February 8, 2025 • 53 mins
Unlock the secrets of thriving in the vintage marketplace with me, Cindy Fannistock Schafer, on this enlightening episode of Living a Vintage Life by Retro Chalet. Discover how Etsy has transformed from a modest platform to a bustling marketplace with millions of shops, yet still holds tremendous potential for dedicated sellers. I share my personal journey with Etsy and reveal how 25% of shops manage to stand out in competitive markets like jewelry, psychic readings, and print-on-demand products. Dive into the strategies that can help you succeed, including understanding Etsy's ever-changing algorithms and learning from industry experts like Dylan Jarvis.
Explore a world beyond Etsy as we navigate various online platforms for selling vintage and handmade items. From the promising yet traffic-dependent Go Imagine to the fashion-centric Poshmark, we dissect each platform's unique advantages and challenges. Hear my candid thoughts on eBay's customer service and why Facebook Marketplace is your go-to for local sales. As we circle back to Etsy, I provide actionable tips on optimizing SEO and keywords using tools like Marmalead and E-Rank, to help boost your shop's visibility and potential sales.
Maximize your Etsy sales with strategic tactics focused on the buyer experience and efficient shipping. Learn how small items like individual mason jars can save on shipping costs and improve profit margins, and why thoughtful packaging and personalized notes can lead to repeat customers. I stress the importance of refining product offerings, using social media to drive traffic, and making consistent daily tweaks to improve your shop's performance over time. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting out, this episode is packed with insights to help you thrive in the world of vintage sales online.
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Thanks so much for tuning in! Living a Vintage Life is about all things vintage, from buying to selling, foraging natural food sources, making your own cosmetics, living in the old ways! To support this podcast, you can share it and leave it a five star review! Shop my Etsy store RETROCHALET and use code RETRO10 for 10% off your purchase. I offer free shipping over 35$ and you can get there by clicking this link.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cindy Fahnestock-Schafer (00:06):
You're listening to living a vintage
life by retro chalet.
Thanks for joining.
Here's your host, CindyFahnestock-Schafer.
Hey guys, this is an episodethat I wanted to do for a really
long time and today is aperfect day to do it.
My blind dog is finally asleep.
When she is awake she barks alot, even though she's very good
(00:29):
at finding her way arounddifferent places that I take her
, she's used to her surroundings, but the incessant barking just
for like attention and sheneeds extra cuddle time really
makes it difficult in my sparetime to try to do podcasts.
So Kendall is finally taking anap and it's a perfect time to
(00:50):
do this podcast.
Today I'm going to be talkingabout how to sell vintage on
Etsy.
A long time ago I wrote a lot ofarticles online.
You may have seen some if youever search how to sell vintage
on Etsy.
They've been on the internetfor over 10 years.
They've gotten a lot of reads,but things have changed a lot
over the past 10 years and I getthis, you know, all the time
(01:15):
from vintage sellers on how tosell vintage on Etsy.
First of all, let me explain.
I've had my shop a really longtime but I never really did
anything with it, because myhusband's a barbecue guy.
We went all around the EastCoast selling barbecue, very,
very busy in food sales andcatering, and I run a food truck
four days a week and, you know,no time for Etsy.
(01:37):
That was not my side hustle, itwasn't my source of income, but
I would help others, you know,explaining to them how to do it,
because at the time I was likea pro.
I could list something and itwould sell immediately and there
was no problems.
Now, back in, I'm going back 10or 11, 12 years, actually 13
(02:01):
years now.
Back in 2012, there was under amillion shops, under a million
shops.
So what that meant was Etsy.
This is before Timu, beforeSheen, and Etsy got millions and
millions of buyers looking foritems back then and they still
(02:23):
do today.
But hear me on this.
They got millions of shoppers,millions of buyers, and you only
had under a million storescompeting.
Fast forward to now A fewstatistics.
Okay, there's an article byContimod C-O-N-T-I-M-O-Dcom and
(02:48):
they stated that there were over9 million stores 9 million
shops in 2022.
Although Etsy listed an annualreport back in 2022 saying there
were 7.5 million shops.
Okay, so 7.5 to 9 millionstores.
(03:11):
So you're an Etsy seller,you're wondering why you're not
selling anything.
Well, that's because you arelost in between 7.5 and 9
million stores.
However, however, don't despair, you can sell on Etsy.
You can be a successful vintageseller because they've got 96.5
(03:38):
, I believe, million buyersgoing to Etsy for things.
So, so, in other words, eventhough, even though there are
tons and tons of stores, thereare tons and tons of buyers,
however, um, etsy statisticsactually, um, said that 25% of
(04:03):
shops are actually successful.
That's one out of four.
One out of four.
Now, what are one out of fourdoing?
Is it what they're selling?
Is it that they've got thingsdown?
Well, it's a combination of allthese things, and I'm gonna go
over with you some of the thingsthat I've learned over time.
Now there is a store calledCaitlin Minimalist.
(04:27):
Last I actually counted, theywere selling over 1,200 pieces a
day.
They sell jewelry.
Psychic sellers are on Etsy.
Now I want to say at one timethey were not really allowed to
do tarot readings and readings,and I really don't know what
(04:49):
happened back then, but I justknow that the market was flooded
with them.
They were doing very well and Iguess that's.
He just said okay, we're goingto allow this because actually
it could have been that a that agroup of pagans got together
and said, hey, this against myreligion, to kick us off of here
because we use tarot cards andwe're into divination.
So I don't know.
I don't know what the story isthere, but there are
(05:12):
stay-at-home moms killing itwith these psychic readings.
Some of them have sold 50,000psychic readings at 25 bucks a
pop and you can do the math onthat.
You know.
There's also lots and lots ofprint-on-demand shops that are
(05:33):
killing it.
Personalized gifts are a hugething on Etsy.
These print-on-demand shops areselling in the millions and
basically there's a whole bunchof different podcasts out there
just to help those type of shops.
There are actually people outthere that you pay a lot of
money and they guide youone-on-one and I have actually
(05:57):
heard success stories comingfrom them.
Like you can look up DylanJarvis.
She ran a successful Etsy shopand also on Shopify and other
platforms, and she actually hasa great podcast with great
information on selling on Etsyand some of that stuff.
Even though it's geared toprint on demand, some of that
stuff can really help thevintage seller.
(06:19):
So I'm going to go over the topfive things that you need to do
to sell vintage on Etsy.
First of all, about a year agothere was a big complaint on
Etsy about their algorithm thatit had changed that.
All these people were basicallysaying and this is from a post
(06:40):
I actually read that basicallythere was one person who was
doing handmade sales.
Believe it or not.
They sold over $5 million inhandmade.
Now I don't know if that'sprint on demand, I don't know if
that's SVG files I don't knowwhat it is because I don't know
(07:01):
what their shop is but they saidthey sold over 150,000 items
and all of a sudden, a year ago,all their sales dropped off and
like shriveled up to nothing.
Another person on the same post, by the name of Tattooed Geek
1218, said that they had over amillion over like five years and
(07:23):
then all of a sudden, a yearago, their sales dropped to
non-existent.
So there's a whole bunch ofpeople theorizing why Etsy, your
sales and your views justdropped or plummeted about a
year ago.
They say the algorithm haschanged.
(07:44):
Now what I'm giving you is myopinion.
This is not fact.
But about a year ago, timu andSheen also blew up.
So what you have to understandis if a website like Timu or
Sheen blows up.
What they're doing is thendominating the search results in
(08:07):
Google.
Also, people are going crazyover stuff.
They're getting on Timu andSheen because I guess it's cheap
and it's trendy and it's cuteand they're saving money, so
they're sharing it.
They're sharing it on socialmedia.
So what actually happens is, inthe natural way of things, you
have a website that grows andgrows and grows because the user
(08:28):
base is pushing it and it growsbigger and it grows bigger.
And the next thing you know,you've got the huge Amazon of
everything that's selling by thename of Timu and Sheen and Etsy
has like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, drop down in
the search results, drop downin the Google.
So what they have to do now isreinvent themselves.
(08:49):
This is just my opinion.
I believe that if you want acompany or a website to survive,
you have to support it.
So before you go out there andyou buy something off of Timu
that and I'm guilty of it Igotta say I've done it.
I bought a sweatshirt.
It looked really comfy, it wasreally cheap.
(09:10):
I thought you know, this isreally cute, I'm gonna buy this
sweatshirt.
I get it a month later.
The material on the sweatshirtis not like a soft cotton, it's
like some kind of like satinypolyester, and the screen print
that's on the front of thesweatshirt, you know, basically
doesn't look like the screenprint I saw in the picture.
It's kind of like cheaply doneand infused into the fabric and
(09:33):
so basically you get what youpay for.
I was pretty upset with mypurchase but yet I supported
them and, you know, got thisthing shipped in from another
country, instead of maybesupporting the same sweatshirt
that I could have got sourcedand made in the USA by a
print-on-demand Etsy seller, andI kind of learned my lesson.
So if you are a vintage sellerand you want to sell on Etsy,
(09:58):
support Etsyans.
So not only are you selling onEtsy, but you should be buying
on Etsy, and that's just myopinion.
So I can't really tell you.
You know what the situation is,but I'm going to give you a few
other avenues that people areselling Now.
Go Imagine is a new, newerwebsite and they actually allow
(10:18):
vintage supplies, but they don'tactually allow vintage.
It's just basically handmade orvintage stuff like that.
But you can't sell vintage likea cookie jar.
You can't sell a vintagemedical jar.
You would have to sell suppliesfor jewelry making and things
(10:41):
of that nature that are vintage.
The problem with Go Imagine andI did sign up and I did try it
out I want to say like Iactually wrote an article about
it, because they're super easyto use.
Their fees are very comparableand less than Etsy, in a
nutshell, but there is notraffic.
You have to drive it yourself.
(11:01):
It's almost like a Shopifystore.
It's actually, in my opinion,way less expensive than a
Shopify store, but you have toset up your shop and drive your
own traffic to it, and thatmight be a good place if you're
selling, like you know, vintagelooking art, vintage assemblage
art or vintage supplies,assemblage art or vintage
(11:23):
supplies.
Poshmark is a great place forvintage clothes, used clothes,
newer clothes, handbags, jewelryand that sort of thing.
Macari is a good website, got alittle bit of everything going
on almost like a flea markettype deal and there's really no
if-ands or rules as far as ifyou're going to sell vintage,
(11:45):
handmade or supplies.
Ebay, unfortunately, has beenout there a really long time.
You know I was one of the firstusers on eBay.
I used to sell a long time agoon eBay.
I just don't like it anymore.
I've had a lot of problemsgetting my products from buyers.
They've switched almost, and Iknow a lot of companies have.
(12:06):
They've switched to like someAI type, standard customer
service and stuff.
