Start An Etsy Business - Business Ideas
If you are an artist and looking for ways to turn your skills into revenue, Etsy is the platform for you. Etsy is a marketplace for artists and can bring in extra income or even replace your current job. You can create art pieces and create a successful Etsy shop. Once your Etsy shop is online, consider joining a team to help you learn the basics of Etsy and also learn how to market stuff on Etsy.
Starting an etsy business requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell esty, or selling esty online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Key Stats
Startup Costs
| Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
|---|---|---|
| Office Space Expenses | $0 | $7,000 |
| Employee & Freelancer Expenses | $151 | $352 |
| Website Costs | $223 | $7,215 |
| Business Formation Fees | $5,600 | $20,400 |
| App Creation Costs | $1,000 | $20,000 |
| Software Expenses | $162 | $3,094 |
| Advertising & Marketing Costs | $0 | $2,750 |
| Total Startup Costs | $7,136 | $60,811 |
Case Studies
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$6.5K/mo
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$4K/mo
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$2K/mo
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$3K/mo
Successful Businesses
| Business | URL | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
OpossumRotStudio | etsy.com/in-en/shop/OpossumRotStudio | #73 |
|
With Love From T To You | etsy.com/shop/withlovefromttoyou | #74 |
|
Ann + Joy | annandjoy.etsy.com | #74 |
|
Stoic Muse | etsy.com/shop/StoicMuse | #74 |
|
Gift Wink | etsy.com/shop/GiftWinkCustom | #74 |
|
Tag Pup | etsy.com/shop/TagPup | #74 |
|
Funky Monkey Children | funkymonkeychildren.com | #77 |
|
erank | erank.com | #4,432 |
|
eShop Marketer | eshopmarketer.com | #284,223 |
|
Popov Leather | popovleather.com | #335,417 |
|
Aurora Designer | auroradesigner.com | #356,444 |
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Description |
|---|---|
| Flexibility | You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. |
| Ability to start your business from home | It's not necessary to have a physical storefront or office space to get your business started. You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning! |
| Scalable | With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services for your business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers. |
| Traffic to your website | A etsy business gives people a reason to visit your website and to keep coming back to you! |
| Meaningful business connections | You never know who you will meet as a etsy business. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity! |
| High customer retention rates | Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer. |
| Cons | Description |
|---|---|
| Motivation of employees | If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees. |
| Longer Sales Process | A etsy business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers. |
| Taxes | As a etsy business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it. |
| Niche Market | A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience. |
| You may need to charge sales tax | If you are selling your products in various states, you may be required to charge sales tax. Although this may not impact your financials specifically, it can be a headache to create a process and procedure for this. To learn more about sales tax, check out [this article](https://www.thebalancesmb.com/do-i-need-to-collect-sales-taxes-in-my-state-398913) |
| Difficult to build trust with your customer | With starting an etsy business, there can be minimal face-to-face interaction, which means it can be a lot more difficult to establish trust with your customers. You'll need to go the extra mile with your customer to grab their attention and business. |
Marketing Ideas
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1
Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.
Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.
The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.
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2
Word of mouth
Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.
Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.
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3
Partnerships
A partnership is a formal agreement between two or more entities to oversee business operations and share profits and liabilities.
Creating strategic partnerships with an existing business can be a huge win for a startup.
This is considering that a partnership creates a new slate of future options for your startup.
On the other side, pursuit of partnerships could suck up a ton of time, and bunch of resources, and fail to materialize.
Therefore, entrepreneurs need to do proper research and evaluate the possibilities of achieving success through partnerships.
Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
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