Storque articles: HOW-TO

Team Tip: Get USPS to Come Teach your Team!

2008-10-06T16:19:00Z

Did you know that there are Etsy Teams in 48 of the 50 U.S. states? You and other Etsy sellers who live nearby you can join together as an Etsy Team and not only market your shop, but learn tips on efficiently packaging and shipping your goods! If your Team would like to hold a shipping seminar for your Team, the United States Postal Service has a in-home service to help you out. All you have to do is talk to your letter carrier or call the Click-n-Ship toll free number 1-800-344-7779 (option 2). The hours of operation are 7:00 a.m. to 11 p.m. EST – 7 days a week.

Get your Team together and find out the easiest way to ship online at USPS.com! A USPS representative will walk you through setting up an account and printing a Click-n-Ship label, shipping internationally (don't we all have questions about those customs forms?) and more. For instance, did you know you can set up a Google widget to track your packages? With the holidays just around the corner, this is the perfect time to get a shipping refresher for you and your Team!

Not in the US? Call your local postal service and see if they offer a similar service, or get a knowledgeable Team member from where you live to hold a presentation for the rest of the Team!

Team Tips are a weekly series of tips and ideas from the Etsy Teams. You can find more Resources at team.etsy.com. Etsy Teams are growing quickly, and we love that so many sellers want to join in to promote their shops, Teams and Etsy. For more information on Etsy Teams, check out the Teams pages and this page of Frequently Asked Questions. Don't forget to read our interview with this week's Featured Etsy Team. Keep up the great work, Etsy Teams!

The Etsy Seller Handbook: All Our How-Tos about Selling

2008-10-06T10:19:00Z

Dear Sellers!

Below you'll find a handy index of all the useful How-Tos about Selling on Etsy. We're calling it the Seller Handbook. We'll be adding all new how-tos for sellers to this index.

You can also search the Storque tags for "Seller Handbook" for a chronological list of all our published how-tos related to Selling.

Your Shop 101: How-Tos for Getting Started on Etsy
Please also see the Setting Up Shop Help Guide, Selling Dos and Don'ts, Selling FAQs, Listing an Item Help Guide.

[photo by Artsy]

Photography How-Tos

[image by TwoHiddenHeads]

Alchemy and Custom/Reserved Listing How-Tos

[image by moxiethrift]

Shipping How-Tos

[photo by missplum]

Advertising How-Tos

Please also see the Showcase Help Guide.

[photo by Earmark]

Business and Pricing How-Tos

[image by NewDuds]

Promoting & Marketing How-Tos

[image by DancingMooney]

Craft Show & Events How-Tos

[image by MiNDJACKET]

Blogging, Podcasting & Video-making How-Tos

[image by houseofharriet]

Legal Info for Artists

[image by jessgonacha]

Tagging How-Tos

[image by Anda]

Team Tips

[image by iheartmoustaches]

All about Etsy & Site Features

Comment below and let us know what other topics would be helpful for sellers! If you'd like to write a how-to for the Seller Handbook, pitch to the Storque editors.

Earth Tones Tip: Getting Rid of Furry Foes

2008-10-03T15:28:00Z

Today's Earth Tones Tip originates from The Green Guide, an eco-friendly division of National Geographic that has tons of helpful eco blogs and tips. Today's topic is getting rid of household mold, from The Green Guide's Tip of the Week series:

"More than just an eyesore, over 80 strains of mold have been associated with respiratory tract disorders. With the health risks posed by a pesky mold problem, getting rid of furry patches should be top priority. Fortunately, you likely have a potent mold eliminator under the kitchen sink: straight vinegar. Undiluted white vinegar kills 82 percent of mold strains, enough for most problems. Fill a spray bottle, saturate the area, and let it sit. The smell will be a bit harsh, but it typically clears out in a few hours, taking the unsightly respiratory tract-threatening brown patch with it.