And I actually had a disputewhere I had a package for my
dogs it was actually some typeof medicine for my dogs and it
got delivered by UPS to thewrong house but the system just
(12:27):
kept denying my request todispute the item Because even
though I told the seller I tooka picture of my house and I told
the seller, hey, this isn't myhouse the system kept denying it
because there was a validtracking number by UPS.
So you know, you have to call,you have to call 50 places, you
have to get somebody to listento you and they just weren't
cooperating.
(12:48):
I had to go through PayPal.
They denied it because itactually had a valid tracking
number and it wasn't until Iactually got a human being on
the phone at PayPal that Iexplained to them.
Look, this is not my house.
I don't care what your AIsystem keeps closing out.
I paid 30, some bucks.
I don't have the item.
Unfortunately, I don't evenknow whose house this was, that
(13:10):
it was delivered on or I wouldwalk over and get it myself if
it was one of my neighbors, butit's not and you know this is
not my home and I can't getahold of anybody Like.
I couldn't even complain to UPSbecause this is so strange.
It was an eBay purchase but itwas an Amazon seller.
So the seller used UPS, but UPSwouldn't touch it because it
(13:30):
was delivered by an Amazon truck.
So it's just the weirdest thingever and I really think that,
and shame on eBay's customerservice for just going down the
tubes.
So if you're going to sell oneBay, you know, buyer and seller
, beware, because there's a lotof glitches going on right now
and it's not the same eBay thatit was 10 years ago.
(13:51):
In my opinion.
I do shop on eBay but I've hada lot of bad apples lately and
the worst part is that seller,you know, wasn't a very good
seller because I kept tellingthem that it is not my house.
It is not my house.
Now I've got 20 years of eBayfeedback and it's all positive,
100% positive, but they did notbelieve me or they were just
(14:12):
tricking the system and theydidn't care.
All they had to do was call UPS, say it was delivered to the
wrong address, call theircourier and get their refund so
that I could get my refund.
But they didn't.
So if you're going to sell oneBay, don't be that type of
seller and listen to yourcustomers.
(14:33):
And then, of course, there'sFacebook Marketplace and
Facebook Marketplace guys, it iswhat it is.
I have recently went through mystorage unit and cleaned out
everything humongous and hugeand gotten rid of it on Facebook
marketplace for at least what Ipaid, or just a little bit
cheaper, just to get rid of it.
And that's pretty great becauseI could set it outside, they
(14:53):
could stick the money under themat and we don't actually have
to see each other and I can usemy work location to do that,
which is great.
But here's the thing.
The reason I got rid of big,big bulky stuff is because
selling vintage on Etsy meansyou're shipping stuff.
The bigger it is, the more itcosts you, the less your profit
(15:14):
margin gets, especially because,selling on Etsy, they really,
really, really push you anythingover $35.
They want you to offer freeshipping in your shop.
Now, I've read a lot on this.
Some people are doing it, somepeople aren't.
They claim you're going to gethigher in search results.
You're going to get betterplacement if you do that, but
(15:36):
some people have actually saidthat they haven't seen any
difference at all.
So it's just another thingwhether you want to offer that
to your customers or not.
So now let's get through thetop five things and some
mistakes.
You know how to sell vintage onEtsy.
The first thing is mostimportant is your SEO, niche SEO
(16:00):
, search engine optimization.
You have really got to taketime on your listings to make
sure they're gonna get found bythe millions of buyers that are
searching for them.
Now this kind of goes hand inhand with my number two, which
is my keywords, because your SEOhas to do with the way you're
(16:22):
listing and your keywords.
I've said this in all of myarticles.
It is your first four to fivewords in your title that are
very search engine friendly, seooptimized for, like Google
listings and things of thatnature.
So if you're selling a cutevintage reindeer, a stife plush,
(16:46):
okay, you basically don't wannasay cute, adorable, christmassy
vintage reindeer, because nowyour first five words are just
pretty much the only one thatreally is going to make any
sense to the SEO is the wordreindeer.
Okay, now you have lost thefour other words, and sometimes
it's four, sometimes it's five,just depending how long your
(17:09):
words are.
Now the Etsy title area ispretty freaking long, lots of
characters.
So you want to put your first,most important words in the
beginning of your title.
So in this case, steve,reindeer, christmas ornament or
decoration, that's what I wouldpick, so it would flow as a
(17:32):
sentence.
It wouldn't be choppy, but itwould be people that are out
there searching for Stife orSteve.
I can't even say it, but thatwould bam.
You would be in those searchresults Reindeer bam, christmas,
not Christmassy, not cute,adorable, those are wasted words
, okay.
So again, seo in your title isvery, very super important.
(17:57):
And number two, your keywords.
Now, it used to be back in theday that you could think like a
buyer and you could think up 13really important keyword tags
for your Etsy shop.
So, for instance, if I wasselling a vintage toy plastic
boat, my first word would bevintage, my second word would be
toy, my third word would beplastic, my fourth word would be
(18:19):
boat.
Maybe I would pick nautical,maybe I would pick gift.
Maybe I would say dad, no, noand no.
That has all changed.
If you have any one word tags,get back in there and fix them,
because that is hampering you.
What Etsy did a while ago istalk about these long tail
(18:39):
keyword searches and basicallythat's when you go to Etsy and
you type in a phrase.
Now there's a couple of waysthat you can actually figure
this out.
Okay, first of all, you can goto Etsycom.
Make sure you go to Etsycom,not through your store or
anything, but go to Etsycom andsearch plastic, vintage toy boat
(19:05):
.
Just start typing it in andwhatever is popular should
auto-populate.
So let's say, I type in vintagetoy, bam bam, bam, bam bam.
All these things are going tocome up which are trending or
popular searches, search terms.
That's one way of figuring out,kind of how to label Another
(19:26):
thing.
What you want to do is kind ofsplit it up.
So my first tag would bevintage toy, my second tag would
be plastic boat, my third tagwould be boating antique.
My fourth tag would be gift forhim.
(19:50):
So in other words, these tagsare two and three words.
As long as they're less than 20characters, they should fit.
They should fit.
And so what's going to happenthen If I have one tag that says
vintage toy and I have one tagthat says plastic boat.
If somebody is looking for avintage toy plastic boat bam,
it's going to come up.
If they're looking for avintage boat bam it's going to
(20:11):
come up.
If they're looking for a toyplastic bam, it's going to come
up.
If they're looking for vintageplastic bam it's going to come
up.
So, in other words, by justhaving one word keywords you are
limiting yourself and you arelosing possibility on the combo
searches.
And Etsy talked about this inone of their updates a while ago
(20:33):
.
And look, I got to tell you Idon't read all the Etsy updates
that they post and I should andyou should, because there's
important stuff in there and ittells you One time they talked
about shipping how to reduceshipping costs, or it would, you
know, impact your searches, oryou know how to do these
long-tail keywords, or it canimpact your searches and they
(20:53):
give you all the tools you need,but you just have to take the
time to read it.
Now, what I do on one and twofor my SEO niche and my keywords
is you can use either a servicecalled Marmalade or you can use
this Etsy rank tool, e-rank.
It's called E-R-A-N-K.
Now I use E-rank.
(21:14):
You know why.
You get like five free searchesper day for your shop For free.
For free, okay.
And now it's not like all thehigh end stuff, but it's enough
stuff that you can tailor yourstuff.
So basically, you can go inthere, you can look up the niche
, the keywords, you can get itto do like an audit on your Etsy
(21:38):
listing to see you know what istrending and what's not.
It'll give you green, it'llgive you red.
It's really super easy to useand so I have went in there just
once a day and tweaked up tofive of my listings and, little
by little, if you have a lot ofitems in your store or you're
listing new items in your store,go back the next day, go into
(22:06):
the eRank and make sure you'vedone it correctly and it will
help it.
Actually, you know, reallybrought up some words that I
didn't even consider or I didn'teven think about.
So the days of let's make upwhat we think buyers are looking
for in tags is over and donewith.
You have to go by what's reallysearching out there, and the
only type of tools to help youare the Marmalade and the E-Rank
.
There is another service I'veheard advertised recently called
(22:29):
Etsio, where you pay perlisting and they actually use
some kind of AI bot and theypull all this data and they list
it for you.
And it's kind of crazy.
They'll rearrange your titles,They'll tell you what tags to
use and they'll list the listingfor you.
So I mean, I don't know, Ihaven't went there yet.
I'm actually using the eRankfor free and doing the SEO and
(22:52):
the keywords and I'm alsosearching on Etsy and I'm seeing
, like you know what items popup quickly on my search, like
you know what items pop upquickly on my search and what
other.
You know what the sellers, howthey have their titles
compromised, composed, et cetera, et cetera.
(23:12):
Now, when I kind of want to putthis out there, there are a few
shops that don't have to followthis rule.
There are a few shops thatdon't ever have to follow this
rule because they're selling somany items that they can say
cute little beads for crafts andpeople buy them, because those
particular shops have millionsof sales, they are supply
(23:35):
sellers, they have been aroundfor a really long time and
vintage supplies.
I mean, let's face it, peoplewho shop on Etsy like to make a
lot of things.
They like to make a lot ofcrafts.
They like to make a lot ofhandmade.
So if I'm, you know, thinking,should I sell these beaded
necklaces, these vintagenecklaces, and try to get 12
bucks, or should I take them allapart and sell the vintage
(23:58):
beads, and would I sell themquicker that way?
You know, you have to reallykind of think of that.
There are a few shops that sellso many things.
They have so many peoplefollowing their shop.
These people buy from themevery day.
They check back every time theylist new stuff.
So these titles and tags andall this stuff, you know, I
(24:19):
don't really think it matters tothem, but to us it's going to
matter because you have to buildup to that point.
Number three is your photos.
Etsy actually has like an AIbot now that if your photo's too
small, if your photo's too dark, if your photo is not clear
enough, they will actually putthis little explanation point on
(24:41):
there and they will say, hey,there is a factor impacting your
search results and it'll saypicture too small, redo your
picture.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
So then, what you can do ifyou're really in love with that
first picture you had, you canjust reorder your pictures and
hopefully another picture thatyou took is a little bit better
(25:01):
in the Etsy eyes, or you can tryto crop it, maybe brighten it.
There was a time when, like,really dark and gloomy photos
were like the thing, and nowthey really have to be bright
and crisp and clear.
And there's a few reasons forthis.
You know, if Etsy is ever goingto pick you for the front page
(25:21):
or curated Etsy pic, they're notgoing to pick a small picture,
they're not going to pick ajunky picture.
They're not going to pick ayard sale picture.
They are going to pick apicture that you would see in
Country Living Magazine or Artand Antiques magazine or
something like of that nature.
So just try to take the extratime, take good photos.
(25:45):
You don't need like aprofessional camera.
Your iPhone can do it, but justmaybe crop out your background.
Or, if you don't want to dothat, enlarge your iPhone photo
and crop it in a way that you'rereally focused on the item
itself and it's in good detail,that you're really focused on
the item itself and it's in gooddetail and it looks really
pretty.
