So I've had a small etsy store up and running for nearly six months now. And while I've had a few favourites, I've sold exactly jack shit. This doesn't help my depression and anxiety, who until yesterday night were actually stopping me from listing anything else because what's the point people won't buy it anyway, you're just wasting your time and money, right? Anyway. I've lowered my prices - apparently £30 is too much to ask for a necklace that has real semi-precious gem beads and took me over 40 hours to make. (And don't say it's not unless YOU'RE willing to pay that for it :/) I could really use the money, but brainweirds keep me from bothering people about it asking for help ^^;;; Idk. just. Any concrit would be appreciated, but I'm already fighting really hard not to fall back in the pit of 'what I make is terrible everyone hates it I'm a horrible person. Be gentle, yeah? The shop's here, if you wanna look.
Smaller, lower priced items to get interest. Monster is a rock hound (gem and mineral geek). When he started his business of buy/sell/trade he only offered his best stuff - got no hits. He added stuff he thought wasn't really worth dealing - interesting bits but not valuable. People looked at his stuff, bought the little 10$ emeralds and rubys. Gained attention and reputation for delivering what he said he was selling. People now spend thousands on rocks he offers because he has a reputation.
It was only about 5 years ago when he was doing the 10$ little sales, not "way back when the economy was functional".
Etsy is really hard to break into without a lot of self promotion and luck. One suggestion: I don't think the pictures of your jewellery are doing it justice, is it possible to take some new photos of your items? There's definitely a style of photography that's favoured by the successful shops. Usually it's a sharp, high def photo of the jewellery on a neutral pale background. If you can convince shoppers that you're already one of the successful and pro shops then they'll be more likely to buy something. That's the logic behind putting a handful of change in your instrument case when busking.
As you can probably tell from my pictures, I know jack squat about photography and I don't think I have the funds to ask a professional to help - I might have a couple of friends who can give me pointers, though
If you have a friend with an iPhone 6, their cameras are supposed to be very good! They do nearly all the work for you. I'm certainly no photographer, but bright natural lighting is good, and when taking pictures of small things it's better to take a high-res picture from further away and zoom in than to take a picture from up close, which can give you distortion. This isn't going to fix the Problem of Etsy, but people are generally more likely to pay more and to give your shop a chance if the pictures fit the Etsy pro aesthetic. But in general it is just really hard work getting people on the internet to buy things, and the people I know who are successful spend at least as much time promoting their shops as they do creating. It's not you, it's us.
For pics, Monster says put the object in a white enclosure as much bigger than the object as you can make. Put lights to either side at angles that make minimal shadows. The best is to use a translucent tent and have very bright lights on the sides to light the whole thing. The point is to make the object brightly lit with no other things to distract the eye (and he's been dealing with two very easily distracted autistics forever :). Since shadows are still going to happen, make sure they are NOT on the best features of the object. And beware of "bright spots" where the shiny part you want to showcase becomes just a white glare ( the reason for the lights being to the sides ). Also - try to make a site on a place like mix.com or GoDaddy and reference it in nearly every post you make on the internet. Even Facebook allows you to reference your own sites as long as the posts aren't blatant advertising.
Thankyou for everyone's advice! £5 is decent starting price for a pair of earrings, right? I'll post some pics for scrutiny in le mornings :)
Okay so I've uploaded an album to tinypic for you guys to look at and crit. I did use the lightbox thingie - masking tape and large enough white card go a ways if you're handy enough, but just photographing the things on their own with no background was unbearably dull for me, so I got Artistic. Hope they still look like clear enough to go on etsy :P The album is here - http://tinypic.com/a/azgks4/1
I PERSONALLY really like the stones but it's not necessarily the most Clean Sleek Professional and if that is the image you seek, dull plain photos are the way to go. One of the things I would recommend however: Make the picture that shows in the search results one of the more interesting ones (like the ones with the stones) and then ALSO have some of the sleek plain ones so people can see details?
OH HEY, look what arrived in the mail! (I apologize for the way my hair ate the necklace, I was rushing out the door to a choir concert) I love it!
SAFJKJLKLJKLJK THANKYOU!! I had no idea someone on here bought Sugilite! :D I'm glad you like it and it looks awesome on you!!
i don't know a lot about jewellery but your prices seem fine to me! maybe even a little low but i get the whole "lower ur prices until someone notices you" thing which... sucks but u do what u gotta do. def following for when i need to get my mum something for xmas :3 EDIT: do you have a twitter or facebook or something for ur jewellery making?
https://www.facebook.com/bijoubestiary/ It's a deserted wasteland, though - I don't have the spoons to update it when I update it alongside my etsy, so it's pretty much only good for contacting me for commissions, I think.
@Sol are you still interested in commissioning me for christmas because the tock is ticking there? ALSO JUST REMINDING EVERYONE I HAVE THIS GDOCS FOLDER FULL OF PICTURES OF MY STUFF THAT HAS NOT YET MADE IT TO ETSY PLEASE LOOK.
I took an approximate equivalent to a photography minor! (Aka 2 years in art high school wherein I spent 2-3 hours a day in a photography/video class) I'm on my phone right now but I can try and gather some photography resources and tips for you tomorrow or later today! I understand spoons are a huge issue but the main way I've seen for people to get sales is to just keep advertising your stuff.. Good luck!
I don't wear jewellery, so sorry, no sale here, but your stuff is gorgeous! I'm trying to make an Etsy too, maybe we could network?
