Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 2
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1: Getting Started with Etsy 5
Chapter 1: Handmade for Each Other: Falling in Love with Etsy 7
Creative Crusade: Understanding Etsy's Purpose and Business Model 8
World Up: Introducing the World of Etsy 9
Registering with Etsy 9
Navigating the Etsy home page 10
Understanding your account and your shop 11
Discovering what's for sale on Etsy 12
Ensuring your safety on Etsy 12
Storefront and Center: Setting Up Your Storefront 13
Sell's Angels: Surveying the Etsy Selling Process 14
Takin' Care of Business: Handling Business Matters 15
Community Collage: Engaging in the Etsy Community 15
Chapter 2: Let's Get This Party Started: Signing Up 17
Sign Me Up! Becoming a Registered User 17
Setting up your account 18
Accessing Etsy's House Rules and reviewing its Terms of Use 20
It's a Sign: Signing In 21
High Profile: Setting Up Your Public Profile 22
Chapter 3: There's No Place Like Home: Discovering Etsy's Home Page 29
Home Sweet Home: Etsy's Home Page 30
Tonight's Head(er)liner: Exploring the Header Bar 31
Category Eight: Browsing Etsy's Category Links 32
But Wait! There's More! Exploring More Ways to Shop from Etsy's Home Page 33
Viewing personalized picks 33
Perusing more suggestions from Etsy 35
The Velvet Blog: Reading Etsy Blog Posts 36
Campaign Promises: Tracking Etsy Campaigns 37
Say What? Discovering What Etsy Is 38
Playing Footsie: Exploring Footer Links 39
Sell on Etsy 39
Join the community 40
Discover and shop 40
Get to know us 41
Follow Etsy 41
'Appy Days: Exploring the Home Page on the Etsy App 41
Chapter 4: Account Trackula: Navigating Your Etsy Account and the Shop Manager 43
Hey You! Exploring the You Menu 44
Final Account-down: Managing Your Etsy Account 45
Shop Talk: Familiarizing Yourself with the Shop Manager 49
Managing your listings 50
Accessing conversations 50
Handling orders 50
Retrieving statistics 51
Checking your Etsy finances 51
Promoting your shop 51
Finding a production partner 52
Learning more 52
Changing shop settings 52
Adding sales channels 53
Chapter 5: Buy and Buy: Finding and Purchasing Items on Etsy 55
Gimme One Reason: Understanding Why You Should Buy on Etsy 55
Go Fish: Using Etsy's Search Tool 56
Transaction Oriented: Delving into Transaction Details 59
A Review to a Kill: Leaving a Review After You Buy 64
Case in Point: Filing a Case Against a Seller 65
Chapter 6: Safe Word: Maintaining Privacy and Safety on Etsy 69
Oh, Behave! Adhering to Etsy's House Rules 69
Private Party: Guarding Your Privacy on Etsy 71
Understanding Etsy's Privacy Policy 71
Changing your privacy settings 72
Choosing a strong password 73
Safe Passage: Keeping Yourself Safe on Etsy 74
Avoiding scams on Etsy 74
Staying safe in Etsy's public places 75
Making your account more secure 76
Using Etsy's Seller Protection program 78
Brooklyn, We Have a Problem: Reporting Issues to Etsy 79
Part 2: If You Build It, They Will Come: Setting Up Your Etsy Shop 81
Chapter 7: Sell Coverage: Understanding What You Can and Can't Sell on Etsy 83
Yes, We Can! Figuring Out What You Can Sell on Etsy 84
Selling items you made or designed yourself 84
Offering vintage items 85
Selling supplies 85
Just Say No! Understanding What's Not Allowed on Etsy 86
Knowing what items are prohibited 86
Selling only certain services 87
Off with Their Heads! Knowing What Happens If You Break a Rule 87
Chapter 8: Come on In! Creating an Eye-Catching Storefront 89
Shop to It: Setting Up Your Etsy Shop 90
Creating your shop 90
Picking a name 91
Creating your first listing 92
Setting up Etsy Payments 93
Setting up your credit card 96
Opening your shop 97
Picture This: Adding a Cover Photo and Shop Icon to Your Shop 98
Title Wave: Adding a Shop Title and Announcement 101
All about Me: Adding an About Section 103
Let's See It! Viewing Your Shop 106
Team Edit-ward: Editing Your Shop Settings 108
Chapter 9: Policy Academy: Setting Your Shop's Policies 109
Fair and Square: General Policy Tips 110
Policy Wonk: Using Etsy's Shop Policies Template 110
