…With backgrounds in construction, painting, welding, woodworking we put all those skills into creating what we do. It took about 3 months before we were happy with our product. Once the sales started happening we knew we were on to something and that kept us moving forward.

…I am direct and honest with customers. First, I do believe that the Etsy community is different than for example the Amazon community. Surely, Etsy buyers also expect what you promise, but they know that there’s an actual person behind the product and not a big corporation. So Etsy sellers have a bit more leeway than Seller on other eCommerce platforms. But, if a person is truly dissatisfied I will do my best to make it better. And so far, I have not had any bad ratings.

…I ship my products internationally and I use free shipping. Before the pandemic, it was faster but now I have some problems with the delivery time. In fact it is all the same for everybody but approximately in 15 days the delivery is finished. I mostly use boxes for the products in my shop.

… I’ve always loved using reclaimed waste. “Design2Resource” literally means designing things TO the given resource, which is salvaged, found, thrifted, surplus, or otherwise readily available. Never “junky”, mishmash or slapped together. Conscious design, yes, but also design-conscious.

… Our manufacturing process consists of a small amount of finished inventory, a fairly large amount of raw material along with offering custom made pieces which is a little more challenging on Etsy. On Etsy, we generally only post our existing inventory of finished pieces with descriptions of custom made pieces being available to prospective clients.
We have three workshops we work with to manufacture our products. We contract them to provide the labor and finishing side of our pieces and we provide the designs and raw material. All of the manufacturing is overseen by myself personally.

… I realize that everyone was selling squirrel picnic tables but no one was selling them ready to go with food. I went to my wife and got her opinion on whether I should sell my squirrel picnic tables with food. Knowing that I was going to take a tiny hit on the profit I made the sacrifice and it really has paid off.

… I believe that ratings are the most important things for a customer. Not the item quality, not the cheap price, but rating! When I get the order, I always ask if there is anything more my customers ask. Also, I include small gifts for them. After the delivery, I always ask them If there was anything wrong with the delivery. When I get negative feedback, I refund their money and apologize even if I am the right one.

… I would advise new sellers to list 30 different items as quickly as possible, then review them each month. Chop out the weakest 10 and replace them with something new. Soon you will have top 10 sellers that can give you an income.

… We watched a few Etsy marketing/strategy classes on Facebook to really help set our listings up properly, that was probably the most helpful thing we did. Plus good photos! One lesson I learned the hard way not responding to negative feedback publicly because then the buyer can’t ever change their rating.

… We sell art & fashion accessories, Self-designed furniture, paintings and eco-friendly ideas that help the environment. We always start with an idea, that thrills ourselves, that we love or like ourselves, and design, paint or build it until it fits into our ideal. Therefore everything has our own stamp on it, a bit individual and as we believe, sticking out of the mass.