Part 6 Setting up your Etsy shop | Product, Product Pictures, and Product Descriptions with Free Checklist

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This is Part 5 of our starting your own Etsy shop!

In case you missed them Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

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First up, you will need to have a product, obviously, if you do not have a product, take some time to brainstorm what you would like to sell. Once you have a product, you will need pictures. Etsy is currently allowing ten pictures to show off your product. Your pictures need to represent your product in the best possible light. Since your customer can't touch the item, use your pictures to let them get to “touch” it through the internet.

Tips:

Use natural light. Either set up near a bright window or head outside and look for a shady area, so there isn't too much light.
Show as many possible angles as you can.
This isn't one that I have followed, but if I were to redo my product pictures would be top of the list. Make sure the first picture only shows the item for sale. You will save yourself several emails and also negative feedback.
Do not have a cluttered setup background.
If you do not have ten pictures of your product use your other pictures. You can include pictures of similar products you offer or a pre-made picture of either your turn around time or a FAQ, or if you are offering a customizable item, you could use this to add those options.

Up next, you need a title. The title is used for searches so be as descriptive as possible. For example, one of my more popular listings has the title of

This covers that if some one searches for 1/2, 6 month, or half birthday. It also includes either shirt or bodysuit and that it is personalized. It is for either boys or girls and primarily for babies.

One of my favorite tools that I have recently found is the website EtsyRank, it provides many great resources to find where your listing is ranked. What keywords are more effective for your category and many other suggestions.

After the title, you have the about the listing section. You will need to pick who made it, what it is and when it was made. You will then select the appropriate category for it to go in to.

Next up is the renewel option, you can choose when you will renew the listing yourself once it expires or have Etsy automatically renew. I personally like to do this manual. If an item doesn't sell, I will reconsider whether I want to sell it or if I need to fix up the listing to be more appealing.

Next, is choosing whether it is a physical item or a digital download.

One of the most important sections is the description, this is where you give as many details about your items as you can. Again, the customer can't touch/feel the item so be as descriptive as possible.

Tips:

Make sure to include dimensions. This is very important. I have seen many negative reviews because the customer thought the item was smaller/bigger
Include your turn around time near the beginning of the listing.
Include your “tags” (more about those in a minute) in the first paragraph of your description
Make the description easy to read. Use spaces, lists and easy to understand language.
Answer any questions that you think a customer might have inside the description
Give background on why and how you made the piece.

The next three sections are optional, but I recommend using all of them.

For the section, this will help your customer when they are looking for items in your shop. You can name the sections however you like but these work well for grouping like items.

For the tags, again using EtsyRank, will be very helpful. It is suggested to use longer tags. Instead of “white”, “birthday”, and “shirt”, use “white birthday shirt”. Use as many variations of what you think the customer will use to search for your item. Make sure to use all 13 tags. You can include your shop name as one tag. I know personally, I get a lot of people searching for my particular shop name. I will show in another post how to look at what your customers are searching for on your dashboard.

Materials in the next section. Include everything that you use to make the particular item.

Pricing is next. This is a big one as well!

Things to consider when pricing your item:

What is your cost to make the item
How long does it take to make the item
How much time are you putting into advertising
How much similar items are selling for

There are all sorts of pricing guides for handmade items but it ultimately comes down to what you think the item should sell for and what your customer will pay. My suggestion is to start higher than your “bottom make a profit price” and that way you can lower if nobody is buying or have sales to entice new customers.

Etsy has a new shipping module. This allows for you to enter the dimensions and weight, how and where you are shipping, and it will calculate the costs. You can also include a handling fee.