Starting an Etsy Business - FRIDAY FINDS!

Etsy is a community of crafters. One of the best ways to promote your own Etsy shop is to make connections with other Etsy sellers. Other Etsy sellers can offer advice on how to promote your listings, inspire you to create new items, and can offer you cute items to add to your own personal collection!

Starting this week, my Friday blog posts will be a review of another Etsy store that I love!  Usually, this review will be from an Etsy shop that I have either personally purchased an item from, or have been gifted an item from.

This week I would like to feature Jolene Elizs’ Stitches!  Jolene is a friend of mine who recently moved out to San Diego.  When she arrived, she started to dramatically rev up her Etsy business (www.etsy.com/shop/JoleneElizsStitches).

Jolene Elizs’ Stitches features unique hand-crochet items, including bowls, baskets, blankets, bracelets, decorative flowers and pet costumes.  Her designs are adorable, and her work is very high quality.

I recently purchased and received this amazing crochet pumpkin basket!

Unfortunately for you, this basket was one of a kind and I got it! However, the construction is very similar to Jolene Elizs’ Stitches other crochet bowls and baskets. Jolene uses two different strands of yarn for the base of her baskets and bowls to ensure that they remain sturdy. 

The shipping on this item from San Diego to Massachusetts was fast. Jolene Elizs’ Stitches packed my pumpkin basket in a sturdy box, so that it maintained its structure during the shipping process. I would definitely recommend that you check out her Etsy shop at (www.etsy.com/shop/JoleneElizsStitches) and like her Facebook fan page at (www.facebook.com/JoleneElizsStitches) for all of your customized crochet needs!

Thank you for reading! Until next time, check out my Etsy shop at (www.etsy.com/shop/PearTreeStitches) and like Pear Tree Stitches on Facebook at (www.facebook.com/PearTreeStitches).

Starting an Etsy Shop Day 7 - How to Quickly Build Inventory

The internet is an amazing tool for selling handmade products. However, it also has its drawbacks. Unlike a craft fair, where you can set up a table and at least a few people are guaranteed to stroll by and see your products, items posted on the internet can be lost among the many millions of other posted items and end up not being seen by anyone at all.

One way to increase the odds that potential customers will stumble across your Etsy store is by creating a large and varied inventory. The more items you have, the more tags and keywords you can use to hopefully catch shoppers' attentions and direct them towards your Etsy shop.

Of course, this is easier said then done. It is not easy to offer a lot of different items early on in your Etsy business. It takes time and money to build inventory. Also, each new project requires that you set up your tools, figure out how best to make the item, take high quality images of the finished project, and come up with an effective Etsy description to post the finished product. This whole process can be extremely time intensive, and is simply not practical if you are selling small, inexpensive items.

For example, my cutting board, ironing board, and photography studio all happen to be my kitchen table. It takes me about five minutes to get ready to cut fabric, another five minutes to switch my table over to ironing mode, and at least 15 minutes to get my lighting and light tent set up for decent product photography. If I tried to make a variety of items one at a time, I would end up losing 25 minutes per item simply getting ready to make it. This is a completely unacceptable time sink for a small zippered bag that only has a few dollars of profit margin in the first place!

To solve this problem, I have started doing my work in batches. Here is how I created 10 new items in two work days, as efficiently as possible.

Step 1: Pick a Project That Can Be Created With Variations

To quickly build my Etsy inventory, I chose to make runaround purses. They are adorable little bags that can hold your wallet, keys, and cell phone without all the bulk of a larger purse. They are also a great item for quickly building inventory, because they can be made with any combination of fabric prints and zipper colors.

It is also nice to make one pattern (or project type) at a time, because you can quickly become an expert on that particular pattern.  The first bag took me over two hours to make because I had to constantly stop and double check my work against the pattern directions.  As I made more and more of these over the course of the day, the time to produce each bag became faster and faster! And remember, with inexpensive items, you need to figure out how to increase your production speed without losing any production quality. Becoming an expert on a pattern is a great way to accomplish that goal!

