Date joined etsy- 7/13/10
Sales to date - 389
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.My name is Amaya Labrador, and I’m a Masters of Architecture student living in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m currently on my last (and thesis) year, so life is kind of crazy!
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
There really is no ‘average’ day; each week I’ll have different classes, meetings, books to read or projects to present. A default day would be: Wake up, get ready and be off to school (although some days I’ll be at home all day). Between classes I’ll check email, keep up with any convos through Etsy, relist items if needed. I package orders at night (usually while dinner is cooking) and drop them at the PO the following morning.
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
I’ve always been creative, but never quite ‘artistic’. It’s more about how things go together and “making”.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?
I started selling jewelry (what I call ‘pretty steampunk’) in my other store: http://www.sybaritic.etsy.com/ It was mostly out of necessity… I needed to sell some beads to buy more beads ;-)
-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?
For my new store, SundrySupply, I had my first sale the day after I started listing items. I have to admit though, having the experience that comes along with two years on Etsy really helped.
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?
Top 5 foods: chocolate, cheese, pasta, chicken, ice cream
Top 5 tv shows: Castle, House, Top Chef, Bones, Project Runway
Top 5 music: (at the moment): Gustavo Cerati, Belanova, Circo, Da’Zoo, Julieta Venegas
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, an instrument, etc.
That I haven’t already tried? =) I just bought myself a used sewing machine, I’d love to make my own clothes (thank you, Project Runway). I’d also love to knit, but apparently I have no patience for the learning curve.
-What would you suggest to new Etsy sellers to promote their shops?
I think it’s less about promoting and more about having a good store. Good policies in place, a filled out profile, a location set. Attractive banner and avatar. Having complete item descriptions, with measurements in both imperial and standard, shipping profile set up with lots of international locations. Good tags, good titles, etc. (Although I actually think I’m bad at tagging and titles). Having a niche helps as well, and if you can grab a decent market share within that niche then you’re golden.
Having said that, there are different levels of promotion: the most basic, I think, is being active in the Etsy community… forums, chats, etc. It’s time consuming, but effective and low-cost (…but you need to have the time to do it). If you want to move up and start paying for advertising, it’s important to target them correctly. If you don’t, you’re just losing money. I sell supplies, so my target consumer is pretty easy to figure out: jewelry makers and scrapbookers.
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
I prefer to “heart” individual items, but these shops are consistently awesome:
KUKLAstudio
joodito
sugarandflour
I also love browsing vintage housewares
-One year from now...
Who knows?
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Have an etsy shop with over 300 sales and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)
