Common mistakes you should avoid on Etsy

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Etsy makes selling on its website very easy. But, as an Etsy seller, you know that this isn’t always true. You can experience many highs and lows when opening an Etsy store, which depends on you or other factors. For this reason, you must avoid making small mistakes that can damage your Etsy store.

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We put together a list of common mistakes that you should avoid making when running your Etsy store.

• Don’t lose hope too soon: this may seem like unnecessary advice, but many people have closed their Etsy shop prematurely. We know that not receiving any order can be frustrating, but, like any other platform, Etsy works through an algorithm that needs a bit of time to adjust and rank your products in the correct category. This process depends on many factors, such as keywords, processing time, reviews, etc. So you need to have patience as you might need to try different strategies before many people see your store.

• Never start halfway: if you want to create a great Etsy shop, you should think of it as a business from the beginning and not only as a hobby or something you do in your free time. For this reason, it’s fundamental to research every piece of information you need before opening your Etsy shop. For example, what’s currently selling on Etsy and the best production process for that item so that you can offer the best quality products every time. You can also look for products that may require particular production techniques and therefore have low competition. If the production requires any new skills, you should learn that beforehand.

• Don’t price your products too low: otherwise, you’ll be working too much for too little money. It may initially seem like a smart move to boost your sales, but in the long run, it can become disadvantageous for two main reasons. The first one is that you might receive an unfeasible number of orders, which will be detrimental to your store. The second reason is buyers’ unconscious association between price and quality. A price set too low might undermine the perceived quality of your products. It doesn’t mean you should only set high prices, keep your products affordable for buyers but not too cheap.

• Quantity > Quality: it’s fundamental to offer many options to your customer, but you can’t sacrifice quality for it. Having too many listings on your page might be confusing for buyers as well as difficult for you to create every listing with high quality. For this reason, if you offer the same items in different colours, don’t create separate listings for each one. You can make a single one and insert the product’s variations in the dropdown menu. Then make sure that every product is presented with enough photos of it, possibly taken from different angles and in diverse settings, so that customers can have a clearer idea of what they’re going to purchase.

• Mind the pictures!: always use quality pictures for your listings. Make sure to take your products’ photos with good lighting and resolution (pay attention to any size change as it might make the picture grainy). Also, avoid unbalanced colour temperatures (too cold or too warm) and distracting backgrounds. To make this easier, you can look at your competitors’ shops or top sellers’ listings to see how to shoot the perfect photos for your products.

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        For more tips, read our blog about 5 product photography tips for selling on Etsy.

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• Put enough information and the right keywords in your descriptions: make sure to include any information that buyers may want to know, such as a general description, materials, care instructions, sizing, variations, and customisation options. You should also insert keyword phrases that are necessary for SEO purposes. Make sure that the keywords match in titles, tags, and descriptions, or it’d be difficult for Etsy to put you into a specific category of products and for you to get noticed.

• Poor customer service: never take or make it personal when receiving a buyer’s complaint. Stay professional and try to find a compromise with the customer to solve the issue. It’s essential as customer reviews are one of the factors that Etsy takes into consideration when ranking your store.

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And most importantly...

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• Don’t turn on vacation mode: Etsy vacation mode allows sellers to “close” their store during vacation or personal emergencies. However, when it’s on, you’ll no longer appear in the search section, so your items won’t show up or rank when buyers look for them, apart from if they specifically search for your shop name. Even if customers manage to find your store, they won’t be able to add items to their cart because the “add to cart" button won’t be available. Moreover, when you turn off the vacation mode, you’ll find that your listings fell way down in rankings. The reason is that listings on Etsy rank up when orders are constant over time. For this reason, use Etsy vacation mode only as a last resource! If you need a break from your store or are struggling to keep up with your orders, slightly increase your price or processing time. So, you will either have fewer orders or more time to deliver them.

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