Etsy is a great place to sell handmade goods. If you want to start selling art, however, you might be wondering whether Etsy is the right platform.
Etsy is a global marketplace where artists can sell their creations directly to consumers. The site has over 30 million registered sellers who range from hobbyists to professional artists.
As a seller, you get to choose your price point, payment options, and shipping methods. Plus, you can also take advantage of marketing tools such as social media advertising.
Selling Art on Etsy – Cons
But while Etsy is an excellent option for anyone looking to sell art, it isn’t always the best choice. Here are some reasons why:
1. It’s Not Easy To Make Sales On Etsy
Selling products on Etsy is different from selling them in other places like retail stores or galleries. For one thing, there aren’t any physical storefronts that buyers visit when they search for items to buy. Instead, people use keywords and filters to find what they need online.
This means that getting traffic to your listings requires more work than if you were selling similar items at a store.
You have to create eye-catching images, write engaging descriptions, and promote your shop so that potential customers will see it. This is doable, though, so if it’s something you want to start doing, don’t be put off by the struggles. Every industry has its downfalls!
2. There’s No Guarantee Of Success
If you’re just starting out, you may feel overwhelmed with all the things you have to do to succeed. And because most sellers don’t realize how much effort goes into making a sale, they often give up before even trying.
The truth is, it doesn’t matter how many hours you spend creating beautiful artwork. If nobody sees it, you won’t make money.
3. Your Income Depends On Others
Unlike traditional jobs, where you earn a steady salary every month, you only receive payments once someone buys something from you.
This means that you’ll never know for sure how much you’ll make until after the fact. With organization, however, you can keep on track of this and when you build a steady speed and motive, this is worth the effort like any other business starting up.
4. It’s Not Cheap To Run A Business Through Etsy
One of the benefits of working through Etsy is that you don’t have to pay taxes on your earnings. But this comes at a cost. You’ll have to pay $200 per year to list each item separately, and you’ll have to add additional fees if you want to ship internationally.
When taking this into account though through the entire year, and the fact you get to do what you love, it may be worth it!
5. It’s Not Easy To Grow Your Audience
One way you can help build a strong community around your Etsy shop is by joining groups related to your niche. These groups allow you to share information about your craft and connect with other sellers who are interested in similar topics.
Another way to expand your reach is to join forums and blogs. By posting regularly, you’ll show up in searches and increase your chances of being discovered. Any way you can share your brand and work, do it, and the more people you engage with, the better.
6. It’s Sometimes Difficult To Track Your Finances
You can keep track of your expenses using Etsy’s accounting system. However, this takes time and skill to set up correctly.
Plus, it’s important to understand how your costs compare to your revenue. Otherwise, you could be spending too much money on postage or running ads that don’t drive enough sales.
7. It Can Be Overwhelming
Etsy has grown dramatically over the past few years. As a result, it’s become increasingly difficult to navigate. The site itself is confusing, and finding answers to questions can be challenging.
If you decide to go ahead with an Etsy shop, you should consider hiring a virtual assistant to handle some of these tasks. They can take care of customer service inquiries, organize your inventory, and post new listings as needed.
8. Customers Can Be Demanding
Customers expect fast shipping and top-quality products. When you fall short of their expectations, you risk losing them forever.
9. Limited Control Over Pricing
Unless you choose to sell on consignment, you won’t be able to dictate your prices. Instead, you must rely on your customers to come back again and again.
Do you want to start selling through sites like Etsy, but you’ve got no idea where to begin? We hope we can give you some clarity on the subject below!
Identify Your Competitors
Art sellers should take a look at their competitors’ shops. They should be aware of how much art sells and what prices people pay for art. They should make sure their art is priced right.
Furthermore, they shouldn’t underprice their art because it takes time and money to create.
To run an art shop through Etsy, taking a look at your competitors is the best way to determine what will be your most successful start-up points, and we don’t mean this in a mean-spirited way, we simply mean to engage with the market and what’s popular.
If you look for sellers that sell the art within the same or a similar size range and style, you can get the grips of what it is you need to be doing to begin selling through Etsy.
Pay attention to their price range too, as they will have decided upon the best price to support their income, as well as target customers who want to buy them. It’s all about finding that balance that pays well but doesn’t become extortionate for customers to buy.
You should include a thank-you note or a discount code in every order. This will help you get more customers and increase sales. This may make your art stand out from the rest, as unique or quirky, so to say.