They also say when you're doingpictures that you should show
(26:07):
the item in use in your home.
So I see this a lot withvintage.
They might actually have thefirst picture completely cropped
out, but then the secondpicture is in a collection, it's
on somebody's shelf or it's inuse in the home, and you know
I've never been one to crop outmy backgrounds.
I always show the picture as itis, against something like a
(26:30):
book background or sitting on ashelf or of that nature.
So photos are very important,and that would be number three.
So, going back to one, two andthree, so what you now have is
you're tweaking your titles,you're tweaking your keywords
and you're tweaking your photos,and this, hopefully, is going
(26:52):
to up your views and conversionrates.
Your conversion rate is howmany visits based on how many
orders and a way to way tocompute that is.
I don't want to get this wrong.
You want to divide your ordersinto your visits?
Okay, and it'll come out tosomething.
They say that average is one tothree.
(27:13):
Good is two to five percentconversion rate.
If you don't want to do that,you just go into your Etsy shop
stats and they should actuallyshow you something.
Now I want you to be reallycareful.
Etsy actually gives you yourshop address to share out there
on social media.
(27:34):
And if you drive your owntraffic, you will get like a
little discount back on yourlisting fees and your final fees
and all that stuff.
So here's the problem.
Like my shop this would be mycode Retro Chalet dot Etsy dot
com.
That's the link that I woulduse.
So let's say, your store, yourstore dot Etsy dot com.
(27:58):
So when you link your shop youdon't want to do the HTTPS Etsy
dot com forward slash, shop,forward slash.
You know Retro Chalet dot com.
You don't want to do that.
So what you want to doeverywhere, on your Facebook, on
your Instagram, on your TikTok,on your link tree is
RetroChaletetsycom.
(28:20):
Of course, maybe put the HTTPSfirst, but you know
yourstoreetsycom.
Now, be very, very, very, verycareful when you go to your shop
to work in it.
That's not how you get there.
Go into your Etsy seller app orgo into Etsycom and sign in.
(28:41):
The reason I'm telling you thisis if you were like me and you
used to always use the old wayof going in RetroChaletetsycom,
that is, counting as maybe avisit, you don't want to keep
having all these visits and nosales.
If all these visits are comingfrom you, you don't want to have
(29:01):
a very low conversion rate,because then what's happening is
you are basically telling thatsystem that you drove 80 people
there, when it's really youlisting in your shop the wrong
way and basically yourconversion rate now is going
down, down, down, down, down,down down.
And what the system?
Maybe it's AI, maybe it's theranking, maybe it's just Etsy, I
(29:24):
don't know, but you're going tolose quote unquote points and
it's going to hide your store.
So again, go to Etsycom, signin the regular way, work in your
shop that way.
Do not go to RetroChaletetsycomand work in your shop that way,
if that makes any sense.
That's something that I learned, because I only know this
(29:47):
because I checked my visits andI turned off my ads and I turned
off this and I looked and I andI figured this out.
And if I'm wrong about this,let me know.
If there's any real Etsy peoplethat work at Etsy, let me know.
But I'm pretty sure I figuredthis out not to do it that way.
Um number four would be yourpricing and your shipping.
(30:08):
And again, going back to what Isaid earlier, you know Etsy
expects you to do the free over$35.
Now, why, why would you do this?
Well, I'm going to tell you why.
You've got Timu free shippingover a certain amount.
You've got Amazon free shippingover a certain amount or with
Prime.
You know, unfortunately theseare viable stores that you're
(30:31):
competing with viable websitesand they claim that people are
more apt to buy something that'sa little bit more expensive
with free shipping than buyingsomething cheaper with, say, a
$6.95 shipping cost.
So now what I've done in mystore is I pretty much
(30:51):
standardized all of my shippingto, say, $3.95, which is under a
high price point, because ifyou do $5.95 or $6.95 or $7.95,
Etsy will actually tell you toreview your shipping costs that
they're higher than the average,and blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah.
But then I've got it to where,if you spend $35, this stuff is
free.
(31:12):
So how did I end up doing this?
I ended up getting rid of allmy bulky and heavy stuff because
, even though they have groundadvantage packages now, which I
got to say does save you somemoney it is just impossible for
me right now to sell a wholevintage set of heavy, expensive
(31:34):
dishes vintage dishes because Iwould have to wrap them very,
very well, the box would behumungo and the shipping would
be outrageous.
And remember, I'm gonna have toprice it over $35 and then
you're gonna have to get yourfree shipping.
And then what am I gonna makeon this sale?
Practically nothing.
So I have retailed my shop tosmalls.
(31:56):
Or if I am selling glasswarelike, I just sold one single
mason jar.
Now, with that mason jar, Iwrapped it good, I put it in a
box, I double boxed it, I markedit fragile, I did a UPS ground
advantage, I believe they gotfree shipping and I paid about
six bucks.
So yeah, I made some money offthe mason jar.
(32:18):
But this is the way you have torevamp your store.
If you're going to competeagainst Amazon, if you're going
to compete against Sheen, ifyou're going to compete against
Timu, you know you're going tohave to really think twice.
Now.
Books if you're a vintageseller, books, you can ship
media mail.
I don't suggest it.
It's not trackable, it reallykind of sucks.
(32:41):
And the whole buyer experience,you know, is number five.
My number five how to sellvintage on Etsy the whole buyer
experience.
So what I'm saying is you, theseller, wants to make some money
on the book, so you're going topick the $3 media mail shipping
versus the $6 ground advantage.
(33:03):
Don't do it.
Do not do that.
You want your buyer to have thebook early or in their hands.
You want to wrap it.
Well, I put a nice little notein there.
I have so much crafting ephemeraand stuff because wherever my
husband and I went to sellbarbecue, I would like visit
(33:25):
local flea markets that day orsee stuff on the side of the
road for free old magazines.
I would grab them and snatchthem and basically I've got like
a warehouse full of stuff.
So what I personally do is Isend a little thank you pack to
every customer.
If they're buying craftingstuff for me or vintage stuff
for me, I send them a free artpack Like this is stuff that's
(33:46):
just sitting around.
I'm not getting around tomaking art anytime soon.
It's been practically sourcedfree or in lots.
I don't know if you've everwent to the Goodwill or if you
went to the Salvation Army andyou bought a bag of stuff even
if it's like broken jewelry orsomething because you wanted
like one or two pieces in thereand then you have like 80 pieces
that are no good to you butthey might be good to someone
(34:07):
else.
So I send them a little packagein with every single order and
I try to make that that buyer.
I really write them a note andI say really I really hope that
I've earned your five starfeedback.
It helps my little Etsy shopand and one of the key
components on survival isgetting good feedback being a
star seller on Etsy.
(34:28):
And then, you know, making thatexperience with the buyer a
warm and fuzzy experience, andthen maybe that buyer will
favorite your store or come back.
Now, on that, there's a fun fact.
You know, people spend a lot oftime and I was guilty of it
doing the whole branding thing,you know, perfecting your little
(34:51):
image logo, perfecting yourshop banner, perfecting
everything that you got going on.
Stop doing that.
Stop doing that right now,because this is wasted time.
A fun fact.
That's out there and you needto dig to find out the
percentage.
But I know I'm pretty sure frommy recollection and I don't
(35:13):
have the stats to give you theexact but over 50% of buyers
never actually go through yourshop.
They're actually just out theredoing a long tail keyword
search on Etsy.
For instance, they're typing invintage beer bottle, schlitz,
and that's how they're gettingthat item in your store.
(35:36):
They are not going toretrochaletsecom and browsing
around to see what I got today,unless they are one of the shop
people that have favorited myshop and one of the people that
are repeat buyers with me and Ido have a few of them, but in
general, in general, that is notthe way they find you.
(35:56):
So stop spending all that timeon your branding right now,
until you get to the point whereyou're a Caitlin minimalist and
you're busting out 1,200 ordersa day.
Then you can worry about howpretty your shop looks and all
that stuff.
Why would you so?
The funny part is I also usedto really, really, really be so
(36:17):
strong in social media.
Every time I listed an item, Iwould go to Pinterest and I
would go to X and I would wellformerly Twitter and I would go
to Facebook and I would share iton Instagram, blah, blah, blah,
blah.
And you know what?
I just stopped doing all that.
I stopped doing all thatbecause sharing that one listing
to five or six places andplugging it was time that I
(36:39):
could spend adding another iteminto my shop.
Okay, so I have actually foundthis little key tip that works
better for me.
Actually found this little keytip that works better for me.
So the time spent I'm going tosay this to you again the time
spent promoting yourself in allthese different social medias.
(37:02):
And I mean, let's face it, youcould just throw up the stuff
into Instagram.
But it's not going to workunless you really put a good
picture on Instagram, put yourkey tags, your little keywords,
and put a little blurb, and thenyou got four minutes into that.
Then you got five minutes intoyour ex and six minutes into
Pinterest and seven minutes nowyou're on Facebook.
So by the time you're done,you've just spent 10 minutes
(37:23):
promoting one listing, when youcould have spent 10 minutes
listing another item.
Now I'm going to tell you that10 years ago I would have told
you, when there was only lessthan a million shop owners, to
do the social media versus thelisting.
But now I'm changing that.
Now I'm telling you don't dothe social media, do the listing
(37:46):
.
So, case in point my store onlyhas maybe under 100 items, but
every time I list a few things,they're gone, they're sold.
So I can't even get to thepoint.
I haven't even had the time topump in their 500 items.
Because I'm doing quality overquantity now, quality SEO over
(38:10):
quantity of junk listings.
I'm cherry picking what Idecide.
I'm going to list.
Today I'm going through mystorage, going through my bins
and changing the way that I runthat little side hustle.
Now I'm at the point in my lifewhere we're going to retire
from the catering and barbecuebusiness in a year, so now is
(38:33):
the time that I'm moving moreinto my store and I'm pimping up
my listings and I'm putting mystuff in there and I'm hoping
that my buyer has such a greatexperience with my little thank
you pack the fact that I'vereally rushed their item out the
best way for them that I'vegiven them the free shipping
because they spent over $35.
(38:55):
I've wrapped it up even thoughit's not a gift and it's not
Christmas.
I've wrapped it up because Ihave a plethora of old papers
and stuff that I can use and Ijust think it's so much cooler
when you get something and it'slike ooh pretty, I got to open
it, I got to go through thewhole unboxing.
It's like I'm really givingthem a great experience.
I'm hoping they do the socialmedia for me.
(39:17):
I'm hoping they heart stuff,they pin stuff, they share stuff
, and that's how people likeCaitlin Minimalist and these
huge supply store sellers got sobig because their customers do
the social media for them.
Now, another thing that I havelearned from listening to
(39:39):
different podcasts is these Etsyads.
If you're having a problem inyour Etsy shop, they suggest,
while you're starting out, tospend the money on the Etsy ads.
Etsy ads you cannot do for lessthan a dollar a day.
