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Post by stardiamond on May 22, 2019 20:21:19 GMT -5
The goal of any web site is to make money for the site. I had no experience selling on the web and decided to give it a try. I came up with a basic strategy; list cabochons that had a strong appearance and put out a variety of material. When a person is searching for a particular item and find something that I am offering they may look at the rest of my items. I have a lot of cabs but decided not to list too many of the same thing.
Etsy is pushing additional fees for placement and fees for placement on Google searches. When I do a search on something that will get few hits; like a Tahoma cabochon the only ones I am likely to see are the ones where Google is getting their piece. What is the opinion of the value added for this? It seems like when a person is looking for a Tahoma cabochon they are probably going to look at ebay, Amazon and Etsy. As far as Etsy placement is concerned, I'm a serious shopper and will look at everything in my price range. Some people might look at the first ones and either buy or quite looking.
Lastly, I am not sure about how many items to list. I have about 40 to provide a sampler of my work. I could put out a few hundred. I have the inventory, the time and the listing fees are reasonable. I don't know if there is any point to putting out 20 Morgan Hill cabochons or is it counter productive. I'm sure there a lot of opinions on this subject.
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Post by stonemon on May 22, 2019 21:15:17 GMT -5
It is my understanding that Etsy exposure is increased by the algorithm when you have over 100 items in the shop. I always try to keep more than 100 listed.
I do not give Etsy anything more than the basic listing fees and their cut of the sales. I have a couple of species that are my bread and butter. Trent Agate and Holley blue are the ones that keep it going. I sell quite a bit of other stuff also but the dollars are from a few types of specialty rocks.
I try to keep a good supply of these in the shop. 20 is not too many IMHO. People search the site and if you have the selection, you get the sale.
Disclaimer, I do not pretend to make a living doing this. It is a hobby and I am just saying what works for me.
The most important thing is to have fun and let it enhance your life!!
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Post by rockjunquie on May 23, 2019 7:38:13 GMT -5
Definitely list as many as you can, it helps with search. MHPJ is super hot right now. I would list a lot of them if you have them. Etsy ads is a good way to get exposure, but don't ask me to explain setting up a campaign. I had a friend do it for me.  |
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MommaGem
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2019
Posts: 312
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Post by MommaGem on May 23, 2019 9:57:01 GMT -5
I don't know if there is any point to putting out 20 Morgan Hill cabochons or is it counter productive. I'm sure there a lot of opinions on this subject. As a buyer, I like a selection of the same type of stone and purchase based on the specific look or cut of a cab. I'd say, if you've got 'em - post 'em  |
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Tommy
Administrator 
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,957
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Post by Tommy on May 23, 2019 10:05:10 GMT -5
Pretty rocks in a variety of killer materials sounds like a winning strategy - maybe I should try that Seriously though I don't mess around with Google ads for a plethora of reasons - the biggest of which is most of Etsy's traffic is FROM Etsy internal search. In other words, people who buy my stuff have gone to Etsy to purchase their cabs and found me there. For this reason I do use Etsy's "promoted listings" but I don't put a lot of time into tweaking campaigns or anything. I enter with the minimum spend and hope for the best. If nothing else it's a good way to make sure your items aren't completely buried at the end pages of a popular search term. Regarding how many items to keep in inventory, the magic number for me seems to be between 150 and 200. When I took a lot of time off between November and February of this year my inventory dropped to a four year low of about 90 pieces and sales had all but stopped. Right now I'm fighting to get back up around 200 pieces but it seems like an insurmountable hill to climb. Once I get above 150 pieces my sales seem to keep pace with my ability to get new inventory posted so I can't seem to get past it. Good problem to have I guess - not complaining. |
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Don
Cave Dweller 
He wants you too, Malachi.
