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Have you left Etsy and taken your shop elsewhere? Do you know of those who have? We've received an email from an Etsy seller who is making a hub where former Etsy sellers can be found and the links to their new shops promoted. But she needs our help gathering the links! You can leave the information in comments here or shoot me an email (etsyanon.righteous@gmail.com). I'll forward the information so she can do her thing.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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34 Comments:
It will be great to have a list like that! I have two sites. my writing site:
http://www.s2webwriting.com
and my craft site:
http://www.sonyascarves.squarespace.com
I'm using BigCartel for both. BigCartel rocks.
excellent idea! i've noticed a few of my faves have disappeared and i haven't been able to find them
I've been sent the URL http://www.squidoo.com/formeretsysellers
It appears she's also including other venues or sites that Etsy sellers have and is taking comments there.
.... and duh http://www.pomomamadesign.com please
oh, yes, i am a former member! and know what, i am doing SO F&$#'ing good without etsy it is insane. no details but lets just say every since i canceled my account its like the cupcakes and rainbows are shining down on me :)
www.bastet2329.com
www.ebay.com (id bastet2329)
they dont want to make a DAM doll category, then screw them.
BigCartel here too - http://merpette.com
Not a former seller, but a former buyer not using Etsy to sell.
I'm keeping my etsy shop through Xmas, so I don't know if I qualify, I've already got my bigcartel shop up and running (tho I'm still in the designing phase):
http://shop.ivydionne.com
I'm going to be removing all the etsy links from my portfolio site (www.ivydionne.com) shortly, and creating a different 'front end'. Its a fair amount of work, and it kind of sucks because I had just finished designing my portfolio site and now I have to redo it, but c'est la vie.
I'm also thinking of creating a "craft circle" of links on my site, and once setup would be happy to include others to help draw traffic around our sites.
Yay! Thanks for letting me know about BigCartel! I just set up an account and will try it out for a while!
Thanks for posting my request!
First, the lens is coming along. I appreciate the links. Second, yes, I am including the other shopfronts of current sellers. This way when someone leaves Etsy I already have their new address there for buyers to find. Also, anyone else who wants to make a similar list or a differently formatted page with the information, feel free to take the links from the lens. I'm doing it for information purposes and won't claim I've been copied ;)
Thanks again EB!
Not to totally stray from topic, but I don't get why they didn't add the DAM category. Are dolls not cool enough to have their own category? One of the top sellers showed off her hipster dolls on Martha, I bet if she asked they would do it.
Best of luck to those of you who left. Like another poster, I am holding out until the new year, hopefully I'll have my domain up and running.
I swear after today I'm done. I'll keep a shop up for advertising purposes, but I doubt I'll be renewing a damn thing.
Hellooooo Big Cartel
http://morrigan.bigcartel.com
I keep seeing people leaving altogether, or just putting more effort into other venues so having a list of where to find stores is a good idea.
I am actually designing my own, juried, handmade marketplace and leaving Etsy after this month. It's called
http://lollishops.com
and there will be quite a few Etsians there!
~Sadie
oh ! ME!
I just took all my stuff out of my shop and am *this close* to launching my store.
http://www.sewcrazydoglady.com
This is a brilliant idea. I'm no longer selling on Etsy, decided to get my own website.
www.annedundas.com
hmm.
Do I need to pre-register for the list? ;)
Hooray!
Mine is http://www.paulaberryjewelry.com
I'm still on Etsy and will most likely be for as long as it brings in income. Ditto with shops on other venues, etc..
But what I consider to be my main shop and the focus of my activities is www.shop.simonewalsh.com.
This is a great idea! I'm really keen on the idea of getting people's truly independent shops out there as much as possible.
boy, Dyno was the smart one, wasn't she?
I'm working hard on www.Rivkasmom.com.
I'll probably keep the Etsy shop with a few things in it because it's gotten me so much blog exposure and I need to keep that link live.
Is Big Cartel bringing in any money for people? Are they doing any advertising? My DaWanda shop is dead as a doornail, and so is Mintd. Even Ebay is slow this month, and I hate giving things away for the starting bid!
why, what did dyno do?
