The sale of handmade products is gaining momentum all over the world. Having mastered the handmade business in their own country, craftsmen often plan to enter the international market. How to do this correctly and effectively?

Ukrainian platform for selling designer products Crafta.ua in a year and a half it became the most visited handmade marketplace in the country. And the most popular selling platform in the world remains Etsy.com. November 10 at the EVO officeE-Export schoolfrom Ukrposhta held a training event on promotion on Etsy.We have collected 10 tips that will help Ukrainian handmade artists create and promote their store on Etsy.

Fill in all possible fields

After creating your store, go through all the tabs and fill out every available field, upload photos wherever required.

“Etsy search is configured in such a way that products from stores in which all information is filled out are displayed in the search above.” - reportedKaterina Vitkovskaya,one of the event speakers and an expert on promotion on Etsy. The same must be done with each product.

Remember SEO

To ensure that potential customers find your products when they search, use keywords in the title and description of the store, as well as in the title and description of each product. Main keywords must be placed in the Shop title. This text will appear as a title in search engines. The names of store sections are equated by search engines to the main keywords, so do not forget to use popular queries in them.

Katerina also recommends adding all of the possible 13 tags in the settings of each product, but be sure to pay attention to their quality. Two online services can help with this - etsyrank.com and Marmalead.com. Then select the main tag and use it in the title and description of the product.

Collect contacts

Co-founder of the SanatiFactoryofJoy projectAlexander Radicrecommends collecting contacts after any interaction with a new user.

“After a new person likes our store page, I send him a message thanking him and inviting him to subscribe to our newsletter and social media pages and give him a discount coupon.”

Use multiple channels

The more points of intersection a user has with your store, the higher the chance that he will become your client. Send email newsletters with news and promotions, use groups on social networks to remind you about yourself, work with opinion leaders.

For example, popular Instagram bloggers post about 200 posts every month with bookmarks of the Ukrainian brand MyBOOKmark, thereby fueling the audience’s interest in the product.

Understand the settings for paid promotion of products within the site: it will not take much time, but will help raise the selected products to the top search positions on the platform. The success of paid promotion will depend on what strategy you choose and how carefully you work on the SEO component of your products.

Etsy has the ability to create coupons for discounts or free shipping and run sales - use it to increase sales in your store.

Follow the leaders

Compare stores with a large and small number of orders. Look for differences in photos, titles, descriptions and conditions between successful and not so successful sellers. Follow the best and implement the best options in your store.

Save time

Try to optimize all processes - from ordering materials and creating products to sending the order. Select the most popular customer questions and save templates with answers to them.

Follow the trends

Use popular colors, themes or characters in your products. Follow the updates in the Etsy Trends section, look for new trends on thematic resources and take them into account when creating new products.

How to deliver?

Take care in advance about how you will send orders from Ukraine to other countries. Cost and delivery times are another factor that influences whether a buyer from the US or Europe will order your products.

Among all delivery services, Ukrposhta still has the most favorable rates for international deliveries. The exact cost can be calculatedon the Ukrposhta website , you can also track the shipment there. Depending on the destination, delivery lasts from 7 to 21 days. Before submitting your order, please ensure that you have packaged it securely and protected it from possible damage during transportation.

How to accept payment?

Another issue that needs to be resolved before you create and populate your store is how you will accept payments and withdraw funds.

To safely withdraw funds in Ukraine, you can use the services of intermediaries, for example, Westernbid or Seller-online . All conditions and tariffs can be found on the official websites of the systems.

On the American handmade marketplace Etsy.com, demand for a product depends on the correct wording of English-language tags in the title and description of the product. And also - from the coincidence of your product with the Western trend, with the tags that are being massively requested at the moment. What queries are entered into Etsy’s internal search most often, how certain concepts are formulated there – and, moreover, which of the mass queries are characterized by weak competition on the site – the site offers to find out

Top Etsy queries: why this is important for a handmade seller to know

Why explore popular Etsy searches? Firstly, to replenish your handmade assortment. The fact is that in the West there are traditional gifts in constant demand - but some of them are little known in Eastern Europe. It is quite possible that these products are produced using techniques that you know or can master.

For example, one of the most popular Etsy requests of any season is "wedding guest drop box" or "guest book with hearts":

How many Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs are familiar with this wedding tradition, this product? Meanwhile, as can be seen in the photo, such a product would not be difficult for domestic craftsmen working with wood, plywood, and chipboard. And here is proof of this: the photo shown is a product of the Kharkov Etsy seller MiraculousGiftsUA.

