BUY from Etsy.   

[Aimee]

I have never bought from etsy, but fear once i buy one thing, i'll be totally addicted!

[grocerymama]

I love handmade items. And some of those little girl dresses on there are just sooo cute. I'm going to check out your blog!
Thanks

[holycraft]

I've just started selling on there.  I'm finding it really easy to list things on Etsy, so that's nice!  My store is www.holycraft.etsy.com  I'd be happy to answer any questions that I can!  Another great site to sell handcrafted items on is www.gozabo.com. 
Abby
www.holycraft.blogspot.com

[Aimee]

For those of you that have sold on etsy---how do you figure your prices-thats what I'm having a hard time with.  I want people to buy it, but want to make lots of money and ya know...I don't know what to price things at.  SO how do you figure all that in?

[holycraft]

That's my toughest thing too!  I'm not all that great at figuring prices out, but a lot of times I'll look for comparable items and go from there.  You have to figure in how much you've spent on materials and then make sure that it's worth the time it took to make the item.  Sorry...probably not too helpful! 

Abby

[Aimee]

okay thats what i've been doing, so glad i'm not the only one lol, thanks!

So how do you figure shipping?  I never know what to do there either.  I promise i'm not this dense, its just a bit overwhelming.

[holycraft]

Totally understand!  Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with *seemingly* the simplest stuff--brain overload, I suppose   For shipping I do a flat rate for my hair bows ($3) because I can mail them first class and they're pretty light.  It typically comes out within about $0.50 or so.  With everything else, I plan on going Priority Mail and nothing I make it too terribly heavy so I can usually get by in 2lbs or less.  Anything 2lbs and under is $4.80 (although I don't know with the recent increase) so I do a flat rate of $5.  As I type this out, I'm not 100% sure about all my info and the assumptions I'm making, so I suppose I could get stuck at some point and lose a bit with the shipping, but so far that's worked well for me. 

Abby

[Aimee]

yeah i've been confused with all the USPS price differences. i wish that would stop already!

[Kymy]

I used to ask on the sewing forum I belong too but we can't do that anymore because its a large forum & people could claim the site was promoting price fixing.

Anyways a general formula I know a lot of people use (paper crafts, jewelry & sewing) is

(Time to make based on hours X hourly rate)+ (2 X cost of materials)= price. 

Then I generally compare it to others for sale & adjust my price accordingly.  Some items the materials are $$$ & you can't afford to double the cost.  Also I always price based on NON sale prices...  because you can't always get such a great price on stuff.

Heres an example....  Say I am making a childs apron....  I takes me 30 minutes to make  (30 is .5 an hour so we use .5 for the formula) & the fabric costs $4....  I use $10 an hr as a general price to start with until I have sold more.

(.5  X $10) + (2 X $4)=

$5 + $8 = $13 is a fair price.... after materials & fees you will be making about $8 for your 30 minutes of work.

Obviously if this is way lower or higher then others you may want to adjust it.

Hope this helps!

For those of you that have sold on etsy---how do you figure your prices-thats what I'm having a hard time with.  I want people to buy it, but want to make lots of money and ya know...I don't know what to price things at.  SO how do you figure all that in?

[holycraft]

Does anyone sell on the Etsy website? I've been looking into it and One, I love the crafts and am going to order some. But I was also thinking of opening a store myself.
Does any one have experience with them?

I've now been selling on Etsy for a few months and have found that they key--for me, at least--to getting sales and exposure is to join "street teams".  The best one that I belong to is FAM (Fabulous Artistic Moms).  They're so supportive and to great things to promote the team.  I joined etsy (and FAM shortly after) in May of this year and have 26 sales.  Things aren't flying off my "shelves", but 26 is not too shabby!