Etsy?

LoveBugAngel · 11-21-2012, 08:07 PM

Just wondering if any of you have ever sold anything on Etsy? I'm curious how it works. I have some ladies at work telling me I should put stuff up on Etsy. One of the main questions I have after looking around the site is you have to list a shipping price, well if the person lives in your city do they have to pay the shipping price if they buy it online, like does the shipping automatically get added to the total?

I'd love to take a look at your etsy shops if you have one. Tell me what you think of the site ups and downs?

LoveBugAngel · 11-23-2012, 05:24 PM

hmmm maybe Etsy is a no no topic on here. Woopsy.

salmonmac · 11-23-2012, 05:52 PM

No, not at all. I think you're just in the post-Thanksgiving (Black Friday?) lull. I have no experience with Etsy but I could never charge enough for a hand knit to make it worth my time.

Jan in CA · 11-23-2012, 07:30 PM

Yeah, no problem with discussing it. You just have to be patient sometimes especially over the holidays.

I don't know how anyone makes money selling their knitting there. Or anywhere. Between the yarn and time involved to make a project worth selling the price would be pretty high wouldn't it? I'd ask those women at work what they'd be willing to pay for various things. Then figure out how many skeins of yarn you'd need and how long it would take you to complete it and calculate the price. See if its worth it.

Anyway, the site itself should have info on what Etsy's cut is so you can price your item accordingly.

LoveBugAngel · 11-24-2012, 12:42 AM

The scarf I made was pretty simple to knit and only took a few hours. The yarn was 11.99, when I wore the scarf today everyone went crazy for it. I think I could sell them for about 40.00 which would def be worth it for me. I could really use the money and I enjoyed knitting it. But I would want to put it on etsy so that people could leave feedback. Or maybe it would be best to just sell it to them personally, I'm not sure.

GrumpyGramma · 11-24-2012, 01:13 AM

I've never used etsy to sell nor buy, I have only looked there. My understanding from a niece who has put items for sale on etsy is getting established as a reputable seller is a big challenge. I'm not certain she even still has things listed there, I should find out.

Jan in CA · 11-24-2012, 03:36 AM

I'm not sure what cut Etsy takes, but some places take quite a bit so that's definitely something to look into.

I've bought a couple interchangeable needle cases (love them!) from Etsy.

ETA: Okay, I looked up info which you can find as well if you register on the site. There is a listing fee and a transaction fee which doesn't include shipping or taxes. The numbers look relatively small, but it'll all add to your price or cut your bottom line. I'm not trying to discourage you just want you to be aware of everything.

fatoldladyinpjs · 11-25-2012, 02:55 PM

I would check the copyright disclaimers on the patterns of things you've made. Sometimes the pattern writers allow you to sell things you've made from these patterns, sometimes not. It could mean a legal infringement issue. If the patterns are yours, there's no problem. I think you would be better off selling your own patterns. There's nothing to ship and you could email them in .pdf format. There are many free programs online that will allow you to convert patterns to .pdf.

Antares · 11-25-2012, 04:02 PM

There was a thread on here not too long ago about someone discussing the cons of using Etsy.

Oh, here it is: http://www.knittinghelp.com/forum/sh...highlight=Etsy

This thread also includes info about copyrighted patterns.

You might do better selling things on eBay or just selling locally.

LoveBugAngel · 11-25-2012, 06:45 PM

Thanks everyone, I think I'll just sell locally to my friends and colleagues, I just figured it was easy to do it through a site like etsy, but apparently not!