ABADID 11...Etsy shop, a no-go this year...

I had great plans to open an Etsy shop in time for Christmas 2016 and had been making all sorts of stuff throughout the year that might have sold. Jewellery, cards, smash books, junk journals, bookmarks, artwork and more. 

I'm aware that in 2012 Etsy had over 800k active sellers (https://blog.etsy.com/news/2012/notes-from-chad-7/) and that figure may have fallen or risen since then. So it was quite competitive in 2012 even with 40 million visitors to the site each month. But that's not why I didn't open a shop. 

I started to open one, naming it 'Sticky Papers', but that's as far as I got. And I had experimented with shops over the years on Folksy. I sold jewellery on 'The Thieving Magpie' and paper crafts on 'Harry Rascal' and mixed vintage bits and bobs on 'The Mudlark' making enough to refund my expenditure but not make any profit. All about funding a hobby because craftwork and collecting can be expensive. 

Why I didn't open a shop was because I wasn't convinced I'd sell enough to make it worth the effort. I didn't have a decent sized following on any of my social media sites and I believe that's an important factor in having a successful online store or website. Otherwise you fall into the trap of having a lovely looking shop and no-one ever sees it. 

So, the items I've made are getting used as Christmas gifts - friends and family seem to like receiving handmade things from me so that in itself is enough to make me think I might open that Etsy shop in 2017. And I've a few ideas to give me a slight edge on so much of what's for sale online. What I need to do early in 2017 is to make more of my social media pages, draw followers...and I don't find that easy. 

Here's looking forward to Christmas 2017...

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