How to Start Selling on Etsy?

Etsy is one of the biggest online marketplaces in the world that sells items like handicrafts, handmade art tools, furniture, home decor, and vintage products over 20 years old. 

It is the best marketplace for those who want to start a small business with a very low budget. Furthermore, Etsy is a place where small business owners can meet their ideal customers because of the millions of people who search for products to purchase with credit cards in hand. 

As an eCommerce store owner, you can look forward to a progressing future for your business if you work on Etsy and know the basic steps to start.

Steps to Sell on Etsy

Let’s have a closer look at the process of setting up and placing products, and selling on Etsy.

1. Create Your Etsy Account

To start an Etsy shop you always start with creating an Etsy account. For that, go to the Etsy website and press create your account button. Fill in the registration form and complete the verification. After that click on the register button. 

You would see a dashboard in front of you. Here’s when you start designing and customizing your shop to make it customer friendly and attractive. 

2. Decide If Etsy Is The Right Marketplace

If you are new to the business and you don’t have enough budget to start your business on Amazon, eBay, or Alibaba then Etsy is the best choice since it is free to sell on Etsy and it is very simple to create your shop. 

There are no long or difficult steps to sell on Etsy like other marketplaces. In case you wish to proceed with the least or no investment at all, you can start with dropshipping and later expand your business as you gain profit with time

3. Open Your Storefront 

Once you create your account, use it to open your storefront. Begin by writing your shop preferences that include the language in which you will sell, and the currency you will charge your customers like dollars, euros, pounds, etc. 

Preferably, you should have an attractive shop name that seems decent yet catchy at the same time. Selecting a name that is friendly with the products you are selling is also a plus. It can be a combination of words and letters but without space.

4. Create and Upload Listings

As soon as you create your Etsy shop, you will be able to start selling items on it. Create your listing and make sure to create a new listing for each of the products that you sell. 

Etsy listings are the visuals you use to sell because people who visit online stores cannot quite clearly see your products. Therefore, to increase your store conversion rate and customer engagement, excellent photography of the product is mandatory. 

5. Upload Products

Once your listings are ready you can add up to 12 high-quality pictures of your product that inspire your customers and attract them so that they buy your products, every picture must be attractive enough to stand against the products sold by other sellers on Etsy. If you scroll down, you can see options to add more information about your products.

• Product Title 
• Category of your product
• Price
• Variations
• Size and color
• Whether it is a physical or digital product
• Product Description

After adding the information your product is ready to upload on your storefront.

6. Choose How Will You Get Paid

Once you upload your listing the next step is to choose the payment methods. On the page, you will be asked to choose how you want to get paid. Select on the individual option if you are running your business alone. But if you are running a team then select incorporated business. 

After that, you have to give your personal information including your name, address, sort code, and bank account information in which you want to receive Etsy revenue.

7. Set Up Billing

The next step, after your account and storefront are ready is to set up a billing method. It is free to create your storefront on Etsy but it costs to sell on Etsy. You’ll be asked to choose a payment method. This is how you will pay to publish your listings on your Etsy storefront. 

It costs $0.20 to publish a listing on Etsy while one listing lasts for four months. If you successfully sell an item, you pay only 6.5% transaction fees on the sale price to Etsy. 

8. Customise Your Etsy Storefront

The final step to open your storefront on Etsy is to customize your profile through the following points:

• You have to upload a profile and a banner photo to show customers yourself, your shop logo, and the images of the item that you are selling in your shop.

• Create a user profile to introduce yourself as a shop manager to the customers. Introduce yourself and answer simple questions like how did you start your business, What is your inspiration to sell on Etsy, and similar information to appear professional.

• Write an “about” of your storefront including information about the products you are selling. Also, apply a nice background to your store.

• Lastly, add your shop policies which include sales and purchase policies, return and exchange policies, privacy policies, delivery method, and delivery fees. The purpose of writing the terms of buying is to keep your customers away from any kind of confusion.

Do’s and Don’Ts of Selling Successfully on Etsy

Here are a few extra tips to be successful on Etsy:

1. Always make the storefront attractive enough to bring customers to the shop. You can do this simply by adding high-quality images, the best product description and details, and reasons to buy from your shop. Remember people always judge a book by its cover. 

2. Alcohol, tobacco, paraphernalia, and all other types of medical drugs are forbidden to sell on Etsy as per Etsy policies. Make sure you abide by Etsy policies otherwise your account will be suspended on legal terms.

3. Its always a plus point if you have carefully read and understood Etsy’s policies

4. Always think like a buyer while you are writing your product description it will help you to make your products attractive to customers.

5. Use easy and most-searched keywords so that your product can be found easily. Search keywords that are related to your product and easy to search by customers use google trends to find such keywords and check them from the density checker.

6. You should be a good storyteller, and give solid reasons that make customers buy your products.

7. Go through other sellers and find their success secrets, find what they have different that you missed.

8. Do publicity of your shop on different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, websites, and other blog platforms.

9. You should always aim to satisfy your customers, be honest, and always be patient. Never give such a point that becomes a reason for bad feedback from the customer.
10. You should connect your Etsy store with third-party tools to optimize your stores and expand your business through Etsy integration

Conclusion 

When you decide to start a business online, you may find a lot of platforms. Some have an edge over others but the only thing that will keep your business running and progressing is consistency. 

There may be bad days and good days for your business but if you lose hope and give up, you can never succeed. On the contrary, if you choose to always stand again after a fall, you can expect great fortune to come your way. 

Etsy is a remarkable eCommerce platform where you start a security business that is free of security risks. Once you start, all you have to do is to keep yourself updated with a few initiating steps and certain perks to help you along your successful journey, and with that, you are ready to go!

Filip Nikoloski

Filip Nikoloski is a Partnership Specialist at Printify. Printify is a transparent print-on-demand and dropshipping platform designed to help online merchants make more money in a simple and easy way.