Shipping 111
Payment options 112
Returns and exchanges 113
Privacy policy 113
Publishing your shop policies 115
That's a FAQ, Jack! Fielding frequently asked questions 116
Chapter 10: The Price Is Right! Pricing Your Pieces 119
Formulaic Plot: Breaking Down Your Pricing Formulas 120
Calculating the cost of materials 120
Figuring labor costs 121
Adding up overhead 122
Understanding the times 2 122
Pricing for wholesale and retail 123
Putting it all together 124
Eyes on the Price: Evaluating Your Prices 124
Assessing your competition's pricing 125
Studying your target market 125
Figuring out how to lower your prices 126
Knowing when to raise your prices 126
Something Old: Pricing Vintage Items 127
How Low Can You Go? Pricing for Sales 128
Part 3: She Sells Seashells (And More): Understanding the Etsy Selling Process 129
Chapter 11: Say Cheese! Photographing Your Wares 131
I'll Take That-a-One! Choosing a Camera 132
In Style: Styling Your Photos 134
Using backgrounds 134
Working with props 136
Using live models 139
Lighting Bug: Lighting Your Shot 140
Compose Yourself: Composing Your Shot 143
Trying basic composition principles 143
Applying the rule of thirds 145
Focus, People! Focusing Your Image 147
Shoot, Shoot, and Shoot Some More: Taking Lots of Pictures 148
Clean-Up on Image Five: Tidying Up Your Photos with Image-Editing Software 148
Starting with Pic Monkey and opening a photo 149
Editing your photo in Pic Monkey 150
Saving your changes 151
Chapter 12: Word Up: Composing Engaging Titles and Descriptions 153
Headline Muse: Writing Titillating Listing Titles 154
Story Time: Telling a Story with Your Listing Description 154
Uncovering your item's story 155
Describing your item 155
Composing your listing description 157
SEO Speedwagon: Using Search Engine Optimization to Drive Traffic 158
Choosing the best keywords 159
Using SEO with your listing title and description 160
Understanding tags and attributes 161
Proofread, Please! Proofreading Your Listing 163
Chapter 13: Selling Like Hotcakes: Listing Your Items 165
Lister, Lister: Listing a New Item 166
Starting the listing process 166
Uploading images of your item 168
Describing your item 168
Adding the price, quantity, and SKU 171
Adding variations 172
Setting shipping options 174
Previewing and publishing your listing 174
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes: Editing a Listing 175
Copycat: Copying a Listing 178
Renewable Resources: Renewing a Listing 178
Renewing a sold listing 179
Renewing active and expired listings 179
Pull the Plug: Deactivating a Listing 180
Rearrange Your Face: Rearranging the Listings in Your Etsy Shop 181
Feature Comforts: Featuring an Item in Your Etsy Shop 183
Chapter 14: Wrap It Up: Closing the Deal 185
You've Got Sale: Finding Out You Have a Sale 185
Baby Got Track: Keeping Track of Sales 186
Guided by Invoices: Handling Invoices 188
Show Me the Money: Receiving Payment 189
Chapter 15: The Ship Hits the Fan: Shipping Your Items 191
The Right (Packaging) Stuff: Obtaining Shipping Supplies 191
Package Deal: Showing Your Love and Care with Packaging 192
Protecting the item 193
Using attractive, brand-friendly packaging 193
Including extras in your parcel 193
Ship Shop: Comparing Shipping Carriers 194
Crafters without Borders: Shipping Internationally 196
Ship Happens: Choosing Etsy Shipping Options 197
Profile Pick: Saving and Selecting a Shipping Profile 200
Print It to Win It: Printing Shipping Labels on Etsy 203
Printing a USPS label 203
Printing a FedEx label 207
Deliverance: Sending Your Package on Its Merry Way 208
Marky Mark: Marking the Item as Shipped in Etsy 208
Part 4: All Up in Your Bidness: Handling Business Matters 211
Chapter 16: High Exposure: Marketing Your Etsy Business 213
Brandy, You're a Fine Girl: Building Your Brand 214
Composing a tag line 215
Creating a logo 215
Working your brand into all you do 216
Poetry in Promotion: Using Etsy Tools to Promote Your Shop 216
Advertising your shop 217
Creating coupons 220
Posting Shop Updates 222
