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Giant Etsy QnA!!(for shop owners)

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caspian Professional	4 years, 5 months ago by caspian hi!! welcome. this is a list of all of the questions i have about etsy shops. im planning on starting one in the future. feel free to answer these! you don't have to answer all of them, of course. and also drop your shop name! 1. why did you start your shop? 2. is your shop made to order, or not? which one do you consider the better option for shops just starting out? 3. how many sales do you make on average each month(if you want to share) 4. how do you price your items? 5. what are things you're unwilling to make? 6. is shipping hard? 7. how long did you knot before starting your shop? 8. do you have any tips for people just starting out? 9. how many listings do you have(if they change, how many do you think you have on average?) 10. how do you keep track of pricing? 11. how many orders do you usually work on at one time? 12. how do you keep track of the orders you get, when you have multiple ones? 13. how do you keep yourself motivated? 14. do you get a lot of friends/family members requesting you to make them things for free? how do you deal with that? 15. do you have your own website for bracelets? do you think it's a good idea to have one? if you don't have one, why? 16. how do you advertise/what do you advertise on? 17. how much time do you think you spend on average on your shop, including ads, social media, etc.? 18. how much time do you spend working on personal patterns, like ones that aren't being sold? 19. if you're in school, how do you juggle being in school/extracurriculars with your shop? if not, and etsy isn't your full time job, how do you juggle that?(when i start my shop, ill probably have a job, and ill be in school as well.) 20. any tips for beginner knotters/upcoming etsy sellers? again, thank you so much! i really hope some of these get answered, lol. have a nice day, if you made it this far, and have a cookie 🍪
2006_Mandy Bracelet King	4 years, 5 months ago by 2006_Mandy Hi! I don't have an etsy but could any most of your questions its late for me so I won't bother at the moment but for sure I will answer in the morning
2006_Mandy Bracelet King	4 years, 5 months ago by 2006_Mandy 1. I haven’t started my shop yet like actually opened one but I am preparing for a craft sale in October. I am starting to sell my stuff because I love to create, would love some money and I offer a huge range of stuff which lots of people say they’d love to buy from me.
2006_Mandy Bracelet King	4 years, 5 months ago by 2006_Mandy 2. For shops starting out I would say don’t take custom orders straight away to make sure you can handle everything first. 4. it’s too long for me to list but I do have a photo of my pricing for all of my items. 5. I’m not really unwilling to make anything besides crocheted stuff because I can’t crochet (but I can do everything else) I always tell people when I make them something (even when it’s a gift or given to someone for free) that if I make it they cannot expect it to be done right away and that if they want it they will be willing or wait however long it takes me although I’m pretty quick and don’t take too long it’s just so I don’t get overwhelmed. 6. I’ve never shipped but I know from others it’s not too hard and especially if you only use envolopes to send your bracelets out then shipping is even easier to do. 7. I’ve been knitting for 7 months but I am saving up for my October shop! 8. practice makes perfect! Try your best to not make any mistakes like loose knots, try to stand or from other businesses and take good quality photos 9. I will likely have 10-15 listings at a time should I ever open Etsy but for my craft sale I’ll have a lot more. 10. I have a bracelet binder where I keep track of everything I do bracelet wise and I have photos of my pricing under a notes document on my phone. 11. I work on 2-3 sets at a time for my craft sale but I would do 2-3 bracelets if I was opening an Etsy. 12. Again I have a bracelet binder. 13.Its relaxing and stress relieving to me and the fact that I make money motivates me I also am Christian so I use Christian music to motivate myself. 14. Yes all of the time! I started by making for some months some free bracelets but I didn’t knot as often as I now do and hat was two months ago. Now I tell people that if their bracelet breaks accidentally I will fix it or replace it and I’m glad to give them as gifts but that they will need to pay for any more in this case I always give a one or two dollar discount. And my parents I make them stuff when ever I can because although they are my bracelets they are my parents and I shouldn’t tell them they have to pay for my bracelets nor should anybody else but for friends and siblings I understand charging after a few freebies. I would also recommend giving your easy bracelets that you can make in extra time or dying car trips as a gift to friends/family asking for your stuff or even your messed up bracelets. 15. I’m starting up a free weebly site but you could also use wix. I think it’s a good idea for me but some people might not like it and having too many platforms isn’t always amazing or as easy as it seems. 16. I promote myself on insta even though I don’t sell I still post my creations! And I give free stuff to my friends and family every so often on the condition that they promote my bracelets. 17. Not too much I work on my collection for my craft sale once or twice a day for an hour at a time. 18. A lot 19. I haven’t gone back to school yet and I started bracelet after school closed down due to corona so I’m not sure! I’m making the best out of my summer time to get my collection done so school won’t be a problem hopefully. 20. Do your best, don’t overwork yourself, close your shop down if needed even if it’s just for a week if you need it and lastly have fun! Good luck with your shop and hope this helps

2006_Mandy Bracelet King	4 years, 5 months ago by 2006_Mandy Wow this took me ten minutes to type out
caspian Professional	4 years, 5 months ago by caspian @2006_Mandy thank you so much!
2006_Mandy Bracelet King	4 years, 5 months ago by 2006_Mandy @caspian your welcome! Feel free to ask anymore questions you might have.
amazingme Bracelet King	4 years, 5 months ago by amazingme 1. I started it since I have nothing to do over quarantine 2. Mine is made to order, but I don't really have a preference 3. I haven't made a sale yet, but I'm really hoping to get at least one in August 4. I judge mine based on size and difficulty of the pattern and sometimes with popularity. Like a starburst would cost more than a celtic pattern based on its popularity. 5. I'm unwilling to make 1-2 patterns, mainly because they drive me insane 6. Not really, I just plan to ship mine in an envelope with a card 7. I made around 15 bracelets, but for me that was only a month 8. Well I'm just starting and people have told me to not get frustrated just because nobody bought anything yet 9. I have twelve listings currently and I would suggest having 8-14 at a time 10. I have a small notepad that I use 11. I assume you're asking about customs, and I can't help you with that 13. I go to other successful Etsy's and remind myself that slacking won't get me there 14. All the time, but generally i'm like, "if you want one for your b-day, sure but otherwise I'll give you a dollar off" 16. Etsy does advertising for you, and I'm not allowed to have social media 17. Around a few hours a week 18. I'd what other way to explain this, but for every 4 bracelets I make, one is for my own personal collection 19. I get notifications from etsy, so the moment I get home I can prioritize and send the customer a message and start working on their package 20. Again, don't get frustrated. My Etsy has been open for around 2 weeks and I've gotten several hundred views but no buyers. It's annoying, but I assume the satisfaction when you get a shopper is worth it!

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