Another potential reason to not ditch etsy is if you don't want to handle the more curly international taxation laws. I dunno if it's the same everywhere, but in Australia, Etsy takes care of the weirdness that comes with selling stuff to YOU BRITS (said with love). XD Whereas on Shopify, you have to set that up yourself, which probably means you'll want an accountant to help you out to make sure you don't stuff something up. Probably not viable if you're only just starting out. My sister does this- Shopify for domestic sales, Etsy for international.
I had a shock when I looked into my statement last month, which convinced me to take the first step : buying my domain name. I still need to take the time to read tutorials to make sure that I know the basics about how to build my website taxes, legal stuff etc. Etsy brings me money, but so is Ebay - which is doing better at times than Etsy. Let's hope that 2025 will be a good year...
Couple of times iv had a query the Etsy chat service answered me quickly .I also sell on Ebay and have my own website 15yrs never had any probs i look on the positive side .
With one thing to remember - Etsy deal with the iOSs etc for international orders where you would need to sort out yourself when got own website (I sell both Etsy and on own website) also there is a Etsy customer and buyer protection for missing tracked parcels which is good. Etsy and you bring traffic to your shop where as website it is all you.
Video subject suggestion: I am not sure if you have ever mentioned that you do markets or sell your product in some physical store, but I would be interested to hear about any experiences that you do have for having an online shop and integrating some market going to that...If you have any experience of it? I actually did get my stuff on sale to the local shop and started to do sales through that. I do like it. Even that moneywise it is not any goldmine as you need to pay for having your stuff in the shop. But this is still fun for me and I just like having a shop and getting my products to people's hands. Also, I am on a tourist hot-spot so it would be insane not to have it out there. But I think that it would be nice subject to chat about, regardless. Like how the customer interactions are beneficial/non -beneficial for direct feedback. Being seen and having some local exposure...is that leading to sales. And is it worth of doing markets or just rely to the online sales and building that, because essentially...They are TOTALLY different ball game!!! But that's why it is interesting to hear about the experiences of the integration. It is a bother to go out and costs money too. Additionally you do some interacting with real humans, but maybe it does some good for us 😅😂 Personally, I thought that I never wanted to do any markets. Too much work and there is people, but I found out that I actually love it. Great fun if you do not expect to sell anything! And then you sell anyway! As a nice surprise! 😅 And also, how it depends a little what you sell if it is worth of it. Basicly, if you are not doing it, the reasons why you are not doing it 😊 It might help people to see why their stuff is not selling in the market or even online. And also helps people to map their potential customers and markets. Are people selling somewhere were nobody is buying their stuff? Or is their potential customer base so small and specialiced that it is not found from the markets? 🤔 So there is much to chat about it. But it is really to help people to make better business decisions. Everybody always talks about doing markets, but I have been always very skeptical about it. Then again. I can press on with "Handmade locally"! It is pretty good label on my specific spot. But a little chat about Your thoughs and experiences would be just NICE! ❤ And the comment section could give people new ideas too. I should see if you have done video like that already...You probably have ❤ Or it is on your list. Maybe closer to christmass it is a subject that many people think about. Much love and have a lovely day! ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Kim 😁The good thing is there are so many options out there. 👍The bad thing is there are so many options out there 😆 Do your research then jump in and muck it up. The one guarantee is everything changes going forward.
"..jump in and muck it up", I love that so much John! It's true, we often spend too much time umming and ahhing, when we should be spending the time *doing*. 👏
Thanks for this it’s helping me to decide , I have my products in draft but not published on Etsy yet , also I have a domain name for a website but as a new seller it might be too much for my brain 😂 your sound advice is still stored in there .. thanks Kim 💕
Kim, A very well reasoned video! As you're familiar with both Etsy and Shopify, I'd be fasinated to find out how they compare on a business level. For example how are their financial reports etc to understand all their fees? Are they equally good at letting you manage your product prices, images, desciptions (i.e. doing SEO) and shipping rates? Many thanks. Ben
I know you kinda want to keep things separate but I'd like to find links to your other channel and shop(s) somewhere here (I've been looking desperately lol) 😁
I'm happy for people to find me, I just want the right people to (i.e. folks who are genuinely interested in that stuff) , which is why I don't link. But if you search for 'Beech Tree Handmade' here, on Etsy, Instagram etc, you'll find me. 💚
Talking about higher ticket items, I’m seeing a huge drop in my Etsy store this year. I was selling around 5 items (over $100 each) in the slow months last year, and barely any this year.
Are you in the US? I've noticed the global pinch seems to be hitting the US pretty hard this year. Here in the UK, last year was the nightmare year. It's still not great, but it's a lot better than it was. People just have less money to go around, so perhaps that's hitting your higher ticket items more?
