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Let us old-timers help the newbies out. Let's answer some of their questions. Let's define some acronyms for them, teach them how to post a link, and offer them some useful advice. Most of all, let's check out their shops and offer them encouragement, feedback and maybe even sales.
The other night I decided it would be a great idea to pick four new Etsy shops (shops opened after October 2007 and with less than ten sales) every week and allow the shop owners to ask their questions. It will be up to us old-timers to answer them (in the comments). After posting a thread calling all newbies that fit this criteria, I checked out all the shops posted and picked the ones I liked the most.
Here are the shops I chose and their questions...
rathina - Great light switch plate covers!
1. Would my shop get more sales if I offered international shipping?
2. What are the pros and cons of international shipping?
3. Is there some sort of guide for those who are new to international shipping?
Retablos' shop is full of wonderful retablo paintings.
According to Retablos, "In Mexican iconography a retablo carries special prayers and wishes to God. A familiar retablo painting (on wood or tin) would have someone who is ill lying in bed beseeching the Virgin Mary for intercession to regain their health."
1. What have you found to be the most effective avenue for promoting your shop?
Silver Moon Handcrafted Jewelry
1. What are some of the major changes (negative and positive) that you've experienced being on etsy from it's early years to the present?
2. Was it easier then to be successful as compared to now?
Lunar River Jewelry
What is the one promotional tool that you feel has helped you the most?
ETSY OLD-TIMERS, PLEASE POST ANSWERS TO THE NEWBIES' QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS.
Etsy Acronyms
BnR - Buy and Replace
SS - Secret Shopper
BKO - Buy and Kick Off
How to post a link on Etsy
Type the full URL out including http://
When typing your Etsy shop address DO NOT put www
Example: http://naturemanipulated.etsy.com
"Etsy Newbies Ask Their Questions" will be hosted every week.
12 comments:
1. Would my shop get more sales if I offered international shipping?
*yes! As Etsy is an International shopping Community, it is always good to offer your items to as many different people as possible.
2. What are the pros and cons of international shipping?
*Pro: its fun to see your items go to another part of the world! lol
*Con: cannot print Paypal shipping label, and actually have to go to the Post Office to ship.
I used USPS to calculate my international shipping. And for my items, which are smaller, it was very reasonable.
Good luck to ALL!!
Huggs,
Cathy
http://LilMouse.etsy.com
Yes definitaly offer international shipping, I am English and live in France and am not fluent in French but I have manged to ship items to allsorts of places including budapest, australia, canada, america.
It's not difficult, just makesure that the packaging is adequate.
I weighed a few items in their packaging and found out the prices before I listed them in my shop.
Give it a try you will open your shop up to lots more customers.
Racheal www.frenchconnect.etsy.com
1. Would my shop get more sales if I offered international shipping?
Yes, definitely.
2. What are the pros and cons of international shipping?
The pro is that you're increasing your base of potential buyers. With the dollar in the state it's in, we're getting even more international sales.
The biggest con, IMHO, is that there is no cheap online tracking. If you are shipping small items by first class mail, there is no tracking at all. Online tracking doesn't kick in unless you ship Express, which tends to be around $30.
I'm mainly agreeing with the initial comment and adding my own information.
1. Would my shop get more sales if I offered international shipping?
*yes! As Etsy is an International shopping Community, it is always good to offer your items to as many different people as possible. -- Agreed.
2. What are the pros and cons of international shipping?
*Pro: its fun to see your items go to another part of the world! lol
*Con: cannot print Paypal shipping label, and actually have to go to the Post Office to ship.
I used USPS to calculate my international shipping. And for my items, which are smaller, it was very reasonable.
Also, I have a link to the USPS handbooks (PDF files, with clickable contents), which lists shipping costs to *everywhere*. Right now they're just TOC files, getting ready for the May rate changes... but here's the link (in the international manual, the country rates will be on page 50, supposedly):
http://www.usps.com/publications/manuals/welcome.htm
Good luck!
Ooh, one more thing -- if you have small enough items I highly recommend investing in a postage scale -- I got one on the evil ebay for really cheap and I constantly thank goodness I have it...
Thanks everyone! ANyone want to answer some of the other questions?
Thanks for this post! I've been wanting know those things like BKO and international shipping! Thanks!
1. Would my shop get more sales if I offered international shipping?
YES! I have had only about 10 or so of my sales be international ones out of the 108 sales I have had in the past 3 months of being open. It is not as expensive as you think it would be and not too much of a pain honestly, but that is my opinion.
2. What are the pros and cons of international shipping?
Pro: I love seeing where things are going all around the world.
Con: Sometimes you have to fill out an extra label or two for international, but it is pretty easy. Just takes a trip to the PO.
3. Is there some sort of guide for those who are new to international shipping?
Depending what it is, you may or may not have to fill out a small form. Do not claim gift. You do not want your customer to be charged tax when it comes into their country. I did that once, but it turned out ok I guess, but others told me not to do that.
My biggest tip for newbies is to BLOG! If you are not going to blog a few times a week, it is really not worth it, but I started a blog a few months back to help others. THere are some great blogging tips on it to help newbies and get a lot of free things! Check it out at
http://art2theextreme.blogspot.com/
Good luck!
Thanks for this opportunity! I was wondering what your average views per day should be. Most of the time I get around 10-15 views in a 24 hour period on any one particular item. I was just wondering if this is on the low side and what could be done to increase those views? Thanks so much for your consideration-
http://anniepoo.etsy.com
Hi, as a kinda newbie, is there a way to get more traffic to your site besides relisting items?
Is there a best day to post new listings? I would think that the weekend is good, but I don't see any pattern yet.
Thanks, {:-Deb
http://storybeader.etsy.com
Hi, I would also like to know the answers to Flaunt It & StoryBeaders questions?
When is the best time to list a new item?
I am thinking the answer to the above, will be the same as the best time to relist.
Traffic seems to be the easy part. How do you get the visitors to buy?
Do you think "most" visitors are other Etsy sellers belonging to the groups we are in?
How do some of you know how many visitors you've had to your shop?
Thank you for the Blog. It is a great idea!
Lily
www.TulipsTreasureBox.Etsy.com
www.TulipsTalking.BlogSpot.com
www.OctahedronJewelry.Etsy.com
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