# Etsy : Yay or Nay



## EdsCustomWoodCrafts (Sep 21, 2014)

Hi fellow LJ's,

I am considering opening up a Etsy shop and I'm wondering if I should or not.

Is it a reputable site, I have been doing some research and it seems a very involved process keeping the shop running .

I'm not looking to make a million $$ and don't have a lot of time to spend on it.

Just wondering if any of you have messed around with it..

Thanks
Ed


----------



## Puffball (Jan 30, 2015)

1. Its reputable
2. We have a shop on Etsy and sell woodcraft products. We have sold a few things since we opened 5 months ago.
3. Beware of shipping costs. 
4. It takes some promotion outside of Etsy to get many views. If you just post it on Etsy and hope someone finds it, it may take a while. 
5. Its not that much work.

Our shop on Etsy


----------



## EdsCustomWoodCrafts (Sep 21, 2014)

> 1. Its reputable
> 2. We have a shop on Etsy and sell woodcraft products. We have sold a few things since we opened 5 months ago.
> 3. Beware of shipping costs.
> 4. It takes some promotion outside of Etsy to get many views. If you just post it on Etsy and hope someone finds it, it may take a while.
> ...


Thanks I was wondering about the shipping costs .. I guess I need to do more research !! Thanks


----------



## ddockstader (Jun 21, 2009)

I've had an Etsy shop for the last 7 years. It is completely reputable and above board. The fees are reasonable and it's a WHOLE lot easier than putting your own web site together. They have all sorts of hints and ideas for marketing your products if you want to aggressively do so. I'm retired and this is just a way of paying for some of my tools and materials. Nevertheless, I sell several hundred dollars worth of stuff a year and I do virtually NO marketing whatsoever. I have 6 to 10 views a day and sell well. I disagree about the shipping costs. Etsy allows you to buy postage through them and the prices are commercial USPS prices, well below what I can get from USPS on my own. All you have to do is know what your items weigh when shipped and you can calculate the cost and add it to your listing. Then your customer pays that when they order. You can then print off the postage on a label, slap it on the package and give it to the postman when he swings by. The simplicity can't be beat. I did just turn down a wholesale order for 80 items - that seemed just too much like work. But otherwise I can't think of any easier way to sell your wares.


----------



## Puffball (Jan 30, 2015)

Just a quick follow-up to my earlier post.

With regards to shipping costs, I probably should have been more specific. For items that meet the USPS size requirements, Etsy makes it really simple. One just needs to be plan ahead for larger items like furniture that require some kind of special shipping as one needs to think about those costs before posting a listing. There are plenty of threads in the Etsy forum of newbies not realizing how much something would cost to ship.

Etsy also makes taking payments super easy. When you open an Etsy shop (i.e. free) you also get to use their Etsy DirectCheckout which enables your shop to take any major credit card and the funds get wired to your bank of choice. So no dealing with Paypal or some other credit card processor.

The Etsy fees are very reasonable IMO.

A couple of alternatives to think about.

1. Amazon Handmade - Amazon launched Amazon Handmade late last year to compete with Etsy. Its basically a simplified front-end to Amazon seller central with a special area on Amazon for handmade goods. A slightly different fee structure than Etsy but still not bad. Its not really for one-of-kind pieces but more for the small, cottage factory that is producing low volume runs of handcrafted items. How the shipping fees are auto-calculated on Amazon Handmade is not intuitive. The choices are a flat-rate or a $/lb formula. So unless you live in the middle of the country your shipping fees are either too high or too low. So we are closing are AH shop this summer when the free trial period expires as in August they will start charging $39/month plus transaction fees.

2. Custommade.com - They offer a job board where you can bid on projects as well as display your goods for buyers to request custom orders.


----------