For more resilient mold colonies, try a mixture of two teaspoons of tea tree oil and two cups of water. The smell can be overwhelming, and will linger for a few days, but tea tree oil works when nothing else will. Nearly as effective as tea tree oil, grapefruit seed extract (20 drops mixed with two cups of water) will do the trick without the smell."

For more Earth friendly content, check out our continued coverage of the Earth Tones series.

EGCG | Trashion | EcoEtsy | Environmentally Friendly Gift Guides | Earth Tones Series

Holiday How-To: Organizing for the Holidays (and Beyond)

2008-10-03T12:43:00Z

Managing time can feel like a nearly impossible hurdle. There are lots of books and resources on this topic — most sitting on well-intentioned and very busy readers' bookshelves waiting to be read. We recently had a few Virtual Labs sessions on the topic and we have summarized the highlights below.

Before you start, take some time to think about why time management is so challenging. You may think that it should be an easy concept to master, but it's important to understand why you're having difficulty managing your time in order to address those challenges. Most of us like to focus on the easy tasks so we can feel like we are crossing things off our to-do lists. You may find yourself doing the things that have been requested by others, time sensitive tasks and scheduled or planned activities. Phew! When that is all done, there is not much time for things like attending to your shop, fulfilling orders and all of the creating you want to do for the holidays.

So what to do? There are three key components to time management:

Plan – What do I need to do? When do I need to do it?
Manage – How do I set up a personal system to be most effective and efficient?
Organize – What do I need to do to focus my work and decrease time wasters?

Planning. Start the planning process by setting goals. Make a detailed list of actionable tasks necessary to accomplish that goal. Rank what you will do in the order you plan to achieve it. Below is an example of a goal to reach out to blogs, and the steps necessary to achieve it.

Estimate the time it will take to do each task, remembering to keep in mind all of the other commitments you have. I like to take a calendar and map out the time so I can visually see how long everything will take. Remember to be realistic!

In the planning stages, some other ideas that will help save you time in the long run include:

Pre-ordering Packaging Supplies – Including boxes, international custom forms, bubble wrap and gift wrapping. (Offering gift wrapping is a great service to offer to your buyers.)
Create a Mailing List of Your Customers – For all of those updates you plan to send during the holidays. (Only for those people who have opted in, of course.)
Plan Your Promotional Activities – Order your business cards, stickers, etc. ahead of time and outline other activities such as pitching to blogs or local press.

Manage. It is easy to get distracted during the day, particularly with phone calls, drop in visitors, emails and instant messaging potentially filling up a big portion of the day. Take some time to measure how much of your day you spend doing these activities and you may find there are some hours to take back.

Overall Tips:

Prioritize Your To-do Lists - Accomplish all of the high priority items on your list and fill in with the other tasks as you have time.
Focus on a Few Key Priorities – Decide up front what those are.
Attack the Important and Unpleasant Tasks Early – This will not only give you a big sense of accomplishment for the day, it will also be a huge relief!
Batch Processes – Think about answering emails every two hours, instead of every two minutes. This will save time and will keep you focused on the tasks at hand. You can also do this with instant messaging, making yourself available only at certain times of the day.
Block Time to Do Your Work, Ideally Without Interruptions - This is easier said than done, but if you can do more continuous work, you will get more done in less time.

Organize. There are 3 key areas where you might want to start organizing.

1. Record Keeping: Detailed and accurate record keeping is critical to track your costs, inventory, orders, supply purchase, tracking numbers and payments. You don’t need anything fancy for record keeping. Some options:

Pen & Paper: You can use a notebook, journal or bound general ledger.

Spreadsheets: We have an inventory spreadsheet you can download for free. There are also Etsy sellers that have a wide variety of spreadsheets to fit different needs, including JMMFinance, serena, simple solutions, Lldesign and lots of others.

Accounting Software: For large volumes or more detailed inventory tracking, you might want to consider accounting software packages like Quickbooks or Peachtree.

