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For those who don't know, Etsy
is a site completely dedicated to Artisans of all kinds, & you will mostly find handmade items there.

In this article, we'll talk about pricing, & have an advertising recap.

Codes For The Badges & Etsy Buttons Are In Our Shoutboard at *EtsySellers

Ten ways to advertise your ETSY shop
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Pricing

Pricing is probably the toughest part of being a Shop owner. You want to be affordable, but competitive at the same time. You want customers to come back, but you want to be able to make a nice profit too. Below are some tips that should help.

☑ Take a look at the cost of the materials used for one project. Decide how much of a profit you're looking for on that item. Decide what you'd like to be bringing in from sales on a yearly basis. Determine what you'll be doing the most of, determine your average cost for materials, then do the math. ► EXAMPLE: If you'd like to be making at least $15,000 a year, decide how many items you can make in one week. If you make 10 items per week, then multiply 10 items by 52 weeks in a year, you come up with a total of making about 520 items for the year. If all 520 items cost $28.85, & you sell all 520 items in that year, you will have made $15,002. ◄

☑ Decide how far you're willing to go for the price. Meaning, is your time worth as much as the product you're selling. Do you prefer to offer gift wrapping, take a loss on the shipping, etc., & factor the cost in for that.

☑ Browse around at other Shops who may be selling similar items, & take note of what they're charging for both the product & shipping.

☑ You should also base your prices off of whether or not the product is 100% OOAK - one of a kind. If it's something you might make multiples of, you might not want to charge as much as you would for something you'll only make once.

☑ How much would you spend on the same item?

☑ Prices fluctuate in department stores, so you could also make note of this in your area. Knowing the current state of the economy is always a plus where deciding what to charge comes in.

☑ You could offer multiple prices for one item. For example, "for a limited time only you pay this price", or "if you buy this now at this price...", or "regular customers pay this price, first time customers pay this price..." ► This is an advanced method of pricing your products, so I would suggest doing some research before just jumping in with that. ◄

You should check your local area for shipping rates, but hopefully these links will give a basic idea. I use this currency converter because it's simple & fast.

Universal Currency Converter

United States Postal Service
Priority Mail
Postage Rate Calculator

Advertising

In the last issue we talked about advertising. Here is a brief recap.

• Pass out business cards
• Rent a booth at a flea market or craft fair
• Give out free samples
• Wear or use what you make for others to notice - not the item you're selling though
• Join or register at different sites that allow you to advertise or link to your Shop
• Put your Shop link in your signature, Journal, Shoutboard, Devious Info, everywhere
• Post your Shop link in the Websites Pimp Forum thread in dA's Forum
• Comment in the Etsy Forums & chatrooms
• Buy from other Etsyians
• Rent a small ad space in your local newspaper or classifieds

~~ Two other sites to advertise at that weren't mentioned in the last issue are Artician
& Tumblr
~~ Thanks *voodoomaggie!

Shop Features

The time has come to take a look at some of the great things Etsy has to offer.





Stay tuned for the next issue, where we'll talk about photographing your product, & displaying it in a pleasing way. If you have info or tips you'd like to share, please note `2dazed so the infos can be shared in the next issue.


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