How To Successfully Open An Etsy Shop: A Step By Step Guide

Do you need to bring in some serious passive income? Have you been thinking about opening an Etsy shop, but you’re not sure how to start? Well, Dr. Tiffany Harrison has been ‘crushing it’ on Etsy.

And in this guest post, she will share some of her best tips to help you learn how to successfully open an Esty shop so that you can start to bring in your own killer income. So keep reading! 

Opening an Etsy shop in 2023 may seem like a lofty goal to some people, but it doesn’t have to be. The good news is that opening an online Etsy storefront has a very low barrier to entry. In fact, it is actually free to open an Etsy Shop in 2023. However, you will need to pay a listing fee for each item (here is a link to start your shop and get the first 40 listings for free).

Another fee that you will have to pay is a transaction fee every time you have a sale. The transaction fee is currently 6.5% of the sales price.

There are many things you need to consider before you open an Etsy shop, I have an entire post about it, so I am not going to get into this here. But, in addition to those things that you need to consider, there are also some things you need to do.

Step One to open an Etsy Shop in 2023 – Determine your product(s)

Etsy is a marketplace designed for people looking for unique goods sold by independent sellers. Products listed on Etsy should fall into one of three categories: handmade, vintage, and craft supplies.

Handmade Products

These are products you literally make with your hands or design with your mind. Suppose you had assistance producing your product or running your business. In that case, Etsy requires that you list that information in the About section of your shop.

Also, if you have a production partner, you have to disclose that. It is also expected that you use your own photos of these products.

Vintage Products

Etsy defines vintage products as being more than 20 years old.

Craft Supplies

Craft supplies are tools and materials whose primary uses are to create an item or a special occasion. Products falling in the category of craft items can be handmade, commercial, or vintage. Party supplies often fall into this category.

Step Two – Naming your Etsy Shop

You may already have a name in mind for your shop, or you may be starting from scratch. If starting from scratch, take some time to search shops selling similar items to the ones you intend to sell on Etsy.

What kinds of names do they use? If you are selling a specific item or a specific type of item, you may want to include those words in your shop name to improve your shop’s SEO (i.e., The Cool Clip Art Shop).

Once you have decided on a name, check if that name is in use. If it is, go back to the drawing board until you have a unique name that you are happy with.

Related Post: How To Earn Money Online and Make Consistent Income

Step Three – Listing Items in your Etsy Shop

You need to focus on four things when listing products to open an Etsy shop. Those things in order of importance are photos, titles, listing descriptions, and tags.

Photos

Etsy allows up to 10 photos per product. While you don’t need to use all 10, you must give your potential customer varying views of what they are purchasing and of the different ways that it can be used.

Etsy recommends using at least 5 photos per listing. Images should be well-lit and emphasize the product being sold. In addition, photos should not be too busy.

Some sellers choose to also include infographics with their photos to give their customers additional information about their product or business.

Titles 

Writing a good title takes practice, but anyone can learn this skill. Writing a strong title is essential because a combination of your title, tags, listing descriptions, and categories are used by the Etsy algorithm to help categorize your product.

Your main photo captures the eyes of your potential customer, but your titles are what draws them in. You want to make sure that you use plain language in your title with easy-to-understand words.

For example, if I was selling a printable birthday card, my title would read: Printable Birthday Card, Print at Home Greeting Card, DIY Card for friend, Card with birthday cake.

Listing Description

It is crucial that you plainly and accurately describe your product. Write your description with the person who will read every word in mind.

Remember, customers cannot touch or feel your product, so you must be descriptive with your comments for them to really understand what they are purchasing. Try to keep your paragraphs short and concise. The same things go for any lists your include in the description.

Finally, make sure you proofread your description. In a space where you never meet the person you are doing business with, you want to come across as professional as possible.

A quick way to come across as unprofessional is to have a bunch of misspellings and grammatical errors in your descriptions.

Tags

Tags are keywords that you use to help Etsy categorize your product so that they know who to show it to in the search feature. With each listing, you can add up to 13 tags. In the case of tags, you want to use all 13.

Therefore, you must use different keywords for each tag. If you run out of words, try using synonyms for words that you have already used to describe your products.

Step Four – Setting Up Billing to open an Etsy Shop

Etsy will ask you many questions depending on where you live to determine how to bill you and how to pay you. They may ask you to place a card on file to assist them with verifying your identity. I have a debit card on file only used for my Etsy business.

This card is charged for any fees that I incur running my business, and it is also where Etsy sends my money on payday! Speaking of payday, you can determine your pay frequency. You can choose to be paid monthly, biweekly, weekly, and daily.

Over To You

Now that we have gone through how to open an Etsy shop in 2023, things to consider before opening your shop:

• The type of products you should sell
• Naming your shop
• How to list a product 
• How to set up billing

Now you are ready to launch your shop! Was this helpful? Let me know. 👇

Dr. Tiffany Harrison is a Delaware-based Etsy seller and content creator with demonstrated success in both environments. In September 2019, Tiffany launched DoingItAllDesigns.com, an Etsy shop that specializes in customizable digital stationery and greeting cards. In less than two years, the shop has exceeded 7,000 sales and is ranked in the top 1% of all Etsy shops. Many of her products have been featured in various media outlets, such as the Huffington Post.

Tiffany’s entrepreneurial pursuits also take her into the blogging and influencer space. In February 2020, Tiffany launched TiffanyDoesItAll.com, a motherhood and lifestyle blog. Her content on all of her platforms revolves around her sharing her life and perspective as a working millennial wife and mother. Her blog has generated sponsorships with various household brands such as Netflix, Fox Television, Crayola, Entenmann, and Fabletics, to name a few. Tiffany is passionate about creating a legacy for her family and demonstrating that women can have it all.