A dollar a day over the courseof 30 days is 30 bucks, so you
have got to sell more than 30bucks in order to make this
(40:03):
worth it.
I'm kind of at a catch-22 withthat.
I don't know what to tell you.
I'm just going to throw it outthere that, yes, it does help.
I have seen where I have spenta dollar a day and my views have
gone from 20 in my shop to 700in a day.
(40:24):
Is it worth it?
Yes, because they say that youhave to have hundreds and
hundreds of views before youhave a conversion, which means a
sale of views before you have aconversion, which means a sale.
However, there is a way to goin and you're going to probably
I don't know if you can do thison mobile, I think you can
through the Etsy seller app.
If not, go through your laptop,just to be safe.
(40:46):
Basically, there is a way toturn off listings, turn off ads
on certain items.
So, for instance, if I have alot of five bucks, six bucks,
seven bucks, eight bucks stuff,I do not want the Etsy ads
running on those items.
I mean, why?
Why spend a dollar to advertisesomething?
Five for 30 days straight.
No, turn off all the littlelistings and only if you're
(41:11):
going to spend that dollar a daylittle listings and only if
you're going to spend thatdollar a day.
Advertise it on the high moneyitems.
Okay.
So, for instance, like myporcelain glove molds, which are
just awesome.
They're industrial glove molds.
They look so cool for halloween.
They look great to drapejewelry on.
Actually, jewelry sellers buythem because they they hang
their necklaces on them andthat's how they take their
(41:32):
photos.
Um, and I have them pricepointed at 58aces on them and
that's how they take theirphotos.
And I have them price pointedat $58 with free shipping and
that's expensive, right.
But I also give the Retro10coupon code so people can save
10% off.
They get the free shipping andthen I'm spending that dollar a
day advertising that glove moldversus advertising that cute
little reindeer that's fivebucks.
(41:54):
Or the little jar of beadsthat's three bucks.
Now, the reason I have somelower priced items in my shop.
The reason I have that issomething called the sale
conversion.
So, in a nutshell, withoutsounding too technical, what
happens is the more items youhave, the more sales hopefully
(42:15):
you'll have.
That's if you have them listedcorrectly.
Like I've told you, with yourSEO, use your E-rank, fix your
keywords, fix your photos, fixyour pricing and shipping, get
the good customer experience andthen it starts to snowball for
you.
You have a happy customer, youhave a sale.
Bam, you kind of maybe jump up10 points.
Then you've got more items,more items.
Seo is good.
(42:36):
You're getting more sales.
Bam, you jump up 10 points.
Now you're going to have thatone buyer in your store which I
had the other day.
She stayed in my shop and shebought like three to four items
in my shop.
That's three to four sales.
That counts as four sales.
Bam, bam, bam bam.
So now that one buyer is lookingaround the store, she's trying
(42:56):
to get to $35.
She's trying to get to freeshipping.
Well, if you have a lot oflittle items like $4, $5, $6,
she's going to have to buy fourto five items to get the free
shipping.
Why wouldn't she?
And she's seeing some cheaplypriced stuff that, at this point
, I just want to get rid of.
I just want to, you know, gominimalist.
(43:17):
I just want to clean out thehouse and you know.
So there you go.
That is a little trick for you.
So, essentially what you'redoing, and I want to tell you
these big print and demandpeople do this all the time.
They sell these expensivetumblers and they sell these
expensive sweatshirts andt-shirts, but then they'll throw
in a keychain.
(43:37):
They'll throw in a cute littlekeychain for five bucks just to
kind of get their sales up.
So, in other words, now you'rebuying a tumbler and you're
buying a sweatshirt, but you'regoing to throw in that five buck
keychain just because it's cuteand it's personalizable, and
blah, blah, blah, blah.
So this is how they do it, andthen it, and then it helps them.
It helps them because SECs areselling three things instead of
(43:59):
two.
Right and again, if any of usknew the secret of the algorithm
, we would be wonderful.
But what?
I think?
The secret of the algorithm isslowly climbing that ladder.
Okay, if you have 500 items inyour vintage shop but you're not
selling anything, then I'mguaranteeing that your SEO is
(44:22):
out of whack.
Your titles can be revamped,your tags can be tweaked and
actually I didn't say this priorbut also fix your description
to repeat your good keywords inthe first couple sentences of
your description.
I don't know if you've everactually bought anything on Etsy
, especially if you're usingyour phone, but you can only
(44:43):
really see the first sentence ortwo of the description on your
phone.
You have to actually put readmore, expand more to actually
see the whole description.
So you want to have the mostimportant things in the
beginning to snag that buyer'sinterest.
So hopefully with all thesechanges, you can either fix your
existing Etsy shop or start anew one of vintage and really
(45:09):
try to follow this and don't getfrustrated.
It's going to take a while toclimb the ladder, to get your
points, to build a reputablestore.
To build a reputable shop.
For me I was actually choosingonly one social media and I use
TikTok.
Now this is really funnybecause you know you have to be
(45:31):
really careful on TikTok.
You can't be like go to my Etsystore to buy this item because
they don't like that.
They want you to have a TikTokshop and all this stuff.
But I do have my link in my bioand I do often put on there,
like, for instance, I did a coinvideo.
I have all these coins fromNorway and I just think they're
so adorable.
(45:52):
I bought a huge lot a while agoand I wanted to make like these
are vintage and I wanted tomake like little earrings.
There's some with littlesquirrels on them that would be
great for earrings or actuallyfor a charm bracelet.
I have some with hens on themand I have my most favorite,
which is an elk that kind oflooks like a giant elk or moose,
and I see that a lot on Etsy.
(46:13):
They make necklaces out of themand they sell them for like $20
to $28 a piece.
Well, I just decided I'm goingto get rid of all these coins
for crafters who need them andalso people who collect coins.
They're really cool, thisanimal series.
So I did a video about it onTikTok, and no sooner did I do
that video, I swear.
The next day I sold over $50 inthese coins.
(46:36):
So can I tell you for sure thatit wasn't my SEO, that it wasn't
my titles, that it was myTikTok?
I don't know for sure because Ican't really tell in my seller
stats what it was, but I chooseone place and one place only.
I know that the topprint-on-demand stores.
There's two podcasts out there.
I listen to Sarah Wagoner and Ilisten to Dylan Jarvis and they
(47:00):
are big Instagram users Like.
So Sarah always advertises herservices to help Etsy sellers
and her podcast on her Instagramreels and she's a big Instagram
user, so I can't tell you ifyou're going to just pick one
(47:21):
for time's sake.
Now I have a Pinterest accountand I've had it so long that it
gets over 20,000 views a month.
I would be a fool not to atleast share one of my items to
Pinterest a day, but that takesme about 30 seconds.
So I'm not saying not to dosocial media, but I'm saying you
(47:41):
need to really focus on firststocking up your shop.
The more items you have, themore items they are goods, seo
and you've got them tweaked,then you should start seeing it
Now.
I do want to mention that ifyou have an existing Etsy shop
and you have to go back throughitem by item, this can take
(48:03):
weeks for you to see a change.
It's not going to be tomorrow,it's not going to even be next
week.
Sometimes the cycle can take upto 30 days to six weeks to
actually show the change, andyou don't want to do too many
drastic changes at once, whichis why I go back in and tweak
(48:27):
five a day.
Because why E-Rank gives mefive free tweaks a day and then
it's a slow tweaking process.
So, cumulatively speaking, in30 days from now, those first
five that I tweak today aregoing to be fixed in SEO and
should get more views.
And then the day after that thenext five, and then the day
(48:49):
after that the next five.
So here's again a little tipWork in your shop.
You know these people that say,oh, don't work in your shop
every day makes absolutely nodifference whether you work in
your shop every day or you workin your shop once a week.
I'm saying, why wouldn't youwork in your shop every day for
at least maybe get up a half anhour early, have your coffee and
tweak five listings on eRank?
(49:09):
It is a free service to do that.
Why wouldn't you?
Why wouldn't you take advantageof something that is so helpful
and why wouldn't you?
I mean, that's my questiontoday.
Well, anyways, I have yackedyour ear off long enough for all
this Etsy stuff.
I'm hoping that maybe somethingI've said somewhere in this
(49:32):
podcast will help you or getyour mind actually thinking.
You know, I don't think Etsy isall peaches and cream anymore.
I have a real problem with someof the things that happen on
there.
For instance, like okay, I cansell you a psychic reading, but
I can't sell you my dandelionoil that I foraged myself, that
(49:55):
I've made with labors of loveand it's taken me a really long
time and it's all natural and Iuse it on my face, I use it
everywhere on my body and thisis how I believe I look young
for my age and I get it all thetime from my friends and family
and strangers.
They can't believe how old I amand I try to tell them why.
(50:16):
I make my own cosmetics and youknow I sell them on Etsy.
But yet if I put in there theactual natural properties of a
dandelion, they're going to kickme off because they say it's a
medical claim.
So let's just say the botanybook says that dandelions may
have anti-inflammatoryproperties.
(50:37):
Oh, that is a huge no-no.
You're not allowed to say that.
You will get banned.
You will get your shop shutdown, you will get your listing
removed and I'm sure somewhereon the back end it knocks your
point system down and now you'renot going to get found.
So be really, really, reallycareful of what you're selling.
Another person actually reportedyou know there's a whole thing
(50:59):
about trademarks, so you don'twant to be out there creating.
Or if you're selling a cow, acow plushie, you don't want to
say got milk, because the nextthing you know the got milk
people come after you and shutyour whole store down.
You're not allowed to say thatunless you're licensed by them.
You have to really, really,really um oh and, by the way, I
own got beef, so don't beselling anything with got beef
(51:19):
on it or I might have to comeafter you because it's very
expensive to have a trademarkand there there's so many
different slogans out there thatare trademarked now that you
just got to be really careful.
Like you don't want to be outthere hand making an Outlander,
outlander spore and ring andselling it, because chances are
the stars and the outlanderpeople are going to come after
you if you're not licensed to doso, and sometimes these
(51:42):
licenses aren't very expensive.
You just have to do yourdiligence and your research.
But as far as talking vintage,you know you just got to be
careful what you're putting inyour listing what your title is.
You know, don't put anycatchphrases in there that you
could get shut down for withouteven knowing it.
You know like, don't put like,if you're selling like a vintage
(52:04):
surfboard, don't put salt life.
Don't put salt life in there,or you're going to get shut down
.
And the more strikes you getagainst your shop, the more
complaints you get against yourshop, the worse it is.
So I'm trying to tell you tobuild the pyramid up, not tear
it down.
So again, I hope that youenjoyed this podcast.
I am on my 26th podcast Kind ofexciting.
(52:28):
I hope to get back with Ed soon.
I am going to be dropping insome vintage trips to Gettysburg
that we had.
Gettysburg collectibles are ahuge thing and me and my friend
Don actually went to Gettysburgon the battlefield.
