Selling on Etsy

I love Etsy. I can spend hours browsing the beautiful art work and kitschy creations. I've bought a fair share of things from some very talented people. Most of my purchases are things that I can't make on my own or it's something that just amused me to death.

But now I'm trying to venture into becoming a seller, not just a shopper. The competition is fierce. Some sellers have turned their Etsy shop into a full time gig. They advertise online through blogs, Facebook, Twitter... you name it. They devote hours upon hours to their artwork and crafts. I want to be one of them. I just have this whole 40+ hour a week job thing I have to deal with.

I tried once before about a year ago. I make greeting cards for coworkers birthdays and everyone has always really liked them. I started getting special requests and before you know it, I was turning out orders for 100+ wedding invitations. I had a boost of confidence in my talents and decided to sell my wares on Etsy. I listed about 50 cards and managed to sell two of them. It wasn't a successful venture to say the least.

After looking at the tons and tons of the paper crafts I was in competition with, it's obvious that the card market is a wee bit over-saturated on Etsy. I've noticed that the successful sellers were full time wedding invitation producers or they work with antique and custom letterpress. Neither of which I have the time or resources for.

I've decided to give it a second go but instead of selling exclusively cards, I thought it would be a good idea to "branch out" so to speak. I've picked up jewelry making (which I LURVE!!) and I'm starting to dabble in fabric and sewing some. I also figure that it would be a good way to liquidate a bunch of the jewelry and flowers piling up around my bedroom. My re-vamped shop now contains items from all of my crafting obsessions.

I really hope to have better luck selling this time around and so far things are looking positive. I've already had a request for a custom order and I've only have my new items listed for a few days. Definitely a good sign!