Joe,
Pics and how they are marketed are so individual
its a waste of time asking others about selling on Etsy because other's
opinions and experience don't matter when it comes to YOUR pics.
Just do it and be open to modifying your approach if sales don't materialize.
Stephen
Pics and how they are marketed are so individual
its a waste of time asking others about selling on Etsy because other's
opinions and experience don't matter when it comes to YOUR pics.
Just do it and be open to modifying your approach if sales don't materialize.
Stephen
back alley
IMAGES
research is never a waste of time...
koven
Well-known
Im not sure about someone randomly finding your photos on esty and purchasing them but if you have an audience it seems like it would be easier to simply refer clients to your esty shop instead of dealing with the hassle yourself.
This girl seems to be doing pretty good
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Tamaralich
http://www.tamaralichtenstein.com/
This girl seems to be doing pretty good
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Tamaralich
http://www.tamaralichtenstein.com/
hamradio
Well-known
I make my living by making and selling camera straps on Etsy.
I'd say the key to selling things there is having a unique product, and then knowing how to get to the top of Etsy's relevancy search results. One would want to know what their target keywords are, and then tweak their own keywords to work best with this. Having a freshly renewed listing helps with this as well.
However, my main gripe with this 'relevancy search' is that for no discernible reason, every so often my listings are buried pages (sometimes 10+) back in search results, instead of toward the top of the first page like they usually are. Why this happens, I am not sure–perhaps Etsy pushes listings that have x amount of views and x amount of sales to the back of the pile every then and now, to give the newer listings a chance. Frustrating, nonetheless.
I'd say the key to selling things there is having a unique product, and then knowing how to get to the top of Etsy's relevancy search results. One would want to know what their target keywords are, and then tweak their own keywords to work best with this. Having a freshly renewed listing helps with this as well.
However, my main gripe with this 'relevancy search' is that for no discernible reason, every so often my listings are buried pages (sometimes 10+) back in search results, instead of toward the top of the first page like they usually are. Why this happens, I am not sure–perhaps Etsy pushes listings that have x amount of views and x amount of sales to the back of the pile every then and now, to give the newer listings a chance. Frustrating, nonetheless.
kuzano
Veteran
Going with Stephen on this one....
Going with Stephen on this one....
Key words in Stephen's post bold in red... and in general, this echos my thirty years of marketing experience.
Interesting how many posts here imply that "If it were me" attitude.
Marketing to derive income has nothing to do with your own personal philosophy. If you want to make money in any endeavor and are willing to be open in what you choose to do, and you do the work necessary, then Market Research will be one of your most important tools. It will be as important as any other tool in your bag of tricks.
I just did a brief check on volume of items posted just in photography on Etsy. Never saw the site before.
In the category of Photography there are about a dozen sub-categories. Most categories have well over 300 pages. Most pages have over 50 - 60 items on the one page.
There may be a simpler way to get a total, but I wanted to get an overview of the photographs and prices as I gathered this information. So, it appears to me that in photography alone, there are about 216,000 items listed for sale.
Now that's 5 minutes of work and very rough. But it's encouraging enough to want to find out more, and I will be looking at it. It would be nice to know the volume of sales, average sale amounts and other information, but as I indicated, for me I saw enough to find out more, or simply take it for a spin.
If you want to be financially successful at any endeavor, success has very little to do with your opinions, and about the same as to the quality of your work. We all know some pretty shabby work gets sold for some serious money. That's marketing, it's not the photographer or the level of the work. Some photographer's recognition and collector status comes from have a superior Marketing skill, or a superior marketing agent/agency.
Success in selling has far more to do with what research says about the dictates of any particular marketplace, including the vehicles that serve to expose your work to a chosen market, and the support you must offer to maintain a place in the market.
I particularly liked the post that implied that Etsy was a bit feminine, that it was perhaps a bit "new age" (my interpretation of the post), and prices too low.
Well, of course we all know that "new age" people don't buy anything valuable, and that women have no money to spend, and that low prices per item don't generate significant income. How arrogant is that?
