Don’t ever doubt that I live an exciting life: I just spent a few hours (on a Friday night, no less) finally setting up my Etsy shop. Just “setting up”. Nothing’s in there yet. My excitement clearly does not translate to your excitement.

Here’s the low-down.

Appearance: check. Easy once I resolved my banner issues.

Announcement: check. I wish they’d rename this—it’s more like your only front-page information, so is much more like a front page. Unless a prospective buyer starts digging into your profile, shop policies, etc., this is all they’ll see.

Sections: check. You can have a maximum of 10 sections. In my estimation, naming them is a little tricky (plus, the character count is limited). I wanted them to be informative, but also a bit more “fun” than usual. For instance, I used “bling” as one. ‘Nuff said. I’m guessing people these days actually search on “bling.” Little known fact: bling actually made it into the dictionary in 1999. On the plus side, you can enter them in any order and then re-order them easily.

Payment methods, shipping policies, yadda yadda: check. All very straightforward and easily changed later once I realize what I’ve gotten into.

It’s all in a very easily navigable menu, which you can preview at any time. LOVE IT.

One thing it didn’t prompt you on, which I’m happy I thought to check, is your public profile.

I used my avatar (which I’d created a year ago) as the photo, but I’m guessing you could use anything. Etsy has loads of advice on avatars, suggesting it be something easily recognizable as your Etsy presence. Mine doesn’t tie in exactly with my banner, but I think it’s memorable. A lot more so than my face would be! I thought about using my logo, but that seemed too boring.

All in all, it was super-easy! Now comes the hard part.

XOX,

Sue

Vintage Rescue Squad

I’m sure I won’t make many friends with this post, but it has to be said: Etsy has TOO MUCH advice. Has anyone, save for a meddling friend, ever given you too much advice? Didn’t think so.

Although I appreciate all the time, effort and woman-hours that went into it all, it is overwhelming.

That said, I feel that some of it is glossed over too easily. I definitely needed a lot more advice on making my banner. Something that was more geared towards a Mac, rather than a PC would’ve been welcome. If I’m a designer that can’t get my banner right, I feel really sorry for the average person trying to create a banner.

And although I TOTALLY appreciate the forums, I feel that they could severely benefit from some condensation. I know it rankles every editorial nerve in me and borders on First Amendment violations. OK, that’s just being alarmist, but…. My point is that I would appreciate archived “help” posts that excised the posts along the lines of “thanks!”, “good advice”, and “can you take a look at my shop?”  I know, I know. It’s important to keep that all up there. They are forums, after all. But if they were condensed in another format, that would be most helpful.

Perhaps a yearly (dare I suggest twice-yearly?) revisit on the advice would be more helpful to newbies?

I’m the first to admit that I get exasperated and want a quick fix. Perhaps that’s just me, and it’s not what Etsy is interested in, but I would find it a lot more helpful.

That said I must commend Etsy for the mentors, administrators and street teams that give 200% at making the Etsy seller experience supportive. It’s a truly unique model, and I do appreciate it. In fact, I need to take advantage of it. If only I could wade through it. There, I said it.

In preparing to launch an Etsy shop, I hope I’ve done my research. I fear, however, that I’ve done TOO MUCH.

Definitely read the Etsy Handbook, and then peruse the Storque and forums to get a sense of what you need to do, what problems others are experiencing and get great advice.

As a long-time Etsy shopper, the first thing I tried to do was to change my log in to match my eventual shop name. This is VERY IMPORTANT. If you don’t have an account yet, do so. If you already have one under a different name – like your nickname or an email or something, beg and plead with Etsy to get it changed. It did take me a few times dealing with Etsy, but I knew it was crucial.

Once done, I opened a shop account. It’s dormant, but I can access it anytime to get it perfected. For me, this was essential as well, as it gave me the incentive to actually follow through with it. It also forced me to really start thinking about my announcement, shop policies, categories, etc.

That was all about six months ago. What I’m stuck on now is perfecting my banner.  Oh, it SUCKS being a designer. I’m a 2-D designer, so am spazzing about making a digital banner.  I rarely need to create web designs for my big grrrl job, so although I KNOW exactly what I want it to look like, I’m stumped on achieving it.

My advice: keep it simple. There are plenty of templates (the bannerator) and Etsy sellers who will gladly and surprisingly cheaply make one for you. I initially contracted someone to come up with a banner for my Etsy shop, another for my blog, an avatar, and a logo for print items. The total charge was only to be $45, which is astounding.

I ultimately decided not to go with it, as I was still hung up on my vision. Hers was great, but as a designer, I realized I truly wanted it to be organic—my own. I hate being a perfectionist, if only when it comes to VRS….

Every piece of advice I’d read advises that your name, banner, and avatar should truly reflect what you are selling. I suspect this is possibly the best advice I’ve received, which is why I’ve been paralyzed.

XOX,

Sue