posted on December 29, 2013 11:16:58 AM new
I had listed 25 items on Etsy, starting on Thanksgiving and finished before December 1.
These items were a mix of vintage items, some new parts, and some items we make ourselves.
The Bad:
We haven't had a single Etsy sale so far, and from all of the info I have read, most people don't sell anything for the first several months.
We have had to pull 8 unique items off Etsy that sold either on eBay or locally.
In addition, the we have sold 9 items we make on eBay and 2 locally.
Shipping is a bit wonky. You don't get the shipping calculator you get on eBay, but I am sure there are plug-ins or apps out there that can do it for you. We have only offered our items within the US with free shipping.
Obviously, the most important thing are sales, otherwise, what is the point?
The Good:
Etsy is far better in setting up than anything eBay (or Amazon) offers.
Etsy offers the user the ability to set up their own store, market themselves the way they want, and recommends conversations between buyers and sellers. We have had several inquiries about our items, just no sales at this point.
Creating an Etsy listing is great. They offer over 130 characters for the title and also 12 tags. Tags are important because it allows you to use keywords that cannot be used in the title. For example: If you make something using Gortex material, it is copyright infringement to use the word "Gortex" in the title, however you can use it in the tags so that people can find your item. Unfortunately, this is not something available on eBay.
When comparing the eBay Dashboard vs. the Shop Dashboard & Shop Stats on Etsy, Etsy easily wins.
The amount of information Etsy provides to the seller is top notch. I can view a history of items people mark as "favorites", and see how many of my items were viewed using keyword searches directly on Etsy, how many people found the item from Google, used our Etsy mini app on our website, and how people navigated to our item on Etsy via category or direct search.
We also get a report on Keyword searches to view what are the strongest items.
Cost is far superior on Etsy too... especially when you sell an item. To list, it is 20 cents per item. There are no final value fees, just a payment processing fee of 3.5% on the total payment. So, you are saving yourself 9%.
Additionally, a "private" listing doesn't get charged the listing fee until the item is sold. This is generally done because a customer requested a custom made order and it may or may not be paid for.
I am most surprised that we have not sold any of our parts, as they do very well on eBay and are very useful for furniture repair and/or providing lighting for hobbyists.
Payment can be done using Paypal or Etsy payment systems that deposits directly into your account.
posted on December 29, 2013 06:21:52 PM new
I have heard about Etsy from this chat. Are they doing anything to direct shoppers to the site or is that up to the sellers?
Not sure there would be any buyers for the stuff I sell.
posted on December 29, 2013 07:35:35 PM new
Shag,
Listing fee on Etsy is 20 cents for 3 months,while Ebay can be free forever!
There are 2 fees on Etsy when an item is sold,if buyer uses a credit card,Etsy will be paying the transaction fee and discount fee and turn around and deduct it from your total sales amount,then there is the Etsy fee which is +3 % of the item.
For example,I have a piece of jewelry which is listed on Ebay since 2009 ,I listed on ETSY a few days ago and it was sold for $275 plus $6.95 shipping on Dec 26,the Etsy final value fee is $9.63 and the credit card fee is $8.71.
The credit card fee comes to 3.08%,a little more than what I would be paying Paypal and the final value fee comes to 3.41%,cheaper than Ebay !
Now if buyer uses Paypal to pay for the item,you will see just one fee from Etsy which is the FVF fee,and the other fee you have to go to Paypal and see how much they took,and if you are in good standing and volume seller,your discount fee could be 30cents plus 2 1/2 %.
so final value fee is much cheaper on ETSY,but credit card fee if buyer chooses to pay with a credit card outside Paypal would be higher if you are currently enjoying a lower rate with Paypal due to the volume of business you do with Paypal.
[ edited by lostmymojo on Dec 29, 2013 07:41 PM ]
posted on December 29, 2013 07:47:48 PM new
Etsy is different ,if you are selling furniture or any bulky stuff,you may not get too many lookers or buyers !
Esp if the buyer is an Ebay reseller,he is not going to buy furniture from you ,paid hefty shipping and then turn around and try to sell it on Ebay.
posted on December 30, 2013 03:58:58 AM new
When I look at sales from shows, shop, on-line sites, they are all different, and seem to attract different types of shoppers. While there may be overlap, I think you fill find many who prefer one venue and pretty much ignore the others.
I have been thinking about giving it a try, for a line of items I make and have sold in my shop and through my own website, to see if it would get me more visibility. Did not see anyone selling my line on Etsy, so don't know if this is an opportunity or a lack of interest in the product.
posted on December 30, 2013 08:10:09 AM new
Lost - I don't list a lot of furniture, in fact, on Etsy, of the 25 items listed, 3 were vintage furniture and all fit the mold of Etsy. All of the furniture we listed did get a lot of Etsy "followers" just no buyers. 2 were small tables and 1 chair by a well sought after designer.