Step 2: Complete a Batch of Products in Stages to Reduce Set Up and Break Down Times

Next, I set up my cutting board on the kitchen table and cut out fabric pieces for 5 hours straight! I cut out enough purse pieces to fill my sewing time for three full work days.

I then assembled the pieces to make complete bags and organized them according to the color of thread that I will be using. I organized the projects by thread color, so that I would only have to change my thread and bobbin twice, and save myself the time and energy it takes to do so.

The next day, I went through my fabric prints and made one of each bag. I was able to set up my ironing station once for the day, as I made ten different bags in succession.

I then set up my light tent and tripod once, and took the same, well-framed picture over and over again, while switching out which bag I was photographing.

 

I was able to save time again, because I only needed to figure out how to take the best shot of this type of bag once!

Step 3: Create An Etsy Description That Can Describe All of the Similar, But Different Items

I ended up with ten different versions of the same style of pocketbook. I wrote two paragraphs that described the general details of the bag, such as size, construction, and potential uses. I then had a third paragraph in which I could change the description to describe the print choice of the particular fabric, and the zipper color.

I then simply created one well-written Etsy listing, and then copied it nine times switching out the title of the listing, the details in that third paragraph, and some of the relevant tags and keywords.

All of the bags cost me roughly the same amount of money to produce, so I only had to figure out an appropriate listing price once. All of the bags also all have the same weight, so I only needed to figure out the shipping cost once.

And viola! I now have ten new Etsy listings that only required one project's worth of set-up time and description writing!

Now, people browsing Etsy will be directed towards my Etsy shop if they search a variety of keywords!

Thank you for reading today's post! I hope that you found it helpful. Until next time, please check out my Etsy store at www.etsy.com/shop/PearTreeStitches

Starting an Etsy Business From Scratch Day 6 - Reducing Excuses and Getting To Work

I am a world famous procrastinator. In college, I was the kind of student, who would wait until 4 pm the day before a 20 page paper was due to sit down and aimlessly browse Facebook for an hour while my roommate nervously asked "Shouldn't you be writing that paper?". "Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine. Don't worry about," was usually my reply. I was partially right. She did not need to worry about it. I always managed to come through, get the seemingly impossible task done and time, and earn a decent grade. However, this also meant giving up sleep, and spending an unbearable amount of time sitting in one spot, banging at my keyboard, while trying to write about a topic that I had lost interest in hours before.  It was always miserable.

I did not want to take this procrastinate - marathon of work - procrastinate pattern of behavior with me on my journey as an Etsy seller. To accomplish this goal, I have implemented a few self-motivation techniques to keep myself on track. Below are two tips that I use to reduce my excuses and get to work!

Tip #1 - Making Lists

Each afternoon, when I have had enough of sewing, photographing, and blogging for the day, I make a list of tasks that I would like to accomplish on my next work day. I write this list on a post-it note and stick it above my workstation.

This way, when I sit down at my workstation each morning, I already know what I need to do. Not knowing where to start is a big source of procrastination for me.  With a list that I created the night before, I can just pick a task and get going with it!

Tip #2 - Improvise!

You are not always going to have every tool that you would ideally like to use on a job. Some things might be too expensive to purchase early in your business, some tools that you only need occasionally might be too large to store at home, and sometimes getting a tool set up might take too long to be practical. When this happens, I decide to improvise!

I'm not advocating for improvising substitute tools that will result in sloppiness or poor craftsmanship, but sometimes you really can get by with a creative alternative.

For example, I do not own an ironing board. In my house, there would be no where to store an ironing board, and it would just be in everybody's way all of the time. Instead, I simply lay a clean towel on the kitchen table and use what I do have!

When I decided to start my business, I also did not have a lot of room to store all the equipment that I would need. So instead, of spending days trying to create the perfect set-up, I repurposed the top half of my bookshelf into a storage rack for sewing notions.