I'm actually just looking into opening an Etsy shop, just to compare it to my Folksy shop to see if it does get any organic footfall without any promotion... the one-time set-up fee is £22 (converted from $29USD, minus VAT). I thought it was $15! That's a bit steep! I see they now take a fee on your postage too, which I don't think used to be included if you charged postage separately? I actually love Folksy and really, really want it to work - it's nice to use and has a great community, but looking around at what some other sellers are saying, sales might be better on Etsy. I'm nowhere near ready to open my own website though!
Yup they seem to be charging different amounts to people for opening a new shop. I helped a friend open hers and she was charged £22 too. Like you, I'd thought it was $15 so that little price hike has been sneaky on Etsy's part.
Excellent video as always, Kim. A question. This morning one of the items I make was 4 5 5 7.8 on the first page. This afternoon, they have disappeared altogether I have no idea how far down they are. Do you have any idea why that happens? Claire.
I'm confused by the number you've added there. You say one of your items, but provide multiple numbers.. is that right? If so it could simply be an algorithmic change that tries to show more diversity of items on the first page so no one seller has a monopoly? Or more likely, so the search pages don't look too samey to buyers as they've said this was something they were going to be working on. This is all a guess though. It's Etsy at the end of the day so it's impossible to know for sure.
@@KimBliss sorry I should have said I have variations of the same thing and they were 4 5 6 7 8 on the first page. Different sizes and colours, but then a few hours later they are way down the list somewhere. Must be Etsy doing stupid things yet again. 😆
🤪you inspire me. Could do with a DM ref shopify. Just set it up and the amount of spam and people who say they can help me is well wow. keep up the videos I look forward to the next one.
Yeah they are a pain. I put a notification on my website contact page stating that I don't respond to requests for editing, collaborations etc. That's helped a huge amount, but doesn't stop all of them.
I view and like tons of stuff on Etsy. But I don't intend to purchase ANY of it! Its all research for selling similar things. So I never take any notice of how many views or likes my things get.
Another potential reason to not ditch etsy is if you don't want to handle the more curly international taxation laws. I dunno if it's the same everywhere, but in Australia, Etsy takes care of the weirdness that comes with selling stuff to YOU BRITS (said with love). XD Whereas on Shopify, you have to set that up yourself, which probably means you'll want an accountant to help you out to make sure you don't stuff something up. Probably not viable if you're only just starting out. My sister does this- Shopify for domestic sales, Etsy for international.
I had a shock when I looked into my statement last month, which convinced me to take the first step : buying my domain name. I still need to take the time to read tutorials to make sure that I know the basics about how to build my website taxes, legal stuff etc. Etsy brings me money, but so is Ebay - which is doing better at times than Etsy. Let's hope that 2025 will be a good year...
I really hope things get better. Also that Etsy doesn't make any more massive changes to the algorithm, fees etc.
Well I can hope eh? 😄
Couple of times iv had a query the Etsy chat service answered me quickly .I also sell on Ebay and have my own website 15yrs never had any probs i look on the positive side .
With one thing to remember - Etsy deal with the iOSs etc for international orders where you would need to sort out yourself when got own website (I sell both Etsy and on own website) also there is a Etsy customer and buyer protection for missing tracked parcels which is good. Etsy and you bring traffic to your shop where as website it is all you.
Video subject suggestion:
I am not sure if you have ever mentioned that you do markets or sell your product in some physical store, but I would be interested to hear about any experiences that you do have for having an online shop and integrating some market going to that...If you have any experience of it?
I actually did get my stuff on sale to the local shop and started to do sales through that. I do like it. Even that moneywise it is not any goldmine as you need to pay for having your stuff in the shop. But this is still fun for me and I just like having a shop and getting my products to people's hands. Also, I am on a tourist hot-spot so it would be insane not to have it out there.
But I think that it would be nice subject to chat about, regardless.
Like how the customer interactions are beneficial/non -beneficial for direct feedback. Being seen and having some
local exposure...is that leading to sales.
And is it worth of doing markets or just rely to the online sales and building that, because essentially...They are TOTALLY different ball game!!! But that's why it is interesting to hear about the experiences of the integration.
It is a bother to go out and costs money too. Additionally you do some interacting with real humans, but maybe it does some good for us 😅😂
Personally, I thought that I never wanted to do any markets. Too much work and there is people, but I found out that I actually love it. Great fun if you do not expect to sell anything! And then you sell anyway! As a nice surprise! 😅
And also, how it depends a little what you sell if it is worth of it. Basicly, if you are not doing it, the reasons why you are not doing it 😊 It might help people to see why their stuff is not selling in the market or even online. And also helps people to map their potential customers and markets. Are people selling somewhere were nobody is buying their stuff? Or is their potential customer base so small and specialiced that it is not found from the markets?
🤔 So there is much to chat about it.
But it is really to help people to make better business decisions. Everybody always talks about doing markets, but I have been always very skeptical about it.