Generally, if I list furniture on eBay, it has to be easy to ship for a reasonable price or has high value, making it worth the trouble of packing for freight shipping.
I purposely did a mix of items on Etsy.
About 15 items were vintage, 3 furniture, the rest were quality smalls, lighting, and collectibles that I felt were strong sellers for us.
Another 4 were new items that fall under art supplies/parts. All of these items sell very well for us on eBay.
The remaining 6 are items we make. We have sold 4 of 6 of these outside of Etsy.
I'm not discounting Etsy in any way. I just don't think it will be as strong as eBay is over the long run. I did remove an eBay app from our website that cost us $5 a month to have, and instead now use the free Etsy app. I like the Etsy app much better.
Ironically, I tried another site a few years back. I listed 5 items there and sold 1 very quickly. I didn't care for the system. I will probably check on it again because there weren't many listings, which made it easy to be seen.
posted on December 30, 2013 11:47:31 AM new
There are buyers who prefer shopping on ETSY and not Ebay,Ebay is too big and it is not easy to find your item.
But then there are more buyers and sellers on Ebay ,high ticket items,esoteric items sell better on Ebay.
I just sold a tipping kettle to Singapore this morning and it is driving me crazy trying to figure out how to ship,pack and insure.
USPS priority intl guarantee is run by Fed Exp,it may guarantee arrival (customs delay not included) but there is no signature confirmation,just tracking on both USPS and Fed Exp site,cost is 79 dollars.
Shipping with my own box via USPS priority seems cheaper than using their priority box ,their large size is only 5 inches tall,which is not good enough.Neither my box or USPS box provides no signature confirmation.
Then comes insurance,in order to get USPS insurance,I have to take the package to the post office while shipinsurance does not,but I have heard many bad things about shipinsurance?
What about U-PIC then?Well,U-PIC does not insure packages going to Russia,Singapore,Malaysia,Thailand,Peru.
I cannot afford to take the package to DHL,FedExp or UPS,it would cost a fortune.
Any idea what is the best way to ship,let me know.
[ edited by lostmymojo on Dec 30, 2013 11:48 AM ]
posted on December 30, 2013 12:03:36 PM new
Shag,
To find out how much is taken from your etsy order,you have to look at two places if the customer uses the credit card and not paypal.
one is your Etsy bill and it will show how much is your Etsy final value fee .
The other is your Etsy deposit,the difference between your gross and your net is the credit card fee.
posted on December 31, 2013 03:30:46 PM new
Yesterday we also gave notice to downgrade our retail space by a third.
Local sales have been flat. Holiday was ok, though we have had better sales even in months outside of the holiday season, including some very good January/February months.
Over the last year we had increased our space size and it never really increased our sales, only increased our stress to keep it stocked.
There has been a huge explosion of stores that sell what we do locally. I'm not much of a chaser, so I'd rather stay ahead of everyone else and find other things to do.
When we started we were one of four stores in town that specialized in some form of vintage/mid-century. Now there are about 30 stores. Some have come and gone within months of opening. It has flooded the market, increased demand to fill those stores, and at the same time driven down retail prices.
I say that because I feel the same can be said about eBay, Etsy, and anything else that became flooded with sellers.
posted on December 31, 2013 04:21:56 PM new
Blame it on you know who and the Fed.
Flooding the economy with trillions of dollars-
does it create any job?If it takes trillions of dollars to move the unemployement rate from 7 to 6 %,we should all get down on our knees and pray,pray for the central bankers to retire to WY and never to be seen and heard again !
BTW,HP just announced laying off 5000 more on top of the 27,000 they have already announced.
[ edited by lostmymojo on Dec 31, 2013 04:23 PM ]
posted on December 31, 2013 04:33:15 PM new
I am afraid we could look forward to more sellers in the future,more people will need to have a side job to pay for their student loan,to fund their retirement or just to have a roof over their head and food on the table !
posted on January 1, 2014 10:32:08 AM new
I dont know what you sell on Etsy,but some sellers are doing very well on Etsy,the low final value fee makes a big difference.
posted on January 3, 2014 06:59:01 AM new
If you are going to open an ETSY shop and accept credit card direct(not paypal),read the agreement,I believe Etsy can access your bank account for both deposit and withdrawal.
Paypal used to do that and it stopped as too many users complain.
posted on January 5, 2014 04:14:09 PM new
From what I have read, clothing and jewelry is the best sellers on Etsy... but even some jewelry sellers have complained about lack of sales.
The person I know who was suspended from eBay, but is now at Etsy says he is doing as well on Etsy. He specializes in vintage clothing. I have tried to find his account to see if he has any reviews.
