How to Sell on Etsy – Part One

Thanks to Lisa for submitting this guest post. If you have considered selling anything homemade, give Etsy a try in addition to selling on eBay.

Etsy is a terrific venue if you sell handcrafted items or craft supplies because Etsy is limited to just those categories. You have the advantage of a very targeted audience!

The down-side – the competition is quite fierce. Exceptional photos, unique, high quality items and creative marketing are your keys to success.

Below you will find the “basics” for getting started on Etsy.

An Esty shop is free. Shop set-up is fairly straightforward and Etsy makes it even easier by walking you through the process.

Once you have set up your shop, you can begin listing items. There are no auctions on Etsy.

The cost to list an item is 20 cents. If you have multiple of the same item, the cost is 20 cents per item, not per listing. Your listing is active for 4 months.

When an item sells, Etsy’s take is 3.5% of the selling price.

Sellers can accept Paypal, checks, money orders and any other forms of payment the seller has access to.

Feedback on Etsy is similar to eBay with the only exception being that sellers can leave negative feedback for buyers.

You can market your listings several ways on Etsy. Some are free and others come at a cost. There is no seller email marketing available on Etsy which makes social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) extremely important marketing tools for Etsy sellers.

Billing on Etsy is monthly. Paying your bill is an easy manual process through Paypal. Etsy does not provide automatic withdrawal for bill payment.

Part One of How to Sell on Etsy should answer most of your basic questions and help you get started (etsy.com). Stay tuned for more details on marketing your Etsy shop and exciting tips and tricks for selling success in Part Two of How to Sell on Etsy.


Click here to visit Lisa's Etsy shop.

If you would like to submit a guest post, follow these guidelines and send it to me at ebaycoach@yahoo.com.

Limit your post to 300 words.
Topic must address selling online, eBay, or other helpful eCommerce tip.
Include a link to your website, blog, eBay store, Etsy store, etc.

Happy Selling!