Does anyone have an Etsy store? (NOT gem or jewelry related)

[Dee*Jay]

As some of you may know, I collected vintage stemware. (Says she who posts pics of her cocktails ad nauseum! ) I've now got dozens... hundreds... OK... maybe a couple of THOUSAND "extras." And by extras, I mean I have often had to buy 8/12/16/24 of something because I wanted two of them. These "extras" are packaged individually in stemware boxes and taking up a lot of closet space--of which I have very little. I can't bring myself to throw them away, and on the rare occasion when I've given a few to the Salvation Army I've watched the boxes get slung around like they were TRYING to break them. So I started thinking, why not sell them?! I have researched the history of a lot of them, and I would love to share that info as well as sell the glasses. I also wouldn't look to really "make money," I just want these to go to people would enjoy them. TR sells stuff on ebay, but somehow Etsy seems more "civilized" (of course I could be dead wrong about that!). So what do you think? Does anyone have an Etsy store? (Please DO NOT post a link or anything specific to the store, like the name, because I don't want to even inadvertently break any rules here -- and I don't think I am, but I want to be super cautious!!) On the flip side, if you buy stuff on Etsy, what do you like/not like that sellers do?

Any and all thoughts are welcome! I'm at the very very beginning of this process (the idea just came to me tonight over a glass of prosecco -- how shocking, right?! ) and I figured I'd see if it goes anywhere.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

This sounds a great idea
What do you have to loose?
I have no idea what setting up an esty store entails
but peeps like my sister are really into lovelly stemwear
Would you sell the peices individually ?
How much fiddling around is involved in packaging something for shipping when its a highly breakable item and someome just paid money for it ?

Oh and boo hiss those salvation army shop people
Its so much nicer shopping for pre-loved things on the internet than some smelly cluttered 2nd hand store, i don't enjoy fossoking in the dust

 

[Dee*Jay]

D&D, I was thinking along the same lines of what have I got to lose?! Nothing really, except some time in terms of taking and posting pics and a little bit of money (it's actually pretty inexpensive to do this).

I'd sell both individually and in sets (if I had enough multiples).

As for shipping, USPS is not that much if the item is light and you use a priority mail box. Of course I'd bubble wrap the he!! out of every piece!

I'm thrilled to hear your sister enjoys stemware like this! My philospohy has always been "Why buy a glass at a place like Crate and Barrel when you could get something more interesting for the same -- or often less -- money?" Of course "more interesting" is in the eye of the beholder, but to me these are very fun little pieces of history!

Here's a pic I've put up before showing a tiny tiny fraction of what I've got. No two of these are duplicates, and note there are no clear ones here, which I've got the most of.

 

[Snowdrop13]

I’ll be interested to hear the replies! I knitted a huge number of baby hats over lockdown, intending to give them to the local maternity unit. However, lots of people did exactly the same thing and the unit is having to give the hats away to other charities. I wondered about “selling“ on Etsy, like you, not for any profit, maybe I would charge P+P only?? Not sure how easy that would be.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

D&D, I was thinking along the same lines of what have I got to lose?! Nothing really, except some time in terms of taking and posting pics and a little bit of money (it's actually pretty inexpensive to do this).

I'd sell both individually and in sets (if I had enough multiples).

As for shipping, USPS is not that much if the item is light and you use a priority mail box. Of course I'd bubble wrap the he!! out of every piece!

I'm thrilled to hear your sister enjoys stemware like this! My philospohy has always been "Why buy a glass at a place like Crate and Barrel when you could get something more interesting for the same -- or often less -- money?" Of course "more interesting" is in the eye of the beholder, but to me these are very fun little pieces of history!

Here's a pic I've put up before showing a tiny tiny fraction of what I've got. No two of these are duplicates, and note there are no clear ones here, which I've got the most of.

Oh my sister would love those if it was only eaiser and a lot cheaper to post international

She made sure she got all mum and dad's '60's era glasses

 

[Mekp]

This sounds like a great idea!
I technically have an Etsy store but I haven't been brave enough to list anything yet.
I hand-dye yarn and thought I would sell that.
I also buy a lot on Etsy. I'm in Canada so I like when sellers will ship to Canada.

 

[MMtwo]

Yes, to sell the art I have not made. It just sits empty. So much for building it to inspire me to get some work done to sell.

I think it's a wonderful idea. I have bought a jade bangle from a woman who decided to thin out her large nephrite jade collection. It was a lovely custom bangle about thirty years old. It was a win-win. You have nothing to lose!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I had an Etsy store for a year from 2018-2019. It was fun, I enjoyed everything about it. My main product was vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls, originally I wanted to have a jewelry shop but then figured out there was a huge demand for these toys.

One thing to be aware of is that Etsy likes to experiment with “tests” a lot. In gauging how customers respond to various changes, it can get frustrating as a seller because it does affect your sales. At the time I left they were pushing free shipping and if you offered it then your listings were placed first in search. Placement in search results is obviously a big deal.