Such traditional “there”, but little-known “here” There are dozens of handmade products.

And besides permanent traditions, the West constantly observes a whole series of temporary fashions and product trends - some of which also do not reach Eastern Europe and Central Asia or do not gain such popularity here.

Let's take the super popular ones now "bun beanie"(“ponytail cap” – a winter girl’s hat with a hole for a hairstyle tail) or "mom messy hat"(“Mommy’s sloppy hat” is the same bun beanie, only “adulter”: for women with a ponytail of thick long hair).

On Etsy, these hats sell like hot cakes to craftswomen in winter - but few here have heard of them. But still, we have these few: in the photo - the goods of the Kharkov Etsy craftswoman Marina Rozhnova, the MysteryOfFields store:

So, for mass sales of handmade goods on Etsy, tracking such trends is promising. Perhaps you could sell some of these products too.

The second important nuance for Etsy is verbal. Without living in the West for several years, it is very difficult to guess the most popular tags in the West by which they usually search for your product.

After all, searching for products on this site is such a high-quality spoken English that you can master “with dictionary” and “Google translate” unrealistic.

Of course, there is a simple way out of this situation: find on Etsy more Western sellers of products in the same technology as yours, who have a lot of sales - and borrow tags from them. Moreover, not all tags are better, but those for which there is the least competition on the marketplace.

However, this proposal is only easy to write, but to effectively carry out the said work - and even with the subsequent elimination of tags by which no one has visited you for many days, and replacing them with some new tags - all this will “cost” you tens and hundreds of man hours, months at the computer.

That is why the top requests on Etsy presented in this article can serve as a vivid example, or even a guide, for sellers on this site. From the given keywords you can get an impression of both “what people search for and buy on Etsy” and “how in the West some things are formulated and called.”

Before studying keywords, we suggest you study a short video by Margarita Sunderland, the leader of the community “Etsy. School of Successful Sales",about how such data was obtained and what to do with it:

High frequency queries with the lowest competition

The data shown here is Etsy bulk queries.

Top 15 catalog search queriesEtsy. comwith the smallest number of offers on the site (up to 2 thousand offers)for the first six months of 2019:

1. tight cocktail dress
2. slime shop (glaze set)
3. toddler busy board (board for developing hand motor skills)
4. women just do it (feminine - with the inscription “just do it”)
5. activity board (same as point 3)
6. dainty personalized ring
7. hooded crochet blanket (knitted blanket with a hood)
8. montessori book (book for babies)
9. mom messy hat (hat with a hole for hair)
10. focus toy (puzzle)
11. wedding guest drop box (guest book for weddings)
12. moana birthday costume (birthday costume “Moana”)
13. anniversary gifts for boyfriend keychain (relationship anniversary gift)
14. custom coordinates bar necklace (rectangle pendant with coordinates)
15. open back bridal gown (dress with an open back)

High-frequency queries with average competition

Now let’s demonstrate examples of queries that are no less widespread than the ones above. Such offers for which there were much more (2-10 thousand products) on the Etsy marketplace, moderately many (10-30 thousand products) and very many (30-60 thousand results).

Some of the top Etsy.com directory search queries with mid-range offers (2-60K results) for the first six months of 2019:

2-10 thousand results:

1. dog portrait watercolor (dog portrait in watercolor)
2. floating shelf decor (ready-made composition of things)
3. resume templates
4. if you can read this (socks with the inscription “if you can read this...”)

10-30 thousand results:

1. bun beanie (winter hat)
2. bralette (loose-fitting bra)

30-60 thousand results:

1. coming home outfit (clothing for newborns)
2. prom dress (prom dresses)

High-frequency queries with maximum competition

And finally, let's take a quick look at the keywords with the most competition - let's evaluate the Etsy segments with the greatest amount of both supply and demand.

To enter the first page of search results for free using these words below is an incredible difficulty. Hundreds of thousands of products are optimized for each of them on the site. And a huge number of them are promoted for a fee.

However, in verbose long-tail keywords, all of these words are used on Etsy quite promising .

In addition, for crafters, our last table can indicate the importance of certain parameters - even if they are not used as a tag in the product title.

We are talking, first of all, about the presence in the Etsy super-top of demand for name/coordinate personalization and on image customization products.

If not in the title, then in the description of your product Possibility of personalization and production of modified versions to order It’s worth registering - there is a huge demand for this among Etsy buyers.

