Questions to Answer Before Opening an Etsy Shop
Lesson 2 from: Etsy 101: Launch Your Handmade ShopMarlo Miyashiro
Questions to Answer Before Opening an Etsy Shop
Lesson 2 from: Etsy 101: Launch Your Handmade ShopMarlo Miyashiro
Lesson Info
2. Questions to Answer Before Opening an Etsy Shop
Lessons
Introduction to Etsy
02:09 2Questions to Answer Before Opening an Etsy Shop
09:07 3Myths and Truths About Selling on Etsy
07:48 4Etsy Seller Guidelines
10:00 5Paying and Getting Paid
09:50 6Get Ready to Set Up Shop
09:46 7Set Up Your Etsy Profile
09:57 8Etsy Shop Info and Appearance
03:37Lesson Info
Questions to Answer Before Opening an Etsy Shop
What are you selling seems obvious but you know if you're kind of ah uber crafty person and you're making a lot of things and you're kind of sitting with it and somebody in your life says to you you know you should open a nazi shop this is when you have to decide what it is that you're going to put in that shop because what you really want to avoid is having a shop that's full of all different kinds of mixed up things that kind of don't relate to each other I liken it to walking into a store that has things kind of laid out on the table mr mishmash kind of thing and not really being able to focus on and then you walk into the next door and everything's categorized by type and everything and that's a lot easier to shop so the more focused you can get your etc shop the better it is for your customer your potential customers thie one way that you can start to hone down what you want is to think about the categories that s e provides in their in their website and one danger about looking a...
t this list for the uber crafty is you know sometimes we'll look at the list and say oh well I can make that you know I can I can do I can do everything so I'm just going to make something that works for all of these categories but again focus is really crucial so this is the home page of etc and you can pull down on the browse section you can pull down the list and they have the top ten categories overarching categories and what you'll do is you'll click on any one of those categories that um you think would fit the things that you make so it pulls down it has these extra categories that alongside it just like that and you know if you make things if you make gifts for men this kind of a good a good thing to have because there it's really hard to find really good gifts for men and the wedding market is of course giant on etsy, right? So if your if your product in your style lends itself to any one of these categories and that's a really good place to start figuring out what it is that you're going to sell specifically you at my wedding when I get married I was looking for christmas gifts there's there's hardly anything for men it's true, isn't it? I know I was really surprised yeah, so it is a category that's that's needed but you don't have to make things that you think people will buy you know you can make the thing that you like and you can find the customer and as a matter of fact that's the next question is who is your customer now what I mean by this is who is your ideal customer? The person that loves your work say, walks into your craft booth and browses around and just hangs out and has a really great conversation about you and just loves your work so much and they're so sincere and at some point they pick up your most expensive, most precious thing in your booth and they're just in love with it and they don't even ask how much it is they just hand you the credit card and you process it you do your little happy dance that's the customer you want to define right that's the person because if you can have this kind of avatar person in your head when you're developing the products, you'll be able to imagine who you're making it for it's much easier than just kind of imagining oh everyone is my customer that's a little too wide of a customer base and by the way, if you make stuff for the guy with the keyboard, I want to know you wait. So so we definitely want to have that in customer in mind and then of course, how much are you selling it for? The pricing thing is a really big deal it's a big deal for crafters especially because, you know, we were making things that we love and to exchange this for money seems like such a difficult thing but you know when you think of it it's really someone is supporting you as an artist they're giving you their money tio bring something into their life that they really love eh so it's okay to charge money for these things that you d'oh in the handmade value book that I talked about I talk about the pricing formulas this is a pretty standard one cost of goods here materials caused plus overhead plus your labor the time it takes you to make it then you add in profit because profit is what makes your business grow at all those together and you have your wholesale price hostal meaning the price he would sell to a store and then you multiply that by two two point two which is kind of an industry standard and you get your retail price and that's the price you want to sell it for on etsy because if you if you are ever in a position where you want to sell to stores then you'll already be ready for that you won't have to adjust your prices for it and you'll be helping out the marketplace quite a bit by having realistic pricing in your shop okay so oh oh yes there it is part of the bonus materials what is etc so etc it is an e commerce platform and what I mean by that is we are individual businesses who are we're putting our work into the house that is etc were basically renting space there giving us the tables they're giving us the chairs and the lighting to be able to offer our products to the people that come through the building that is at sea so we have to keep that in mind it is an e commerce platform what we're building this on it's also what community and what I mean by community is not that etc itself is the community it's that the people in it are the community I mean, I we couldn't have started seattle handmade without etc having having a part in that encouraging people to connect in real life. S o it is a place to find your community you can find your community there but it won't be the focus of what we're talking about because what it really is when it comes down to it it's he's a sales tool it is something that you use to build or grow a business to expand your presence online it is it is a tool that we can use to make our small businesses into reality it's not the on ly sales tool out there ok but it is one of them and it is one of the easiest ones to use right now so by its his own definition etc is a marketplace where people around the world connect both online and offline to make cell and by unique goods and I'm going to read the little the fine print there the heart and soul of etc is our global community, the creative entrepreneurs who use etc to sell what they make or curate the shoppers looking for things they can't find anywhere else the manufacturers who partner with betsy sellers to help them grow and the etc employees who maintain and nurture our marketplace so by its his own definition there are very there a marketplace they're focused on e commerce and so again it's it's a wonderful sales tool they did start in two thousand five um forty three point nine million members the's air numbers from twenty thirteen that includes buyers, exes, buyers and sellers ah, one point two million active shops, a lot of shops um twenty six million items listed so don't let these never scare you though you know, it's this is just the the accumulation of the ten years that they've been around and what we can do is do the things that we need to do for our business to make them work. Um I didn't want him to point out at ces mission by their own words, our mission is to reimagine commerce in ways that build a more fulfilling and lasting world okay really, really kind of large umbrella over their mission eso again, we're going to just put together our little piece of that
Class Materials
bonus material with purchase
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
This is an an amazing class. It is great for beginners as well as those who have had their shop up for while. There is something new to learn for everyone on Etsy. Marlo's powerpoints are concise and clear. I was so glad to also get the ebooks so I can go back and review the course while I make changes to my store. I am able to bookmark and work through all the changes. Thanks for this course, Marlo and CreativeLive.
user-29a96a
Marlo's live presentation was terrific! I learned a lot and was motivated to buy her materials. Looking forward to reading her materials in greater depth. Much thanks!