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Just a decade ago, selling your products online was a huge hassle, but thanks to Etsy, it has become very easy. You can have your Etsy shop set up and running in a matter of minutes.

Etsy.com is a marketplace for artisans and handmade entrepreneurs to sell their work. Etsy handles the front end, which means order and payment processing, and you focus on producing and shipping out the orders.

Therefore, if you ready to sell on Etsy here is how you can get started.

How to Set Up Your Etsy Shop

Setting up your Etsy shop is a pretty easy and quick process. There are just a few things you will need to do in advance. So follow these steps and you’ll have an Etsy shop set up in no time.

1. What to Sell on Etsy

Ah, what to sell. Let’s say that you wish to sell your fine art photographs on Etsy. Great. Now, how do you want to sell your photographs and by this I mean, do you want to sell prints, on canvas, digital, etc? What about feature-wise? Do you want to sell 8×10, 11×14, black and white, etc.? See where I’m going? There are lot of product decisions to make, but you can Quickly Add Products to Your Etsy Shop.

Therefore, before you decide what to sell in your Etsy shop, you have to look at what the competition there is currently selling and make sure you have covered all of your product’s features, attributes and formats, and then some in order to have a unique competitive advantage.

You may find out that you are entering a very saturated market on Etsy, with competition from millions of established sellers. Don’t get discouraged. Etsy does give some preference on the first page of search results to new shops, and the online world is very large. If you can find your own niche to carve out, you will do fine. It does help to look at What to Sell on Etsy: List of 80 Top Sellers.

You can also find ideas for what to sell by looking at Etsy’s Popular Now Searches. 

2. Choose an Etsy Shop Name

This is a tricky one because it is not that easy to change your Etsy shop name after you have registered it. You will want to keep your Etsy shop name short, descriptive of what you sell, easy to spell, easy to say and most of all, memorable! Once you establish a reputation, some customers will enter your shop name in the Etsy search box, and unless it is the exact spelling, you will not come up.

3. Determine Your Prices

Pricing your Etsy products correctly is always one of the hardest parts of the Etsy shop set up. The biggest thing to remember is to account for your labor, and then add in your costs, which include materials, shipping and marketing. Then, again, you have to look at other competitive Etsy shops and make sure that you are covering all of your costs plus a reasonable 40 to 60% markup, and that this final price that you arrive at is still competitive. Otherwise, it might not be worth your while.

For example, if you decide to sell gold necklaces on Etsy for $18 each, and one necklace takes you an hour to make, then you are essentially paying yourself $18 an hour less material costs, less shipping costs, less packaging, less Etsy fees (see below), less marketing costs, less other business expenses. Make sure that this arrives at an hourly wage you desire, or you will find yourself working really hard to make no money.

Etsy charges a 20-cent listing fee per item, as well as 5% of the sale price. There is no monthly fee on Etsy, so your shop can sit dormant and it will not cost you any money.

You will need to also set up a PayPal account as many people do like to pay this way. However, this does mean that you will pay PayPal 2.9% of the price plus a 30-cent transaction fee.

Now, another thing to consider for your Etsy pricing strategy is to avoid making one of the biggest mistakes people always make on Etsy. This is pricing your items ridiculously low because you think this is what makes people buy. It isn’t. You have to make money at the end of the day, otherwise it is not going to be worth it.

4. Have Inventory to Sell

Before opening your Etsy shop, you will have to have inventory on hand, for a variety of reasons. First of all, you will need product photos (see next point) and you can’t take photographs unless you have a physical product to shoot.

Also, customers expect fast shipping and fast delivery. If you are going to take 4 to 6 weeks to even make the product before you ship it, you will not likely make a lot of sales. Therefore, you need to have inventory on hand in your Etsy shop and make sure that your production process is flawless, your materials are readily available, extra labor is trained and you are ready to go just in case you get a flood of orders.

5. Take Product Photos and Videos

One vital key to your Etsy shop set up is to have amazing products photos because they do most of the sales job. The key is to always shoot your product photos in natural light and use a flash. Make sure you give a 360 view of the product and zoom in on special features. You can post up to 15 pictures per product, so use each Etsy product photo like an ad to sell the product. This includes adding headlines that point out key features.

6. Have an Etsy Shop Logo Designed

You need brand identity because you are competing with millions of other sellers on Etsy and you want people to remember your shop. Otherwise, they will just remember that they bought it on Etsy. There are many graphic artists already selling on Etsy that will create a logo for you very affordably.

7. Have an Etsy Shop Banner & Avatar Created

You will also need a shop banner and an avatar. Again, lots of awesome graphic designers selling on Etsy who can create one for you for little cost. Make sure it incorporates your logo and shop name. A lot of people use their logo as their shop avatar as well.

8. Write Your Product Descriptions

This can be a challenge, but you need to tell customers the features and benefits of your products, so write you will want to write product descriptions that sell. Try to stick to point form as the new Etsy layout features the description in the side bar, and point form makes it a little easier to read. Do not go on and on and on as people will not read a long drawn out description. You want to give them the facts, create a desire to buy, add a little personality and then end with a call to action.

9. Set up Your Etsy Shop Account

Go to Etsy.com and set up your official account. Etsy will guide you through it as it is not a difficult or complicated process. Other than your shop name, everything else you fill in is not carved in stone and can easily be changed at any time, so don’t worry if the information is not perfect. You have plenty of time to edit and perfect.

