by Paula Atwell

Created on: February 17, 2009

Etsy is a site that is strictly for selling handmade products, supplies, and vintage items. Each crafter or artist creates an Etsy shop with their own items to sell. There are also some groups selling on Etsy, but Etsy works best for the individual artist or seller vs. a collective group of artists.

One of the drawbacks of using Etsy to sell your work is that it is very time consuming to upload items onto the site. Each items must be uploaded one at a time, including the categories, description, picture, and title of the item. Although Etsy has improved their site over the past two years, it is still a cumbersome process. If you are going to sell on Etsy, make sure to have excellent pictures of your products or people won't even look at them, and realize that Etsy does not get anywhere near that traffic that Ebay does.

That being said, Etsy is much less expensive to use than Ebay is. Their listing fees are very low, and their commissions on sales are also. Keep in mind that you will also get charged a fee from Paypal for transactions that go through them. Paypal is the most used form of payment on Etsy.

Etsy sellers seem to do best if they are selling small, inexpensive items, supplies or jewelry. There is a lot of competition especially in the jewelry category, but it still is one of the best selling categories. There is a wide range of professionalism and quality on the site. Be careful who you buy from, and let Etsy know immediately if something is not working out on your order. Etsy sellers are also Etsy buyers. Many Etsy sellers buy their supplies from other Etsy sellers. If you are looking for supplies, especially beads and findings, Etsy is a great place to find good deals.

Because you are buying directly from the artist on Etsy, most of the prices of items for sale are very low compared to in a retail store. So if you are looking for a gift, Etsy is a great place to shop. There are lots of one-of-a-kind handmade gifts to browse. Look for Etsy stores that have been in operation for at least a few months and have good feedback. That way you will know that they have provided excellent service for other customers.

The people who sell the most on Etsy do a lot of self-promotion through blogging, twittering, and writing about their work. If you are not willing to do that kind of self-promotion or do not have the time, Etsy is not the site for you to sell, but it might be a great place to shop.

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