I really would love to get some feedback from you all, especially all you lovely people who have supported me by buying at some of the sites I list on.
At the moment I seem to have bits of stuff all over the web, which is a bit messy and I suspect very inconvenient for you, the buyer. Some of you have been really lovely, stalking around the various sites and setting up accounts to be able to go in to buy my glasswares; thank you for going to the trouble!
I’d like to make thing easier and better, and maybe try and concentrate on fewer, and better, places to list my items. At the moment I have stuff on Etsy, which is a very good site but all in dollars. I have a lot of stuff in Folksy, plus a sprinkling of supplies in Misi and other bits at Coriandr!!! And then of course there is also Artfire which I hear good things about but am not listing in (yet!?)
On top of that I have an option to have a shopping cart on my website instead, which I turned off as I had so many other sites with listings in already.
Help! I am not sure which is better, so I’d really love to hear YOUR feedback as to which venue, as shoppers, you’d prefer to use, and also which you hate to help me decide what would be the best to concentrate on. I don’t mind if you want to leave a comment on my blog, on my Facebook page, on twitter or even email, I’d just really appreciate hearing what you think as shoppers.
Thank you in advance!!! Glenn :-)
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This is a difficult one. Having your own site is great but the downside is always the marketing.. buyers finding you. One of the advantages of the other sites is that you are amongst other crafters/makers (via forums etc)and they form part of the audience.
ReplyDeleteI've found that having my own site gives me credibility for some of the things I want to stock. (Some stockists don't like it if you don't have your own site)
I have a little shop on Folksy - but I don't market that as much but it gives me access to the forums which is useful as marketing. Perhaps if you kept those bigger outlets where they have associated forums... etsy,folksy (I'm unsure about Artfire although they seem very active)that will perhaps give you enough time to visit all of them frequently enough to be known. Plus, it would allow you to keep on top of making and nurturing your own site.
I don't think I'd advise you to just have your own site. The marketing becomes so much harder.
I hope that some of this helps you to decide without causing confusion.
In one way I think its best to have a few things all over the place, utilising the bigger shops advertising (etsy ect) as more people are bound to find you, and if you have your blog as the linking factor, they can always find more. But, I have my own website which i sell on, but haven't, I do better on folksy. So for me i'm thinking just having my site for info and blog, and selling through the bigger places. Probably not much help, and i've added to the confusion, but good luck anyway, your stuff is fab it'll sell anyway!
ReplyDeleteAaah, I'm loving that photo, that's a beautiful piece.
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about your own site as a portal? It's what I intend to do with mine in the new year (if I can stop being sick and exhausted for a few weeks!). I'm planning to bring everything and everywhere together so that people can choose where they'd like to shop, whether that's Etsy or Folksy (too knackered to try out more - I may put sales functionality on site as well, haven't decided yet) and see my blog at the same time - but all under one URL so that's all I need to advertise and put on publicity. I figure it'll give me the benefits of the searches and listings of the big sites whilst cutting down the faff-factor for return buyers or having to advertise multiple sites.
Mind, I'm not trying to make a living out of it so I may be coming at it all wrong - tbh I find most of my sales are commission pieces for people I already know through non-crafting sites. What do I know. I just like the idea of a cohesive brand! :)
I like Folksy best, though MISI isn't bad either. However I find Coriandr just can't compete in traffic and it can be hard to be seen on Etsy :)
ReplyDeletei have a shop on folksy and on etsy - i have sold more on folksy but i don't sell very much on either TBH - i think having a bit in each shop is fine - i list the same item in both quite often as it is very very unlikely i'd sell the same item in both shops then i can just remove the sold item from the other shop.
ReplyDeletei'd say spread your stock out and use as many shops as you like but maybe when you sell an item add a notecard to the parcel informing the customer of your own site.
I want to like folksy, but it doesn't seem to have hit the critical mass yet where I get a sensible number of results for the kind of things I tend to be looking for (I also want to be able to sort by price, which they don't seem to do) so - if you were going to restrict yourself to a single marketplace, I'd vote Etsy.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting discussion. I sell on my website though I mostly sell my jewellery through the fairs that I do.
ReplyDeleteI am just going to start listing on Etsy but am now thinking of trying Folksy as well having read all the comments. I joined Artfire at the begining but am not really sure if people are selling much on there or not. I have not listed on there yet, but whenever I spend time looking I never seem to find people with sales. I guess I will only really know by trying it.
From a buyers point of view I think it is a good idea to have everything listed on your website as well as any other places. I know you always run the risk of selling an item twice before you get it all updated (don't we all wish! :)), but that way buyers have the option of finding everything in one place if they are interested enough in your work to look at your various shops and have found pieces they want listed in the other places. Just my thoughts anyway.
Thank you all for taking the time to answer, certainly given me some food for thought. I shall be carrying on with Folksy and Etsy shops as before for the time being, but I will certainly think some more about best way forward and you've all given me lots to think about!
ReplyDeleteThank you!