Etsy: Where Hobbies are Turned into a Business

You’ve been doing things like sketching your family tree, painting with your handprint, and constructing an excellent plane out of paper since you were a kid. Your mother teaches you how to sew your shorts with a hole. You’re sprucing up your old chair by painting it. Even at school, you are creating artistic activities for your art subject. Your artistic talents stay in your thoughts even after you reach adulthood.

And now that you’ve grown up, you want to start your own business but don’t know where to start.

Maybe your artistic skills might help you to your beginning point for a business.

What is Etsy?

Etsy, like the well-known online shopping sites in the Philippines, Shopee and Lazada, is a global online shopping platform that is also available in the Philippines.

This platform focuses on handmade or antique products as well as creative materials. Jewelry, clothing, home decorations, toys & entertainment, art & collectibles, and craft supplies are just a few of the areas in which these things can be found.

Etsy’s website is a great opportunity for artists who has a hobby to sell their works or collections. Whether you’re selling handmade plastic bracelets or hand-painted holiday decorations, opening an Etsy shop is a great way to make money from your skills.

When you create your own personal shops on Etsy, the buyers can search them and see them. So you should thoroughly organize your items and give them a description so that people know how legit your product is.

Like the online shops, they also offer cash on delivery, which is a huge advantage for delivering services, Many buyers don’t have credit or debit cards to link to the online shop, so they just use the other method to pay, which is the cash on delivery method.

How can you make money on Etsy?

As a beginner artist, I want my artwork to be well-known. I attempted to create a presentable digital art of some of my favorite characters, which I then turned into stickers. I want it to sell so I search online if I can sell my artwork and saw a website called Etsy. I just scrolled down and noticed a lot of individuals selling their artwork, which is exactly what I want to accomplish. I noticed printed stickers, hand-painted bags, canvas paintings, and a DIY cup that can be bought by customers. I was so pleased to start my own business, but when I went to register as a seller, I noticed that there was a fee for displaying the products. I was unhappy because I didn’t have any cards to pay the fee at the moment. 

As a friendly reminder, if you want to do something, you must first create a plan, conduct research, and set a budget.  If you are planning to sell products on Etsy, it is important to be sure that your site follows national and international regulations regarding shipping charges and taxes.

When selling on Etsy, you may choose whether your products will be sent domestically or internationally. As a result, many Etsy business owners choose to sell just within domestic shipping because they are concerned about overseas shipment and customs processing.

With these 3 tips, It can help you to make your own Etsy shop easy and marketable, no matter what your ambitions are.

Planning your own shop

Before you create your own online shop, you need to have a unique name for your shop. The name should be catchy, while buyers should be able to tell what you’re selling just by looking at it. If it is handmade items, craft supplies, or services, try to include them in your brand name. Researching can help you in naming your shop. Some brands have the same name as others so be careful when creating yours especially when you are competing with the other shop and producing similar goods or services in the same market.

Sell Your Artistic skills

Having a piece of knowledge of art is a big advantage especially when you are selling on Etsy. You can sell a variety of products on Etsy that are simple to make.  Products and services include:

Handmade Items

• DIY jewels and accessories
• Hand-painted tote bags
• Recycled candles
• Keychains
• Stickers and posters
• Sculptures

Craft Supplies

• Holiday invitation cards
• Party supplies
• Handmade clothes
• Old supplies that don’t really use

Services

In the services, there are seller policies that are strictly important to notice. Only services that result in a new tangible item that satisfies the criteria will be considered to sell. Items in the devices like e-books, logo designs, a game accounts can sell on Etsy because the seller can send the final items in the email or the Etsy messages. The examples are:

• Custom sketchbook/notebook
• Custom art design (logo, clothes, etc.)
• Custom writing

Launching your shop

Don’t get too excited, sweetheart; you need to double-check that all of the ingredients are there before opening your business. Is your brand name catchy? Is your brand name unique? Is it possible for someone to guess what you sell just by looking at your brand name? What about your merchandise? Is the quality of your images satisfactory? Did you provide each product with a description? Is your product priced correctly? Finally, are you ready to open your store?

If you are ready and satisfied with the outcomes, it’s time to launch your shop.

A successful launch will require the use of social media and marketing. This is when “Promotion” comes into play. You may promote your Etsy business on social media in a variety of ways. The following are some examples:

• Joining the Etsy community
• Promoting your shop on your social media (e.g. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter)
• Make Discounts to build customer’s loyalty

Planning to sell on Etsy?

Creating money on Etsy is similar to simply making money in any other small business. It takes dedication, hard effort, and a well-thought-out business strategy. Don’t hesitate to change your method of promoting when you know that it is not helping your business. 

If you want to learn more about how to start a business on Etsy, visit the websites listed below.

Source: https://www.etsy.com/your/shop/create?us_sell_create_value

It’s up to you to decide what happens in your future self. Remember to never give up if you really want to achieve your goals.