Infected by the meh bug
Sep. 2nd, 2008 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valis2Went to the doctor and was told that I have a sinus infection. Otherwise known as my perpetually reoccurring friend. Anyway, bactrim + valis = soon to feel better. Thank goodness. It came in under my radar because a) I have not been congested and b) the headache was mistaken for my usual hormonal headache because it came in at the same time. I only realized what was going on just yesterday when I thought, "Hey, this headache has lasted six days and shows no sign of stopping..."
Am trying to take some pictures of merch. I've been bummed because Etsy really slowed down, but then I listed three new items yesterday, and sold nine today. Nine inexpensive items, but still. I've spent a lot of time going through the Etsy forums over the last few days. This has answered many questions for me (such as--there has to be a better way to look at hearts/views (there is a third-party website that can do this for you, but nothing through Etsy), how can we track hits (can't, other than views--google analytics and the like aren't allowed), how to promote).
One of the biggest questions was the renewal question. I'm always fascinated by how eBay sellers work with the tools at hand to forge the best possible system, and it turns out that Etsians are the same way, of course.
When you first list something, say, a squid shirt, it shows up on the new page. This is apparently where most of the magic happens. These are the most-browsed pages. Squid shirt will be proudly displayed for a little while. In the shirt category, it could stay on pages one through three (the goldmine pages) for anywhere from an hour to a day, depending on the category and its popularity. Eventually, though, squid shirt will be relegated to the later pages.
Clever Etsians began using a "relist" style feature to list the same item again on a different day, bringing the item right up to the top page once more. It's called "renewing" and it is apparently a basic part of many Etsians' marketing strategy. Some people renew every item in their shop every single day. It only costs twenty cents to renew, so on a higher priced item it isn't really a big deal.
So there is a lot of talk about renewing and/or simply listing new items. Most of the bigger sellers seem to imply that it really depends on your category; higher volume categories move too quickly for renewing to be of much effect. And renewing everything in your store can get excessive, and expensive. It seems to be a better strategy to simply renew the best items in your store (if you're in a good category for renewal), and even better, just to list a few new items every day. Some people list nine or ten new items a day. A lot of people mentioned having at least a hundred items in your store.
There was mention of frequenting the forums and posting a lot which is supposed to have an effect on your sales. Most people are split about this, and I myself can see where you might get a few sales from fellow craftspeople, but in the long run I'm not certain. I already have a craft blog, I don't want to deal with even more social networking on top of it.
All very interesting and good food for thought. I definitely have to take some more pics and work on some new listings today.
The most hilarious part of the Etsy forums are clueless people, of course. There was one thread where a very, very sweet lady was explaining the renewal process and breaking it down into simple math (100 renewals per month x twenty cents per month = $20), and everyone kept responding with, "My renewal costs are $8 per month, and that's 7% of my sales" and stuff, and there was much talk of renewing and relisting and comparing fees and stats. Then a clueless person posted, "If I renew all 48 listings in my shop every day for the next month, how much will that cost?" I am basically evil so I laughed and laughed.
I mean, the sweet lady did not start the thread so she could solve story problems, y'know? Plus, all Clueless had to do was tack in the obvious numbers: 48 x .20 x 30 = answer. And then Clueless pouted when no one answered her.
Am trying to take some pictures of merch. I've been bummed because Etsy really slowed down, but then I listed three new items yesterday, and sold nine today. Nine inexpensive items, but still. I've spent a lot of time going through the Etsy forums over the last few days. This has answered many questions for me (such as--there has to be a better way to look at hearts/views (there is a third-party website that can do this for you, but nothing through Etsy), how can we track hits (can't, other than views--google analytics and the like aren't allowed), how to promote).
One of the biggest questions was the renewal question. I'm always fascinated by how eBay sellers work with the tools at hand to forge the best possible system, and it turns out that Etsians are the same way, of course.
When you first list something, say, a squid shirt, it shows up on the new page. This is apparently where most of the magic happens. These are the most-browsed pages. Squid shirt will be proudly displayed for a little while. In the shirt category, it could stay on pages one through three (the goldmine pages) for anywhere from an hour to a day, depending on the category and its popularity. Eventually, though, squid shirt will be relegated to the later pages.
Clever Etsians began using a "relist" style feature to list the same item again on a different day, bringing the item right up to the top page once more. It's called "renewing" and it is apparently a basic part of many Etsians' marketing strategy. Some people renew every item in their shop every single day. It only costs twenty cents to renew, so on a higher priced item it isn't really a big deal.
So there is a lot of talk about renewing and/or simply listing new items. Most of the bigger sellers seem to imply that it really depends on your category; higher volume categories move too quickly for renewing to be of much effect. And renewing everything in your store can get excessive, and expensive. It seems to be a better strategy to simply renew the best items in your store (if you're in a good category for renewal), and even better, just to list a few new items every day. Some people list nine or ten new items a day. A lot of people mentioned having at least a hundred items in your store.
There was mention of frequenting the forums and posting a lot which is supposed to have an effect on your sales. Most people are split about this, and I myself can see where you might get a few sales from fellow craftspeople, but in the long run I'm not certain. I already have a craft blog, I don't want to deal with even more social networking on top of it.
All very interesting and good food for thought. I definitely have to take some more pics and work on some new listings today.
The most hilarious part of the Etsy forums are clueless people, of course. There was one thread where a very, very sweet lady was explaining the renewal process and breaking it down into simple math (100 renewals per month x twenty cents per month = $20), and everyone kept responding with, "My renewal costs are $8 per month, and that's 7% of my sales" and stuff, and there was much talk of renewing and relisting and comparing fees and stats. Then a clueless person posted, "If I renew all 48 listings in my shop every day for the next month, how much will that cost?" I am basically evil so I laughed and laughed.
I mean, the sweet lady did not start the thread so she could solve story problems, y'know? Plus, all Clueless had to do was tack in the obvious numbers: 48 x .20 x 30 = answer. And then Clueless pouted when no one answered her.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-02 09:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-02 09:19 pm (UTC)Buy/sell is when a vendor simply buys something and resells it instead of making it. I was at a craft show recently where a guy sold Crocs. Clearly he did not make them himself, but because the show did not specify handcrafted, he was okay to sell there.
Etsy is supposed to be entirely handcrafted items, except for one category of "supplies." There are people who pop on and sell stuff they've bought, which is against the rules, and then once caught they close and start over under a new name. *shakes head*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-03 01:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-03 01:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-03 02:14 am (UTC)Many shows try to weed them out, but it can be tricky. I've heard about one show promoter's nightmares--she told me stories of a vendor being banned from her show, but then sending in an application the next year under someone else's name!