HOW TO SELL ON ETSY

I. Introduction
A. Overview
1. Workshop outline
2. Workshop goals
B. Short Bio
1. Brand Management Background: Perfetti Van Melle Phils.
2. Mayumi Beads: on Etsy, eBay and fairs

II. Selling online:

A. Own websites via wix.com, shopify, godaddy, etc. – differences, In 2020 a Royal Mail
study said 72% UK SME’s have own websites
B. Top seller’s sites in the UK: Amazon, eBay, Etsy, NotOnTheHighStreet, NuMonday,
Folksy, Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/smallbusiness/article-9043877/Which-online-
marketplace-sell-guide-small-firms.html
C. https://www.growfox.co.uk/blog/6-places-to-sell-your-products-online-whats-best-for-your-business
D. Online markets - Brand new vs 2nd hand
E. Selling Costs include: Listing Fees, membership fees (Amazon, NOTHS) , Transaction
fees, delivery transaction, VAT, Delivery costs.
F. Selling Rules: https://www.gov.uk/online-and-distance-selling-for-businesses/online-selling

III. Selling on Etsy: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115014502448-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Selling-

on-Etsy?segment=selling
Etsy was founded in 2005 and currently has around 3.1million active sellers and 60.3million
active buyers. It focuses predominantly on selling vintage or handmade goods and supplies
for craftspeople.
A. Before you start, you will need these things:
1. Email address – business email will be easier to check and is good for customer
enquiries.
2. Credit and/or Debit card – where you’ll receive sales and make payments.
a) You can enrol in Etsy Payments. This gives your buyers a range of different payment
options and lets them pay in their local currency. Your earnings get deposited in your bank
account on a deposit schedule you create.
b) Note: Verify Bank. If you don’t verify your bank account within 90 days of updating
your bank details, your shop will be suspended.
3. Shop: Name, Photos & Images: Profile (Logo), Banner photo. Members, About Info,
Social media links
4. Marketing Mix:
a) Products & Product photos, descriptions, dimensions
b) Prices
c) Place: Delivery profiles
B. Setting up your Shop:
1. Open an Etsy Account (email address)
2. Register as a Seller. Click Sell on Etsy on Etsy.com.
3. Click Open your Etsy shop.
4. Select your shop language, country, and currency
5. Choose your shop name:
a) Shop Name: 4-20 characters in length
b) No spaces or special characters
c) No profanity
d) Not already in use by an existing Etsy member
e) Does not infringe on another's trademark
6. Set up Billing: Visa, Mastercard, American Express
7. Open your shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/yourshopname or
https://yourshopname.etsy.com
8. Create your Listings: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb/sections/360000066268-
Creating-a-Listing?segment=selling
a) Auto-renew vs manual renewal.
b) Photos & videos
c) Item description: Details, details, details!
d) Delivery Profile: Royal Mail prices
e) Item description
C. Etsy Selling fees
1. Listing fees
a) Listing Fees: $0.20 USD (£0.14 GBP) per listing, Fee is added to your Payment account
when an item is listed, Has to be paid regardless of resulting sales, A listing expires after 4
months.
b) Auto-renew expired (listing option)
c) Auto-renew sold (only applied for additional items under a multiple listing)
d) Private listing fee
2. Transaction Fees
a) Delivery Transaction: 5% of the listed postage cost for an item. Different from postage
labels fees.
b) Transaction: 5% of total item costs (plus postage and gift wrap)
3. Etsy Payment Processing Fees: a set rate plus a percent of the total sale price of the
item. This rate and percent vary by country. The fees are taken from the item’s total sale
price, including its postage fees, and any applicable sales tax.
a) When you enroll in Etsy Payments, you agree to pay the payment processing fees
incurred from order placed using Etsy Payments. Note: Etsy Payments processing fees are
subject to VAT. VAT will be collected and appear on the VAT invoice for sellers in required
locations.
- United Kingdom 4% + 0.20 GBP
 4. Advertising fees
a) Offsite Ads: Etsy advertises listings throughout the web, including in search engine
results, social media sites and apps, Etsy Publishing Partner sites, and Google Display Network
sites. Etsy offers this service with no upfront costs to you: you only pay an advertising fee when
you make a sale.
(1) If you made less than $10,000 USD on Etsy in the past 365 days, then offsite
ads are optional. You’ll be charged a 15% fee on the order total when you make a
sale.
(2) If you made at least $10,000 USD, you are required to participate, but you’ll
get a discounted fee of 12%. Fee capped at US$100 per order.
b) Etsy Ads vary, currently minimum $1 daily budget, you can choose to increase traffic,
find new buyers, increase sales.