This table also suggests to sellers a tag unknown to non-Westerners, but widespread in the West: bridesmaids gift- a gift for the bridesmaids. Moreover, for weddings they can order dresses of the same design for the bridesmaids - bridesmaid robes(and they are also actively purchased on Etsy).

It remains to add that almost all the tags in this super-list are simple and do not require extensive explanation - with the possible exception of chunky knit. This is the name of another fashionable fad in the West in recent years - knitting anything from thick, almost cable-like, tufts of wool.

1. crocheting (crocheting)
2. personalized
3. crochet pattern (knitting pattern)
4. pattern
5. blanket
6. chunky knit (knitting in thick bunches)
7. wedding dress (wedding dress)
8. customized (to order according to individual description)
9. necklace (necklace, choker, monisto)
10. engagement ring
11. bridesmaids gift (gift to bridesmaid)
12. ring (wedding ring)
13. cocktail dress
14. roses (roses)
15. hoodie (hooded sweatshirt)

Data from the analytical service Marmalead.com. Data collected by OnceLostBoutique store owner (Margarita Sunderland, Seattle, WA)

Good afternoon, craftswomen! I am often asked where I sell my work online.

I have an article about my experience selling at a craft fair

Today I will share with you about selling works through the English-language resource for selling handmade products etsy https://www.etsy.com

This is my third year selling on Etsy and I love the site! My shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/MajjaCrochet

Come in and be curious.

I will share my observations:
1 🌼What is etsy?
This is a very convenient English-language site for selling handmade products. Our fair of masters is made according to his type. But etsy-More comfortable.
2🌼How to open a store? You can open a store - for free!

I opened my store using Sergei Kostina’s training, but at the moment it has lost its relevance, since the site has been actively changing over the past year.

Now I can recommend you a book by Irina, author of the blog proetsy.ru

How to open a store on etsy.

In my opinion, it contains the most detailed practical information, from registering a store, opening a PayPal account to proper registration and promotion of work.

The cost of the book is 690 rubles, but this information will be useful to you for a very long time.

http://proetsy.ru/product/etsy-book/?ref=maj-ja - you can read the contents and purchase the book here.

There are also free video tutorials on how to open your own etsy-shop. But, unfortunately, they contain outdated information. There are 4 video tutorials by this author, the first video tutorial is a review of Etsy https://youtu.be/ebntNDBgf4M
3🌼How much does it cost to post works?
20 cents each listing (work) for 4 months. THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET 40 FREE PLACEMENTS FOR 4 MONTHS!
To receive them, write to any seller who already has a store. I can also send you a link, by registering a store using it you can get free listings (that’s what they call posted products on Etsy). Anyone who decides to do this can use my link below.

7🌼What documents are filled out when sending?

Now there is only one piece of paper with an address in English (you receive this address from the buyer immediately upon receipt of the order), the piece of paper is pasted onto the package directly at the post office. Last time there was no need to even fill out a customs declaration. (Correction: when sending to England you need to fill out a customs declaration).

This is what the form looks like, you can pick it up at the post office or print it yourself.

How to fill out the customs declaration form, watch the video

8🌼Were there any problems with the parcels?
For a year and a half - there was none. Everything arrives safe and sound. Usually parcels arrive within 2 weeks to a month.

(A small addition: in the winter of 2017, a parcel to Italy was “lost” for 2 months in an unknown place. I wrote a search application at our Post Office (the application form can be downloaded on the Internet), they found it within a few days. In the end, the parcel arrived.)
9🌼What I like to sell on etsy?
To many. Prices for goods are many times higher than ours. They don’t sell or buy abroad for three kopecks.
People have an understanding of how much handmade work costs.
Payment comes immediately, even without correspondence with the client.

For example: most often (3 times) they bought from me this Set of knitted decorations Strawberry Mood, its price on etsy is $55 (shipping costs are not taken into account).

10 If you sell master classes, they are automatically sent to the buyer after payment. They even bought MK from me in Russian, although I immediately write in the description that MK is in Russian.
11. Are there “support groups” for working on Etsy? Eat!

The largest Russian-speaking group on Etsy. An active group of Russian-speaking Etsy sellers. There you can find answers to almost all questions asked by beginners.

There are VK groups about selling on Etsy, for example, this one

If you are planning to get into handmade or are already working in this direction, this article will be very interesting to you.