2. Organizing your computer and email: The ideas below work well for both your desktop and your email inbox.

Organized Desktop. A well organized desktop can help to alleviate many headaches during the holidays. Think about a filing system and what each file will be called. For instance, you might have a file for shipped orders, item descriptions and other components of your Etsy business.
Keep all Etsy-related files together.
Back up your work.
Create templates. Save time when it comes to frequently sent emails and answers to questions.

3. Organize your Space. Some people are fortunate to have a dedicated place in their home for their craft-related work and fulfillment supplies. If you don’t have a dedicated place, you still need to create a system using baskets, closets or whatever space you have. Regardless of your space, thinking about where you will keep your supplies, finished items and shipping supplies, as well as creating a system to utilize those supplies will help keep stress at bay. Mary Ink's work space is a great example of well-functioning, organized place to work. Rachelaustin and many of the other sellers in the Quit Your Day Job series also have great pictures of their organized work spaces that you can peruse for inspiration.

Tips You Can Try Today

1. Identify non-productive habits that absorb your time (and creates ways to limit them).

2. Create a plan and use it. Set goals and plan ahead by breaking down goals into smaller projects with deadlines.

3. Prioritize "to-do" lists every night for the next day.

4. Do the #1 priority task first and stick with it until it is done.

5. Use a calendar to help stay organized.

6. Block time on your calendar to create, or specific goals you are having difficulty accomplishing.

7. Keep specific lists.

8. Manage distractions and control interruptions (e.g. batch email).

9. Learn how to say no politely. (Don't take on more than you can do!)

10. Just do it!!! Even when you are feeling overwhelmed, starting on one piece of work is a great start.

If you have any ideas or input on how you stay organized, leave it in the comments below!

For more how-tos about selling, see the Seller Handbook.

Holiday How-To: Top Ten Financial Tips for the Holiday Rush

2008-10-01T11:00:00Z

The Holidays are a busy time of the year for most people — parties, shopping, traveling, baking, and various errands. If you are a seller on Etsy, you have one more responsibility to add to that list . . . managing the holiday rush that is associated with your business.

I hope the holiday season for your business will be stress-free, enjoyable, and successful. Here are some tips to help you manage your shop's finances successfully during the holiday rush.

10. Remember Tax Time is Near—The Holidays approaching also means that it is almost the end of the year (including the tax year). Now is a good time to know what your taxable income or loss for your business will be for the year. Maybe you can plan on buying some last minute equipment or incur necessary business expenses that will benefit what you owe to the tax man. If you plan on using an accountant to help you with your taxes, now would be a good time to start talking to them. Accountants get very busy after the first of the year.

9. Intelligent Short Term Debt—Too much debt can kill your business faster than you can pull out your credit card. Sometimes taking a little debt on can be a risk that has rewards. If you think you have a product that is absolutely going to be the bright spot in every shopper's eye, but you don't have enough cash to buy the materials—short term debt might be for you. If you are already in debt, I suggest you not go in any deeper, but promote what you have for sale even harder.   Talk with someone you trust if you are unsure if you should take on the additional debt.

8. Make Your Advertising Dollar Work Hard—This is the time of year to advertise intelligently.   Customers are ready with vast supplies of dollar bills to hand out to thousands of sellers. You need to give your shop an opportunity to stand out from the crowd. Look for promoting where you get the biggest bang for your advertising buck. Don't be afraid to ask for a "deal" when it comes to advertising on someone's website—the worst they can do is tell you is "no".

7. Inventory Management—Increased sales can put increased demand on your inventory. It might be beneficial to make sure that you have a ready supply of products to take the place of the items you sell. Also, make sure you have adequate supplies of raw materials on hand. Inventory problems can hamper your holiday success.

6. Avoid Cash Flow Nightmares—No one likes being short on cash, and it seems that during the holidays, this can be an easy predicament to be in. If you are going to have a lot of cash inflows and outflows in the coming months, you might benefit from looking when that money will come in and when it will go out. The biggest problem that comes from having a cash flow nightmare is the unwanted debt that it puts you in. Avoid confusing your business cash with your personal holiday spending money.