It was a religious experiencefor us, to say the least.
I'm going to be dropping thoseepisodes in here soon and, just
like anything else, pleasesupport this podcast.
(52:50):
The best thing you can do is bysharing it on any social media,
liking it or leave me afive-star review on your
platform.
There's also something newwhere you can send me a text
through the Buzzsprout forum.
I think you can find it in theshow notes.
I'm not really sure how to getthere, but you can send me a
text now.
So that is a great way for youto reach out to me and tell me
(53:11):
what you want to hear on livinga vintage life, what you want to
hear about what topics you'reinterested in, or just say, hi,
give me some feedback, tell mewhere your Etsy shop is and go
from there.
So and and go from there so.
Thanks so much.
And remember I have to plug myown store because the girl's got
to eat.
So go to retro chaletetsycomand use code retro 10 to save 10
(53:31):
when anything I got for you.
Remember the best part aboutetsy is to support each other.
I shop on etsy.
I hope you will, too.
Have a great day.
You're listening to living a vintage
life by retro chalet.
Thanks for joining.
Here's your host, CindyFahnestock-Schafer.
Hey guys, this is an episodethat I wanted to do for a really
long time and today is aperfect day to do it.
My blind dog is finally asleep.
When she is awake she barks alot, even though she's very good
(00:29):
at finding her way arounddifferent places that I take her
, she's used to her surroundings, but the incessant barking just
for like attention and sheneeds extra cuddle time really
makes it difficult in my sparetime to try to do podcasts.
So Kendall is finally taking anap and it's a perfect time to
(00:50):
do this podcast.
Today I'm going to be talkingabout how to sell vintage on
Etsy.
A long time ago I wrote a lot ofarticles online.
You may have seen some if youever search how to sell vintage
on Etsy.
They've been on the internetfor over 10 years.
They've gotten a lot of reads,but things have changed a lot
over the past 10 years and I getthis, you know, all the time
(01:15):
from vintage sellers on how tosell vintage on Etsy.
First of all, let me explain.
I've had my shop a really longtime but I never really did
anything with it, because myhusband's a barbecue guy.
We went all around the EastCoast selling barbecue, very,
very busy in food sales andcatering, and I run a food truck
four days a week and, you know,no time for Etsy.
(01:37):
That was not my side hustle, itwasn't my source of income, but
I would help others, you know,explaining to them how to do it,
because at the time I was likea pro.
I could list something and itwould sell immediately and there
was no problems.
Now, back in, I'm going back 10or 11, 12 years, actually 13
(02:01):
years now.
Back in 2012, there was under amillion shops, under a million
shops.
So what that meant was Etsy.
This is before Timu, beforeSheen, and Etsy got millions and
millions of buyers looking foritems back then and they still
(02:23):
do today.
But hear me on this.
They got millions of shoppers,millions of buyers, and you only
had under a million storescompeting.
Fast forward to now A fewstatistics.
Okay, there's an article byContimod C-O-N-T-I-M-O-Dcom and
(02:48):
they stated that there were over9 million stores 9 million
shops in 2022.
Although Etsy listed an annualreport back in 2022 saying there
were 7.5 million shops.
Okay, so 7.5 to 9 millionstores.
(03:11):
So you're an Etsy seller,you're wondering why you're not
selling anything.
Well, that's because you arelost in between 7.5 and 9
million stores.
However, however, don't despair, you can sell on Etsy.
You can be a successful vintageseller because they've got 96.5
(03:38):
, I believe, million buyersgoing to Etsy for things.
So, so, in other words, eventhough, even though there are
tons and tons of stores, thereare tons and tons of buyers,
however, um, etsy statisticsactually, um, said that 25% of
(04:03):
shops are actually successful.
That's one out of four.
One out of four.
Now, what are one out of fourdoing?
Is it what they're selling?
Is it that they've got thingsdown?
Well, it's a combination of allthese things, and I'm gonna go
over with you some of the thingsthat I've learned over time.
Now there is a store calledCaitlin Minimalist.
(04:27):
Last I actually counted, theywere selling over 1,200 pieces a
day.
They sell jewelry.
Psychic sellers are on Etsy.
Now I want to say at one timethey were not really allowed to
do tarot readings and readings,and I really don't know what
(04:49):
happened back then, but I justknow that the market was flooded
with them.
They were doing very well and Iguess that's.
He just said okay, we're goingto allow this because actually
it could have been that a that agroup of pagans got together
and said, hey, this against myreligion, to kick us off of here
because we use tarot cards andwe're into divination.
So I don't know.
I don't know what the story isthere, but there are
(05:12):
stay-at-home moms killing itwith these psychic readings.
Some of them have sold 50,000psychic readings at 25 bucks a
pop and you can do the math onthat.
You know.
There's also lots and lots ofprint-on-demand shops that are
(05:33):
killing it.
Personalized gifts are a hugething on Etsy.
These print-on-demand shops areselling in the millions and
basically there's a whole bunchof different podcasts out there
just to help those type of shops.
There are actually people outthere that you pay a lot of
money and they guide youone-on-one and I have actually
(05:57):
heard success stories comingfrom them.
Like you can look up DylanJarvis.
She ran a successful Etsy shopand also on Shopify and other
platforms, and she actually hasa great podcast with great
information on selling on Etsyand some of that stuff.
Even though it's geared toprint on demand, some of that
stuff can really help thevintage seller.
(06:19):
So I'm going to go over the topfive things that you need to do
to sell vintage on Etsy.
First of all, about a year agothere was a big complaint on
Etsy about their algorithm thatit had changed that.
All these people were basicallysaying and this is from a post
(06:40):
I actually read that basicallythere was one person who was
doing handmade sales.
Believe it or not.
They sold over $5 million inhandmade.
Now I don't know if that'sprint on demand, I don't know if
that's SVG files I don't knowwhat it is because I don't know
(07:01):
what their shop is but they saidthey sold over 150,000 items
and all of a sudden, a year ago,all their sales dropped off and
like shriveled up to nothing.
Another person on the same post, by the name of Tattooed Geek
1218, said that they had over amillion over like five years and
(07:23):
then all of a sudden, a yearago, their sales dropped to
non-existent.
So there's a whole bunch ofpeople theorizing why Etsy, your
sales and your views justdropped or plummeted about a
year ago.
They say the algorithm haschanged.
(07:44):
Now what I'm giving you is myopinion.
This is not fact.
But about a year ago, timu andSheen also blew up.
So what you have to understandis if a website like Timu or
Sheen blows up.
What they're doing is thendominating the search results in
(08:07):
Google.
Also, people are going crazyover stuff.
They're getting on Timu andSheen because I guess it's cheap
and it's trendy and it's cuteand they're saving money, so
they're sharing it.
They're sharing it on socialmedia.
So what actually happens is, inthe natural way of things, you
have a website that grows andgrows and grows because the user
(08:28):
base is pushing it and it growsbigger and it grows bigger.
And the next thing you know,you've got the huge Amazon of
everything that's selling by thename of Timu and Sheen and Etsy
has like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, drop down in
the search results, drop downin the Google.
So what they have to do now isreinvent themselves.
(08:49):
This is just my opinion.
I believe that if you want acompany or a website to survive,
you have to support it.
So before you go out there andyou buy something off of Timu
that and I'm guilty of it Igotta say I've done it.
I bought a sweatshirt.
It looked really comfy, it wasreally cheap.
(09:10):
I thought you know, this isreally cute, I'm gonna buy this
sweatshirt.
I get it a month later.
The material on the sweatshirtis not like a soft cotton, it's
like some kind of like satinypolyester, and the screen print
that's on the front of thesweatshirt, you know, basically
doesn't look like the screenprint I saw in the picture.
It's kind of like cheaply doneand infused into the fabric and
(09:33):
so basically you get what youpay for.
I was pretty upset with mypurchase but yet I supported
them and, you know, got thisthing shipped in from another
country, instead of maybesupporting the same sweatshirt
that I could have got sourcedand made in the USA by a
print-on-demand Etsy seller, andI kind of learned my lesson.
So if you are a vintage sellerand you want to sell on Etsy,
(09:58):
support Etsyans.
So not only are you selling onEtsy, but you should be buying
on Etsy, and that's just myopinion.
So I can't really tell you.
You know what the situation is,but I'm going to give you a few
other avenues that people areselling Now.
Go Imagine is a new, newerwebsite and they actually allow
(10:18):
vintage supplies, but they don'tactually allow vintage.
It's just basically handmade orvintage stuff like that.
But you can't sell vintage likea cookie jar.
You can't sell a vintagemedical jar.
You would have to sell suppliesfor jewelry making and things
(10:41):
of that nature that are vintage.
The problem with Go Imagine andI did sign up and I did try it
out I want to say like Iactually wrote an article about
it, because they're super easyto use.
Their fees are very comparableand less than Etsy, in a
nutshell, but there is notraffic.
You have to drive it yourself.
(11:01):
It's almost like a Shopifystore.
It's actually, in my opinion,way less expensive than a
Shopify store, but you have toset up your shop and drive your
own traffic to it, and thatmight be a good place if you're
selling, like you know, vintagelooking art, vintage assemblage
art or vintage supplies,assemblage art or vintage
(11:23):
supplies.
Poshmark is a great place forvintage clothes, used clothes,
newer clothes, handbags, jewelryand that sort of thing.
Macari is a good website, got alittle bit of everything going
on almost like a flea markettype deal and there's really no
if-ands or rules as far as ifyou're going to sell vintage,
(11:45):
handmade or supplies.
Ebay, unfortunately, has beenout there a really long time.
You know I was one of the firstusers on eBay.
I used to sell a long time agoon eBay.
I just don't like it anymore.
I've had a lot of problemsgetting my products from buyers.
They've switched almost, and Iknow a lot of companies have.
(12:06):
They've switched to like someAI type, standard customer
service and stuff.
And I actually had a disputewhere I had a package for my
dogs it was actually some typeof medicine for my dogs and it
got delivered by UPS to thewrong house but the system just
(12:27):
kept denying my request todispute the item Because even
though I told the seller I tooka picture of my house and I told
the seller, hey, this isn't myhouse the system kept denying it
because there was a validtracking number by UPS.
So you know, you have to call,you have to call 50 places, you
have to get somebody to listento you and they just weren't
cooperating.
(12:48):
I had to go through PayPal.
They denied it because itactually had a valid tracking
number and it wasn't until Iactually got a human being on
the phone at PayPal that Iexplained to them.
Look, this is not my house.
I don't care what your AIsystem keeps closing out.
I paid 30, some bucks.
I don't have the item.
Unfortunately, I don't evenknow whose house this was, that
(13:10):
it was delivered on or I wouldwalk over and get it myself if
it was one of my neighbors, butit's not and you know this is
not my home and I can't getahold of anybody Like.
I couldn't even complain to UPSbecause this is so strange.
It was an eBay purchase but itwas an Amazon seller.
