The Tea On Etsy
Why I Ditched Etsy
This is the most clickbait title I’ve made yet, good job Stevie.
Oh a whim one mid winter break during my Softmore year of college, I started my art business on Etsy. I was bored, I had no homework to do, and two weeks off of classes with no where to go meant my creativity was bubbling. I was playing with some beads, a pair of big hoop earrings, and some hot glue when my sister came to the table and said- “Those are cool”
I let her try them on and then took some photos of her wearing them. Then I hopped onto Etsy, the online center of the universe for handmade goods, and made a shop.
I used a name that I had been using on the internet since I was ten for the shop title, uploaded the very bad pictures of my beaded hoop earrings, and paid the 20 cent fee to list it. Then I made 10 more pairs of these earrings and did the same thing.
Back in 2010, etsy was already a booming place to sell handmade things. I often would buy jewelry there and occasionally something antique. It was rare for a listing to look as polished as the ones you’ll see there today. If you knew how to utilize SEO’s, which i didn’t, you could make BANK on this site. (which i also didn’t)
I sold one pair of earrings on that midwinter break to a friend I had told about my online store. On etsy, your listings expire after 4 months of in activity. It costs 20 cents to relist them which will also shoot them to the top of the search engines for that particular item.
All of my other earrings expired and I forgot about the shop as I went back to school.
In 2011 I started selling hand painted converse. I would sell them through word of mouth for $125 per pair. That was $45 for the new pair of shoes and the rest for the painting job. I listed these on Etsy as an easy way for people to see my work that was outside of Deviant Art (my main online art gallery at the time). I never sold a pair of shoes on etsy, but I did spend quite a lot of money advertising them there.
During those years I had also posted some student art work that I had made in school. I sold one painting, to a family member, through etsy.
In late 2011 I took a class on bookbinding at Cornish. Learning how to make books also taught me to finally use Etsy right.
At the turn of 2012 I was feeling really confident in the coptic sketchbooks I had learned to make in the previous semester. They were hard backed, with fun modern prints of stars, skeletons, gold brush work, and more cute images. They had 50-100 pages, and came in two clear sizes. A small, postcard size book at 4x6 inches. A large, moleskine sized book at 5x8.5 inches. Both were travel friendly. I chose those size because that’s the size of sketch book I liked to make.
I started making a sale, once or every other month. I would make the books in huge batches, having an inventory of 30 or more sketchbooks at any given time.
Over the course of 2 years I sold about 15 sketchbooks. In 2014 I realized that my photos were really truly bad. I was trying to figure out why this little sketchbook store hobby wasn’t making very many sales.
So I took some advice from another person selling things online and looked up my competition. I realized I was making some very big mistakes.
First, my photos were terrible. Not well lit, only 2 or 3 pictures, some were blurry.
Second, I wasn’t doing the titles in a way that people could find me
Third, I was giving people too many options
Fourth, my prices were too cheap.
Your photos on etsy are the magazine cover for your store. If the photo is bad, no one will click through.
I retook all the photos of my sketchbooks. I’m not kidding when I say i took over 100 photos for each sketchbook.
Then I learned how to edit them. I needed a bright, warm white, I needed darker darks and sharper edges.
I made sure that each book had 10 pictures and most of those shots were close up details. I learned how to use daylight to my advantage and get some beautiful objects to accentuate my books.
I then learned how to do the titles. First I went to Etsy and typed in a description of what I would type in if i was looking for a coptic sketchbook. Etsy helps you out here by giving you suggested searches. If any of the suggested searches met the description of my book, i’d add it to the title.
My titles went from black and gold star covered coptic sketchbook to
Black Galaxy Blank Coptic Sketchbook, Hard Backed, 50 pages, 4x6 inches, heavy weight drawing paper, artist gift, student gift
See the difference?
As I went through the years adding new kinds of books and fine tuning the language I was using to go with these books, I started selling more.
After that I reduced the options I was giving people to choose from. Instead of 10 different page numbers, 4 different sizes, a pocket, paper type etc- There were 2 sizes, 50 pages, artist grade paper, and no pockets.
Towards the end of 2021 I had this sort of inventory on my etsy shop: sketchbooks, prints, and tote bags.
I had sold well over 200 sketchbooks, 3 prints, and 5 tote bags. And one painting. Around that time I did the math on my sketchbooks and realized that they were becoming a waste of time to keep as a business. I was barely making money on them and they were better off as a hobby.
I had also opened another online shop on my website. I wanted my buyers to have one place they could go to for the items I sold. So I closed down my Etsy shop.
The biggest thing I learned about etsy is that it’s perfect for things you can sell over and over again, but does terribly for one off items.
Original art sells poorly there. Prints, sketchbooks, and tote bags do great.
