The banner is part of the work I have been doing to get ready to set up a shop. One of the things I have been finding is that it is taking an awfully long time to deal with all the details necessary. At the same time, I have been trying to work through a bit of angst over fears raised by the idea of setting up and running a shop online.
While many of the artists who have shops on Etsy are very happy with their experiences, there are questions being raised as a result of changes Etsy has made in its policies over the last year or so. Abby Glassenberg has a blog post at https://whileshenaps.com/ about Three Bird Nest in which she talks about some of the issues highlighted as a result of those changes. It is the kind of thing that makes me stop and consider exactly what my best options are, what I want to get out of an online shop, and whether it will be possible given those options.
Some of my fears are, I'm sure, simply coming up because it is a new prospect for me. I tend to spend a lot of time planning things before feeling ready to move forward. In some ways, this can be detrimental. In other ways, I find it helps because I encounter fewer surprises along the way. The difficulty is in maintaining a balance so that I don't freeze in my tracks.
Speaking of freezing, I was thinking about the difference between Niagara Falls now http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/deep-freeze-creates-winter-beauty-niagara-falls-29074903 and how it was last summer, when we visited.
I'm sure most of us in the deep freeze are looking forward to warmer temperatures and more colorful horizons.
Wishing you peace and all good things.
Im a new follower, Dianne. Your post about Etsy resonates with me because I, too, thought a great deal about how to proceed in the beginning of setting up my Etsy shop. I've had it a few years now, and in that time have had 19 sales. The need for me was to go from thinking about it as an important business venture to something I do just for fun. I know some who make a living on Etsy, but I think it's more than a full -time job of crafting and promoting, and probably rare. I'm just happy if someone likes something I've made enough to pay for it, and the pennies I earn go into an account that buys for more supplies to make more things. Its all just fun for me. Wising you great success!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insight, Barbara. It gives me another angle for looking at this.
DeleteWe've had another interesting ice formation out here - the 50 foot fountain of ice at Letchworth State Park. http://www.wgrz.com/section/global/nation-now/
ReplyDeleteNext time you're out this way you should come to see this gorgeous park - "The Grand Canyon of the East".
The park looks beautiful! Interesting formations to the ice in the fountain, too.
DeleteDianne, you may want to check out Artfire. It's a growing community of artists/crafters. It isn't as well known as Etsy, of course, but I have heard a number of people complain about the costs at Etsy. Artfire charges a monthly fee and that's all. Very easy to set up your page, and the site is easy to navigate.
ReplyDeleteI have a recollection of Artfire being around a number of years ago. I'll have to check it out, again.
ReplyDeleteHi Dianne, I've had an Etsy shop for a few years now, and like you I was a bit hesitant about setting it up for similar reasons to those you cite above. But I have to say it has been a great success - it did take a little while to get some traction, but once it did, it seemed to feed on itself and just grow. I find the costs to be very minimal, especially when you compare with a commercial gallery, which can charge anything up to 50% commission. I say, jump in!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan. Your opinion on it is especially important to me, since I have been following your work for a number of years now. Did you find you had to do a lot to push traffic toward the shop initially or did it grow organically out of your blog postings about it?
Delete