I have made the decision to shut down my Etsy shop. I’ve had the shop for a little over a year now and I’ve never sold a thing. Now, granted, I haven’t had a lot of things listed, but I couldn’t justify adding more products, paying the listing fees (and relisting fees), only to have a total of 7 people even stop by.
I know there are a lot of people who have made a fortune selling on Etsy. I’m so proud of them. I wish I could have become one of them, but no such luck. I would have been happy if I could have only sold a couple of items. But again, nada.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I really like Etsy. I just can’t continue paying the listing fees if I’m not making anything. I’ve opened a shop through Bonanza.com and I’m happy with it. Not because I’m doing better, financially, but because it doesn’t cost me any listing fees. I’ll have to pay a fee if I sell anything, but I can deal with that.
On Etsy, I was selling some of my handmade gift tags, which I’m also doing on Bonanza. I also sold digital items. That’s about the only thing I can’t sell at my new shop. But that’s okay. Unlike Etsy, I can sell other physical items through my shop. I have some vintage Christmas brooches of my mother’s I want to sell. It’s like Etsy and Ebay had a baby.
I have to be honest, I never really put a lot of effort into the marketing aspect of using Etsy. I’ve never been very good at advertising myself. I’m still learning how to go about it without spending a ton of money. Why spend a bunch of money in an attempt to make a fraction of it back? It just doesn’t make any sense (cents) to me.
As for my digital items, I’m moving them to my Gumroad account. I’ve used Gumroad for a couple of years now and they’re okay, but it’s still not a great place as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure there are those out there who would disagree, but it hasn’t been a winner in my book. I will continue to use them and give them a chance. Again, it’s probably more about my lack of marketing ability.
As time goes by, I’ll give updates on what I’ve found that works and what doesn’t. I really enjoy using Bonanza and have had more people stop by that shop in only a couple of months than I did the whole time I was on Etsy. I have no regrets in trying Etsy, it just isn’t for me.
So, what about you? Are you using Etsy to sell your handmade items, or do you have a different site? Are you making any sales? What are your tricks? I’d love to hear about them or any other suggestions you might have.
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your time and I wish you all the good things this world has to offer.
Until next time,
Stay Creative!!!
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Christine Graves has been writing for more than 30 years. She runs several blogs including Priestess of Words, Collected Keepsakes, and Mystic Realms, all of which are part of her company, Graves Publications. She also writes for a platform called Medium.com, in which she runs a few publications.
Christine is also an avid crafter and multi-media artist. She runs two online stores. Prairied Treasures is where she showcases her handmade greeting cards and other multi-media art, and Pathways through the Past is where she sells her AI art creations on a wide variety of products.
If you’d like to stay up to date with everything she’s got going on, you can sign up for her Graves Publications newsletter.