So those whom have never ventured into the world of etsy I'm sure you have pondered this question more than once. You have friends that have an etsy account and you've received mix feedback? What do you do?
I'll give you my feedback and let you decide. First let me explain my background of different things I have used.
When I first started my business (selling pacifier holders) I started on ebay. I found myself with more supplies than I needed and decided to add my supplies to my offerings. I had/have websites for both but was having trouble being found. I was selling items and supplies that weren't offered by many sellers. Ebay started to have numerous overseas sellers that offered my items at the fraction of the cost of mine. As time continued ebay changed and the fees outweighed my profits.
During this time I had heard of etsy and started offering my supplies there (my backup plan so to speak). I had several friends (lisa for example) who was selling boutique items she made on etsy fairly successfully (she had a website as well). She encouraged me to try selling my growing offerings of handmade items (birth of Kugga kids). I closed my ebay shop and kept my websites open.
I had some success with Facebook, but soon realized with the ever changing rules and visibility of my posts my investment in Facebook marketing was a waste of money. If your fans don't see your post how can you reach them?
I decided soon after to give Etsy a try for my boutique items, what did I have to lose? Well maybe some initial vested time I thought. I sold maybe a couple items a month but nothing you would brag about. I continued to grow my business and items that I offered and late fall things really started doing well on etsy. The following year I had a consistent following (again nothing to brag about...but a start). I continued to to spend more time on SEO and fine tuning not only my images, but my listings in general. My business has continued to grow and I have been pleased.
My website business has been slow since I've dedicated less time to Facebook and more time on etsy. My etsy has grown to the point i have contiplated closing my websites to save on costs. However with etsy going public and the ever changing rules and their inability to manage and police the policies they have in place...once again the slow decline is happening.
Why stay you ask? Find something different? The facts are simple, I'm still selling (maybe not as much as I want) but I am. So for now I will continue my websites and my etsy shops as I am still in the positive. There are many other selling platforms out there now, however I'm not interested in spreading myself thinner than I already am. So my suggestion would be to at least try it, even if you only list a few items you can quickly determine if you an audience there or not.
Just my two cents and I am by far not an expert of all things selling online, but have enough experience to share.
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