Etsy platform beginner's guide to opening a store and marketing suggestions

If you love handicrafts, or are a master craftsman, if you like to collect vintage items, or have access to handicraft dealers, then you can make money by selling on Etsy.

• Handmade products

• Second-hand goods
• Craft supplies

• You want a platform to simply sell goods;

• You are used to testing the waters before investing in a business;

• You like platforms that bring organic traffic to your store;

• Customizing the user experience and store design is important to you;

• Strong self-brand awareness and emphasis on product narrative;

• Enjoys a competitive sales environment, including selling up/cross-sell merchandise.

• Upload 10 product pictures to let customers see the product diversity;

• Displaying different variations of the image, such as in multiple colors;

• Use scene diagrams, for example: place a painting in the living room;

• Use common objects to reference your product, such as placing a coffee cup next to a statue.

• Choose a suitable title, find keywords that potential consumers may use when searching, and add them to the listing title.

• Specify the manufacturer of the product, as well as the date of production and whether the product is a finished product or a tool.

• Renewal options: You can choose to renew manually or automatically. Each time you update your listing, it will last for four months. If you choose automatic renewal, the system will automatically deduct $0.2. It is recommended that you choose automatic renewal to avoid forgetting.

• Sales Type: Choose whether you are selling a physical item or a digital file.

• Product Description: Write a short and clear description that is both appealing and informative. The first two sentences are the most important because this is what consumers will see in the listing displayed in the search results, as shown below:

• Cooperating manufacturer: This field is only necessary when you are collaborating with others to create a product.

• Section: Choose a relevant section so that consumers will find your products in related categories.

• Tags: You can use 13 tags for your products. You can use all of them to increase your product exposure.

• Materials: Let consumers know what the product is made of.

• Price: You need to fill in all the costs including product pricing and shipping. You can refer to how your competitors price.

• Quantity: It can be more or less. Fill in this information so that the platform can automatically update the product listing until it is sold out.

• SKU: Only used and tracked by the seller's backend, and will not be displayed on the consumer interface.

• Variations: If your product has multiple colors, you need to fill them out together.

• Customization: If you offer customized products, such as embroidering names on pillows, remember to check the product customization box.

• Bank Location

• Bank Information

• Date of Birth

• Last four digits of your social security number

• Home address
• telephone number

1) Listing fee : Etsy charges a fixed fee of $0.2 for each product listed.

2) Shipping label fee : You don’t have to use Etsy’s shipping label; they just provide a convenience service. It’s up to you to use it or not, but most sellers do so to save money.

• Shipping fee: 5% shipping commission will be charged for each item;

• Commission: Etsy will charge you 5% of the total cost of the item (excluding shipping, which is charged separately).

• Square: If you actually sell something using Square, there is a flat fee of $0.20 per transaction. Square is a mobile payment service for transferring and storing money, available on both Android and iOS.

• Etsy Transaction Fee : This is only required for sellers using Etsy Payments and is charged a fee (usually 3-4%) depending on the location of your bank.

• Deposit Exchange Rate Conversion : When you list an item for sale in a currency that is different from the default currency of your bank account, you will be charged a 2.5% fee.
• VAT : VAT also varies based on geographic location. For example, New York’s VAT is currently 8.5% (but varies by location), while California’s VAT is 7.25%.
  

• Product listing fee: $0.20

• Shipping label fee: The shipping label itself is free, but the shipping fee itself is charged, which depends on the size, weight, origin and destination of the package. As shown in the figure below: The shipping fee for a package of 16×12×18 feet, 2 pounds, and 10 ounces is $9.5

3) SEO optimization : Each e-commerce platform has a search engine algorithm, such as eBay's Cassini algorithm and Amazon's A9 algorithm, and Etsy is the same. The algorithm determines the position of your listing in the search results. The higher the ranking of the listing in the search results, the greater the chance of sales. Therefore, you should update your product listings frequently, because the algorithm often displays newly updated products first . Every time you sell a product, the listing will be automatically updated, and the search result ranking will be automatically updated. The Etsy algorithm will recommend related products based on user preferences.

4) Identify your target market : Since you are selling handmade products, you need to understand what kind of consumers are interested in buying your handmade products. For example, Company A targets female consumers between the ages of 20 and 60, which is too broad; while Company B targets married women between the ages of 25 and 35 who have a college degree and are considering having children. This segmented audience is more accurate and efficient.

• Think about what kind of audience would be interested in your product and what kind should be avoided. For example, baby toys are great for new moms and dads, but not for singles.

• Determine the demand for your product. If your product is a handmade baby toy that can develop the baby's motor nerves, then your target should be young, wealthy mothers who have just given birth.

• Opening an Etsy store marketing account on social media is a good way to prove whether the target audience you previously envisioned is effective.

• Use tools like Google Analytics to understand browsing and consumption audience characteristics. Open Audience - Audience Characteristics and you can see it.

• Create a concise satisfaction survey and send it to buyers with a purchase history, inviting them to fill it out and offering a discount or free gift.

• Check the sales of your competitors or industry giants and try to segment the audience from their social media accounts, Google Analytics data, and comments. Knowing yourself and your enemy will help you win every battle. You need to know your competitors better and refer to their data.

• Niche selection

• Brand reputation

• Product Materials

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