Guest JBaymore Posted January 1, 2014 Report Share Posted January 1, 2014 Reading her Etsy profile, she has her husband helping .....but no mention of otehr employees. She also mentions three distinct lines she has ......... the yarn bowls, museum/guift shop pieces, and one of a kind gallery type work. "Thanks for visiting my pottery shop. All the work you see in my store is made by my two hands in my little studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. I throw my pieces on the potter's wheel and decorate and glaze them all by myself with my own glazes. The help of my husband David Smyth with customer service and packing/shipping allows me more time to sit on my wheel and create my pieces." best, ....................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Campbell Posted January 1, 2014 Report Share Posted January 1, 2014 I must be incredibly dense ... I knit but can't imagine adding extra weight by lugging a pottery bowl of yarn around ... I guess they all must knit in one spot ... and never bring the knitting with them to pass the time on a long car ride or such ... Of course the pottery 'yarn' bowl could come in handy for snacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoKa Kath Posted January 2, 2014 Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 I have an Etsy store and it's there, as others have said, to be able to offer an online presence for those who enquire at show/fairs. Having said that, I recently read a fair bit of the guidance on SEO and making your listings easier to be found, just as the xmas buying season was starting, made a few tweaks to my listings, and suddenly had a rash of online orders from both home and abroad. I'm not talking 'retirement' level orders, but given that I had a total of 4 sales in three years, and suddenly had 12 new sales in a two-month period, I guess there's something to it. I was being found in browse as well as search within Etsy; not much from google searches. I do find that I get a lot of 'favourties' on one particular item (hand built Espresso cups) and I'm hoping longer term that these people might come back and purchase ('Add to cart' rather 'add to favourites'). I am at a point where I'm looking at technology to make my own commerce site, but I think I might keep Etsy too, as there's an in-built customer base that comes with it. It won't take me any longer to write copy or take photos for listings than for my own shop site, so other than paying a listing fee $0.20 and 3.5% selling fee, I'm not losing anything, if this is a sale I wouldn't have had otherwise. I guess if you're not sure, it's a case of "suck it and see" but do a little bit of work to establish how best to write your listings, and you may be pleasantly surprised. It might as well be there, as not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Tile Mom Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 I had an etsy page, but like most everyone else is saying, it was a lot to maintain. I mostly want a page for the few people who ask me if I sell online. And, I occasionally get custom orders. So, I set up a square market page for myself. It was very easy, and I can direct people to it using my own email list and social media. I find it easier to manage (not as much tagging and verbiage needed for each piece. And, I like the clean modern look. Now when I get a custom order, I just create a listing, then email the link directly to the customer. As soon as they pay, I complete the order. 2.75% for each transaction, and the sales all report with my square card reader sales. no need to work through paypal anymore. $ goes directly into my bank account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MieksClayWorks Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 We just opened our Etsy site. We have had a few friends "successfully" sell on the site and are hoping to make some sales... I would be happy with even 2 or 3 sales a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverLiningCeramics Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Hello! Ive never posted on anything before but I thought I might share this. I was just the featured shop on the homepage of Etsy a few weeks ago and it has been amazing! Its my sole source of income right now! Im very excited.I will be doing some craft fairs this summer/winter but etsy is getting me by in the mean time. So I wanted to share my experience with etsy leading up to this happening. Last March (so less than a year ago) I opened my etsy shop when I decided to get serious about selling my work. I looked at etsy a lot and thought about what caught my eye. The photographs are EXTREMELY important. I notice that a lot of the homepage items always have natural light with a soft white background highlighting the piece as the main focus. So I started with nice photograpjs hoping they would catch peoples eye.Then I decided to link my etsy shop to 4 different social media sites.I use my facebook page to highlight whats going on with shows and exciting news and events and when I list new items and so forth then I use tumblr just to showcase really nice photos of my work. Then I use instagram to show my process and let people view inside the studio and see what I am working on then I use pintrest to showcase what I have for sale. Other people seem to pin my work to interest too.I like pintrest becuase if its pinned directly from etsy it tells you the price and clicking the photo will take you right to the item on etsy. All 4 of these sites link everything back to my etsy shop. People who use these social media platforms share things like crazy. I do spend an hour in the evening or so a day doing social media stuff but I dont mind it. Its relaxing. The most time I spend on the computer is editing the photos so the pieces look like they do in life (my camera sucks). I like being able to show the whole process so people know I am a real person. I think the combination of nice photos and social media lead to being noticed by etsy. Im still not sure exactly how they found me but I am so thankful they did! I think being specific with the tagging of listings is really helpful so people can find you too.I hope this is a little bit useful becuase thats what Ive done besides make pots and it seemed to work! I work really hard in general there really isnt a substitute for hard work but I love being in the studio making things so its great. I also want to add that staying true to yourself in what you make and taking an artist approach over just doing this for money has perhaps given my work something unique. I dunno but I do like to make things haha Katie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebekah Krieger Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I must be incredibly dense ... I knit but can't imagine adding extra weight by lugging a pottery bowl of yarn around ... I guess they all must knit in one spot ... and never bring the knitting with them to pass the time on a long car ride or such ... Of course the pottery 'yarn' bowl could come in handy for snacks. I crochet a lot- and sometimes go to a knitting group. The ladies want me to make yarn bowls for their living room end tables (to match) so they can plunk their yarn ball in it when sitting so to keep it from rolling on the floor or in pet hair. I keep one that i made by my desk in my office if I am watching a youtube video I can start hooking. I would never dream of taking one with me. I have however seen a pinterest "hack" where someone stuck a skein of yarn in the oatmeal cylinder with a hole in the lid - that seems lightweight and more "travel friendly". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebekah Krieger Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 thanks for sharing silver lining. I just started using pinterest and instagram to promote my pottery as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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