In the past, I would have wasted a lot of time, trying to make sure that I had everything that I might ever need before starting a project. Now, I am learning to use what I do have and solve my problems more creatively. 

So far making a daily list of tasks and improvising have really helped me to stay focused so that I can keep producing adorable items to sell on Etsy!

Thank you for reading today's blog post! I hope that you found these tips helpful. Until tomorrow, please check out my Etsy store at www.etsy.com/shop/PearTreeStitches. Happy crafting! 

Setting Up an Etsy Business Day 5 - Opening a New Shop and Listing Items on Etsy

Today I am going to be talking about opening a shop and listing items on Etsy. Yesterday, I listed my first three items on Etsy! They can be purchased by following this link: www.etsy.com/shop/PearTreeStitches

Luckily, for all of the current and potential Etsy sellers out there, the process of opening a new shop and listing items on Etsy is fairly strait forward.

Step One: Open a Shop and Choose an Etsy Shop Name

To open a shop, you simply need to log into the Etsy account that you use when you are shopping on Etsy. Then scroll to the very bottom of your profile and click the button that says "Open A Shop".

Now it's time to name your shop.  Be careful when choosing the name. You want the name to be short, simple, and easy to spell, so that potential customers that you meet and network with in the real world, can easily find your Etsy shop online. 

I chose to use my Etsy username, "PearTreeStitches" as my shop name. 

Then click "Save", and if your shop name is unique and acceptable, you will be directed to the next page where you can start listing items. 

Step Two: Listing Items on Etsy

Etsy will direct you to a page where you can stock your shop. As of September 16, 2014 the page looks like this:

Click on the plus sign in the box that says "List a new item" and you will be directed to create a new listing. 

Here you will begin to describe the item that you are selling. Try to be as specific as possible to make sure that the shoppers who come across your item while searching Etsy, are the kind of buyers that would potentially buy your item. 

You are allowed to add up to 5 images of your item. The first image will be the thumbnail that will be used throughout Etsy to grab the attention of your shoppers.  Try to make your first image as clear as possible, so that shoppers know what they are looking at. Then add supplemental pictures that show the item's scale, details, and potential uses. 

 As part of the listing process, you are asked to add "Tags". Tags are keywords that shoppers might enter into the Etsy search bar if they are looking for a particular type of item. You are allowed to add 13 tags, and you should definitely utilize all 13 of them.  Use simple terms that describe things about your item, such as size, color, item type, and potential uses.  Think about what you would be entering into a search engine if you wanted to buy something like the item that you are now trying to sell. 

You will be asked to list the price of your item, how many copies of an item you have to sell, and how much you will be charging to ship your item both domestically and internationally. Be sure to actually weigh a sample package and look up accurate shipping costs! See yesterday's post, "Getting Started With Etsy Day 4: How to Estimate Shipping Costs" for more details.

Also, keep in mind that, when an item sells, Etsy takes a 3.5% transaction fee based on the item's price. If you use Etsy's Direct Checkout Service, an additional 3-4% of the total cost (including shipping) will also be taken by Etsy.  Make sure that you are calculating these fees into your price! 

When you are done listing an item, you are given the opportunity to list more items. Every item that you list makes it more likely that a potential buyer will find your Etsy shop.  Listings cost $0.20 and last for four months, so listing ten items to start with would only cost you $2.00.  For my first day as an Etsy Seller, I listed three different humbug bags.

Step Three: Setting Up Your Etsy Shop Financials

Under the "Get Paid" tab, you will be asked to decide whether or not you will use Etsy's Direct Checkout Service. If you decide to do so, you will need to enter the information for the bank account that you want your Etsy profits to be deposited into. 

You will also need to provide account information for how you would like to pay your Etsy fees. As of right now, with three items listed, I owe Etsy $0.60.  On the first of the month, or if my bill reaches $25 USD, Etsy will automatically charge this amount to my credit card. 

Step Four: Open Your Shop!

