How to open and operate an Etsy shop

Thinking of starting an Etsy shop? This one’s for you! Etsy, the online marketplace for everything, has been growing since 2005 and now has around 4 million sellers worldwide. In this blog, we’ll tell you how to get started, how to operate an Etsy shop, and most importantly - how to stand out from all those sellers.

How to get started

Signing up as a seller for Etsy is completely for free. You’ll have to pay fees for each listing which are 20 cents per item. But there are ways to be resourceful with that.

Let's say you are selling hair bows and got 20 total and they're four different colors. You can create one listing and create drop down in that listing that covers the colors. Then you can take pictures of all of them that people can scroll through. And then that's one listing that you have paid 20 cents for.

When describing your listing, be thoughtful because you only get 150 characters to describe your store. Be thoughtful about the titles and about your customer.

Invest in a camera or if you have a great phone camera that will do to! Any equipment like backdrops, camera, lenses etc. is all tax deductible. The Lunafi app will help you with all things categorizing expenses and setting your tax season up for success!

The algorithm

It takes time for Etsy to learn your shop. It takes time for you to hone your skills and get seen and have your shop favorited, and people leaving comments and reviews. Plan for that when starting out with your Etsy shop!

A great way to promote your business is to start a Pinterest board or any other kind of social media channel like an Instagram. If you are solely relying on Etsy to do all the work and find your potential customer, it’ll take a really long time for you to see success.

How to operate an Etsy shop

Once your items are listed and you described your items in the best possible way, use tags that are similar to Instagram hashtags. Set your price and wait for your first sale!

When you make the sale, there's a couple different things that can happen. If it's a tangible item you'll get notified and the payment system in the backend will pay you. Etsy takes their cut.

Adding shipping to the sales price and offering free shipping is also a great way to stand out. Etsy supports with labels and shipping methods.

If you have a digital sale and your product will just be a download from an email, you’ll get a notification that the sale went through and then the email will automatically be sent to the customer.

Etsy is a great platform to discover avenues for selling your product. If you aren’t ready for a whole Shopify integration yet - Etsy is your way to go!

Maggie started her Etsy account in 2015 where she started out with finished items. Now her shop is primarily focused on selling knitting patterns.