Then again. I can press on with "Handmade locally"! It is pretty good label on my specific spot.
But a little chat about Your thoughs and experiences would be just NICE! ❤ And the comment section could give people new ideas too.
I should see if you have done video like that already...You probably have ❤ Or it is on your list. Maybe closer to christmass it is a subject that many people think about.
Much love and have a lovely day! ❤❤❤❤❤❤
just setting up Shopify
Nice!
@@KimBliss have you guys tried instagram shop
Kim 😁The good thing is there are so many options out there. 👍The bad thing is there are so many options out there 😆 Do your research then jump in and muck it up. The one guarantee is everything changes going forward.
"..jump in and muck it up", I love that so much John! It's true, we often spend too much time umming and ahhing, when we should be spending the time *doing*. 👏
Thanks for this it’s helping me to decide , I have my products in draft but not published on Etsy yet , also I have a domain name for a website but as a new seller it might be too much for my brain 😂 your sound advice is still stored in there .. thanks Kim 💕
You're welcome. You'll know when it's the right time for you to create your own website. Until then, Etsy can be a great place to start on. 💚
Kim, A very well reasoned video! As you're familiar with both Etsy and Shopify, I'd be fasinated to find out how they compare on a business level.
For example how are their financial reports etc to understand all their fees? Are they equally good at letting you manage your product prices, images, desciptions (i.e. doing SEO) and shipping rates?
Many thanks.
Ben
Don't forget payment processing fees
I know you kinda want to keep things separate but I'd like to find links to your other channel and shop(s) somewhere here (I've been looking desperately lol) 😁
I'm happy for people to find me, I just want the right people to (i.e. folks who are genuinely interested in that stuff) , which is why I don't link.
But if you search for 'Beech Tree Handmade' here, on Etsy, Instagram etc, you'll find me. 💚
Talking about higher ticket items, I’m seeing a huge drop in my Etsy store this year. I was selling around 5 items (over $100 each) in the slow months last year, and barely any this year.
Are you in the US? I've noticed the global pinch seems to be hitting the US pretty hard this year. Here in the UK, last year was the nightmare year. It's still not great, but it's a lot better than it was.
People just have less money to go around, so perhaps that's hitting your higher ticket items more?
@@KimBliss Yes I’m in the US. It’s definitely hitting US this year.
Check that your shop has Etsy Localization turned OFF. If it's ON, is can limit where customers have to be to see your items in search.
I'm actually just looking into opening an Etsy shop, just to compare it to my Folksy shop to see if it does get any organic footfall without any promotion... the one-time set-up fee is £22 (converted from $29USD, minus VAT). I thought it was $15! That's a bit steep! I see they now take a fee on your postage too, which I don't think used to be included if you charged postage separately? I actually love Folksy and really, really want it to work - it's nice to use and has a great community, but looking around at what some other sellers are saying, sales might be better on Etsy. I'm nowhere near ready to open my own website though!
Yup they seem to be charging different amounts to people for opening a new shop. I helped a friend open hers and she was charged £22 too. Like you, I'd thought it was $15 so that little price hike has been sneaky on Etsy's part.
Excellent video as always, Kim. A question. This morning one of the items I make was 4 5 5 7.8 on the first page. This afternoon, they have disappeared altogether
I have no idea how far down they are. Do you have any idea why that happens? Claire.
I'm confused by the number you've added there. You say one of your items, but provide multiple numbers.. is that right?
If so it could simply be an algorithmic change that tries to show more diversity of items on the first page so no one seller has a monopoly? Or more likely, so the search pages don't look too samey to buyers as they've said this was something they were going to be working on.
This is all a guess though. It's Etsy at the end of the day so it's impossible to know for sure.
@@KimBliss sorry I should have said I have variations of the same thing and they were 4 5 6 7 8 on the first page. Different sizes and colours, but then a few hours later they are way down the list somewhere. Must be Etsy doing stupid things yet again. 😆
@@moniregb5682 Wow! On the first page! That's awesome! ❤
Have you covered having to deal with taxes as a handmade business?
Nope, and I won't be I'm afraid. Tax advice should only be provided by qualified, registered professionals and I am neither. 💚
Completely fair!
🤪you inspire me. Could do with a DM ref shopify. Just set it up and the amount of spam and people who say they can help me is well wow.
keep up the videos I look forward to the next one.
Yeah they are a pain. I put a notification on my website contact page stating that I don't respond to requests for editing, collaborations etc. That's helped a huge amount, but doesn't stop all of them.
this video was sandwhiched between two etsy ads. lol guess they dont know how you feel about them.
Yeah, they're going nuts with their UA-cam ad campaigns at the moment.
I view and like tons of stuff on Etsy. But I don't intend to purchase ANY of it! Its all research for selling similar things. So I never take any notice of how many views or likes my things get.
Yep and I have stopped shopping there simply because they treat their sellers like poo!