Just checking to see how many others are selling stuff on Etsy amid the jewelry. If so, we should look into a team or something to get ironwork out of the shadow of craft store pattern jewelry.

I never heard of Etsy before. Do they sell much. How much success have you had selling through their web site?

so far, not well but I just joined and it's not a holiday yet and I don't have much inventory. Other's I've seen have done relatively well though. Depends on your advertising. Things get buried so you have to relist a bit to keep on top.

Deb has an etsey shop and a lot depends on your marketing, use of tags, searchable words, etc. it's mostly marketing though. She's done alright selling hand spun yarn. "Spin Alaska" is her etsey store I believe. To be honest I've never been to the etsey site at all.

Frosty

If sales on Etsy is dependent on your own efforts to market and advertise the products, then I don't see what the advantage is of putting stuff on Etsy rather than either having your own web site, and/or marketing on Amazon and EBay.

On the other hand, if I am spending time and money advertising that I am selling on Etsy, then I am spending that time and money advertising Etsy with the *risk* that someone will buy from a different Etsy vendor.

Perhaps I am missing something here.

It's more the quality of your marketing than quantity.

As always, good photography is critical. Then there's good text, attractive names and descriptions, minimal mispellings, decent grammar, etc.

What you gain is another market place, more people will look at etsy on any given day for a given type of product than will search the web in general. It's the same for looking to buy a book, do you surf the web or go directly to Amazon? Heck, surfing the web for a book title will take you to Amazon first more often than not anyway. There are no rules I know of saying you can't link back to your own web site from etsy.

What's to keep someone from seeing something on your site they like and then searching out a cheaper version elsewhere anyway? That's always the risk a person runs when they put a product on the market, even patented and copyrighted products end up being mass produced in China, India, Mexico, etc. for pennies on your dollar.

Think of etsy as another window in your store front, the more people who can window shop the more likely one will buy something.

Frosty

As always, good photography is critical. Then there's good text, attractive names and descriptions, minimal mispellings, decent grammar, etc.

well i guess thats why i suck at getting good sales

Like Frosty said, it's a large market place. If you're worried about advertising and having someone else get your sale on etsy, the same can be said for any website because most people google the name rather than enter the address in. That's why I make sure my shop name is the main focus of advertising, not etsy.

It's also a relatively cheap access to a large marketplace with a trusted shopping cart system and it's regulated so people can feel a bit safer knowing there are ways to cancel transactions and dispute things.

As well, our aspect of metalwork is relatively under competitive. I've seen lots of people also link their website and use it as their store.

Frosty: The terms of agreement sate that you can link to your website, as long as everything listed for sale there is on etsy. Otherwise it's considered fee avoidance. But you can set up your portfolio for people to see and get custom works.

If it pays, I will do it! I have made some trinkets before.

It's hard to say if it pays. Like every marketing tool, it's what you make of it. Be prepared to spend time advertising it and posting on the forums to get the community looking at your stuff and maybe catch an admin's eye to be promo'd.

Frosty, you sure that's your wife's shop? Have her look up Ridgwayforge for stuff for you to make ;)