Online Seller Experience, Small Business Success Stories
… Selling on Etsy has drastically changed our lives. We have never worked so hard and been so emotionally invested in what we do. Despite all of the stress and anxiety, we have also never felt so proud and encouraged. Our kids see us building a business from the ground up, and are learning what it takes to be a successful business owner right along with us.
Yes, we do ship internationally. We have fixed prices and try to keep the shipping prices low. We ship the same day, sometimes the 2nd, but rarely do we take more time than that. Yes, we do offer free shipping. We feel it show our customer care and give the customer extra convenience. We package our products with care and double-check our work to avoid mistakes.
… First, I brew myself some coffee, early in the morning, think of what to add next what ideas I’d like to have in the store, then from there start the process of elimination. What would make more sense to introduce onto my virtual shelf. I tend to sketch next to the written idea so visually understands what I would need and what I wouldn’t need.
… Note that Etsy has two customers, the sellers, and the buyers. The buyers in the Etsy shop will never be “your” customers they are Etsy. The same for Amazon. Etsy is a great platform to be on however you need to diversify and get your own website as well. Etsy at any time can change their policies, their cost, advertising, etc and if that is the only place you are selling you need to comply with it or you can get kicked off the platform.
… I ship all over the world, I don’t ship for free because my product is not that expensive, luckily my customers don’t have a problem with that. How long it takes for something to arrive depends on the country I’m sending it to. What’s special about my shop is that I make all my miniatures in different sizes, so that everyone can find something for their dollhouse.
… Being an entrepreneur is no easy task. I enjoyed the most is when I list my item up and people enjoyed it. Even though they did not buy it yet but seeing numbers in my cart makes me feel happy and make my day. The hardest things about being an entrepreneur is that hoping customer will like and buy my products.
… After my Master Degrees in Fine Arts at the Sandberg Instituut, I started creating my first coloring books for adults. Now, I’ve made my own business out of it. It’s making it possible for me to practice my passion for drawing and designing every day. How great is that! I hope to convey my passion for the wonders of the world, through the creation of my coloring books and, in that way, inspire the people around me.
… Every customer brings their own inspiration. I ask people the story behind their image and try to understand who they are before I start. Once I feel I have something to work with I create a draft and work with the customer to make any adjustments before rendering the final image.
… I think about running a successful business you should work a lot. As well as you have to bring a strong team together. People who will share the same values with you. And as well very important to have strong and right values. Which will lead you to the perfect relationship, right rules, and strong company.
… Competition in the market became a problem at times. We had a number of sellers on Etsy, replicating our designs, and undercutting our prices. I went through a phase of checking a list of about 5 other sellers on a daily basis, to see how many sales they were making (sometimes multiple times in a day).