I haven’t kept up with there most recent changes to the platform but you can get a good overall feel by reading Etsy forums:

Etsy Forums

community.etsy.com

Good luck

 

[Tartansparkles]

Setting up the store is relatively easy (I helped DD set up a store to sell her hand drawn stickers)(so far it's cost me more than she's made but that's another story!). As the famous slogan says 'just do it'. You just follow the steps that they guide you through. If you already have the knowledge to make your product descriptions interesting and the items are already packaged, you're just about there. Perfection is the enemy of progress (or something like that) so give it a go - but don't expect wonders straight away, a successful store is a lot of work.

 

[pinkjewel]

I buy a lot on Etsy, so I encourage you to go for it. However, I do have a friend that opened an Etsy store several months ago and has yet to make a sale. She is an artist and has sold a fair amount locally, but I think the problem is getting people to find your store on Etsy since there are so many of them. I think part of her particular problem is she doesn't have good descriptions of her items and doesn't take the best photos either, so people just move on to other stores.

 

[bqueen2kt]

I have an Etsy store, it is easy to set up and use. Biggest problem is the shipping, they ask for a quote in the listing and I’m usually under which costs me. I will do free shipping but figure it into the items overall cost. Customers like this and Etsy likes it too

 

[Dee*Jay]

Helllllllo!!!

So I am up and running on Etsy! Thank you to everyone who chimed in to this thread in the beginning, I really appreciate it!

Snowdrop, Mekp and MMtwo, I would love to have you join me in this endeavor! We could be our own little support group (along with anyone else who wants to join us).

YadaYadaYada, thank you so much for pointing me to the forums! I've had to search a number of questions and the info I've found has been really helpful.

Tartansparkles, your post about not having instant success made me laugh because about once an hour as soon as I got up and running TR would say "sell anything yet?" I was about ready to smack him, LOL.

bqueen2kt, I went with free shipping to make things easier on the buyers (The Price is The Price) and also on me so I have control over thate part of it. I may end up changing that going forward, but that's how I started out.

Pinkjewel, you hit on a big question that I came here to get advice on... photos. So here's my dilemma:

As I mentioned,TR has a successful ebay store, which he's had up and running for several years, and he specializes in things like farm implements and manufacturing instruments, that sort of thing. In the beginning I took good pics of my pieces (just JUST the pieces) and put them up. Then I started looking around some more and realized that a little creativity in terms of photo props made things A LOT nicer (to me anyway). So I got some faux flowers, and some pretty books, and a couple of trays and some candy (which I may or may not have eaten a bit of along the way... ) and I'm spending quite a bit of time now on the picture taking process. Long story short, TR thinks I'm over the top. He's like, "Just post some clear pictures of the items along with a good description and be done with it." So that the crux of my question: As a buyer, would the pictures matter to you? I.e., would you be more likely to click of a pic that was nicely staged? I do realize it comes down to the thing you're looking for if if it is specific, but this is a very saturated marketplace and a lot of people are selling vintage glass so if this matters in terms of differentiation I'm totally willing to do it! By the same token, I'm spending a lot of time dong this so if it really doesn't matter I can focus on different parts of this adventure. For instance, I went down to my place in the city yesterday and brought back a bunch of new pieces that I would love to list tomorrow, but it will take me a while. I could get MORE up using TR's method, but I think they will look nicer using mine...

What do you all think?!

 

[Dee*Jay]

I just realized it might be helpful to see what I mean.

A few examples with "props":






Without:

 

[Matata]

My 2 cents -- I did a quick search of vintage glassware just now on etsy and looked at the first 3 pages, your examples are waaaay better. A background that complements the pieces, a simple set up, and the right lighting, imo, are most effective and you've achieved that. The photos on the etsy pages I looked at, with one exception, had none of those elements and the glassware looked less than meh.

 

[SparklieBug]

I just visited your Etsy store and I like your photos, both with and without props. For people who know what they‘re looking at/for, I think props make no difference.

For newbies or lookie-loos, the prop shots give a good idea of size—for example, seeing the chocolate kisses allows a visual gauge.

Love the overall look of your store!

 

[Dee*Jay]

My 2 cents -- I did a quick search of vintage glassware just now on etsy and looked at the first 3 pages, your examples are waaaay better. A background that complements the pieces, a simple set up, and the right lighting, imo, are most effective and you've achieved that. The photos on the etsy pages I looked at, with one exception, had none of those elements and the glassware looked less than meh.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at that and for the feedback! I do understand TR's point about the efficiency of getting stuff up (I probably have 20 more sets of things to list, especially since a lady bought me out of five sets of colored glass the other night -- blue, pink, and three different yellows) and the desire to make it look "pretty."

 

[Dee*Jay]

I just visited your Etsy store and I like your photos, both with and without props. For people who know what they‘re looking at/for, I think props make no difference.

For newbies or lookie-loos, the prop shots give a good idea of size—for example, seeing the chocolate kisses allows a visual gauge.

