Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Etsy?
George Taylor
I am looking at the Etsy and wondered how effective it really was in selling woodturnings. I did a search on "wood bowls turned" and came up with 121 pages of items with 15+ items per page. It seemed daunting and intimidating. So the questions are:
1 - Does anyone have any experience selling through Etsy?
2 - If so, are the sales mostly unknown buyers or from folks familiar with your work?
Thanks in advance
Re: Etsy? *LINK*
Ed Davidson
George, I sold woodturnings and a few other handmade items through Etsy for a little over three years, averaging around $20k per year in sales, and quit them for a lower cost solution, with fewer anti-handmade-seller rules and processes last year. When Etsy first started, they were a 100% handmade seller's platform, and proud of it. About two years ago, they changed to more of an Amazon.com model where mass production factory made things are welcome. That change, along with repetitive product posting fees and a hefty sales commission schedule finally ran me off. I now use a much more cost effective (for me) platform called Zibbet...link below. You just pay a monthly or annual flat fee and that's it. The Zibbet platform and user interface is almost identical to Etsy, and I recommend it.
To be an effective seller on any third party selling platform, lots of customer networking is needed...Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, personal blogs, a personal website (resume), and any other form of networking you can think of. Take away the personal networking, and you're just a small fish in a big pond, no matter which platform you choose.
Zibbet
Very crafty work in wood bowl search
Dick Coers
The two wood bowls showing in fine art section are very amateurish, along the design of dog bowls as many call them. The same turner has a bowl listed in handmade for $1400 with repaired cracks. Listing with that kind of work sure wouldn't lift up the other craftsman's effort. I'd never heard of Zibbet, but based on a short search, folks won't be going there for fine craft.
Re: Very crafty work in wood bowl search
Ed Davidson
Almost all of my online retail sales through 3rd party facilitators like Etsy and Zibbet were not with people who cruised to my ads via the virtual shopping aisles of these sites. Rather, most of my customers found me through my personal website, photo postings on other sites like Pinterest, social media postings and Google searches.
Follow the online sales "holy trinity":
1) Find your niche, so your things stand out quality and design-wise
2) Network all the time and in every way possible
3) Apply good SEO techniques in your ads, and use words/phrases carefully so search engine spiders find you, and place your ad links higher in the search results
Re: Very crafty work in wood bowl search
George Taylor
Thanks for the input Ed; you've given me some great things to consider and work through.
George
Repeating Ed's advice
Steven Antonucci
Etsy is a marketplace. Just like wandering the mall, nothing is going to make someone wander into your shop unless you attract them. Take good photos, and use Etsy as a means of secure payments (which is a great asset!)
If you build an audience for the things you make, you will sell on Etsy.