Selling Art on Etsy: Pros and Cons

Are you thinking of opening an Etsy shop? Are you unsure of whether or Etsy is right for you? This is a great place to start. In this article I will list the pros and cons to opening an Etsy shop that will help you decide if Etsy is right for your arts and crafts.

1. It's an Excellent Market for Handmade Items- Etsy already has a huge market with buyers looking for high-quality handmade art and crafts. While you will still need to do some marketing for your shop, it is nothing compared to the amount of marketing required to sell on your own private website. You can take advantage and market your work to an audience already looking for your items!
2. It's Very Affordable- The cost to start an Etsy shop is only 20 cents per item! The cost to set up your own website with your own domain name is typically around $40 or more just set up a website. With that price, you can list 200 items in your Etsy shop!
3. Free Marketing Tools- Etsy offers different tools to help sellers market their work including: shop statistics, seller coupon and sale campaigns, and the Etsy seller handbook that has many articles about how to succeed on Etsy.
4. Easy to Use- Etsy is user-friendly, easy to use website. If you know the basics of social media, than you can learn how to use Etsy quickly. Etsy even has a seller app that will allow sellers to add new items, see shop stats, and more right from their phone.

1. There's a LOT of Competition- There are thousands of shops on Etsy, and it can be difficult to be found in the search results with so many others selling similar items to yours. It can take a lot of time to learn the ins and outs of SEO (search engine optimization).
2. There's almost no Customization Options- Unlike on your own website, Etsy has one format for every seller. There are place to put a banner, shop policies, updates, etc. The formatting, however, is static and cannot be rearranged.
3. Reviews can Make or Break You- Good reviews are essential to success on Etsy. Unfortunately, it seems to be more common for unhappy customers to leave reviews than happy customers. Bad reviews cannot be taken down and are public for all customers to see. Even if a shop does everything right, a shop can still get a bad customer that writes a bad review for some tiny reason that probably wasn't even the shop's fault.

Selling your arts and crafts online can be a daunting experience, but I think Etsy takes a lot of the stress and guesswork out of it. There is a lot of competition, very little customization, and reviews are complicated. Despite all of that, Etsy has the market, price, and tools that will help any handmade seller succeed!