Etsy Alternatives Help

[BattleAx]

My question is there another platform other then Etsy to sell your leather good. Since Etsy went public and there new CEO from eBay sale are down 95% + more or less wasting my time and money with all their additional fees. I do have a website but I don't get many sales. The problem is all mass-produced items resellers and drop shipping that they allow on there platform. The really sold out  the little guy and artisans it is a real shame. 

Thanks

[williaty]

I didn't realize they'd changed leadership. That does explain the sudden tanking of the platform. I have repeatedly looked at Etsy and thought "How on earth would I compete with all the stores selling "hand made" products that are actually coming out of Malaysian sweat shops?".

[YinTx]

Esty stock was $11 in May of 2017, now $66 and change.  Their gross merchandise sales were up over 20% yoy at nearly $4B.  Silverman has been at the helm for a while now (May of 2017).

While I do disagree with their policy of allowing factory made items to be classified as handmade, and I don't sell there, I think it may be misleading to characterize Etsy sales as dropping 95%, and their platform as tanking, unless I am missing something from your statement or there is information I am unaware of.

YinTx

[JLSleather]

With your own site, you (nearly) set your own rules.  If cutesy isn't your thing... why not?  If it's fees and rules, you'll have that with any site of that nature, and the only place i know you'll significantly reduce that is your own site.   If you "don't get many sales" on your own site, and your site doesn't have all that cheap crap, then cutesy's cheap crap may not be the issue.

Cutesy got big because it's EASY TO USE.  But SO MANY (most) people want to set something up, then have that work forever.  It usually doesn't' go that way -- you have to adapt a bit now n then.  The "down side" of cutesy (in addition to the sea of junk) is that IF you make some sales, you're still giving away your name in a way.  Many people will buy something FROM YOU, then when asked where they got it they say "FROM ETSY".  You are paying them to advertise for them

BUT - they do keep the site updates current (this has to happen, since the rest of the 'net' changes, they have to change to still "work" with the 'net').  And they set up a structure so all you have to do is 'plug in' your picture and price.  They calculate and collect tax.  They purchase google ads that sellers benefit from.  I only mention these because if you use your own site these are things you will need to do yourself (or pay someone to do).

cutesy wants to increase their 'sales', just like you want to increase yours.  so they do what increases the revenue.  Makes sense.   I call 'em cutesy because they have ALWAYS been ACRES of cheap crap. They are RELYING on the fact that people DON'T THINK. Most aren't stupid, they're just way too used to getting their information from television and apps, or from others who got their information from tv and apps.  Whole planet of the blind leading the blind. 

I still have a few things over there, simply because the times I appear in Google Ads I DIDN'T PAY FOR is more than the fee I pay.  When they pay at cutesy, they get a quality JLS thingie... and a card that has my own site.

7 hours ago, YinTx said:

I do disagree with their policy of allowing factory made items to be classified as handmade

I don't have an issue with this.  VERY few items available anywhere can claim to be original.  There is sometimes not a hard clear line between "manufactured" and "hand made".  Two guys on this site buy a piece of leather,

• one clicks out a front and back for a holster with a press and a die, sews it with a machine, calls it all 'hand made".
• other cuts around a pattern with a knife, sews with a needle and awl, calls it "hand made".

When I go to buy something, I want something QUALITY.  "hand made" is a GRIFT, a SCAM, a HUSTLE.  MANY use that phrase to try to persuade you that their goods are "better", despite some being clearly NOT better. 

When I shop, I want WELL made.  I have good boots.  I have never asked how they assembled them, and I do not care. 

[Danne]

This is maybe going to make you (or other angry)

First just to clarify I don't sell leather goods myself. 

Do you use Instagram? Do you sell anything through Instagram?

If not, you have to ask yourself a couple of questions.

1. Why should anyone buy your products? Do you have a unique design? if not a unique design, is your finish better than other sellers?

2. Are your prices too high? or too low? (Yes too low prices can be bad)

3. Decent photos of your products?

Because why should someone buy your product if there are hundreds of other sellers with the "exact same" product?

 

And yes, of course, if more people see your products, more people buy them. But if you have Instagram and no/few sells, then something is wrong.