If you are looking to sell art there- it’s not impossible, but you need to think as a marketer and not just a painter to succeed.
Ultimately, I noticed that I was able to make more sales on my website, and sell my original artwork there. I save money on listing fees. I am able to better control sales.
Things I miss out on: having Etsy’s audience. Etsy is well known, and Stephanie Scott the artist is much less so. I’m constantly having to drive people to my website, where as Etsy gives me a remarkable platform to advertise on- showing my crafts to people who would not have otherwise found me.
The other day on Twitch a friend of mine asked for advice on how to succeed on etsy as an artist. I’m going to give you the advice I gave her, and use the example of Pet commissions as the vehicle for learning.
How I would sell art on Etsy:
Have the art I sell be repeatable. I want to sell custom pet portraits - Etsy is GREAT for this.
First I would look at my style of art and categorize it. Write a list of ways to describe your art style in it’s simplest form. Lets say you wrote down:
Watercolor
Ink
Drawing
Contemporary
Photo realistic
Bright
If we are doing pets, write down the ones you like to draw
Dogs
Cats
Guineapigs
Ok then we are going to go to Etsy. I want you to look up Custom Watercolor Dog portrait
Immediately I’m seeing some heavy hitters in this category. Look for listings that have more than 1k reviews. Theses people know what they are talking about.
I’m going to click on a listing that is of one dog with a name, that has 11k reviews.
The title is Pet Painting, Pet Portrait, Custom Pet Portrait, Custom Dog Portrait, Custom Watercolor Portrait, Dog Art, Dog Watercolor, Dog Painting
The price point stats at $33 and goes up based on how many pets (up to 3) and if you want a head shot or full body. The most expensive is $233 for 3 full body dogs.
Then there is a second option of choosing what style and size of print you would like.
There are 10 pictures include shots of the photo people have submitted in the past next to finished products. The pictures are bright and fun and show all the details I might ask questions about as a buyer.
Let’s look at another This is also a big seller, their listing is titled
Mini Custom Watercolor Pet Portrait, Dog Portraits from Photos,Dog Portraits From Photos, Pet Painting, Custom Tiny Paintings, Miniature
You can get a 5x7 print from them of your pet in a watercolor style for $47. You can choose full body or just the portrait. The most expensive option for 5 pets is 167.
It’s very stylized and this one is clearly done by hand. I think the first people use a software to make the image seem like a watercolor.
It’s got 21k sales since 2019 when their shop opened.
If you look at their shop they’ve got 10 listing for pet portraits.
Some are for miniature paintings, some listed as ‘pet memorial’, some come in a frame, some are showcasing cats, others dogs. They are clearly experimenting with what gets people to buy their work.
Let’s say they are making $50 on each sale, which is their average lowest sale price on each listing. They have been making around $262,500 each year AT THE LOW END. At least 1,000,000 in sales since 2019.
There’s clearly money to be made here.
The key to all of this, is that these 10 listings they’ve made for pet portraits can be listed over and over again. The algorithm knows these listings do well, and thus it promotes it on the search engine.
If you look at this shops page it’s clear they have a team of people working here. Definitely more than one artist and they probably use a third party shipping company like Printful.
So if you are looking to sell your artwork on Etsy- it’s doable and profitable. You just have to learn how to sell it right.
The checklist for a good Etsy shop:
A name that fits what you are selling “Drawyourportrait” is a great name that is clear as to what is held in the store
A niche of what you are selling, and not too many listings. 10 pet portrait listings is great. 99 listings including mugs, t shirts, flags, bouncy balls, art, and keychains is confusing. Keep it tight.
Excellent photos! Well lit, clear photos! Photos of your paintings in mockups!
A sentimental bio about you, the shop owner.
A great banner that showcases your listing cohesively
Brand colors and font- be consistent
Great titles for your listing and clear descriptions.
Free shipping (include the cost of shipping into your prices)
That’s a good start!
I’d also make an instagram and pinterest page that matched your new brand. I’d use Etsy’s video feature to show off your product. I’d ask for feedback and implement it all the time!
It’s important to know your audience. And one of the biggest reasons I’m not selling abstract geometric paintings on etsy is that my buyers aren’t there. People who want to decorate their office conference room with fine art wont be on etsy. So that’s a big reason why i pivoted away from the platform.
Want me to do a review of your Etsy shop? Send me a dm, I’d love to give you some suggestions!
Host and artist Stephanie Scott breaks down the practicality of the art career with topics including: sustainable creative practices, social media skills, and the mindsets that keep it all together. New episodes every Tuesday!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniescott.art/
Website: http://www.stephaniescott.art/brushwork
Music by @winepot https://www.instagram.com/thewinepot/
Podcast Cover photo by Maryna Blumqvist https://instagram.com/picturemaryna