[TheForge] Knitsteel / etsy.com & artist websites,

[Fiorini & Skiles]

Thanks Robert, Ben and Lee,
(I hope I didn't forget anyone.)

My take on Etsy- it can work, if you're willing to put work into it.
 You really have to do your own promotion.  It's very cheap to list, 
.20cents for a 4 month listing, and then they take a 3.5% fee from every 
sale made on Etsy.  It's super easy to list and sell, as long as you can 
edit your own digital photos.   Payment is handled through the seller.  I 
accept only Paypal, but you can also choose to accept any other method of 
payment, like google checkout, or whatever else is out there.

Go browse the site.  Do different searches for blacksmith, steel, wrought 
iron, welded- terms that might apply to what you are doing.  Then in the 
right hand sidebar of each shop, you can see how long the person has been on 
Etsy and the number of items they've sold.  You can click on the items sold 
link and see which kind of items have sold for them.  You can see prices, 
but you can make your guesses based on the prices of items currently for 
sale.

You can also look at a website called www.etsytools.com .  It gives some 
data on top sellers, all sorts of stuff that I should study, but I don't.

So far, Etsy seems like the best online market for my needs.  There are also 
sites like www.dawanda.com , www.homegrownmarket.com  (USA artists only), 
www.rubylane.com , www.lov.li  (not a clue), ebay (you all know).  There are 
even more out there, but like I said, for my needs, Etsy works out best 
right now.  You can certainly list and sell on more than one site.

The majority of my sales have been in the USA, but I have also sold to 
England, Canada, The Netherlands and Germany.  I like the idea that I'm 
reaching markets that I never would have reached on my own.

I promote myself through my business cards, my blog, my signature in emails 
and on discussion forums, and on flickr.  I don't put myself into it 
fulltime, but I feel like I get out of it what I put into it.

If you do sign up on Etsy, choose your username carefully.  You are stuck 
with it.  I might not choose knitsteel if I were to start all over, but it's 
become an online identity, which I don't want to lose now that I'm selling 
consistently.

I have to put this in.  You can't go into it with the grumpy attitude that 
"people just won't pay for traditional craftsmanship" or the thought that 
people ought to automatically recognize the quality of your work.
You have to go into it positive - genuinely excited about the opportunity to 
show your work and educate the online community. ( I don't call myself a 
traditional smith, so I highlight my distinctive creative style for my Etsy 
work.  I highlight my chasing and repousse skills for workshops and my high 
end work. )  You need a unique product that shows your own distinct Brand of 
creativity.   You have to have a beautiful product, a great attitude, and 
great customer service.

As far as workshops go- I think there is a need for both, the friendly 
hammer-ins that only cost as much as membership in a regional blacksmithing 
group and for the more detailed and pricey workshops.  It's useful to both 
make your own tools and buy tools.   Sharing information is one of the 
things that characterizes creative Americans.  We are generous with our 
information and understand that it leads to greater prosperity all around.

-Kirsten Skiles (aka knitsteel in many online places)
http://knitsteel.blogspot.com
http://knitsteel.etsy.com


Message: 6
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 12:11:01 -0700
From: "Ben Barrett" <stircrazyben at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Knitsteel / etsy.com & artist websites,
sharing in the community
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Message-ID:
<c21610950710021211g74be4caekc8789a84ab2e3b89 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Agreed -- maybe you are talking about a different site, but I hve been
noticing etsy.com, especially since I have been trying to do a very
similar thing (but on a smaller and more local scale).  Sorry to talk
tech here, but in support of artists making money, do many folks hear
good things about etsy.com?  Any other similar ventures I could look
into?  My idea is to allow artists who are not good businessfolk or
marketers an easy outlet to sell their work, one where they (or their
"agents", but not me or folks who run the website) do all of the
active work once it is setup (receive payments, ship items, add new
items, etc).  Etsy seems to be working great and I've considered
joining them instead... so I'm really curious on the subject.  If it
seems off-topic/OT, please just reply to me off-list.



ben


On 10/2/07, lee robbins <naturadoc1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> -YOur site is great.
> i especially liked the chasing tools and the image of
> the temper colors on the tool. nice shot
> it makes me want to do repousse
> Lee Robbins
> Flying tortoise forge studio
>
>