As soon as you have told Etsy how you would like to be paid, and how you plan to pay your fees, you can open your shop! Be sure to copy the URL and share your shop with your social media networks. You never know if that girl, whom you have not spoken to since high school, has an intense love of flamingos and would want to buy a flamingo humbug bag! 

Well that was a long post, so I will end it here for today. Thank you for reading, and good luck getting your Etsy shop up and running! Until tomorrow, feel free to check out my shop at www.etsy.com/shop/PearTreeStitches!

Getting Started with Etsy Day 4 - How to Estimate Shipping Costs

Today's topic is how to estimate shipping costs before listing items on Etsy. This is an important topic, because if the shipping costs are set too high, people will be reluctant to purchase otherwise inexpensive items. However, if the shipping costs are set too low, the Etsy seller may end up paying for part of the shipping and eating into his or her precious profits!

Here is what I did to estimate my shipping costs.

Step 1: Purchasing My Shipping Containers

My first three Etsy items are all Humbug bags. The medium size bags measure 7.5in x 5.5in and the small size bags measure 5.5in x 4.5in. Luckily, these bags are constructed out of sturdy quilted fabric, so they can be safely flattened for shipping.

Because shipping in the United States is priced based on weight, shape, and size, I wanted to purchase the smallest, lightest shipping container possible that would also keep my item safe during shipping.

I visited Staples and purchased some 8.5 x 11 inch bubble mailers. 

A package of 12 bubble mailers cost me $13.56.  This means that each envelope costs $1.13. I made a note of this price, so that I could add it into to my overall shipping cost estimate.

Step 2: Estimating the Weight of My Etsy Shipments

To estimate the weight of my Etsy shipments, I put together a sample package to weigh on my shipping scale. I placed one item inside one of my bubble envelopes. I also included three sheets of plain white printer paper.  When I ship my Etsy items, I will be including a printed letter-sized receipt.  I also assume that I will be making return address labels on my printer to make my Etsy shipments look more professional.  The three sheets of paper serve to estimate the added weight of a receipt and a shipping label.

I weighed one sample package with a small size humbug bag and one sample package with a medium sized humbug bag and took note of their weights.

Step 3: Estimating Etsy Shipping Costs

Next, I visited the website of the United States Postal Service (http://postcalc.usps.com) to find out how much it would cost to mail my packages both domestically and internationally. 

As of September 16th, 2014 it costs $1.19 to mail a 2 ounce, large-sized envelope from Boston, Massachusetts to San Diego, California through standard Priority Mail. I took this number and added it to the cost of a single bubble envelope. This resulted in a total shipping cost of $2.32. I rounded this number up to the nearest dollar amount, and I was left with a domestic shipping cost of $3.00. 

I repeated this same procedure with international destinations and came up with an international shipping cost of $8.00. 

Now, when Etsy asks me how much I will be charging my customers to ship an item, I have an accurate number to give that is fair to my Etsy customers and my own profit margin! 

I hope this tutorial was helpful! Tomorrow's topics include opening an Etsy shop and listing items on Etsy. In the meantime, please check out my new shop at www.etsy.com/shop/PearTreeStitches! Thanks for reading!

Starting My Etsy Business Day 3 - Product Photography

Today's task was creating product photography so that I can list my items on Etsy.

I own a Nikon D5100 DSLR and I used this camera to take pictures of the bags that I want to sell.  I also have the SmithVector Imagermaker Plus Lighting kit which I used to create a well-lit white background for my product photography.  Below are the steps that I used to get clean, sharp images that will hopefully attract the attention of buyers who are browsing through the many listings on Etsy.

Step 1: Creating a Clean, Professional Background with Good Lighting

I wanted to make sure that there were no distractions in my product photography, so I set up a white pop-up light tent and used a piece of white fabric as the backdrop.  This set-up ensures that the fabric patterns that I used to create the bags really pop-out in the image

I also wanted to ensure that my photos were well lit, so that shoppers could clearly see the details that I worked so hard to perfect when I was creating my products. I used my two Smith-Vector flourescent lamps with reflectors. I placed one lamp on either side of the tent to eliminate shadows in the images and to accurately portray the colors of my products.

