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Thread: Where Do You Sell
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10th February 2015, 05:03 AM #1
Where Do You Sell
Do any of you guys sell your walking sticks and canes on Etsy?
I created an Etsy site to sell some of the walking sticks and canes, however I'm not sure how to promote the Etsy store.
Any suggestions?
I sell on my website, but I'm looking for other places to sell, as I make many more walking sticks and canes than I can sell.
Any help would be appreciated.
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12th February 2015, 04:30 AM #2
I sell my carvings on ETSY. Contact me off-line for details and tips on how to promote.
Claude
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18th February 2015, 07:31 AM #3SENIOR MEMBER
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I know a lot of artists who are pulling out of Etsy because they changed the way their search priority works, now even constant relisting(& paying again & again !) doesn't get you to the top of the list anymore.
Just like early Ebay, participants get ever greater in number & search algorithms & rules of engagement get changed in favour of the multi millionaire owners making even more money.
At one time Etsy only allowed arts & craft people to sell their own handmade wares, nowadays you can have a sweatshop in China with employees hand making the goods & Etsy is happy to take their money.
It ain't what it was & the smart money has moved on.
I don't now of a similar viable alternative site for you to try but selling art & craft on the net is fraught with many difficulties , aside of the facts of massive & global competition, there are some fundamental flaws about relying on "searches" to link you up to customers.
Most art & craft purchases are not planned - so a search is rarely entered ! Much more typical is the person who sees your work & although they didn't plan on any purchases ......buy it because they were charmed by it's appeal.
So unless you are on a site with similar high quality art & crafts BUT with only a smaller number of sellers (like early Etsy) , people aren't going to browse for days to find you.
The competition to be on page 1 is either too expensive to justify the expenditure or pointless because a art & crafts customer didn't even know they were going to make a purchase so weren't looking in the first place !
Although there's a lot of hype about the opportunities or artist/craftsmen on the web, much of it is by folk who have a vested interest ie. something to sell. Certainly have a web site - think of it like a brousure or shop window but one that nobody will ever see ! you've got to push people towards it somehow.
Some people write blogs with useful info or entertainment value, others use social media although both these methods are not half as good as they once were , you could thrash both methods for a year & see little or no result for your (not insubstantial) efforts .
In my opinion the best place to promote an arts & crafts website is offline , business cards, leafleting, exhibitions, local market places, free exposure in the local press, maybe consider paying for adverts in the right type of magazine - even the classified can at least pay or itself & doesn't carry too large a risk. Get creative about making your own local opportunities , Run a competition with one of your sticks as a prize - get it in the local press , Give a stick or two away to "famous" or well known people you know your own local scene best.
Well that's my take on marketing anyway, one thing for certain - it sure isn't easy !
Mike
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26th February 2015, 10:04 AM #4SENIOR MEMBER
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Here look at this http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show...readid=1373600
Artists & craftsmen are deserting etsy in their droves.
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26th February 2015, 07:04 PM #5GOLD MEMBER
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Mike that was a great post about selling your stuff! Well done. I completely agree that selling good quality stuff online is pretty well a waste of time. No doubt someone will argue in defense of it.
My best sellers are galleries be they Art or Craft or both. Experience has shown that you usually need as many good ones as you can if you have bread and butter type items you are trying to sell. It also is good if you can convince them to buy your product up front and forget about the pay on consignment basis. Really good galleries will do this if you have a proven product. Sometimes you have to start on the consignment basis, but if they start regularly selling your item then it's a good idea to insist on the buying upfront method.
Of course things are changed if you are trying to sell really expensive(more arty than crafty items). Then you cannot expect to be paid upfront.
Understandably, It's too much of a gamble for the outlet.
In my opinion it is getting your work sold that is the most important thing, as this is my living.
If it's more of a hobby then the whole sales thing does not matter that much.
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7th March 2015, 11:06 PM #6SENIOR MEMBER
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Hmmm.... Etsy announced that it was going public yesterday & the shares will be available in a couple of weeks - So that was the reason for their recent changes to maximize profits while greatly diminishing their usefulness to the small scale artist/craftsman - to increase the floatation price of the shares.
It built it's reputation by offering genuinely handmade work - then allowed factory produced work which totally undermines their ethos & the very reason why customers use to go there !
Well I shall not be selling there anymore & customers will not bother with the place much longer. Needless to say I shall not be buying any of their shares either !
What a sad example of modern business practice , make a quick buck get out.
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