Love the overall look of your store!

I really appreciate the feedback! The pics without props were obviously the first set, and the ones with props came later as I tried out different things. You are very smart to hit on the size thing BTW! In that set of little cordial glasses I used Hershey's kisses EXACTLY for the purpose of showing scale.

And thank you for the compliment on the store! It's a work in progress and I have a ton more stuff to list... If you saw how many crates of glasses I have down in the basement you'd be staging an intervention!

 

[MMtwo]

I just visited your Etsy store and I like your photos, both with and without props. For people who know what they‘re looking at/for, I think props make no difference.

For newbies or lookie-loos, the prop shots give a good idea of size—for example, seeing the chocolate kisses allows a visual gauge.

Love the overall look of your store!

x2. I usually like to buy on a white background, but I can see the dark background may be an advantage to appreciating the colors of pastel glass. I have an 18" cube with a light I have used to stage pictures for eBay....but its decidedly unromantic. Your staged pictures add to the charm.

 

[Dee*Jay]

x2. I usually like to buy on a white background, but I can see the dark background may be an advantage to appreciating the colors of pastel glass. I have an 18" cube with a light I have used to stage pictures for eBay....but its decidedly unromantic. Your staged pictures add to the charm.

I should clarify that the pics I show beyond the first "thumbnail" are pretty clear and detailed. It's really just the first one that I gussy up a bit for the most part. The lady who bought five sets of glasses from me the other night did compliment my pics, so that made me feel good!

It's interesting you mention the light box I got one for this purpose but it really washes out the color on the glasses. Light is turning out to be the bane of my existence BTW. Or more specifically GLARE Taking pictures of glass is much more difficult than i ever imagined!

 

[123ducklings]

No special insight here, but I wanted to wish you best of luck on your new endeavor!

 

[MMtwo]

I should clarify that the pics I show beyond the first "thumbnail" are pretty clear and detailed. It's really just the first one that I gussy up a bit for the most part. The lady who bought five sets of glasses from me the other night did compliment my pics, so that made me feel good!

It's interesting you mention the light box I got one for this purpose but it really washes out the color on the glasses. Light is turning out to be the bane of my existence BTW. Or more specifically GLARE Taking pictures of glass is much more difficult than i ever imagined!

I wish you luck! I imagine the lighting is super tricky!

 

[Bron357]

Fabulous.
I love your photos.
keeping in mind the type of buyer for these items, I think a bit of whimsical staging is a good idea.
Its always the photo that a potential buyer sees before they click on the item and I think a well constructed and well executed photo says as much about the seller as the item.
your photos say to me “I took care of these while I owned them”, “I think these are very pretty, let me show you how pretty”.
there is nothing worse or more off putting than listings with items that look “dirty / uncared for/ not treated well”. It’s fine if youre at a cheap house clearance auction but for “nice things” it’s important to me as a buyer that they will “be nice”.
Good luck.
There’s something very nourishing about pretty glassware.
PS I have a lot myself

 

[TARSHA]

Well, WF does very nice 'glamor shots' - so, it's entirely suitable for a PS devotee to do it !!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Thank you 123ducklings, what a lovely thing to say!

Bron, if you're inclined to share I would love to see some of your treasurers!

Tarsha, I hadn't looked at it like that, ha ha.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Your pictures look great! I like the staged pictures and I know some sellers on Etsy just point and click but professional looking pictures do sell more product.

It looks like you are off to a great start and I wish you many sales in the future!

 

[donnabrsd]

I think your photos are wonderful. I like the variety of props and the plain background for more detailed photos. I especially like the one listing with the wood background. Looking forward to finding something to post in the Happy Hour thread.

 

[Tartansparkles]

I would do a combination of both, your 'plain' photos are very good but your staged photos help with the sizzle (from the 'selling the sizzle not the sausage' school of thought).

What it ultimately comes down to is time v cost, and what you want from the venture. From a business point of view I'd factor in an hourly rate for your time which allows you to make a more objective calculation regarding the pros and cons of the staged photography (I suspect there would be more pros including increased sales and possibly a higher selling price). I'm glad you went ahead with the store, as the dude from the A team used to say 'I love it when a plan comes together'.

 

[KaeKae]

Help a clueless half awake girl out.....how do I find your etsy shop, @Dee*Jay ?

 

[missy]

@Dee*Jay wishing you much success with this. I love your shop. Beautiful. Elegant. Fun. Just like you.

Help a clueless half awake girl out.....how do I find your etsy shop, @Dee*Jay ?

Here you go @KaeKae

NobleEstates - Etsy

Shop Featuring Depression glass, MCM, vintage and retro! by NobleEstates located in Chicago, Illinois. Smooth shipping! Has a history of shipping on time with tracking. Speedy replies! Has a history of replying to messages quickly. Rave reviews! Average review rating is 4.8 or higher

www.etsy.com

 

[KaeKae]

Thanks @missy !