10. Set Up Payment Methods

You have to choose the type(s) of payments you’ll accept. Etsy Payments is the most popular option on Etsy as it allows you to accept credit cards, debit cards, and more. You can even accept Etsy gift cards, which I highly recommend as lot of people give these as gifts and customers want to redeem them. It doesn’t cost you anything.

I also recommend a PayPal account as so many customers use it and trust it. If you don’t have a PayPal account you can get one for free at PayPal.com.

11. Set Up Your Etsy Shipping Process

Shipping can be a little complicated. The best way to start is to determine your average USPS shipping cost is to base it on the longest domestic and foreign points. However, Etsy is pro free shipping, so you will likely have to offer this and then just work the shipping cost back into your prices as so many Etsy sellers do.

Make sure that you package your products for safe transport and consider the cost involved as boxes and heavy items will cost a lot more to ship, eating into your profits. You also want to make sure to have your brand / shop identity on all packaging and shipping packaging as well.

12. Set up Your Etsy Shop Listing Descriptions

Go into your Etsy dashboard and then select the Listing Manager. For each product you sell you will want their own listing with their own specific url that Etsy assigns. You will write a listing title (140 characters), add a product description (no character limit), add up to 15 product photos and then adding 13 tags for SEO, each 20 characters or less.

Then you will need to select the correct product category, select all of the correct attributes, fill in the price, add the shipping method, preview to make sure it all looks good and then hit “Publish”. Again, it is not permanent, you can go in and edit at any time. By the way, I do offer an Etsy Product Description Writing Service.

13. Fill in Your Etsy About Page

Customers want to know who they are buying from so in this section, called your Etsy About page, post a personal photo of yourself and a short bio, written in the first person, about why you started your Etsy store and why people should be comfortable buying from you. You can also add links here to your blog, website and social media pages.

14. Fill in Your Etsy Return Policy

This is so important as customers have stated that they will not buy from an Etsy shop that does not have a return, exchange and refund policy filled in. Most sellers will state that a customer has anywhere from 10 to 30 days to ask for a refund or exchange, and you can even state that you will not accept refund, returns or exchanges, this is completely up to you depending on the nature of the product. Definitely use Etsy’s automated return policy for the best success and, again, they walk you through it.

15. Start Marketing Your Etsy Shop

This is a big one. If you rely completely on Etsy to bring you all of your customers, you will not get the most out of your Etsy experience. Your Etsy shop traffic needs to be a balance from Etsy search, Google search, social media, advertising, email marketing, publicity and content marketing. A good marketing planner will help you make sure to cover all of the tactics. I also have some Quick and Easy Etsy Tips.

Great, now you’re ready to sell. Let’s see what else you need to know.

Tips for Etsy Shop Success

While it is not difficult to get an Etsy store up and running, having it be successful is a completely different animal. Below are my quick tips (I have many more Etsy Success Tips) to help your Etsy business get off to the best start.

1. Master Etsy SEO

Now, the Etsy search engine is not like Google or other search engines, it is definitely its own algorithm. Plus, it changes fairly frequently. If you are completely new to it, my Etsy SEO guide will walk you through it.

But how you write your Etsy titles and tags is extremely important as to whether or not your listings will rank well in Etsy search results when customers enter a search phrase, such as “gold necklace for women“.

The current algorithm tends to like exact word order, and repetition of main keywords at least twice seems to still be what is working best.

However, keywords are just one part of the equation. Offering free shipping does impact Etsy SEO whereby Etsy has said that it will give preference in ranking to shops that offer it. Listings that have a high sales conversion rate, the Etsy “Best Seller” or “Etsy’s Pick” distinction, and listings that ship in 1 to 3 days will also rank higher.

There are also Big Changes Ahead for Etsy SEO, so you need to be up on this topic as well.

2. Take Quality Product Photos

As I said, great photos will sell your products so much easier, plus you will stand out better in the very competitive Etsy search results. Issues such as proper lighting, being in focus, and aesthetics all play a part. A lot of sellers like to use photo mockups, and you can buy them from sellers on Etsy.

Here are some examples of 4 Etsy Shops with Great Product Photography. Plus, superior quality photos will really help your shop to get noticed by Etsy merchandisers and social media managers in hopes they use your photos in their newsletter and on their social media sites.

3. Have Superior Product Quality

It goes without saying, product quality should be a number one concern. You never want to risk a poor review because you didn’t cover all the bases. So use only quality materials, test your product with a test group before launching, and constantly read your Etsy reviews for feedback from your customers to make any necessary adjustments. It will also help to Improve Your Clickthrough on your Etsy Photos in Search Results. 

4. Offer Superior Customer Service

Superior customer service goes a long way, not only in making the sale but in getting repeat business from your customers. Offer to answer questions, and do so quickly, and always find a way to resolve any problems or issues. Here are some of The Biggest Mistake Etsy Shops Make.

Finding Success on Etsy

My best selling plan, Etsy 30-Day Success Plan will give you hundreds of tips and tactics, organized in a 30-day plan, that will help drive more traffic and sales.

Opening an Etsy shop is not a guaranteed home run. It takes time, effort and following all of the tips I gave you here. But when it works, owning an Etsy store is a great way to earn a living. Whatever you do, Don’t Become This Type of Etsy Seller.

Believe it or not, it should take too long until you make your first sale. There is always someone who will take a chance on a brand new Etsy shop. Just be patient, stay the course and in no time you could be a top Etsy seller!

© 2022 Gail Oliver. All Rights Reserved. Etsy shop set up.