So the seller used UPS, but UPSwouldn't touch it because it
(13:30):
was delivered by an Amazon truck.
So it's just the weirdest thingever and I really think that,
and shame on eBay's customerservice for just going down the
tubes.
So if you're going to sell oneBay, you know, buyer and seller
, beware, because there's a lotof glitches going on right now
and it's not the same eBay thatit was 10 years ago.
(13:51):
In my opinion.
I do shop on eBay but I've hada lot of bad apples lately and
the worst part is that seller,you know, wasn't a very good
seller because I kept tellingthem that it is not my house.
It is not my house.
Now I've got 20 years of eBayfeedback and it's all positive,
100% positive, but they did notbelieve me or they were just
(14:12):
tricking the system and theydidn't care.
All they had to do was call UPS, say it was delivered to the
wrong address, call theircourier and get their refund so
that I could get my refund.
But they didn't.
So if you're going to sell oneBay, don't be that type of
seller and listen to yourcustomers.
(14:33):
And then, of course, there'sFacebook Marketplace and
Facebook Marketplace guys, it iswhat it is.
I have recently went through mystorage unit and cleaned out
everything humongous and hugeand gotten rid of it on Facebook
marketplace for at least what Ipaid, or just a little bit
cheaper, just to get rid of it.
And that's pretty great becauseI could set it outside, they
(14:53):
could stick the money under themat and we don't actually have
to see each other and I can usemy work location to do that,
which is great.
But here's the thing.
The reason I got rid of big,big bulky stuff is because
selling vintage on Etsy meansyou're shipping stuff.
The bigger it is, the more itcosts you, the less your profit
(15:14):
margin gets, especially because,selling on Etsy, they really,
really, really push you anythingover $35.
They want you to offer freeshipping in your shop.
Now, I've read a lot on this.
Some people are doing it, somepeople aren't.
They claim you're going to gethigher in search results.
You're going to get betterplacement if you do that, but
(15:36):
some people have actually saidthat they haven't seen any
difference at all.
So it's just another thingwhether you want to offer that
to your customers or not.
So now let's get through thetop five things and some
mistakes.
You know how to sell vintage onEtsy.
The first thing is mostimportant is your SEO, niche SEO
(16:00):
, search engine optimization.
You have really got to taketime on your listings to make
sure they're gonna get found bythe millions of buyers that are
searching for them.
Now this kind of goes hand inhand with my number two, which
is my keywords, because your SEOhas to do with the way you're
(16:22):
listing and your keywords.
I've said this in all of myarticles.
It is your first four to fivewords in your title that are
very search engine friendly, seooptimized for, like Google
listings and things of thatnature.
So if you're selling a cutevintage reindeer, a stife plush,
(16:46):
okay, you basically don't wannasay cute, adorable, christmassy
vintage reindeer, because nowyour first five words are just
pretty much the only one thatreally is going to make any
sense to the SEO is the wordreindeer.
Okay, now you have lost thefour other words, and sometimes
it's four, sometimes it's five,just depending how long your
(17:09):
words are.
Now the Etsy title area ispretty freaking long, lots of
characters.
So you want to put your first,most important words in the
beginning of your title.
So in this case, steve,reindeer, christmas ornament or
decoration, that's what I wouldpick, so it would flow as a
(17:32):
sentence.
It wouldn't be choppy, but itwould be people that are out
there searching for Stife orSteve.
I can't even say it, but thatwould bam.
You would be in those searchresults Reindeer bam, christmas,
not Christmassy, not cute,adorable, those are wasted words
, okay.
So again, seo in your title isvery, very super important.
(17:57):
And number two, your keywords.
Now, it used to be back in theday that you could think like a
buyer and you could think up 13really important keyword tags
for your Etsy shop.
So, for instance, if I wasselling a vintage toy plastic
boat, my first word would bevintage, my second word would be
toy, my third word would beplastic, my fourth word would be
(18:19):
boat.
Maybe I would pick nautical,maybe I would pick gift.
Maybe I would say dad, no, noand no.
That has all changed.
If you have any one word tags,get back in there and fix them,
because that is hampering you.
What Etsy did a while ago istalk about these long tail
(18:39):
keyword searches and basicallythat's when you go to Etsy and
you type in a phrase.
Now there's a couple of waysthat you can actually figure
this out.
Okay, first of all, you can goto Etsycom.
Make sure you go to Etsycom,not through your store or
anything, but go to Etsycom andsearch plastic, vintage toy boat
(19:05):
.
Just start typing it in andwhatever is popular should
auto-populate.
So let's say, I type in vintagetoy, bam bam, bam, bam bam.
All these things are going tocome up which are trending or
popular searches, search terms.
That's one way of figuring out,kind of how to label Another
(19:26):
thing.
What you want to do is kind ofsplit it up.
So my first tag would bevintage toy, my second tag would
be plastic boat, my third tagwould be boating antique.
My fourth tag would be gift forhim.
(19:50):
So in other words, these tagsare two and three words.
As long as they're less than 20characters, they should fit.
They should fit.
And so what's going to happenthen If I have one tag that says
vintage toy and I have one tagthat says plastic boat.
If somebody is looking for avintage toy plastic boat bam,
it's going to come up.
If they're looking for avintage boat bam it's going to
(20:11):
come up.
If they're looking for a toyplastic bam, it's going to come
up.
If they're looking for vintageplastic bam it's going to come
up.
So, in other words, by justhaving one word keywords you are
limiting yourself and you arelosing possibility on the combo
searches.
And Etsy talked about this inone of their updates a while ago
(20:33):
.
And look, I got to tell you Idon't read all the Etsy updates
that they post and I should andyou should, because there's
important stuff in there and ittells you One time they talked
about shipping how to reduceshipping costs, or it would, you
know, impact your searches, oryou know how to do these
long-tail keywords, or it canimpact your searches and they
(20:53):
give you all the tools you need,but you just have to take the
time to read it.
Now, what I do on one and twofor my SEO niche and my keywords
is you can use either a servicecalled Marmalade or you can use
this Etsy rank tool, e-rank.
It's called E-R-A-N-K.
Now I use E-rank.
(21:14):
You know why.
You get like five free searchesper day for your shop For free.
For free, okay.
And now it's not like all thehigh end stuff, but it's enough
stuff that you can tailor yourstuff.
So basically, you can go inthere, you can look up the niche
, the keywords, you can get itto do like an audit on your Etsy
(21:38):
listing to see you know what istrending and what's not.
It'll give you green, it'llgive you red.
It's really super easy to useand so I have went in there just
once a day and tweaked up tofive of my listings and, little
by little, if you have a lot ofitems in your store or you're
listing new items in your store,go back the next day, go into
(22:06):
the eRank and make sure you'vedone it correctly and it will
help it.
Actually, you know, reallybrought up some words that I
didn't even consider or I didn'teven think about.
So the days of let's make upwhat we think buyers are looking
for in tags is over and donewith.
You have to go by what's reallysearching out there, and the
only type of tools to help youare the Marmalade and the E-Rank
.
There is another service I'veheard advertised recently called
(22:29):
Etsio, where you pay perlisting and they actually use
some kind of AI bot and theypull all this data and they list
it for you.
And it's kind of crazy.
They'll rearrange your titles,They'll tell you what tags to
use and they'll list the listingfor you.
So I mean, I don't know, Ihaven't went there yet.
I'm actually using the eRankfor free and doing the SEO and
(22:52):
the keywords and I'm alsosearching on Etsy and I'm seeing
, like you know what items popup quickly on my search, like
you know what items pop upquickly on my search and what
other.
You know what the sellers, howthey have their titles
compromised, composed, et cetera, et cetera.
(23:12):
Now, when I kind of want to putthis out there, there are a few
shops that don't have to followthis rule.
There are a few shops thatdon't ever have to follow this
rule because they're selling somany items that they can say
cute little beads for crafts andpeople buy them, because those
particular shops have millionsof sales, they are supply
(23:35):
sellers, they have been aroundfor a really long time and
vintage supplies.
I mean, let's face it, peoplewho shop on Etsy like to make a
lot of things.
They like to make a lot ofcrafts.
They like to make a lot ofhandmade.
So if I'm, you know, thinking,should I sell these beaded
necklaces, these vintagenecklaces, and try to get 12
bucks, or should I take them allapart and sell the vintage
(23:58):
beads, and would I sell themquicker that way?
You know, you have to reallykind of think of that.
There are a few shops that sellso many things.
They have so many peoplefollowing their shop.
These people buy from themevery day.
They check back every time theylist new stuff.
So these titles and tags andall this stuff, you know, I
(24:19):
don't really think it matters tothem, but to us it's going to
matter because you have to buildup to that point.
Number three is your photos.
Etsy actually has like an AIbot now that if your photo's too
small, if your photo's too dark, if your photo is not clear
enough, they will actually putthis little explanation point on
(24:41):
there and they will say, hey,there is a factor impacting your
search results and it'll saypicture too small, redo your
picture.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
So then, what you can do ifyou're really in love with that
first picture you had, you canjust reorder your pictures and
hopefully another picture thatyou took is a little bit better
(25:01):
in the Etsy eyes, or you can tryto crop it, maybe brighten it.
There was a time when, like,really dark and gloomy photos
were like the thing, and nowthey really have to be bright
and crisp and clear.
And there's a few reasons forthis.
You know, if Etsy is ever goingto pick you for the front page
(25:21):
or curated Etsy pic, they're notgoing to pick a small picture,
they're not going to pick ajunky picture.
They're not going to pick ayard sale picture.
They are going to pick apicture that you would see in
Country Living Magazine or Artand Antiques magazine or
something like of that nature.
So just try to take the extratime, take good photos.
(25:45):
You don't need like aprofessional camera.
Your iPhone can do it, but justmaybe crop out your background.
Or, if you don't want to dothat, enlarge your iPhone photo
and crop it in a way that you'rereally focused on the item
itself and it's in good detail,that you're really focused on
the item itself and it's in gooddetail and it looks really
pretty.
They also say when you're doingpictures that you should show
(26:07):
the item in use in your home.
So I see this a lot withvintage.
They might actually have thefirst picture completely cropped
out, but then the secondpicture is in a collection, it's
on somebody's shelf or it's inuse in the home, and you know
I've never been one to crop outmy backgrounds.
I always show the picture as itis, against something like a
(26:30):
book background or sitting on ashelf or of that nature.
So photos are very important,and that would be number three.
So, going back to one, two andthree, so what you now have is
you're tweaking your titles,you're tweaking your keywords
and you're tweaking your photos,and this, hopefully, is going
(26:52):
to up your views and conversionrates.
Your conversion rate is howmany visits based on how many
orders and a way to way tocompute that is.
I don't want to get this wrong.
You want to divide your ordersinto your visits?
Okay, and it'll come out tosomething.
They say that average is one tothree.
(27:13):
Good is two to five percentconversion rate.
