I've been selling on Etsy for over 4 years now. During those years, I've learned a lot of do's and don'ts. I've had busy times and slow times. I've made great items that I was sure would be best sellers only to find out they weren't and other items turned out to be a smash success.
My best all time selling item is the plain and simple kraft tag -
I've sold 3,500 in the first 2.5 months of this year. I haven't counted the total for all 4 years. That might take a while...
People use them for weddings, price tags in their brick and mortar stores and craft shows or make their own gift tags with them. They can be purchased in my shop in sets of 25 up to 1,000. I can also make a custom listing for just about any number you need.
Another surprise big seller has been my paper luau flowers -
I had an excess amount of paper in 4 different colors and decided they would make nice party decorations. I sold quite a few sets in quantities of 25-100. Then one day a museum event coordinator contacted me and asked if I could make 10,000 of them. SURE!! The girls and I worked hard for quite a few days on that. I no longer have the original colors but I'm offering the ones pictured above.
People don't often tell me what they are doing with the items they buy but it's fun when they do. The last person to buy my paper flowers said they were poking a hole in the middle and making lollipop flowers to give away at a hospital! What a cute idea.
If you'd like something for your next event, be sure to stop by Ellie Marie Designs. If you don't see what you're looking for, send me a message! I love custom orders.
Etsy is home to over a million shop owners who sell handmade crafts, craft supplies and vintage items. Buying something can be as easy as clicking the "add to cart" button and checking out with Paypal or a credit card. But knowing a few handy tips may prevent unnecessary frustration for you and/or the shop owner.
#1 READ the description for the item that you want to buy. Make sure that you understand -
* Exactly what is being sold - the size, the quantity, the color
* How long it will take the seller to make and ship the item
* Where the item is shipping from - If you live in New Zealand, you won't get your package from Iowa in 3 days.
#2 LOOK for special instructions. Do you need to leave information for the seller? This generally applies to personalized items.
#3 ASK the seller a question! Etsy sellers do not mind hearing from potential customers. Perhaps they forgot to mention the size of an item or you want to know if they can make blue tags instead of white. Look for the "Ask a Question" button to the right of the price.
#4 BE specific. If you want blue tags, ask for the specific shade. "Can you make these in royal (sky, turquoise, navy, etc.) blue?"
#5 ORDER EARLY. We live in a world of making last minute decisions. Too many times I've had to turn a customer down because they ask me on Monday if I can make a stack of personalized tags and have them delivered in time for their baby shower on Friday. No, most likely not.
I hope you've found these tips helpful! I will be back to share some more. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments. And I hope you'll stop by my shop - Ellie Marie Designs .
What's my biggest selling item from Ellie Marie Designs? Amazingly it's these plain brown kraft tags. I started out with a set of 25. A potential customer sent me a message and asked if I could do 200. 200? What does anyone want with 200 plain brown tags? Doesn't matter really. I can do 200.
Three years and thousands of tags later, I'm still selling them. I've done several sizes from 1.5 - 5.5. The 3.5 is the most popular. And I've done anywhere from 25 to 2,000. They've gone all over the world from Hawaii to New Zealand.
So what do people do with these tags anyway? Mostly, they don't tell me. I know that some have been used for:
*Escort labels at weddings
*Price tags for brick and mortar stores
*Etsy sellers gift tags.
*DIY Christmas tags
*Yard sale price tags
*Fundraisers
Need some plain brown tags? Visit my shop! I can also make a custom listing for special sizes, quantities and even colors.
So I had these stacks and stacks of scrapbooking supplies and had to decide what to do with them. I did some research on Etsy and saw that people do sell 12 x 12 scrapbook pages. But how do they ship them? That route seemed too complicated for the beginning of my adventure.
I gathered my supplies and just started cutting, stamping and gluing and soon some festive little Christmas gift tags had been created. I listed about ten sets in my shop and I was a happy camper. I was so pleased to have almost half a page filled up. It took about two weeks to get my first sale. I was ecstatic!
Decorative gift tags are one of my favorite things to make. But I've realized that not everyone needs six or ten of the same tag. So recently I've bagged up an assortment of ten different tags in a grab bag. Each bag is different and it's a bit of a surprise what each customer will receive. There are baby shower tags, fall tags, teacher appreciation tags, Valentine's Day, wedding or bridal shower tags, birthday gift tags, etc. It's like an All Occasion gift tag supply.
My family and I were missionaries to Romania. And when we returned from the field, we found ourselves in Richmond, VA living on a single and insufficient income. So I started working too. I subbed in the public schools anywhere from one day a week to full time. John worked evenings, I worked days and somehow we managed to continue homeschooling our three children.
Then my oldest two, Gabriel and Hannah, graduated from high school the same year and went off to college. So now we not only had the added expense of two children in college but working outside the home became complicated. John's schedule had changed from permanent evenings to shift work. That made it impossible for me substitute without leaving our youngest, Holly, home alone for hours at a time.
I was discussing my dilemma with a friend at church who happens to have a very successful etsy shop selling adorable baby bows and headbands. So I started praying about what I could do at home and soon Ellie Marie Designs had begun.