Step 2: DSLR Camera Settings for Clear Photographs

(The following section pertains to shooting with a digital SLR camera and assumes that you understand Shutter Speed, ISO, Aperture, and how to adjust these settings on a camera.  If you do not already have a basic understanding of these topics, I suggest skipping to Step 3. To learn what these terms mean and how to adjust them on your camera, I recommend checking out http://improvephotography.com for free tutorials, paid online classes, and an excellent weekly podcast.)

I attached my DSLR to a tripod so that I could take a clear image without any camera shake.  Photographers recommend using a tripod any time shutter speed is set slower than 1/60th of a second, because the human hand simply cannot remain still for much longer.

I set my ISO to 200 to reduce the digital noise in the image. ISO 200 was sufficiant to use with the two fluorescent lights and the slower shutter speed allowed by the tripod.

In Aperture Priority mode, I set my Aperture to f/22 so that every inch of my image would be in perfect focus.

I then zoomed in between 35 mm and 200 mm depending on how close I wanted my detail to be.

I shot all of the images in RAW so that I could use Photoshop Lightroom to adjust the White Balance, Exposure, and Contrast in an effort to make the colors in the digital images closely match the colors of the real life products that my Etsy shoppers will receive.

Step 3: Types of Photographs

For each item, I first created a clear simple image that would accurately portray what my item is.

I then zoomed my lens in to get a macro photograph of the details of each item. 

Finally, I took photos with items in my bags to highlight both the size of my products, and to help Etsy shoppers imagine how they would use my products if they choose to purchase one.

 Small Sewing Bag

Medium Make-Up Bag

So that was my first Etsy product shoot! Now I am off to Staples to by some shipping envelopes so that I can estimate what my shipping costs will be.

Until next time, feel free to follow me on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/people/PearTreeStitches

Thank you for reading!

Creating my Etsy Shop Day 2 - Crafting My First Product

Today I was back at it! I decided that my first Etsy listing was going to be Humbug bags.  Humbug bags are cute little triangular pouches that have a corded handle and a zipper closure.  I made and sold 25 of them back in 2008 at a craft fair.  In 2008, I was using an adorable elephant print fabric that I machine-quilted.

I kept one elephant Humbug bag for myself, and I have been using it to store all of my Gameboy games and accessories since 2008! The bag has held up nicely over the last six years, so I am confident that Humbug bags are a reliable product to start with.

I wanted to make sure that my understanding of the pattern had not rusted too badly since 2008. I decided that I should start by making one single bag, so that if I encountered any logistical problems, I would only have one bag’s worth of seams to rip out. 

I was so glad that I made this decision as I somehow managed to misunderstand the directions and ended up with a Humbug bag with a handle sewn on the inside. Oops! 

Fortunately, I was able to work out the kinks and produce a cute sewing-themed Humbug bag.

I was then off to Jo-Ann fabrics to purchase 9 inch red zippers to make more bags.  While I was in the store, purchasing my zippers for $2.19 each, a woman suggested that I look into a company called Newark Dressmaker Supply. Apparently, they sell sewing supplies, including zippers, at wholesale prices.  I was grateful for this tip and happy to be reminded of how many friendly fellow-crafters there are out in the world! Upon returning home, I requested a catalog from Newark Dressmaker Supply. I will update this blog with my experiences using them as soon as I order something from them.

I was able to use the zippers to make 3 more bags and then call it a day.

So it looks like my next challenges will be creating product photography, listing the items on Etsy, and figuring out how to estimate shipping costs. I guess tomorrow will be a busy Etsy day! 

Feel free to check out my Etsy shop and all of the cat-themed things that I have favorited at www.etsy.com/people/PearTreeStitches