Looks to me like Etsy may deserve a longer look.
Lastly, I will put forth that one of the ego trips that seems to cause some people to shoot themselves in the foot is the strong desire to have a personal visible presence on the internet in the form of a web site. My personal belief is that a web site is essentially a waste of both time and money, if one uses the systems that already exist for presentation AND sale closures.
Frankly, I think that one of the underlying reasons for a fancy Web Site is a feeling that perhaps ones work is not strong enough to compete in an open market. Hence the desire to capture people to just one's own work for viewing.
Frankly, I believe in competition. It's the reason that all the successful art galleries generally gravitate to an art district in a community. So should one, when marketing on the internet, mingle where people find other art. In this case, photography. The advantage is that when people go looking for photography, they will tend to go to the most active, largest marketplace. ie, the success of shopping malls, with may competing similar businesses located throughout the establishment.
Don't think about forcing the market to purchase your art your way. Think like a shopper. It's not difficult to see that, is it?
I personally think that if your work is not co-mingled with the same venues and work of others competing with you, you are going to be hard pressed to draw traffic to a one-off custom web site. Just an opinion.
If you don't want to do the research, there are plenty of places to find researchers who will provide reports. If you go to the community pages on eBay and look at the site map, under third party marketing sources listed there, you have a bit of a start.
Going with Stephen on this one....
Key words in Stephen's post bold in red... and in general, this echos my thirty years of marketing experience.
Interesting how many posts here imply that "If it were me" attitude.
Marketing to derive income has nothing to do with your own personal philosophy. If you want to make money in any endeavor and are willing to be open in what you choose to do, and you do the work necessary, then Market Research will be one of your most important tools. It will be as important as any other tool in your bag of tricks.
I just did a brief check on volume of items posted just in photography on Etsy. Never saw the site before.
In the category of Photography there are about a dozen sub-categories. Most categories have well over 300 pages. Most pages have over 50 - 60 items on the one page.
There may be a simpler way to get a total, but I wanted to get an overview of the photographs and prices as I gathered this information. So, it appears to me that in photography alone, there are about 216,000 items listed for sale.
Now that's 5 minutes of work and very rough. But it's encouraging enough to want to find out more, and I will be looking at it. It would be nice to know the volume of sales, average sale amounts and other information, but as I indicated, for me I saw enough to find out more, or simply take it for a spin.
If you want to be financially successful at any endeavor, success has very little to do with your opinions, and about the same as to the quality of your work. We all know some pretty shabby work gets sold for some serious money. That's marketing, it's not the photographer or the level of the work. Some photographer's recognition and collector status comes from have a superior Marketing skill, or a superior marketing agent/agency.
Success in selling has far more to do with what research says about the dictates of any particular marketplace, including the vehicles that serve to expose your work to a chosen market, and the support you must offer to maintain a place in the market.
I particularly liked the post that implied that Etsy was a bit feminine, that it was perhaps a bit "new age" (my interpretation of the post), and prices too low.
Well, of course we all know that "new age" people don't buy anything valuable, and that women have no money to spend, and that low prices per item don't generate significant income. How arrogant is that?
Looks to me like Etsy may deserve a longer look.
Lastly, I will put forth that one of the ego trips that seems to cause some people to shoot themselves in the foot is the strong desire to have a personal visible presence on the internet in the form of a web site. My personal belief is that a web site is essentially a waste of both time and money, if one uses the systems that already exist for presentation AND sale closures.
Frankly, I think that one of the underlying reasons for a fancy Web Site is a feeling that perhaps ones work is not strong enough to compete in an open market. Hence the desire to capture people to just one's own work for viewing.
Frankly, I believe in competition. It's the reason that all the successful art galleries generally gravitate to an art district in a community. So should one, when marketing on the internet, mingle where people find other art. In this case, photography. The advantage is that when people go looking for photography, they will tend to go to the most active, largest marketplace. ie, the success of shopping malls, with may competing similar businesses located throughout the establishment.