Member since December 2009
Posts: 2,616
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Post by Don on May 23, 2019 11:32:12 GMT -5
The goal of any web site is to make money for the site. I had no experience selling on the web and decided to give it a try. I came up with a basic strategy; list cabochons that had a strong appearance and put out a variety of material. When a person is searching for a particular item and find something that I am offering they may look at the rest of my items. I have a lot of cabs but decided not to list too many of the same thing. Etsy is pushing additional fees for placement and fees for placement on Google searches. When I do a search on something that will get few hits; like a Tahoma cabochon the only ones I am likely to see are the ones where Google is getting their piece. What is the opinion of the value added for this? It seems like when a person is looking for a Tahoma cabochon they are probably going to look at ebay, Amazon and Etsy. As far as Etsy placement is concerned, I'm a serious shopper and will look at everything in my price range. Some people might look at the first ones and either buy or quite looking. Lastly, I am not sure about how many items to list. I have about 40 to provide a sampler of my work. I could put out a few hundred. I have the inventory, the time and the listing fees are reasonable. I don't know if there is any point to putting out 20 Morgan Hill cabochons or is it counter productive. I'm sure there a lot of opinions on this subject. Marketing: If you are in a high competition, low engagement category, (like jewelry) I feel that you absolutely must advertise with Etsy to get any sales traction. If you are in a low competition, high engagement cateogry (tahoma cabochon) you probably don't need to advertise on Etsy unless you want to target the high competition, low engagement market for "cabochon". Google advertising through Etsy has been very unproductive for me, but I'm in a high competition, low engagement market. I don't know if it would work out better for you. Item listing: List absolutely everything you have. The more listings, the more hits on searches, the more visitors to your store, the more sales you end up with. |
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on May 23, 2019 14:27:20 GMT -5
Pretty rocks in a variety of killer materials sounds like a winning strategy - maybe I should try that Seriously though I don't mess around with Google ads for a plethora of reasons - the biggest of which is most of Etsy's traffic is FROM Etsy internal search. In other words, people who buy my stuff have gone to Etsy to purchase their cabs and found me there. For this reason I do use Etsy's "promoted listings" but I don't put a lot of time into tweaking campaigns or anything. I enter with the minimum spend and hope for the best. If nothing else it's a good way to make sure your items aren't completely buried at the end pages of a popular search term. Regarding how many items to keep in inventory, the magic number for me seems to be between 150 and 200. When I took a lot of time off between November and February of this year my inventory dropped to a four year low of about 90 pieces and sales had all but stopped. Right now I'm fighting to get back up around 200 pieces but it seems like an insurmountable hill to climb. Once I get above 150 pieces my sales seem to keep pace with my ability to get new inventory posted so I can't seem to get past it. Good problem to have I guess - not complaining. That is funny. I was looking for something else today and found an article about how many items are optimal for etsy sites. I just need to find time to make 100 more pendants. Long story short this was what the research came up with.
Overall, the very best amount of items to have in your Etsy shop for this research is 172.75marketingartfully.com/how-many-items-should-you-have-in-your-etsy-store/Chuck |
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Post by rockjunquie on May 23, 2019 14:34:32 GMT -5
Pretty rocks in a variety of killer materials sounds like a winning strategy - maybe I should try that Seriously though I don't mess around with Google ads for a plethora of reasons - the biggest of which is most of Etsy's traffic is FROM Etsy internal search. In other words, people who buy my stuff have gone to Etsy to purchase their cabs and found me there. For this reason I do use Etsy's "promoted listings" but I don't put a lot of time into tweaking campaigns or anything. I enter with the minimum spend and hope for the best. If nothing else it's a good way to make sure your items aren't completely buried at the end pages of a popular search term. Regarding how many items to keep in inventory, the magic number for me seems to be between 150 and 200. When I took a lot of time off between November and February of this year my inventory dropped to a four year low of about 90 pieces and sales had all but stopped. Right now I'm fighting to get back up around 200 pieces but it seems like an insurmountable hill to climb. Once I get above 150 pieces my sales seem to keep pace with my ability to get new inventory posted so I can't seem to get past it. Good problem to have I guess - not complaining. That is funny. I was looking for something else today and found an article about how many items are optimal for etsy sites. I just need to find time to make 100 more pendants. Long story short this was what the research came up with.
Overall, the very best amount of items to have in your Etsy shop for this research is 172.75marketingartfully.com/how-many-items-should-you-have-in-your-etsy-store/Chuck Wow! I don't think I could keep up with that! |
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,957
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Post by Tommy on May 23, 2019 15:42:21 GMT -5
Wow! I don't think I could keep up with that! Once you get to the number - say 175 - the easiest way to maintain it that I've found is in batching it. I would make cabs and let them accumulate until I had between 30 and 50 and sit down and post them all at once so my fluctuation was going between say 170 and 210. Customers love it and went crazy when a new batch would hit but once I let my inventory drop as low as I did it's very hard to get back to the happy place where I can start effectively batching again. |
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Post by stardiamond on May 23, 2019 16:26:19 GMT -5
I don't know if there is any point to putting out 20 Morgan Hill cabochons or is it counter productive. I'm sure there a lot of opinions on this subject. As a buyer, I like a selection of the same type of stone and purchase based on the specific look or cut of a cab. I'd say, if you've got 'em - post 'em I have 40 and added 6 MH listings. I'm taking it slow. |
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Post by stardiamond on Jun 16, 2019 17:32:13 GMT -5
I was making corrections to this flat top cab today; girdles and scratches. I took some pictures and was going to list it on Etsy. I then discovered a new 2mm nick on the face. It's a about 4mm thick and it would need to start at 80 to fix it. My father sold appliances back in the day when selling price was flexible. He would offer a discount off the ticket price and point to an insignificant flaw and the customer thought they were getting a deal. I was thinking of offering this cab for $20 with free shipping and disclosing the flaw. Is this a bad idea? I have other pictures that show it is symmetrical.  |
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Post by stardiamond on May 12, 2020 22:39:31 GMT -5
I've been on Etsy a year now. I have a 250 active listings and 50 expired. No voluntary advertising. My basic marketing strategy is throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks and try to take better pictures. It's been fun and not work.
