Review of Etsy

a jewelry artist's experience with
setting up an Etsy shop

© by Shirley Graves; all rights reserved

My road to Etsy began in fall 2005, when I finally decided to take my passion for jewelry making to the next level and began researching options of selling my handcrafted wares online.

I first began using eBay and realized that it was difficult to compete with the lower priced, mass produced jewelry there. Researching further, I came across an article about a new site called Etsy, which offers only handmade products to buy and sell.

I have been selling on Etsy.com since March 2006 and love the ease of listing my items on my custom storefront there. Below is a list of benefits of using Etsy.com and some tips on setting up and customizing your Etsy shop.

1. Compete with handmade products only
2. $0.20 to list an item and selling fee - 3.5% for each item sold ()
3. Items are listed for 4 months
4. You can upload 5 photos for each listing for free
5. Easily customize your shop including banner, profile and feedback
6. Payments through PayPal
7. No confusing auction. Set and adjust your prices at your discretion
8. Etsy submits your store to Google and Froogle search engines.

The first thing you will need to do is go to www.etsy.com and sign up by clicking on the "register" link at the top of the page.

Hint: Be sure that the profile name you choose is final. This will also be the name of your store. You cannot change your store name once you have created your account.

Once you have completed your registration you will be able to login and begin customizing your shop.

In order to set up your shop you will need to submit your credit card information for billing purposes.

When logged in, at the top of the page you can set up the following under "Your Etsy" tab. You will be able to edit "Public Profile", and upload a small image that will display next to your bio. Then click on "Account Info" to edit your email address, password and billing information.

Now for the fun part...setting up your shop!

Under "Shop Set up" you can modify your shop's appearance, sections, shipping options and payment methods.

Hint: Be sure to use the preferred dimensions for bio picture and banner or you will not be able to upload your images.

Now that you have customized your shop, it's time to start selling. Under the "Items" options click on Add new item:

Step 1 - You will enter the title of your product, choose a category to sell under, enter a description and list of materials used and tags that help shoppers to find your item. NEXT

Step 2 - Choose a top-level category. Add any tags (Any words that do not accurately describe the listing may be removed to ensure the accuracy of our searches.) NEXT

Step 3 - You will enter your price, quantity and shipping information.

Step 4 - You will upload up to four photos of your item. The first image you upload will be the thumbnail shown for your listing.

Step 5 - You will review and post your item.

Etsy uses PayPal for payment acceptance. If you do not currently have a PayPal account, you will want to register. PayPal is a fast and easy way to for you to collect payment, and it's a secure and easy tool for buyers to use.

Overall, Etsy is a fantastic website for you to set up your jewelry store easily, sell with minimal fees, and have a professional looking storefront. For more information, visit www.etsy.com.

Author Shirley Graves' JewlBox website features unique and affordable artisan jewelry. From classic and simple elegance to modern and trendy fashion, JewlBox has something for you. And don't miss Shirley's own Etsy shop, JewlBoxStore.

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