 

Edit: After I wrote this I looked through your posts, and came to the conclusion that your products are very well done. (Some people don't sell because their products are substandard (They need more practice) You are certainly not one of them.

You have to reach your customers (People with bikes) Become a member on mc-forums, take good photos and share on Instagram and tag and follow "mc-people" Visit motorcycle fairs to show your products? Targeted Facebook ads to reach people with certain bikes (If possible and not crazy expensive?)

Edited April 10, 2019 by Danne

[rodneywt1180b]

I think JLSLeather said it pretty well.  Not going to quote-too long, why clutter up the space?

I've been selling on Etsy a couple years now.  I still like it.  I've looked at other hand made sales sites and so far I haven't found anything even close to them.  There are a couple with good ideas but they don't have the presence that Etsy has. I'll admit it's been a while since I last checked but I don't think anything has changed.  If I'm going to sell on an obscure site it might as well be my own.

Yes, there's junk on Etsy but don't compete at that level.  You can't unless you live somewhere where a dollar a day is a living wage.

I get around the  "I bought it on Etsy" thing by putting a big label with my shop's name on the boxes I send out.  That way my shop's name is the first thing the customer sees when they get their package.  I don't know if it helps but it doesn't hurt.

The alternatives are basically your own site or Facebook and Instagram.

[BattleAx]

I have had very good years on esty 2017 when sales dropped off. I am on Instagram & Facebook I get a few sales there. This is just a hobby, I just like to make items out of leather and canvas keeps be out of trouble and the bar. 

Thanks for the info..

[Mark842]

20 hours ago, YinTx said:

Esty stock was $11 in May of 2017, now $66 and change.  Their gross merchandise sales were up over 20% yoy at nearly $4B.  Silverman has been at the helm for a while now (May of 2017).

While I do disagree with their policy of allowing factory made items to be classified as handmade, and I don't sell there, I think it may be misleading to characterize Etsy sales as dropping 95%, and their platform as tanking, unless I am missing something from your statement or there is information I am unaware of.

YinTx

This is true. I'm on my 2nd year on Etsy as I never thought it would be a good platform for my products (motorcycle related). I sell on Amazon, ebay and my own Website also. Amazon leads the pack, Feebay is in 2nd and my website in 3rd. That being said, My Etsy sales year to date are double what I made all year on Etsy. It's a pleasant surprise so far.  Are sure the problem is the venue? Trends come and go and very few products sell good forever.

[chrisash]

Etsy and EBay are often perceived as low cost sites or over priced sellers whilst Amazon is seen as a fair middle of the road seller

You seldon see top end products for sell in volume selling web sites but rather in specialised selected market area's

It's for the same reason you never see adverts for Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Hermes and other top end goods, they market to there higher spending customers

Facebook and Instergram type sites are not very good at selling a item, as people are not looking specifically to buy, but does bring the brand, to there notice and may in the long term bring in a few customers

I imagine your potential market is rather small, priced above the avergare worker and below the people who buy on the known brands

The internet whilst good for sales, there are other marketing ways to get to the right customers, for example In the UK we tend to have county magazines where they seem to concentrate on the more expensive markets and take in well written stories about trads people producing quality items that stand out as something different, maybe you have something simular, the better you write the story for them the more chance you have of them publishing it, just make sure you include, Who, What, Where, etc in the story with some great photo's, link to example

https://www.suffolknorfolklifemagazine.com/

[JLSleather]

Email today stating that by middle of May, payments will no longer be run through PayPal on cutesy.  All cutesy sales will be run through cutesy payment system.  SOME sellers whinin' in the forums say 'last straw" and "they can't do that" and "I'm quitting cutesy".  In teh end, most of them will NOT leave, thus having to promote their own work.

I don't think I"ll QUIT them, but Im already in the process of NOT having any finished, ready to ship out goods. That alone will reduce sales volume ... many people these days "want it now".  Just refunded a guy.. asked if that item is ready to go, or if I 'really' meant it would be 3-4 weeks.  I didn't respond.  So he ordered it and payed ANYWAY, leaving a note "can I get it sooner".  But I don't care to work with them folk.. so I just send his money back and cancel.   Here's the thing... cutesy, my own site, some new place dont exist yet... whatever... MY stuff is MY way