It’s been a quiet week sewing wise as I’ve been busy reading and researching for my new business.
I
came to the decision early on that my business would be purely online
selling. I know that attending craft fairs are great places to sell but I
have to be realistic. My physical health isn’t good and whilst Mr
Gertie would help me out, it’s unfair to ask him to do so each time.
I’ve
been checking out Etsy and Folksy to see what kind of things are
selling and also getting a gauge of prices and postage. I would love to
offer free postage – as a buyer I hate paying it – but is that
practical. I read that customers who buy handmade items from the likes
of Etsy and Folksy expect to pay postage, yet buyers on eBay want free
postage. Do you think that’s correct?
Comparing the two sites
Etsy is the bigger of the two, and so has the potential for more
customers, however getting a foot in the door won’t be easy. Folksy,
being smaller, means that customers aren’t bombarded with thousands of
items so my products could have a chance of being noticed. I also
checked out UK sellers on Etsy against Folksy and those on Folksy had
the higher percentage of sales.
Having weighed everything up I’m
going with Folksy for now, then (hopefully) branch out to Etsy and
possibly other sites too. Now all I need is things to sell....
Have a great week.
Love,
Gertie xx
PS why not pop over to Handmade Monday to see what other fellow craft bloggers have been up to.
Good luck with Folksy - I found it better for sales than Etsy so have neglected my Etsy shop. A facebook page is a good idea too as you can sell things there too. Looking forward to seeing your makes!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about facebook xx
DeleteWhichever way you go, I wish you the very best of luck x
ReplyDeleteThanks xx
Deletenever herd of folksy so thanks :) good luck hun was going to suggest a fb page too hehe
ReplyDeleteHey! Welcome to folksy
ReplyDeleteWill be interested to see how you get on, as I also decided to give up on craft fairs and stick with online selling. My Folksy shop completely floppy, so for the moment I am going to stick with Etsy. I still might give Folksy another try, as I seem to read so much positive about it.
ReplyDeleteOooh how exciting! I think you're very sensible to do your research, it definitely helps.
ReplyDeleteFor your info i have shops on Etsy, Folksy, WowThankYou and my own website and sell waaaaay more on Etsy than any of the others - i do tend to link to my Etsy shop from my blog, facebook etc though so i expect that makes a difference, i know a lot of people do do well on Folksy. I'm really excited for you and look forward to visiting your shop over there! :)
Hi Gertie, how exciting to be starting your new business. I am not familiar with Folksy but my daughter has an extremely successful business on Etsy selling pillows. She has more orders than she can handle and she does charge postage. Please share your shop link when you get it set up. Have a wonderful week.
ReplyDeleteIve no experience with selling many things or selling on-line. but I wish you luck :D
ReplyDeleteI've been having the same debate Gertie, Etsy vs Folksy is a tricky one. I also sell at fairs and through my website, so don't want to give myself too much work promoting/listing items etc. For now I'm sticking as I am, but also remembering to post more to my facebook page. Good luck with it all
ReplyDeleteA difficult decision. Many moons ago I sold on Folks - or rather I didn;t sell on Folksy. I am now on Etsy, but still no sales. I know they do work for crafters, but not too sure what the secret is. Hope you have a good week.
ReplyDeleteJill, Christmas Pie Crafts
I researched for mine and discounted Etsy because of the size among other things. I ended up with a shop on Misi which has a nice community feel, but might branch out to Folksy now that I've read this
ReplyDelete