Etsy

[mstarkweather]

Originally Posted by RobinZ

jbart, I have benefitted GREATLY from the circles and favoriting. I can actually watch my item get repeated favoriting and then someone buys it who never would have seen it except for circles. Especially for my vintage. It kinda goes viral.

Robin, have you tried using the ads on Etsy?

[RobinZ]

Yes, and did sell one from them for sure, but not sure about them. Not sure if they hurt or help in regular search results.

[mstarkweather]

Originally Posted by RobinZ

Yes, and did sell one from them for sure, but not sure about them. Not sure if they hurt or help in regular search results.

I tried them for a week and didn't really have anything happen...but who knows? A week isn't a long time to try.

Thanks for your help!

[Artista:)]

Etsy is a whole new animal. It requires time, patience and study what you are doing. They are pretty good on telling you how to make it. It might sound simple but "socializing" is the key with them and of course great pictures, I mean GREAT pictures.

[mstarkweather]

Thanks.

I did just read some of their guides. It's a lot of work, this Internet selling thing! :S

[AmyLC]

I've been there about a year, I think. I've only had originals listed and my prices are high for that type of place (although I believe reasonable for originals). I've had one sale to an on-line acquaintance. So clearly I am not an Etsy pro!

I've only put work into etsy sporadically. I've joined a few teams and what I've learned is you have to comit to Etsy as if it's your business or an actual store. You can't just post and wait. You have to promote on other places, renew items frequently, update your tags and titles, you have to join circles, and make treasuries, and have excellent photos that people want to put in treasuries. I've heard that having 100 items is a "magic number" for getting sales rolling.

I'm giving in and getting ready to list prints instead of originals. I think part of my problem is my prices. People come there as a "craft site" and I don't think they are prepared to spend more for art. (or my paintings are just crap!!) LOL.

There's a place off- site that lists top sellers on Etsy and there are some people selling prints on that list! It can be done!! It's about finding a niche and developing a following.

[RobinZ]

I think you can make a great living selling repros on etsy if they are the right kind of repros and you spend serious time marketing them.

Amy, are your cityscapes as dark as they appear on etsy? I bet they are more vibrant but aren't showing as if they are.

Also keep in mind that top selling is quantity only. Some people have to sell 100 inexpensive repros to equal the profit of one sale of one large original.

For my vintage, I realized that some of the top sellers in that category were selling things that they were making very little profit on, even if they got their stock for free. Making $2 an item profit x 10 a day and having to do all the work associated with earning that $2 item makes no sense to me. I'd rather spend the same time packing, mailing, photographing, etc., one $20 profit item a day.

I stopped listing inexpensive items there (never under $5, and rarely under $10) and while my sales NUMBERS have remained the same, my PROFIT zoomed.

In a nutshell, run your real numbers before you make any decision. If you expect to sell a lot of repro prints, you're going to have to do all of the work that you haven't done to sell your originals there.

Vintage pretty much sells itself, but art takes a lot of work, no matter where you want to sell it.

My friends who sell in real life, not online, spend gobs of time networking, going to other's openings, following dead end leads, meeting with buyers who don't buy but want to hang out with "real artsits", social network marketing their shows, meeting with gallerists who are THINKING about using them in a show they have in mind for two years down the road, etc. There's a lot of effort to "effortless" sales and that is as true with online as it is in real life.

[CSForest]

I'm having my doubts about Etsy. I've been browsing there a bit just to see what's on there. Frankly, there's a lot of junk on there. Not just crafted stuff, but "yard sale" garbage. Some of the stuff even looks illegal. One person, for example, even admits he scans photos out of books and sells them as prints. Not sure how he gets away with that.
In any case, I'm starting to wonder if Etsy's a good place to be selling my art. I'm not sure I can be taken seriously as a professional painter of high quality art if my art's surrounded by cheap junk. Sure, there's a lot of good stuff on Etsy too. But there's a lot of junk that just degrades the feel of the whole site. I have looked but not seen any other wildlife artists that I know and admire on there. I don't think they want to associate their art with it.

I'm probably going to get some "emotional" responses for this comment. Try to keep it civil.

[Greg Long]

Originally Posted by CSForest

One person, for example, even admits he scans photos out of books and sells them as prints. Not sure how he gets away with that.

Because no-one has reported them. Have you?

[CSForest]

Originally Posted by Greg Long

Because no-one has reported them. Have you?

Well, I'm not the Etsy Police. I'm sure there are hundreds like that.
(And disregard the fact that I was too tired and drunk to remember which shop it was. )

[john22]

Link to article on selling art on Etsy.


http://www.arthash.com/2012/04/selling-art-on-etsy.html

[Davkin]

Originally Posted by john22

Link to article on selling art on Etsy.


http://www.arthash.com/2012/04/selling-art-on-etsy.html

I'm not saying that the blogger is wrong, I have no idea wether she is or isn't......and that is the problem. The more I look into this stuff the more I realize everybody and they're dog is a blogger now and many are developing a following just because they blog and marketed their blog and not necessarily because they have any credentials or even relevant first hand experience. I Googled the person that made that blog post and all I can find about her is just more and more blogging, she does not even appear to be an artist. This woman appears to be making a living blogging about marketing when it appears that her only product is blogging about marketing!

David

[markshirar]

I've been meaning to list a bunch of my work in my etsy store. I have some prints as well as some lower priced paintings to list and I've been doing some work with found object that I want to try to sell. I've sold sports cards on ebay since 1997 so a lot of the same things with doing that successfully will apply here as well. My plan is to get things listed over the next month or so but have been procrastinating. The good part about etsy is that their listing fees are pretty cheap (the last time I looked) so there's really not a lot of risk in listing an item to experiment and see how it goes.

[AmyLC]

It's still cheap, Mark! A few cents per item. Many people will continually re-list the same items frequently to have them continue to show up as "new" in the searches. If you were doing that and had a ton of items, the cost might add up quickly. I only have about 20 items and don't re-list until they expire. I pay around $2 per month! Even if I don't sell, I like having everything visible in one place and at that price I can do it. If someone asks what I paint, I can refer them there to see and it gives them the option to purchase. I've just started working with a local print shop because I was asked to put some framed prints in a store. The process of color matching and getting a good quality print from him has been a pain. I've decided I'm NOT going to go that route on Etsy right now.

Crista, I don't disagree with your opinion. If I felt like I was skilled enough to sell in galleries or at higher-end locations, I probably wouldn't be listed on Etsy, either. There are alot of cringe-worthy paintings on Etsy. But I think that is true for ANY on-line site that allows everyone to enter their own work. Without any type of jury or selection process you're going to get all levels of talent or lack there of. I don't see many really strong originals for sale there....more often I see originals for ridiculously cheap prices that probably wouldn't even equal minimum wage for the artist. But I have seen some very talented artists there too. Some sell originals but many of them are selling prints that tend to follow decorating trends. Maybe not "fine artists" but creative and talented just the same.

I think it really comes back to what an artist's true goals or expectations are. We have to put our work where we think it fits in best.