Alisha Schaeffer, a mother of three from California, runs an online store on Etsy.com. Nothing special? What if I told you that she earns up to $70,000 a month from it?

And this is not a typo! Schaeffer sells more than 3,000 socks, scarves, headbands and other similar items every day in his Etsy store, Three Bird Nest, the second-largest selling handmade item store on Etsy.

Schaeffer launched Three Bird Nest (the store is named after her three children) in 2011 with just a few headband designs in hand.

Today, her store features hundreds of accessories, including various types of headbands, colorful scarves, leg warmers, beaded hair bands and more. Her own website has even more to choose from, including jewelry, scarves, hats, gloves, sweaters and even home decor items.

How did Schaeffer, with no experience in the fashion industry, manage to create such a successful Etsy store?

Now you will find out! And get some advice from her for future sellers who want to follow in her footsteps.

Evolution of Three Bird Nest

Schaeffer wasn't planning on making a big deal on Etsy when she uploaded her first creations (handmade headbands) there in 2011.

“I got a few applications in the first couple of weeks, but at the time it was just a hobby and a way to make some money on the side,” she says.

“But around Christmas, I once received 90 orders in one day, and I had to come up with something to keep the store going after the holidays.”

She first hired one person to help with sewing, then another to help with deliveries and manage orders, until soon her thriving business employed 15 to 20 people, depending on the project.

Her team helps her a lot, but she herself is constantly busy with various aspects of the process, including delivery, employee management, production and supply issues. “It's a lot,” she says. “I definitely don’t sit back and drive around the city in a limousine, drinking champagne. There is always enough work."

Products don't sell themselves

Even with this success, Schaeffer still works 16-18 hours a day. “I don't let my products sell themselves; that task falls to me,” she says.

Ever wondered how to turn your passion for crafts into a paid job? Using the Etsy trading platform, you can create your own online store and sell handmade items to people all over the world. Learn the basics of creating your own store, expand your business and make your favorite business your main source of income.

Steps

Product creation

Do unique things. Etsy is a large marketplace with thousands of shops, so your product needs to stand out from the crowd. Research other stores' inventory, current trends in your area, and create a product based on your research. Your goal will be to create something new that people can't resist.

• If you're making something that has a big presence on Etsy (jewelry or posters), don't be afraid to make it unique to the point of weird. Just make sure your creation has its own style and motif.

1. Do what you like. Even if you want your store to be unique, it is important to stay true to your knowledge and interests. Things made with love always show, so try to enjoy the process of making them.

   • If you're a jack of all trades, you might want to write down a list of the products you want to create. Rate them according to how well you can do them before making your final decision.
   • You don't want to get stuck in one category. Your Etsy store is yours and you can do whatever you want. If you enjoy doing a lot of different things, do them. Just make sure all your creations have a common thread so your store doesn't seem disorganized.

2. Decide on your target audience. Although you are doing what you love, it would be nice if others liked your products. Think about the target audience for your products, what do these people need? What age, gender and main occupation are your potential buyers? How can you interest this target audience? How to expand it?

   Do a few things. Many artisans and needlewomen tend to think that before opening a store they need to make a lot of things for sale. Instead of waiting weeks or months until (you think) you've accumulated “enough” inventory, start with a few items. Regardless of whether you start selling right away, you will already have a business and incentive to create new products.

   • Feedback, questions and suggestions from customers will help improve the next products we create.
   • Once you've mastered the basic principles of running an Etsy business, add a few more products. But first, you should pay more attention to the final finishing of the products and just start promoting your business.

3. Think about your packaging. Packaging is no less important than the product itself. A product sent in the mail in a beautiful package with a witty logo will delight the buyer and may make him want to buy something else. Depending on what you are selling, you can come up with the best packaging for your products.

   • Consider what paper, boxes, bags, labels and inserts to use for your packaging to make it fun to open.
   • Include a handwritten thank you note in every piece of mail. The customer will be touched by this personal approach and will want to return to your store again.

   Ylva Bosmark is a high school student entrepreneur and the founder of White Dune Studio, a small laser-cut jewelry company. As a youth representative herself, she tries to inspire other young people to turn their passions into businesses.

   Founder of White Dune Studio

   Think about the customer experience. Ylva Bosmark, jewelry creator, says: “In my opinion, how you deliver your product is an integral part of the customer experience. I use wooden boxes, ribbons and labels; plus, I focus on branding: stickers with my logo, thank you note and promo code. Although all this adds cost, I think it's worth it because customers want a personal touch."

