Tips on Etsy

Early in March I participated in a set of workshops about selling on Etsy. Dianne from DiBAjewellery facilitated the advanced workshop and here are some great tips and ideas that I picked up from her session (some directly from her and others from general discussion).

1. Have an Etsy anniversary event
2. Could what you sell also fit under supply?
3. Update it frequently (throughout the day if possible)
4. Bulk up your shop - lots of inventory gives the appearance of being serious
5. Have various price points available to inspire easy sales
6. Photography is key - it's all the customer has to go on, so make it good. Use all 5 slots, all angles including the back
7. Use full descriptions with lots of detail including both imperial and metric measurements
8. Put your location in your profile
9. Use all 14 tags - ideas for tags include 'international', 'gift', colour, full name
10. Create treasury's
11. Participate in Etsy - forums, blog, labs
12. Detail your policies - ie do your items come from a smoke-free or animal-free environment?
13. Use the announcement section
14. Tools to try www.etsyhacks.com and www.craftopolis.com.

Thanks Dianne for all the great tips!

When opportunity knocks

It may not always be the best time, but sometimes you just have to jump in anyways. The spring is always a great time for beach glass hunting because the strong waves and breaking ice turn everything upside down and the glass finds its way to the shore easier. Well, this year is an exceptionally good year in Kingston because when the ice broke up, my beach (the one I do a majority of my collecting) was the landing spot. The ice all ended up on the beach and even into the parking lot. I've gone down to the beach everyday as the ice melts, new treasurers rise to the surface. It may be cold to hunt on ice instead of sand, but the sounds of the waves, smells of the shores and site of the glass make it all worth it.

Another opportunity presented itself to me last month. It came about in a funny way, one of my stores that sells my art, asked me about my environmental beliefs and processes outside of simply using recycled beach glass. To be honest, this was a good question. I had never really thought of it. It's not that I'm not pro-earth, it's just that I thought I'm doing a small part by using the glass and hadn't thought further. But this got me thinking. If I'm going to hang my hat on being an eco-artist then it has to be more then just recycled glass. So, I've started making my own paper from old newspapers for some of my wall art and signs, I've asked my printing company to make sure my stock papers (for cards, etc) are on 100% post-consumer, Canadian made stock, I've started using found wood or off-cuts instead of canvases, and I've always worked with my left-over silver filings (that was just because I was cheap, but now there's two reasons!). Some of it is on display for April at the Starbucks at Princess & Division in Kingston, or you can visit me at the Back to Nature show April 18 & 19 to see more.

In your business are you carrying your philosophies, your mission and your brand throughout your entire work, or just a portion. You should take stock, there maybe an opportunity knocking at your door..

It doesn't hurt to ask

I've had a few things go right for me lately and friends keep asking me what my secret is for being so lucky. Well, the answer is easy, I asked. I've never been afraid of the word 'no', in fact I often see 'no' as a challenge. So, asking tricky questions isn't that hard and asking easy questions is nothing more than making time to do so.

I wanted a store in Toronto to carry my work, so in late January I started looking around for a few stores that fit with my eco-conscious beach glass jewellery and I emailed them asking if they were interested. A few got back to me and yesterday I delivered some of my jewellery to Green is Black in Toronto. All it took was an email asking the question 'would you be interested in seeing my work?' (see my latest work shown here at Green is Black)

I wanted a celebrity or journalist to wear my work, and more importantly, write about my work, so I looked around and found a perfect fit - Gill Deacon (as you heard about in an earlier post). I sent her email asking if she would be interested, and she sent an email back saying yes. 2 weeks later she blogged about it!

Sure, I may have heard a 'no' or two, but I didn't stop asking questions, I saw it as a challenge. So, start asking questions, you may be surprised with the answers!

When the Cash Flow is More like a Frozen Pond

Well, I'm not sure if your business is like mine or not, but this time of year not only is the ground frozen up, but my cash isn't flowing much either. I know retailers are feeling my pain right now too. So what are we to do about it? Here's some tips that may help:

1. ask for longer payment terms on supplies from your regular suppliers
2. ask for larger down payments on custom orders
3. host a seconds sale (I'm hosting a Leftovers Potluck on February 15 as a twist on a studio open house - drop by if you can and bring some friends)
4. check in on those consignment accounts and see if they can pay you
5. eat leftovers (see #3 for a fun twist on this :-)

Oh yeah, and next year heed my advice (from experience) pre-plan for your slow times.

The List

Well, I'm hunkering down and getting serious this year. I'm getting my beach glass art sold! So to start I took a look at where I'm currently selling my work and and where I want to be selling my work. I removed my product from one store in Bloomfield (that's a blog story in itself, but not for public consumption!) and already have two new ones on board. One is a great boutique in Port Stanley, ON (my home stomping ground and where my beach glass collecting all began) called the Sandpyper Gallery. If you're down that way make sure to have a peak, it's very cool. The other one is closer to my current home, it's Gallery ArtPlus in Belleville. What a beautiful gallery! And the staff are so great. They both met my criteria.

Do you have criteria for stores that carry your art? When I first started I would put my work in any store that would carry it, now I'm the one being picky. It has to be the right fit. Here's my criteria to give you a head start on yours if you don't have a list yet:

1. Is it on the water? (specific to me because of it being beach glass)
2. Does it communicate with me?
3. A maximum of 35% take (except in a few cases)
4. Do they carry any other beach glass work and is it authentic?
5. Do they allow my own branding?
6. Do they pass the secret shopper test?
7. Is their target market the same as mine?