Grace - BigCartel doesn't advertise, but you can modify your shop so that it functions completely independently. That means no links back to the BigCartel mainpage. That way, all of the dollars you spend on advertising stays in your shop. Visitors don't get distracted by shiny things and click away.
To those who sell on more than one venue - how do you decide what to sell where? This is where I really need help, and I'm getting totally tripped up. I have, as of now, 234 items in my etsy shop. I'd like to open a DaWanda shop and my DH is "working on" (sigh) my own website. But I'm not sure if I want to take stuff away from my etsy shop, or just put my new stuff on the new shops, or just have my own website direct to my etsy shop - I'm still getting sales like every other day from etsy.
Does anyone have any advice, or maybe the bitches can start a new post about this? I've really been concerned about this...I'd like to expand, but I'm afraid of change.
Oh, I have 264 things in my shop. I think I said 234. Whatever...I have a lot for etsy, lol.
heather,
if you are happy with your etsy sales, then concentrate on those for the moment, and work on your own site behind the scenes, or another site.
It's important to try different things to find your market, but you don't want to stretch yourself too thin.
There is a forum thread talking about zen cart vs. os commerce vs. malE something. There's some good information in it.
I added inbound anchor text links to all who posted their links here on my scarf site. If you want to see them they're here:
http://www.sonyascarves.squarespace.com
I would love to see a "Where are They Now?" post on EB about former 'famous' etsians.
(hi Elizabeth!)
I think that the BEST thing about branching out beyond etsy is it forces you to become more of a business person.
You start to see where your traffic comes from and use it to target your advertising. You solidify what your business is about, and just what your niche is. You get to control what goes on, how, and when. Complete control over your branding- that's my favorite part.
Heather, it depends on how much control you're ready to have. If you want a bit of built-in traffic, dawanda is a good option (just use a currency converter, the prices are in euros). If you're ready to be a stand-alone shop, try big cartel or shopify. I also recommend PappaShop because they're easy to use and have good customer service. Either way, you'll need to do your own advertising, marketing, and promotion (which ain't all that scary).
Lovely bitches...maybe you can put together a post about branching out from etsy? And we can contribute if you need help.
Heather, I have the same problem... I'd love to start selling on BigCartel, But it really scares me to jump to it.... what if I get no visibility? and I really have no experience selling anywhere else than etsy...
I think it'd be pretty cool if etsybitch did a special post on ideas for those of us who want to move on to bigger and better things...
Bitches - If you're interested I'd be happy to do some tutorials or articles on how to search engine optimize your sites, how to submit your articles to article sites and so on.
about visibility on your own sites-
you've learned how to take great photos, or are learning, and how to make the most of your descriptions. That's the main hurdle.
People buy items because they like them. because they want them.
Not because of where you sell the items.
If you can tap into your target market, with your own marketing, and your own promotions, (lots of etsy shops have to bring in their own buyers anyway), buyers will buy from you. They don't care if you are selling on Etsy, or Ebay, or Shopify, or Ecrater, etc.
They see it, they like it, they want it, they buy it.
Two days ago, I sent out 20 postcards for an Etsy store to some local boutiques and stores where I thought her items would fit in really well.
Today, she got an inquiry for a wholesale order from 1 of them.
That never would have happened without a little self promotion.
Oh, I would love to see something on selling other places! I sold on ebay for years before etsy, but etsy is the only place I've sold my handmade stuff. The idea of having my own website and trying to bring in my own buyers is really scary...that's why I chose etsy over going alone to begin with, for the traffic.
But, you know, now I don't want all my eggs in one basket and all that. So yeah...I would really appreciate ANY information you all want to give :)
I'm a fan of Zhibit.org for simple, relatively inexpensive shops for artists. I've moved most of my handmade supply inventory over there:
http://stonesoupjewelrysupplies.com
For now, my jewelry web site still links to my Etsy shop, but that's going to change.
Am I too late (as usual, it seems)?
www.fireandhammers.com
I had this website before I found Etsy. I have more views on this through Google than I ever seem to have had on Etsy...
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