8 Tips for Starting and Etsy Shop That Makes Money

You’ve always had a gift for making stunning pieces of jewelry. For Christmas and birthdays each year, you make your loved one’s custom necklaces and other pieces for them to flaunt. If this sounds like you, opening an Esty store would make the perfect side hustle.

Etsy has over 20 million active buyers on the site. To say that you can make bank is an understatement. You just have to research your competition, set up your store, and put a little time and effort into marketing.

Don’t worry, we have tips for starting an Esty shop that will get you through all the beginner hang-ups. Keep reading to learn more.

1. Figure Out the Best Things to Sell

Before we tell you how to be successful on Etsy, you need to make sure you have a product that’s in demand. Jewelry is the most popular item on the site. That means you have a lot of competition.

If your thing is jewelry making, you need high-quality pictures of your products. Each piece should be crafted from the finest materials. Don’t skimp out.

If you can’t make jewelry, no worries. You can sell custom stamps and other craft supplies that other people can use to make their own pieces. If that’s what you want to do, make sure you write up a detailed description.

This way, your buyers know how to use what they’re getting. Wedding supplies are always needed. If you sell centerpieces, dresses, decor, invitations, and other items, you’ll make a killing.

2. Open a Separate Bank Account

One of the most important Etsy shop tips we can give you is to open a separate bank account. Otherwise, your store funds get mixed in with your personal ones. That can get pretty messy when tax season rolls around.

You don’t need to open a fancy business account with Google (you may get charged extra if you do this), but you need something that can help you keep track of everything.

3. Take Killer Product Pictures

What’s a shop if you don’t have anything up for sale. It’s time to stock your shop with your products. Before you put them up on the site, you need to take pictures.

If your potential customers can’t see what they’re getting themselves into, they’ll be more than a little hesitant to commit to a purchase. These pictures need to fully represent the product. You can upload as many or as little as you want, but the recommendation is 5.

The first picture you choose is going to be the thumbnail. It’s the picture that everyone clicks on to see more about the item. You need to choose the best photo you have for that.

If you’re not exactly a shutterbug and you can swing it, consider hiring someone else to take the pictures for you. It’s not cheap, but you’ll make the money back in sales.

4. Do a Little Market Research

Market research is your friend. This is true no matter if you’re opening a brick-and-mortar or online shop. Take the time to check out stores that sell products like yours.

Take a look at the descriptions and tags they use to advertise their products. Pay attention to their listing prices as you scroll through, as well. You won’t be copying what they do naturally, but this will give you a little inspiration for when you get your own shop up and running.

5. Pick Your Store Name

If you need to pick a placeholder store name while you’re signing up, that’s fine. Note that you can only change your name once after hitting that shiny publish button, however. So, you need to take some time to come up with a catchy store name.

You can use a personal name to suit your purposes or choose something that more relates to what you sell. Whatever you decide to use, plaster it all over your social media. The more people who know about your store, the better.

6. Create a Solid Financial Plan

When you’re trying to figure out a price for your products, you need to consider a few things. Factor up how much cash you dish out on supplies. Think about how much time you spend on each piece.

You want to make sure that you break even, or you won’t recoup your losses. On the flip side of this, if you ask for too much, you won’t make any money at all. You can use an Etsy profit estimator to calculate exactly how much you will be taking to the bank.

Again the best thing you can do is take a look at other shops that sell similar products. You can get a good idea of how much you should list yours for this way.

7. You Don’t Have to Be Crafty to Make Money

Indeed, Etsy is mainly used by those who are crafty. It’s not a requirement to be able to sell stuff on the site, however. People love vintage stuff.

If you have any collectibles or kits, those will sell for a lot too.

8. Consider Your Advertisement Methods

It will be hard for you to sell anything if nobody knows about your store. This means that you need to make some marketing efforts. This is easier said than done when you’re a new seller.

You can promote your products by starting a blog. Link your blog to your social media account to get access to a wider range of followers.

Don’t forget to post info about your products on your page and consider running a contest. All it takes is one person to share one of your posts to get the word around.

Tips for Starting an Etsy Shop That’s Successful

If you’re more than a little bit crafty, you could make a decent amount of money by starting up an Etsy shop. It’s easy to create an account, but not as simple to sell your products.

As long as you use these tips for starting an Etsy shop, you should do fine, though. Just make sure not to forget about marketing and don’t underestimate the power of social media.

Are you looking for more ways to make a large amount of money? Check out the Business section of our blog daily to get started.