D. Etsy Tools
1. Statistics: Lifetime, Year, Month, past 30 days
a) Troffic sources
b) Views & Orders
2. Marketing: Ads (Budget: min $1/day), Targeted offers: Sales and coupons (abandoned
basket, recently favourited, post-purchase TY), Custom special Offer – selected listings or
whole store (discount, fixed amount off, minimum order total.
3. Integrations (3rd party):
a) Marketing & Promotion: Pinterest (Free), Outfy (social media), Musefind (influencer
marketing)
b) Improve listings, buyer trends: eRank (Etsy SEO, free), FotoFuze & Vela (free photo
editors & bulk listing edits
c) Manage bookkeeping & taxes: Greenback (expense tracking, free), TaxCloud (tax
management, free)
4. Inventory management, analytics:
a) Square: (Official Etsy partner, in person payment), Card reader, in-person sales syncs
with Etsy Inventory automatically.
b) Square Online - website
 E. Tips and Tricks
1. Sell on Etsy Mobile App – keep on top of your shop
2. Cross promotion: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest
3. Photography: natural light, light box.

IV. The Marketing Mix:

A. Traditional 4 P’s: Product, Price, Place, Promotion
B. New versions:
1. 7 P’s: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Positioning, Packaging
2. 7 P’s version 2: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Processes, Physical Evidence
3. 12 P’s: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Purpose, Promise, Principles,
Personas, Positioning, Proof Points, Process – Incorporates elements of Marketing
communication strategy (positioning, etc).
(Sources: https://marketing-insider.eu/marketing-instruments/
https://nextlevelgrowthstrategies.com/brand-strategy/the-12-ps-of-marketing/ )
C. Product: What is it that you want to sell?
1. Creating/crafting vs Re-selling: brand-new or 2nd hand?
2. Perishable vs Non-perishable
3. Physical vs Digital
4. Packaging
D. Price:
1. List Price vs Retail Price
2. Cost of production – components, labour or “man-hours”
3. Selling Costs: Listing fees, transaction fees, VAT, delivery (itemized or “Free”)
4. Pricing formulas/strategies:
a. Cost-Plus Pricing: Cost + Markup (%) = Price
b. Market Based/Competition based Pricing: Above-Market Price, At Par with Market,
Below-Market Price. Must be conscious of actual costs and product quality (real &
perceived) in using these strategies.
c. Dynamic Pricing: “demand pricing or time-based pricing, is a strategy in which
businesses set flexible prices for a product or service based on current market
demands”. Examples are Wish.com https://economics.ucla.edu/2017/12/01/dynamic-
pricing-strategic-customers/
d. Discount pricing: Discount pricing is a strategy where items are initially marked up
artificially or start at a higher price, but are then offered for sale at what seems to be a
reduced cost to the consumer.
e. Loss-leader pricing: an aggressive pricing strategy in which a store sells selected goods
below cost in order to attract customers who will, according to the loss-leader
philosophy, make up for the losses on highlighted products with additional purchases of
profitable goods. (possibly used by discounters/pound shops)
f. Anchor Pricing is where you display your “regular” price and then visibly lower the price
of that item in stores or online. – done on online shopping channels to great effect.

(source: https://sumo.com/stories/how-to-price-a-
product#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20simple,to%20determine%20the%20final%20price)

g. Useful apps: Craft Pricing Calculator (appStore)

E. Place: Distribution: Online vs craft stall
a) Pricing: London & Metro areas vs Rural
b) Delivery costs: local vs international,
F. Promotion: Advertising, Sales & Promotion