If you don't want to do that,you just go into your Etsy shop
stats and they should actuallyshow you something.
Now I want you to be reallycareful.
Etsy actually gives you yourshop address to share out there
on social media.
(27:34):
And if you drive your owntraffic, you will get like a
little discount back on yourlisting fees and your final fees
and all that stuff.
So here's the problem.
Like my shop this would be mycode Retro Chalet dot Etsy dot
com.
That's the link that I woulduse.
So let's say, your store, yourstore dot Etsy dot com.
(27:58):
So when you link your shop youdon't want to do the HTTPS Etsy
dot com forward slash, shop,forward slash.
You know Retro Chalet dot com.
You don't want to do that.
So what you want to doeverywhere, on your Facebook, on
your Instagram, on your TikTok,on your link tree is
RetroChaletetsycom.
(28:20):
Of course, maybe put the HTTPSfirst, but you know
yourstoreetsycom.
Now, be very, very, very, verycareful when you go to your shop
to work in it.
That's not how you get there.
Go into your Etsy seller app orgo into Etsycom and sign in.
(28:41):
The reason I'm telling you thisis if you were like me and you
used to always use the old wayof going in RetroChaletetsycom,
that is, counting as maybe avisit, you don't want to keep
having all these visits and nosales.
If all these visits are comingfrom you, you don't want to have
(29:01):
a very low conversion rate,because then what's happening is
you are basically telling thatsystem that you drove 80 people
there, when it's really youlisting in your shop the wrong
way and basically yourconversion rate now is going
down, down, down, down, down,down down.
And what the system?
Maybe it's AI, maybe it's theranking, maybe it's just Etsy, I
(29:24):
don't know, but you're going tolose quote unquote points and
it's going to hide your store.
So again, go to Etsycom, signin the regular way, work in your
shop that way.
Do not go to RetroChaletetsycomand work in your shop that way,
if that makes any sense.
That's something that I learned, because I only know this
(29:47):
because I checked my visits andI turned off my ads and I turned
off this and I looked and I andI figured this out.
And if I'm wrong about this,let me know.
If there's any real Etsy peoplethat work at Etsy, let me know.
But I'm pretty sure I figuredthis out not to do it that way.
Um number four would be yourpricing and your shipping.
(30:08):
And again, going back to what Isaid earlier, you know Etsy
expects you to do the free over$35.
Now, why, why would you do this?
Well, I'm going to tell you why.
You've got Timu free shippingover a certain amount.
You've got Amazon free shippingover a certain amount or with
Prime.
You know, unfortunately theseare viable stores that you're
(30:31):
competing with viable websitesand they claim that people are
more apt to buy something that'sa little bit more expensive
with free shipping than buyingsomething cheaper with, say, a
$6.95 shipping cost.
So now what I've done in mystore is I pretty much
(30:51):
standardized all of my shippingto, say, $3.95, which is under a
high price point, because ifyou do $5.95 or $6.95 or $7.95,
Etsy will actually tell you toreview your shipping costs that
they're higher than the average,and blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah.
But then I've got it to where,if you spend $35, this stuff is
free.
(31:12):
So how did I end up doing this?
I ended up getting rid of allmy bulky and heavy stuff because
, even though they have groundadvantage packages now, which I
got to say does save you somemoney it is just impossible for
me right now to sell a wholevintage set of heavy, expensive
(31:34):
dishes vintage dishes because Iwould have to wrap them very,
very well, the box would behumungo and the shipping would
be outrageous.
And remember, I'm gonna have toprice it over $35 and then
you're gonna have to get yourfree shipping.
And then what am I gonna makeon this sale?
Practically nothing.
So I have retailed my shop tosmalls.
(31:56):
Or if I am selling glasswarelike, I just sold one single
mason jar.
Now, with that mason jar, Iwrapped it good, I put it in a
box, I double boxed it, I markedit fragile, I did a UPS ground
advantage, I believe they gotfree shipping and I paid about
six bucks.
So yeah, I made some money offthe mason jar.
(32:18):
But this is the way you have torevamp your store.
If you're going to competeagainst Amazon, if you're going
to compete against Sheen, ifyou're going to compete against
Timu, you know you're going tohave to really think twice.
Now.
Books if you're a vintageseller, books, you can ship
media mail.
I don't suggest it.
It's not trackable, it reallykind of sucks.
(32:41):
And the whole buyer experience,you know, is number five.
My number five how to sellvintage on Etsy the whole buyer
experience.
So what I'm saying is you, theseller, wants to make some money
on the book, so you're going topick the $3 media mail shipping
versus the $6 ground advantage.
(33:03):
Don't do it.
Do not do that.
You want your buyer to have thebook early or in their hands.
You want to wrap it.
Well, I put a nice little notein there.
I have so much crafting ephemeraand stuff because wherever my
husband and I went to sellbarbecue, I would like visit
(33:25):
local flea markets that day orsee stuff on the side of the
road for free old magazines.
I would grab them and snatchthem and basically I've got like
a warehouse full of stuff.
So what I personally do is Isend a little thank you pack to
every customer.
If they're buying craftingstuff for me or vintage stuff
for me, I send them a free artpack Like this is stuff that's
(33:46):
just sitting around.
I'm not getting around tomaking art anytime soon.
It's been practically sourcedfree or in lots.
I don't know if you've everwent to the Goodwill or if you
went to the Salvation Army andyou bought a bag of stuff even
if it's like broken jewelry orsomething because you wanted
like one or two pieces in thereand then you have like 80 pieces
that are no good to you butthey might be good to someone
(34:07):
else.
So I send them a little packagein with every single order and
I try to make that that buyer.
I really write them a note andI say really I really hope that
I've earned your five starfeedback.
It helps my little Etsy shopand and one of the key
components on survival isgetting good feedback being a
star seller on Etsy.
(34:28):
And then, you know, making thatexperience with the buyer a
warm and fuzzy experience, andthen maybe that buyer will
favorite your store or come back.
Now, on that, there's a fun fact.
You know, people spend a lot oftime and I was guilty of it
doing the whole branding thing,you know, perfecting your little
(34:51):
image logo, perfecting yourshop banner, perfecting
everything that you got going on.
Stop doing that.
Stop doing that right now,because this is wasted time.
A fun fact.
That's out there and you needto dig to find out the
percentage.
But I know I'm pretty sure frommy recollection and I don't
(35:13):
have the stats to give you theexact but over 50% of buyers
never actually go through yourshop.
They're actually just out theredoing a long tail keyword
search on Etsy.
For instance, they're typing invintage beer bottle, schlitz,
and that's how they're gettingthat item in your store.
(35:36):
They are not going toretrochaletsecom and browsing
around to see what I got today,unless they are one of the shop
people that have favorited myshop and one of the people that
are repeat buyers with me and Ido have a few of them, but in
general, in general, that is notthe way they find you.
(35:56):
So stop spending all that timeon your branding right now,
until you get to the point whereyou're a Caitlin minimalist and
you're busting out 1,200 ordersa day.
Then you can worry about howpretty your shop looks and all
that stuff.
Why would you so?
The funny part is I also usedto really, really, really be so
(36:17):
strong in social media.
Every time I listed an item, Iwould go to Pinterest and I
would go to X and I would wellformerly Twitter and I would go
to Facebook and I would share iton Instagram, blah, blah, blah,
blah.
And you know what?
I just stopped doing all that.
I stopped doing all thatbecause sharing that one listing
to five or six places andplugging it was time that I
(36:39):
could spend adding another iteminto my shop.
Okay, so I have actually foundthis little key tip that works
better for me.
Actually found this little keytip that works better for me.
So the time spent I'm going tosay this to you again the time
spent promoting yourself in allthese different social medias.
(37:02):
And I mean, let's face it, youcould just throw up the stuff
into Instagram.
But it's not going to workunless you really put a good
picture on Instagram, put yourkey tags, your little keywords,
and put a little blurb, and thenyou got four minutes into that.
Then you got five minutes intoyour ex and six minutes into
Pinterest and seven minutes nowyou're on Facebook.
So by the time you're done,you've just spent 10 minutes
(37:23):
promoting one listing, when youcould have spent 10 minutes
listing another item.
Now I'm going to tell you that10 years ago I would have told
you, when there was only lessthan a million shop owners, to
do the social media versus thelisting.
But now I'm changing that.
Now I'm telling you don't dothe social media, do the listing
(37:46):
.
So, case in point my store onlyhas maybe under 100 items, but
every time I list a few things,they're gone, they're sold.
So I can't even get to thepoint.
I haven't even had the time topump in their 500 items.
Because I'm doing quality overquantity now, quality SEO over
(38:10):
quantity of junk listings.
I'm cherry picking what Idecide.
I'm going to list.
Today I'm going through mystorage, going through my bins
and changing the way that I runthat little side hustle.
Now I'm at the point in my lifewhere we're going to retire
from the catering and barbecuebusiness in a year, so now is
(38:33):
the time that I'm moving moreinto my store and I'm pimping up
my listings and I'm putting mystuff in there and I'm hoping
that my buyer has such a greatexperience with my little thank
you pack the fact that I'vereally rushed their item out the
best way for them that I'vegiven them the free shipping
because they spent over $35.
(38:55):
I've wrapped it up even thoughit's not a gift and it's not
Christmas.
I've wrapped it up because Ihave a plethora of old papers
and stuff that I can use and Ijust think it's so much cooler
when you get something and it'slike ooh pretty, I got to open
it, I got to go through thewhole unboxing.
It's like I'm really givingthem a great experience.
I'm hoping they do the socialmedia for me.
(39:17):
I'm hoping they heart stuff,they pin stuff, they share stuff
, and that's how people likeCaitlin Minimalist and these
huge supply store sellers got sobig because their customers do
the social media for them.
Now, another thing that I havelearned from listening to
(39:39):
different podcasts is these Etsyads.
If you're having a problem inyour Etsy shop, they suggest,
while you're starting out, tospend the money on the Etsy ads.
Etsy ads you cannot do for lessthan a dollar a day.
A dollar a day over the courseof 30 days is 30 bucks, so you
have got to sell more than 30bucks in order to make this
(40:03):
worth it.
I'm kind of at a catch-22 withthat.
I don't know what to tell you.
I'm just going to throw it outthere that, yes, it does help.
I have seen where I have spenta dollar a day and my views have
gone from 20 in my shop to 700in a day.
(40:24):
Is it worth it?
Yes, because they say that youhave to have hundreds and
hundreds of views before youhave a conversion, which means a
sale of views before you have aconversion, which means a sale.
However, there is a way to goin and you're going to probably
I don't know if you can do thison mobile, I think you can
through the Etsy seller app.
If not, go through your laptop,just to be safe.
(40:46):
Basically, there is a way toturn off listings, turn off ads
on certain items.
So, for instance, if I have alot of five bucks, six bucks,
seven bucks, eight bucks stuff,I do not want the Etsy ads
running on those items.
I mean, why?