5. Everyone Loves a Sale—Tis the season for sales, promotions, and discounts. Many retailers offer customers incentives to buy from their store at this time of year—this method might benefit your shop as well. You don't have to sell yourself short though—make a profit and give your customers something to be happy with. A good transaction is when both the seller and the buyer feel like they came out well.

4. Cure Your Bookkeeping Headache—If you think your record keeping is out of control now, wait until the holiday rush is upon you. Don't hate yourself come tax time—devise a system of record keeping that works for you. You should be keeping track of your sales, expenses, and inventory at a bare minimum. If you don't feel comfortable with your method, you probably won't use it. Use paper and pencil, a spreadsheet, or keep it in your head if you are a mathematical genius.   Whatever you do—don't avoid it!

3. Budget Wisely—Don't go into the holiday season without a financial plan. Set some financial goals for your shop to achieve. Set some limits on your spending. Proceeding without a plan is like telling Santa you don't care what you get for Christmas—go ahead and make your list and check it twice!

2. Plan for Time Management—Time is a precious commodity and you probably don't want to just focus on your business during the holidays. Plan ahead and realize you can't do it all. Take some time to bake holiday cookies. Go for a walk in a winter wonderland. Snuggle up next to the fire and sing a carol. Your business is important, but there are plenty of things that are a lot more important.

1. Keep Your Sanity—No one can run a perfect business and anticipate everything that comes your way. Learn from your mistakes. If you make 1,000 sales in one day—great! If you make 1 sale in 3 months—great! The Holidays are an enjoyable time of year—don't let your success or lack of success determine the joy you experience during this time of the year.

I wish you a happy holiday season and may your business be blessed!

For more how-tos about selling, see the Seller Handbook.

Etsy Holiday How-To #2: Branding your Shipping Materials

2008-09-30T11:36:00Z

You know Dasher and Dancer... but do you know from which Etsy seller that fetching present came? In our second segment, Julie shows you how to brand your items by making clever and attractive shipping mailers and envelopes from recycled materials. Here is a PDF file with an envelope pattern.

Keep that coal out of your stocking and tune in to the rest of the series for more Etsy Labs Holiday How-tos on sprucing up your shop, shipping, photography and more!

See more helpful how-tos about your indie biz in the Seller Handbook.

[This video was originally published October 22, 2007. We're bringing it back for the '08 season!]

Seller How-to: Craft Fair Tips

2008-09-29T13:00:00Z

You have spent many frenzied hours preparing your art and craft items for the craft fair, but does that mean you are really ready to make as much money as you can at the event? Probably not. As creatives, we tend to focus on our art and forget about everything else. (My house could fall down around me while I'm in the zone and I wouldn't notice.) You went through all that time and trouble to participate in a craft show, and I want to make sure you get as much out of the experience as you can while you are there. It's not just about what you sell at the show, it's about the contacts you make and how you use them.

Craft shows are great place to network and market. Here are some easy tips to make your next craft fair/show pay-off for months after everyone goes home.

Display is important. Dedicate some creative energy to your display. You want to stand out in the crowd. This is especially important if your artwork is currently a popular trend and you have lots of competition. If you sell jewelry right now, you know what I mean. At the majority of the shows I have attended, I see the jewelry laid out flat-sometimes on black velvet or in white bins at almost every table. What if you bought cool, retro mannequin heads and used them to display your jewelry? I know I would make a beeline to a table full of faux heads to check out what's going on.

Have a free drawing. Ask people to drop their business cards into a hat and raffle off a prize. Instant list!

GET MARKETING MATERIALS! I can't tell you how many artists don't have any information about themselves out on their tables. What if I don't want to buy today, but really like your stuff? How will I ever find you again? You absolutely must put out business cards. Business cards don't have to be expensive. You can even print them out from your home computer; just make sure you give people the opportunity to find you again.

Make flyers about trunk shows or any other venue (such as Etsy) where people can buy from you in the future. If you have catalogs bring them. Create a portfolio of your work and have it out for people to look at. You might get some special orders. I download digital pictures onto my laptop of past work and have a slide show of the work running on it during the show.