Customers like it when a brand or seller puts effort into not only their order but the way it’s packaged and designed too. Aesthetics can make sales.
Build A Brand for Your Shop
Branding is a huge part of selling on Etsy. You need to make sure that your branding reflects your products, your personality and inspires loyalty from your customers.
In the case of art shops, your brand should be something that represents your products and helps people understand who you are as a business.
For example, if you’re a painter, your brand might include your painting style, colors, and materials used. If you want to appeal to more than just artists, maybe you’d want to add some personal touches to your brand.
Perhaps you have a pet dog, or you love coffee, or you think that the world needs more kindness. Whatever your brand is, it should align with your products, your personality (if applicable), and inspire loyalty from your customers.
Branding is what people say about your business when you’re not in it. You should also take advantage of elements like Etsy covers and banners to improve your branding strategy.
Don’t forget to customize your shop with elements like Etsy covers and banners. This will help you improve your branding strategy and increase customer loyalty.
Invest In Your Etsy Shop Photos
You will need great images of what you are selling. You don’t need fancy equipment to take pictures of your products.
Not only that, but you can use free photo editing software such as Photoshop Elements, GIMP, Paint Shop Pro, etc. It’s also worth mentioning, however, that professional photographs and images help you to stand out amongst the competition.
High-quality photos of your artworks are important for selling them online. Natural light and clutter-free background help you capture great images.
You can edit colors using Photoshop to make sure your online product photos match the work your customers receive in the mail. Make sure to adjust the thumbnails too. Your artwork should be easy to see, even when shrunken down into a postage stamp.
How To Use Etsy Keywords And Tags
Tags are very significant when selling items on Etsy. These are how customers find your goods, and if you don’t use them properly, then you won’t get much traffic. You should also add your keywords to your descriptions, but make sure that they aren’t too long.
Be descriptive with your product listing, and include any information that might be useful for customers. This is Etsy’s way of helping you to spread your product line across the site’s platform, the more you can put into this, the further you can push your art!
Try letting people know what mediums you have used to create your masterpieces, the supplies you’ve used, or anything else that is going to be relevant to their purchase. Try not to go overboard with the description, though, people only have so much to go by with their attention spans.
How To Get Noticed On Etsy
Spacing out your listings helps you reach a wider audience because Etsy features new listings at the top of their categories for a short time.
Posting all of your artwork at once can only reach people’s browsing listings so much, by spacing them out, you can help yourself to be featured multiple times on different occasions.
Overall, this can help you achieve a wider audience.
How To Stand Out From The Crowd
People often think of themselves as being similar to others, but there is always something unique about each person. Art should reflect our uniqueness. We should try to improve ourselves by learning new things every day. Our artwork should show our personality, not copy someone else’s style.
Remember, it may have been done before through some shape or format, but it hasn’t been done by you specifically. That alone makes your artwork unique from anyone else. Try not to forget that along the way, and you’ll do just fine, we promise!
Increase Etsy Sales Through Social Media
Social media is a great tool to connect with friends and family, but it can be used to sell your product as well.
Sellers who use social media should focus on building relationships with customers by sharing images, engaging with them, getting real customer feedback on their products, and growing their audience.
Having social media accounts for your business can help customers trust you more and feel confident when buying from your store. Make sure your Etsy shop has a link to your social media pages and that your social media pages have a link to your store.
Final Thoughts
Is Selling On Etsy Worth It In 2022?
Selling on Etsy is still a great way to sell your handmade goods. However, some things change over time. In 2022, Etsy is still a great place to start selling your handmade goods.
As soon as your Etsy shop has been set up, you can share a direct link to it on social networks or send it to friends and family.
You need to learn how to use Etsy and be skilled enough to get your listings appearing among the bestsellers. But it takes much more time to get a new website ranked high in Google than it does to rank well on Etsy.
For these reasons, we believe that starting a craft business on Etsy is worth it because it helps the economy during this time when people need to stay home and practice social distancing.
Before setting up an Etsy shop, make sure you follow the law about operating a handmade business.
Overall, selling through Etsy is a rewarding experience for businesses and crafty people. Even if it’s a side job, per see.
Building something that sells and celebrates your talent and skills is always going to be worth the extra effort and time that it takes to do so. You should be proud of yourself if you’re thinking of giving it a go.