Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Etsy vs. Ebay

Let me state that I just love Etsy! The site is easy to use, not too expensive (that's if you don't relist items constantly), and has a pretty big following. I had 22 items up for sale for almost 2 months and made 1 sale in 4 months. I've done all the marketing of my shop I can do but to no avail.

Many people now think of E-bay as a flea market atmosphere. I can see why they would feel that way. But lately I have had much more success on E-bay than on Etsy.

Over the weekend I sold three cards that I had listed on E-bay. The previous week I sold 2 cards that I had listed in my Etsy shop for over 6 months. I didn't make a huge amount of money with these sales on E-bay but those same three cards sat in my Etsy store for a month and though I got alot of views, no buyers!

I'm trying hard with both venues to sell my craft and make some money. I set reasonable prices for handmade goods, offer the lowest shipping I can, all to make a few dollars. I am going to keep plugging along, building up sales (hopefully), to get my handmade goods out there.

3 comments:

  1. I sold on ebay and for one year I had sale every week. Then I found etsy and I thought "perfect!", and quit listing on ebay. That was not a smart move on my part. I plan to start selling on ebay again. I never had a store there, just listings. I made more money than I do on etsy.

    I am glad to see someone agrees with my opinion on it!

    Have a wonderful day!

    http://christiecottage.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've seen other sellers on e-bay who get a following and have numerous sales every week without having a store. Now ebay has a promotion where you get the first 5 listings each month free. Can't beat free! I know there are more fees on ebay but I do better with sales on there. Going to keep my etsy shop open through the holidays and then decide what to do. Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it's largely because people know exactly what ebay is; and I don't mean that in a bad way... Ebay is part of the popular culture, like amazon or google — you say the word "ebay" to someone (who is presumably not 95 or from a country with no internet) and they know immediately that you're talking about an online site to buy or sell anything under the sun.

    Etsy doesn't yet have that immediate name / brand recognition, so, usually you have to explain to people what it is.

    Name recognition = customers.

    ReplyDelete