More on marketing materials…Every product should have a tag on it with all your contact information. I just use my business card, hole-punched with a ribbon. This gives both the buyer and, if the item is being purchased as a gift, the recipient your contact information. The recipient may want to collect your work, but won't be able to if there isn't a tag.

Use "gift with purchase" promotions. Everyone loves to get gifts. For the holiday boutique I am participating in this year, I created special, creative gift tags. Each customer gets a free set with the purchase of any item. Of course, the back of the gift card has all my contact information.

Set-up future sales. Once you have attracted clients to you with a great display, you need to capture their information. Have a guest book out and invite people to sign it and tell you what they think about your art. Make sure you ask them to check a box saying they would like to receive mailings from you. The book will give you an idea of what people like about your art and you will have their contact information. Create a snail mail list and make sure that you send out cool invites every time you are going to be at a show. Include a discount coupon on the postcard; that way you can track how effective your mailing was. For an even nicer touch, make sure you send out a thank you note, right after the show, telling them how glad you are that they stopped by to look at your work.

Network with the other artists and crafters. Make friends. Even your "competitors" are potential clients. Gather the business cards of everyone who is participating at the show and send a friendly email to each one within a week of the show. Tell them how much you enjoyed seeing their work. If you remember something specific about them or their work, mention it. Tell them a bit about yourself and tell them to contact you if they ever need anything. This is also just plain nice!

If you follow these few simple steps, you should have a nice list of clients, potential clients, friends and business partners in your possession. Now you must use this list to make it pay. Set up a schedule to touch base with each person on a regular basis. Send them invitations to all your shows, send them your monthly newsletter or just drop them a line or a note telling them you are thinking about them. Have fun and be prosperous!

Further Resources
Katy offers The Craft Show Worksheet through her shop, and if you want more information about networking and marketing your arts & crafts business, sign-up for katydid designs free monthly ezine, The Well-Fed Artist, at www.katydid-designs.com.

See other posts by the katydiddy. And click here for some other how-tos about craft fairs. For the motherload see the Seller Handbook!

Team Tip: How To Submit Information for the Teams Digest

2008-09-29T11:38:00Z

Since there are so many Etsy Teams, and the program continues to grow and grow (much to our delight!), not all Teams or events can receive their own Storque article. However, we do want to include this content in the Storque! Our solution is the Teams Digest, an article published several times a month, featuring all the great stuff Etsy Teams are working on. Your Team can choose a designated member or leader to submit this information every few weeks. Teams Digest information should be emailed directly to teams@etsy.com.

Submission deadlines are listed on the Calendar at http://team.etsy.com. Plan ahead! Think about Team Digest dates when planning your promotions!
Keep it short and sweet! Brevity is key, as we have information from lots of Teams to include.
Write in the third person!
Make it newsworthy! Try to give a little more than just a description of your Team. Tell the reader what you're doing that they should know about — an event, sale, promotion, how-to, something specific in the Virtual Labs, collaboration, or a call for new members!
Include relevant links to a post on your Team's blog or somewhere people can find more info: for example, posting directions to an event in a Digest isn't really feasible for each and every event, but we can always post a link to this specific information. Providing a link to your Team's blog will help readers get to know more about your Team.
Include a link to a Flickr page or send an image that you think is captivating and relevant! Images of products or items are not likely to be used, but photos with people, showing Teams promoting Etsy, screenshots from Teams VL events or other events are fabulous!
Send the submission to teams@etsy.com, with "Storque Digest" in the subject line so we can find these submissions easily.

Discuss with your Team who will be the member responsible for submitting information on your Team for the Digest. It's an easy, fun way to let the Etsy Community know about your Team's activities. Don't forget to read the Teams Digests regularly to keep up to date on the Etsy Teams! Search "Team Digest" in the Storque, or click "Etsy Teams" under Indiepreneur in the left hand column of the Storque.