Don't think about forcing the market to purchase your art your way. Think like a shopper. It's not difficult to see that, is it?
I personally think that if your work is not co-mingled with the same venues and work of others competing with you, you are going to be hard pressed to draw traffic to a one-off custom web site. Just an opinion.
If you don't want to do the research, there are plenty of places to find researchers who will provide reports. If you go to the community pages on eBay and look at the site map, under third party marketing sources listed there, you have a bit of a start.
Boris Stupak
Well-known
Try selling 10 of your best photos here, in the market.
You're known here and the readers here are all into photography. (well, into cameras, at least).
If you don't sell here you'll never sell on etsy.
You're known here and the readers here are all into photography. (well, into cameras, at least).
If you don't sell here you'll never sell on etsy.
back alley
IMAGES
I would think rff would be a tough crowd to sell to...
Boris Stupak
Well-known
If you want to have any chance of selling on etsy, you'd need a gimmick or something that caught the popular imagination.
Flea market portraits, local "art" prints, etc, would be an even tougher sell than on RFF. But it would barely cost you anything to find out other than the trouble of posting your photos.
Flea market portraits, local "art" prints, etc, would be an even tougher sell than on RFF. But it would barely cost you anything to find out other than the trouble of posting your photos.
back alley
IMAGES
I would probably start out with my vege, table settings type stuff...perfect for in a eat in kitchen or very casual dining room...
kowen
Member
I've looked at Etsy, there is good artwork that sells for a few thousand per piece, steadily. I looked into that but never put anything up for sale. You will need a business license, ie pay local/state and federal taxes besides the Etsy fees.
As far as marketing your photography/art etc., if you're on Facebook, point your friends to your store, even if you choose another way other than Etsy. I'd drop my link at art & photography forums I am a member of. Don't limit to just this or photography forums. I like astronomy and bicycling also, there are so many forums people go to talk shop. Years ago I posted a few scans from a Mosca V on a simple blog, I had comments (positive, lol) on the photos!! I just threw it up there, never linked to it that I can remember.
I think after taxes & fees-you have to get your price, without selling yourself short. I've read where an Etsy user went up on her prices, her sales went up also-value your work. Some of these people are crafty and put allot of time and work into their items, if the market is there, get paid.
As far as marketing your photography/art etc., if you're on Facebook, point your friends to your store, even if you choose another way other than Etsy. I'd drop my link at art & photography forums I am a member of. Don't limit to just this or photography forums. I like astronomy and bicycling also, there are so many forums people go to talk shop. Years ago I posted a few scans from a Mosca V on a simple blog, I had comments (positive, lol) on the photos!! I just threw it up there, never linked to it that I can remember.
I think after taxes & fees-you have to get your price, without selling yourself short. I've read where an Etsy user went up on her prices, her sales went up also-value your work. Some of these people are crafty and put allot of time and work into their items, if the market is there, get paid.
Aristophanes
Well-known
I know a small artisan (not photos) who regularly sells on Etsy and does a decent little trade. There's a certain authenticity people are trying to capture on the place once you get past some of the flea market rehashes. She gets good margins on her products. The place is designed around tactile objects, so real prints fit in there.
mark_pw
Established
It's worth a try. The setting up of the shop is easy. Posting a picture costs only $0.2 and it will be there for 3 months (or 4 months? not sure). I can see the top seller can sell over 20 thousand pictures per year. If the profit of each picture is $10, the business is not bad at all.
one90guy
Well-known
I have sold some on Etsy and found a couple of bargain cameras. There just is not near as much traffic on Etsy.
David
David
I have my eye on Etsy, too. I have bought a few things and am quite happy with those items. The downside, it seems to me, is if you look something up like a camera you get 100 items that are not cameras but Lord knows what including cell phone covers that look like antique cameras. It discourages me to wade through all the junk to get to anything I might actually want. I wonder also as far as photo prints are concerned, f that market is for cutsie-pie, fluffy stuff.
bk1970
Well-known
I love your work, fantastic!