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NDK
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 9,440
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Post by NDK on May 13, 2020 7:58:22 GMT -5
It's nice to hear a different perspective.
Has this virus lockdown seemed to help your sales at all?
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Post by stardiamond on May 13, 2020 10:04:31 GMT -5
I don't have enough history to know if it helped sales. January and February were slow and things picked up in March. Views seem to be about the same and visits are fewer. I am not seeing a relationship between visits and sales. Sales happen when they happen. Selling is an extension of the hobby for me not a side job. I've sold enough to be able to buy whatever I want. Before selling, I would have to ask whether I am spending too much on the hobby. Don't click on the picture the hosting site sometimes has malware.  |
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Post by stonemon on May 13, 2020 11:57:03 GMT -5
I have seriously neglected my shop over the last several months. Many expired listings and an absence of new stones has made my shop activity fall dramatically. Etsy also removed all of my Trent cabs a few months back saying they violated the rules on toxicity. None of the other vendors Trent stones were removed. I assume that because I listed arsenic in the composition of the agate and the other vendors do not I was singled out for removal.
I appealed their decision but they would not let me put them back up... arbitrary crapola
I am trying to decide whether to close up and go with a private web site or just re-list without a full description of the Trent and risk getting booted off of etsy permanently.
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Post by stardiamond on May 13, 2020 12:32:25 GMT -5
I have seriously neglected my shop over the last several months. Many expired listings and an absence of new stones has made my shop activity fall dramatically. Etsy also removed all of my Trent cabs a few months back saying they violated the rules on toxicity. None of the other vendors Trent stones were removed. I assume that because I listed arsenic in the composition of the agate and the other vendors do not I was singled out for removal. I appealed their decision but they would not let me put them back up... arbitrary crapola I am trying to decide whether to close up and go with a private web site or just re-list without a full description of the Trent and risk getting booted off of etsy permanently. I'm a strong believer in disclosure, but disclosing toxicity is why they won't let you list them. Removing the disclosure levels the playing field with sellers of the same material. If you are comfortable removing the disclosure Etsy can't don't anything about your listings. By disclosing you put Etsy in an untenable position. |
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Post by stonemon on May 13, 2020 13:07:08 GMT -5
There are people selling realgar and orpiment specimens. It seems a bit odd that they disclose toxicity and yet are allowed to sell anyway. It just seems odd.
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Post by rockjunquie on May 13, 2020 18:24:34 GMT -5
I have seriously neglected my shop over the last several months. Many expired listings and an absence of new stones has made my shop activity fall dramatically. Etsy also removed all of my Trent cabs a few months back saying they violated the rules on toxicity. None of the other vendors Trent stones were removed. I assume that because I listed arsenic in the composition of the agate and the other vendors do not I was singled out for removal. I appealed their decision but they would not let me put them back up... arbitrary crapola I am trying to decide whether to close up and go with a private web site or just re-list without a full description of the Trent and risk getting booted off of etsy permanently. I had a maw sit sit pendant for sale and they removed it. I listed that it was from Myanmar (Burma). In the Obama years it was forbidden fruit. Anyway, other people listed it, too, but only I was yanked because I disclosed the location.
As an aside, PP refused a sale once because the title included the words "full fortification" as soon as I removed them, the sale went through.
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Post by rockjunquie on May 13, 2020 18:27:50 GMT -5
I have seriously neglected my shop over the last several months. Many expired listings and an absence of new stones has made my shop activity fall dramatically. Etsy also removed all of my Trent cabs a few months back saying they violated the rules on toxicity. None of the other vendors Trent stones were removed. I assume that because I listed arsenic in the composition of the agate and the other vendors do not I was singled out for removal. I appealed their decision but they would not let me put them back up... arbitrary crapola I am trying to decide whether to close up and go with a private web site or just re-list without a full description of the Trent and risk getting booted off of etsy permanently. I don't regret closing up and going to my own site. I will be doing more work on my site, when time allows, to also include cut stones. As long as you can keep up your inventory with rich and varied keywords, you should be OK. Trent is a real niche market stone. When people google it, they will undoubtedly find you. |
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Post by stardiamond on May 19, 2020 15:18:29 GMT -5
I was cranking out a lot of cabs and thought I could back off for a while. I bought some Willow Creek and Ocean Jasper on ebay to work on when I felt inspired. Things got ridiculously busy and I need to do some more listing. My son brought a home a cold and shared it with me so I don't feel like grinding; some design and slabbing. I'm glad it isn't a job.
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