The Numbers Game: Sales per Day

2008-09-24T11:20:00Z

Dear Sellers,

Let's continue the journey of listening to the stories that the numbers our Etsy shop tell us. As a review, a ratio is the story that two numbers tell when they are together. So far, we have explored a popularity ratio called the heart-to-sale ratio and a couple of inventory ratios. This week, we will explore a ratio concerning your shop's sales.

Sales Per Day Ratio:

The Sales Per Day Ratio tells us historically how many sales your shop has made per day that your shop has been open for business.

How to Calculate:

Sales Per Day Ratio = (Total sales you have made) divided by (The # of days your shop has been open)

You can find the number of sales you have made by looking on the right sidebar of your shop's homepage under other items. You can find how the # of days your shop has been open by first looking at your join date in the info section on the right sidebar of your shop (if you didn't start selling right away, you'll have to try to remember when that date was. Or you can go to your Etsy bill to see when you first listed an item). Go to this website and type in your join date as the start date, today's date as the end date, and then click the "calculate duration" button. The website will then tell you how many days your shop has been open. Find a calculator, and take the first number and divide by the second. The number you calculated is your Sales Per Day ratio.

This number tells you how many sales you make per day. If your number was 3.2, this means that you make about 3 sales per day

Fill your number into these sentences to get your interpretation:

Historically, I have made about _____ sales each day my shop has been open.

During any given day, I will make about _____ sales.

Predicting Your Next Sale:

Sometimes, ratios can attempt to make a forecast or prediction. Let's try to predict when you will get your next sale.

Next Sale Prediction = (One) divided by (Sales Per Day Ratio from above)

This ratio tells you an estimate of how many days you will have to wait until you receive your next sale. (Note: If it is a decimal, you can multiply that decimal by 24 and find out how many hours until your next sale and replace hours for days in the following interpretation).

Fill this number into the following sentences to get your interpretation:

Based on historical trends, I will get my next sale in about _____ days.

As a rough prediction, I will make a sale in about _____ days.

Variables to Consider:

There are quite a few things that could influence the results of your calculations, including the following:

You opened your shop a long time before you actually started selling products.
You have had major rushes on your products and/or extreme sales droughts.
Your sales are very sporadic.
Your sales come in clusters, where one customer buys multiple items.
You may have started or stopped an effective marketing or advertising push.

You can get a more accurate result if you use the date you really got serious about your business. You could also calculate this ratio for only one month at a time to get rid of seasonable variations. There are a host of variables and each shop should interpret their data in light of their shop's exact circumstances.

How to Use This Information:

These ratios can help us evaluate how your shop is doing and help you set goals. I use this ratio as a daily goal for my shop. Currently, I make about 2 sales per day. If I sell nothing or only one item, I know I am behind my average. If I sell two items in a day, I know I am having an average day. If I sell more than two items, I know I am having a pretty good sales day. (Of course, you need to take into consideration how much profit you make on an item and other variables as well). The prediction ratio can give us an estimate about when to expect our next sale. We can also set goals for how long it takes our shop to get our next sale and compare our actual results to our goal.

Final Thoughts:

Everyone loves getting a sale! It is fun and worthy of a happy dance. Next time you get a sale, remember—there is a numerical story behind that transaction. Until next time, keep crunching numbers!

For more how-tos about selling, see the Seller Handbook.

Etsy Holiday How-To #1: Packaging

2008-09-23T12:13:00Z

What? Too soon to start thinking about the holidays, you say?

Not at all. It takes some time to get your Etsy shop ready for the holiday shopping season, so it's best to start now. We know this can be a daunting task.

So we'll be presenting a series of video how-tos to help you get your Etsy shop ready for the holiday season. In our first segment, Mary shows you how to recycle items from around your home to make original, appealing, and eco-friendly packaging. Tune in to the rest of the series for more how-tos on sprucing up your shop, shipping, photography and more!

Click here for a How-To on making your own boxes out of recycled paper.

See the The Etsy Seller Handbook: All Our How-Tos about Selling.

[This video was originally published October 9, 2007. We're bringing it back for the '08 season!]