Why spend a dollar to advertisesomething?
Five for 30 days straight.
No, turn off all the littlelistings and only if you're
(41:11):
going to spend that dollar a daylittle listings and only if
you're going to spend thatdollar a day.
Advertise it on the high moneyitems.
Okay.
So, for instance, like myporcelain glove molds, which are
just awesome.
They're industrial glove molds.
They look so cool for halloween.
They look great to drapejewelry on.
Actually, jewelry sellers buythem because they they hang
their necklaces on them andthat's how they take their
(41:32):
photos.
Um, and I have them pricepointed at 58aces on them and
that's how they take theirphotos.
And I have them price pointedat $58 with free shipping and
that's expensive, right.
But I also give the Retro10coupon code so people can save
10% off.
They get the free shipping andthen I'm spending that dollar a
day advertising that glove moldversus advertising that cute
little reindeer that's fivebucks.
(41:54):
Or the little jar of beadsthat's three bucks.
Now, the reason I have somelower priced items in my shop.
The reason I have that issomething called the sale
conversion.
So, in a nutshell, withoutsounding too technical, what
happens is the more items youhave, the more sales hopefully
(42:15):
you'll have.
That's if you have them listedcorrectly.
Like I've told you, with yourSEO, use your E-rank, fix your
keywords, fix your photos, fixyour pricing and shipping, get
the good customer experience andthen it starts to snowball for
you.
You have a happy customer, youhave a sale.
Bam, you kind of maybe jump up10 points.
Then you've got more items,more items.
Seo is good.
(42:36):
You're getting more sales.
Bam, you jump up 10 points.
Now you're going to have thatone buyer in your store which I
had the other day.
She stayed in my shop and shebought like three to four items
in my shop.
That's three to four sales.
That counts as four sales.
Bam, bam, bam bam.
So now that one buyer is lookingaround the store, she's trying
(42:56):
to get to $35.
She's trying to get to freeshipping.
Well, if you have a lot oflittle items like $4, $5, $6,
she's going to have to buy fourto five items to get the free
shipping.
Why wouldn't she?
And she's seeing some cheaplypriced stuff that, at this point
, I just want to get rid of.
I just want to, you know, gominimalist.
(43:17):
I just want to clean out thehouse and you know.
So there you go.
That is a little trick for you.
So, essentially what you'redoing, and I want to tell you
these big print and demandpeople do this all the time.
They sell these expensivetumblers and they sell these
expensive sweatshirts andt-shirts, but then they'll throw
in a keychain.
(43:37):
They'll throw in a cute littlekeychain for five bucks just to
kind of get their sales up.
So, in other words, now you'rebuying a tumbler and you're
buying a sweatshirt, but you'regoing to throw in that five buck
keychain just because it's cuteand it's personalizable, and
blah, blah, blah, blah.
So this is how they do it, andthen it, and then it helps them.
It helps them because SECs areselling three things instead of
(43:59):
two.
Right and again, if any of usknew the secret of the algorithm
, we would be wonderful.
But what?
I think?
The secret of the algorithm isslowly climbing that ladder.
Okay, if you have 500 items inyour vintage shop but you're not
selling anything, then I'mguaranteeing that your SEO is
(44:22):
out of whack.
Your titles can be revamped,your tags can be tweaked and
actually I didn't say this priorbut also fix your description
to repeat your good keywords inthe first couple sentences of
your description.
I don't know if you've everactually bought anything on Etsy
, especially if you're usingyour phone, but you can only
(44:43):
really see the first sentence ortwo of the description on your
phone.
You have to actually put readmore, expand more to actually
see the whole description.
So you want to have the mostimportant things in the
beginning to snag that buyer'sinterest.
So hopefully with all thesechanges, you can either fix your
existing Etsy shop or start anew one of vintage and really
(45:09):
try to follow this and don't getfrustrated.
It's going to take a while toclimb the ladder, to get your
points, to build a reputablestore.
To build a reputable shop.
For me I was actually choosingonly one social media and I use
TikTok.
Now this is really funnybecause you know you have to be
(45:31):
really careful on TikTok.
You can't be like go to my Etsystore to buy this item because
they don't like that.
They want you to have a TikTokshop and all this stuff.
But I do have my link in my bioand I do often put on there,
like, for instance, I did a coinvideo.
I have all these coins fromNorway and I just think they're
so adorable.
(45:52):
I bought a huge lot a while agoand I wanted to make like these
are vintage and I wanted tomake like little earrings.
There's some with littlesquirrels on them that would be
great for earrings or actuallyfor a charm bracelet.
I have some with hens on themand I have my most favorite,
which is an elk that kind oflooks like a giant elk or moose,
and I see that a lot on Etsy.
(46:13):
They make necklaces out of themand they sell them for like $20
to $28 a piece.
Well, I just decided I'm goingto get rid of all these coins
for crafters who need them andalso people who collect coins.
They're really cool, thisanimal series.
So I did a video about it onTikTok, and no sooner did I do
that video, I swear.
The next day I sold over $50 inthese coins.
(46:36):
So can I tell you for sure thatit wasn't my SEO, that it wasn't
my titles, that it was myTikTok?
I don't know for sure because Ican't really tell in my seller
stats what it was, but I chooseone place and one place only.
I know that the topprint-on-demand stores.
There's two podcasts out there.
I listen to Sarah Wagoner and Ilisten to Dylan Jarvis and they
(47:00):
are big Instagram users Like.
So Sarah always advertises herservices to help Etsy sellers
and her podcast on her Instagramreels and she's a big Instagram
user, so I can't tell you ifyou're going to just pick one
(47:21):
for time's sake.
Now I have a Pinterest accountand I've had it so long that it
gets over 20,000 views a month.
I would be a fool not to atleast share one of my items to
Pinterest a day, but that takesme about 30 seconds.
So I'm not saying not to dosocial media, but I'm saying you
(47:41):
need to really focus on firststocking up your shop.
The more items you have, themore items they are goods, seo
and you've got them tweaked,then you should start seeing it
Now.
I do want to mention that ifyou have an existing Etsy shop
and you have to go back throughitem by item, this can take
(48:03):
weeks for you to see a change.
It's not going to be tomorrow,it's not going to even be next
week.
Sometimes the cycle can take upto 30 days to six weeks to
actually show the change, andyou don't want to do too many
drastic changes at once, whichis why I go back in and tweak
(48:27):
five a day.
Because why E-Rank gives mefive free tweaks a day and then
it's a slow tweaking process.
So, cumulatively speaking, in30 days from now, those first
five that I tweak today aregoing to be fixed in SEO and
should get more views.
And then the day after that thenext five, and then the day
(48:49):
after that the next five.
So here's again a little tipWork in your shop.
You know these people that say,oh, don't work in your shop
every day makes absolutely nodifference whether you work in
your shop every day or you workin your shop once a week.
I'm saying, why wouldn't youwork in your shop every day for
at least maybe get up a half anhour early, have your coffee and
tweak five listings on eRank?
(49:09):
It is a free service to do that.
Why wouldn't you?
Why wouldn't you take advantageof something that is so helpful
and why wouldn't you?
I mean, that's my questiontoday.
Well, anyways, I have yackedyour ear off long enough for all
this Etsy stuff.
I'm hoping that maybe somethingI've said somewhere in this
(49:32):
podcast will help you or getyour mind actually thinking.
You know, I don't think Etsy isall peaches and cream anymore.
I have a real problem with someof the things that happen on
there.
For instance, like okay, I cansell you a psychic reading, but
I can't sell you my dandelionoil that I foraged myself, that
(49:55):
I've made with labors of loveand it's taken me a really long
time and it's all natural and Iuse it on my face, I use it
everywhere on my body and thisis how I believe I look young
for my age and I get it all thetime from my friends and family
and strangers.
They can't believe how old I amand I try to tell them why.
(50:16):
I make my own cosmetics and youknow I sell them on Etsy.
But yet if I put in there theactual natural properties of a
dandelion, they're going to kickme off because they say it's a
medical claim.
So let's just say the botanybook says that dandelions may
have anti-inflammatoryproperties.
(50:37):
Oh, that is a huge no-no.
You're not allowed to say that.
You will get banned.
You will get your shop shutdown, you will get your listing
removed and I'm sure somewhereon the back end it knocks your
point system down and now you'renot going to get found.
So be really, really, reallycareful of what you're selling.
Another person actually reportedyou know there's a whole thing
(50:59):
about trademarks, so you don'twant to be out there creating.
Or if you're selling a cow, acow plushie, you don't want to
say got milk, because the nextthing you know the got milk
people come after you and shutyour whole store down.
You're not allowed to say thatunless you're licensed by them.
You have to really, really,really um oh and, by the way, I
own got beef, so don't beselling anything with got beef
(51:19):
on it or I might have to comeafter you because it's very
expensive to have a trademarkand there there's so many
different slogans out there thatare trademarked now that you
just got to be really careful.
Like you don't want to be outthere hand making an Outlander,
outlander spore and ring andselling it, because chances are
the stars and the outlanderpeople are going to come after
you if you're not licensed to doso, and sometimes these
(51:42):
licenses aren't very expensive.
You just have to do yourdiligence and your research.
But as far as talking vintage,you know you just got to be
careful what you're putting inyour listing what your title is.
You know, don't put anycatchphrases in there that you
could get shut down for withouteven knowing it.
You know like, don't put like,if you're selling like a vintage
(52:04):
surfboard, don't put salt life.
Don't put salt life in there,or you're going to get shut down
.
And the more strikes you getagainst your shop, the more
complaints you get against yourshop, the worse it is.
So I'm trying to tell you tobuild the pyramid up, not tear
it down.
So again, I hope that youenjoyed this podcast.
I am on my 26th podcast Kind ofexciting.
(52:28):
I hope to get back with Ed soon.
I am going to be dropping insome vintage trips to Gettysburg
that we had.
Gettysburg collectibles are ahuge thing and me and my friend
Don actually went to Gettysburgon the battlefield.
It was a religious experiencefor us, to say the least.
I'm going to be dropping thoseepisodes in here soon and, just
like anything else, pleasesupport this podcast.
(52:50):
The best thing you can do is bysharing it on any social media,
liking it or leave me afive-star review on your
platform.
There's also something newwhere you can send me a text
through the Buzzsprout forum.
I think you can find it in theshow notes.
I'm not really sure how to getthere, but you can send me a
text now.
So that is a great way for youto reach out to me and tell me
(53:11):
what you want to hear on livinga vintage life, what you want to
hear about what topics you'reinterested in, or just say, hi,
give me some feedback, tell mewhere your Etsy shop is and go
from there.
So and and go from there so.
Thanks so much.
And remember I have to plug myown store because the girl's got
to eat.
So go to retro chaletetsycomand use code retro 10 to save 10
(53:31):
when anything I got for you.
Remember the best part aboutetsy is to support each other.
I shop on etsy.
I hope you will, too.
Have a great day.
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