Saving Facebook: Promoting Your Etsy Shop on Social Media 225
Go Postal: Sending an Email Newsletter 230
Chapter 17: You've Been Served: Providing Excellent Customer Service 231
Pros and Convos: Accessing Etsy Convos 231
Let's Talk: Communicating with Buyers 233
Answering customer questions 233
Giving thanks 234
Finding out how they found you 235
Communicating with foreign buyers 236
Covering all your bases in one short, pleasant message 236
Shipping it quickly 237
Bungle Fever: Handling a Bungled Transaction and Other Tough Issues 238
Prompting a buyer to pay up 238
Dealing with lost shipments 239
Responding to a negative review 240
Dealing with a reported case 240
Issuing refunds 242
Canceling an order 244
Dealing with a difficult customer 245
Refusing service to a buyer 246
Chapter 18: Business as Usual: Managing Your Etsy Store 247
Paradise by the Dashboard Light: Using the Shop Manager Dashboard 248
I'm Just a Bill: Paying Your Etsy Bill 249
Taxing Matters: Appeasing Uncle Sam 251
Collecting sales tax 251
Paying quarterly income tax and filing your annual tax return 253
Identifying tax deductions 254
Recording Artist: Keeping Accurate Records 255
Using QuickBooks for Etsy 256
Using spreadsheet software to manage your shop 257
One Track Mind: Tracking and Analyzing Shop Stats 258
An App a Day: Using Etsy Apps to Run Your Store 260
Too Legit to Quit: Making Your Business Legit 263
The Artist Is Out: Switching to Vacation Mode 265
Hanging It Up: Closing Your Etsy Shop 267
Chapter 19: Growing Your Etsy Business 269
You Got the Whole(sale) World in Your Hands: Selling Wholesale on Etsy 269
Howdy Partner: Finding Shop Helpers and Production Partners 275
Hiring shop helpers 275
Using Etsy Manufacturing to find production partners 276
Pattern-Cake, Pattern-Cake: Building a Custom Shop with Pattern 283
Going Mobile: Taking Your Etsy Show on the Road 285
Part 5: Commune System: Exploring the Etsy Community 291
Chapter 20: Community Building: Joining the Etsy Community 293
Talk among Yourselves: Using Etsy Forums 293
Accessing Etsy forums 294
Viewing and responding to posts in a thread 295
Starting a new thread 298
Go Team! Exploring Etsy Teams 299
Searching for an Etsy team 300
Joining an Etsy team 301
Starting your own Etsy team 303
Event Horizon: Staying Apprised of Etsy Events 304
Miss Manners: Respecting Community Etiquette 305
Chapter 21: OMG, Did You Hear? Keeping Up with Etsy News 307
All the News That's Fit to Print: Exploring the Etsy Blog 307
Mail Bonding: Signing Up for Etsy Email Newsletters 310
Sifting through different types of email newsletters 311
Subscribing to email newsletters 311
Social Skills: Staying in Touch Using Social Media 313
Proto Baggins: Joining Etsy Prototypes 314
Chapter 22: A Love-Love Relationship: Showing Your Love for Other Etsy Sellers 315
Por Favorite: Favoriting on Etsy 316
Favoriting items and shops 316
Viewing favorited items and shops 316
Organizing favorite items 319
Removing a Favorite 321
Follow Me! Following Others on Etsy 322
Following another Etsy member 322
Viewing your Etsy circle 323
Checking your activity feed 324
Chapter 23: Help! Getting It When You Need It 325
Handy Dandy: Reading the Seller Handbook 325
Search and Rescue: Searching for Help on Etsy 326
People Person: Getting Personalized Help 329
Using the Questions forum 329
Contacting Etsy Support 330
Part 6: The Part of Tens 333
Chapter 24: Ten Terrific Tips for Etsy Sellers 335
Have a Place for Everything 335
Save Time with Twosies 336
Organize Your Paperwork 336
Use What You Discover from Other Shops 336
Offer Service with a Smile 336
Network, Network, Network 337
Send an Email Newsletter 337
Learn to Say No 337
Never Give In 337
Have Fun! 338
Chapter 25: Ten Strategies for Marketing Your Etsy Shop 339
Offer Tiered Pricing 339
Understand That Giving Begets Giving 340
Provide a Guarantee 340
Consider a Loyalty Program 340
Impose a Deadline 340
Create a Great Email Signature 341
Connect with Social Media 341
Make Google Your Best Friend 341
Use Your Items in the Real World 341
Help Your Community 342
Index 343
