Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Life Without Etsy - Nearly Two Years Later

It's been nearly 2 years since My daughter Poppy and I were unceremoniously removed from the ranks as Etsy Sellers. Can you believe it? Well she had her shops shut down a bit earlier than mine, and she did brazenly open other shops and sold under different names until they found her and shut her down. Her offense? Mistaken reports of copyright infringement. You can read more in my post Etsy Shop Closings

First Poppy was mad, and rightfully so. She has been with Etsy since the early years, promoted it, and earned her living there. They were not even remotely kind or willing to listen. She wasted a lot of energy, trying to work things out, or break their system. She had already opened an Artfire shop, but back then, Artfire was just a startup, and not working the way it does today.

One day I suggested she go back to eBay, where she started. Statistically eBay as far more traffic than Etsy, so I thought it worth a try. Poppy knew that only her genre clothes would sell there, and sell they did. Sadly, she eventually had to give up her very popular Longstockings and beautiful designer clothing, but she found a niche on eBay with genre clothing and cosplay. After time, her business on Artfire grew nicely too.

This year, in this poor economy, Poppy will be earning close to double the money she made on Etsy. It took a lot of work and re-imaging, but she is a success once again. It really can be done. For those of you who think Etsy is the Sun and the Earth, take a step back from your computer and breathe the real air.

There are many sellers who have left Etsy for their own websites, craft shows, brick and mortar shops, and other online venues, with great success! I know this, because I've done it myself. I had to re-image too, but between my eBay store, websites, and Artfire stores, I've made a living too.

You can visit us at our websites. Poppy's is poppyswickedgarden.com
Mine are akacinders.com and poppysgardengate.com
They will all link you right through to our Artfire shops. We use the websites as a gateway to our shops. Artfire is great for this, because you don't need to be a member to buy, so it's just like having an online shop. And if we decide to switch venues, it's just as easy to do it this way.




5 comments:

Lil' Bit Sassy said...

Etsy recently closed me down also due to "copyright infringement". I think it's an excuse myself since I had nothing in my shop that infringed. I was SO mad! I had been with them for nearly 5 yrs and my shop was just starting to do a booming business.

I have my own website and shops on Goodsmiths and Lilyshops. So far no sales (well one set of cupcake toppers on Goodsmiths). Both are start-ups. I have tried Artfire several times but no luck there either.

So right now, I'm just holding my breath, hoping and praying that my sales start again. This is the way I make my living and right now, I'm not making much of one. It's very depressing and stressful.

akaCINDERS said...

Sorry that your shop got closed. I found that although Artfire is no Etsy, it has the next best traffic and great SEO. You do have to drive your own business, especially with a website.Cross linking shop and website help and make sure you use your metatags for SEO.

Try eBay. The fees are high, but you might actually make some sales. Just make sure your listings are similar to selling competitors. Key words drive traffic.

Pili said...

I'm really glad to hear you guys managed to get yourself thriving once again!

Ally said...

I'd like to find another venue besides Etsy as well. I have reserved shop names on other sites, but haven't invested the time to get them set-up. I hate having all my eggs in one basket.

ShadowDogDesigns said...

Congratulations! Am so gad to hear that both you and Poppy are doing so well away from Etsy. Hard work and wonderful items do pay off (:

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