   Creating a store

   1. Create an account. It's very easy to do. Go to Etsy.com, click “Register” and fill out all the required information. The hardest thing is to come up with a name for your store. This will be your face on Etsy, part of your URL (username.etsy.com) and your business name, so you'll want to think carefully about the name since you won't be able to change it later.

      • Make sure the name is easy to write so you can easily tell people about the store. You can capitalize the first letter of each word if you like. This won't affect your login or URL, but it will look nicer when people visit your page.
      • You won't always sell one type of item or material, so don't make your store name too narrowly focused. If you name your store NataliaGobelen, and later stop weaving tapestries and switch to selling costume jewelry, the name will confuse customers.

   2. Change your buyer account to a seller account. By default, Etsy registers everyone as buyers, so you'll need to change your account type before you can sell. Log into your account, click “Open Store” at the bottom of the page, add products and a bank card.

      Set up your storefront. When customers enter your store, they will see your “showcase” on the screen. This is the store's home page where you can add text, signage, and other information about your store. An attractive display will greatly increase the chances of a successful sale, so make it attractive and professional.

      • Create a sign with your store's name. Make sure that it is done professionally enough and matches the range of products sold.
      • Fill out the “Store Owner” section. Add your photo and some information about yourself and the store. People find it easier to support artists they know a little about.

   3. Determine prices for your products. Before you put items up for sale, you need to know their price. The price is calculated using the following formula: labor + materials + other costs + benefits = wholesale price x2 = retail price.

      • Find out the cost of shipping your products nationwide and worldwide. You will need to have a table with product shipping prices under each item for the buyer to review.
      • Add your credit card or PayPal information at this point. You can do this in your account settings or in your store settings. This is required to receive payments and make purchases through Etsy.

   4. Take good photos. It doesn't matter how good your creations are if the photos can't do it justice. Etsy allows you to add up to five photos per item, and you should take advantage of it. Take photos of your product from several angles and, if possible, put the product on yourself or on the model.

      Develop a store policy. It is very important to know what responsibilities you will bear when selling. Describe your policy and make it free for any buyer to review. Do you not accept returns or exchanges? Do you accept custom orders? Are you responsible if your product is damaged in transit? Do you ship the goods only a few days after the order is placed?

   5. Add suitable tags. When putting items up for sale, you will find a “Tags” section in the description. They will help you find your product on Google or Etsy, which will attract customers to your store. You can add up to 13 tags, and it's best to use them all!

      • To rank your product higher in search results, use specific terms. Instead of the “jewelry” tag, use the “handmade gemstone jewelry” tag. This will narrow down the search results and your product will be more likely to show up first.
      • Create tags for your main products. If you make bags, the tags should cover all possible colors of your bags, materials, manufacturing methods, style, size, and so on. Add as many of these tags as possible.

   6. Create a business plan. To keep track of your business and gather all the information about it in one place, create a business plan. Describe your business on paper, conduct a competitive analysis of similar products, design and plan future products, do an overall analysis of how you will manage your products and consider all financial factors. You may want to show your business plan to someone else, so make it as professional as possible and include all the relevant information about your store.

      • Include your goal for the current year in your business plan. How many sales do you want to make this year? How much profit do you want to make?
      • A business plan can be quite flexible and you can make changes to it whenever you want. A business plan allows you to focus on the main goals of your store.

   7. Create a schedule. To stay on track with your goals, it is very important to have a schedule. Write down a plan for the day or week and follow it! Create lists of things to do and don't put them off until later. Stay organized so you can run your business better and avoid unnecessary stress.

      • Divide your tasks into subtasks to make it easier for you to manage everything. Instead of planning for tomorrow to “fill the store with goods,” write “make three new necklaces.” This will be more specific and the task will be easier to complete.

   Store management

   1. Keep an eye on sales. To run a business well, you need to keep records of all your sales and expenses. Always record the items you sold, the price you sold them for, and your total income from that product. At the end of the month, you can take stock to see how your store is progressing.

      • You may want to make sales charts and graphs.
      • If you have receipts from all your sales/purchases, keep them all in one place, in a folder or file, so you don't lose anything.

   2. Update your assortment. Add new and different items every week to ensure there is something to see in your store. By expanding the list of products, you will retain old customers and may interest new ones.

      • Keep in mind that the lead time for items on Etsy is four months. You can extend the sale period in the store settings.