Home » An EPIC Guide + Tutorial on How to Start an Etsy Shop

An EPIC Guide + Tutorial on How to Start an Etsy Shop

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Get ready. Because this is going to be one doozy of a post on how to start an Etsy shop. 

Running your own creative business can be SO rewarding, but it’s also a LOT of hard work. That is, if you want to be successful! There are things you need to brainstorm, plan out, understand… all before we even get to the technical side of setting it up! We’ll talk all about the step-by-step how to start an Etsy shop, but if you want to start a successful business, there are several things you need to think about before you get started.

Brainstorm First

Branding

A lot of people don’t know this, but branding is SO very important when building a name and reputation for yourself. Whether you’re running a company, a website, a social media account… even a good movie works on its branding!

What’s branding??

Well, good branding is what your company or shop is known for. It illicits certain feelings, makes you think of certain things. For example, what do you think of when someone mentions Starbucks? Coffee, comfy cozy, a home away from home, brown and green colors… This is how they “brand” their company. Ellen DeGeneres and other celebrities also have a “brand”. I’d describe her’s as… kind, giving, funny, blonde, vegan…. Whatever makes you think of who she is!

*I HIGHLY recommend the branding eCourse Systemize your Branding with Kaitlyn and Indigo. You can find it here. I completed this course and was SO happy I did. Not only did it motivate me, but it also helped me sit down and perfect Kandy Apple Mama’s “brand”.*

Obviously branding is vitally important if you’re starting your own website, but it’s also still a good idea to get a feel for it with your online shop. On Etsy, things are a little simpler than building a blog. BUT, you should at least get an idea of what kind of products you’ll be offering, what name you want, colors, styling, and what kind of feelings you want your customers to experience when visiting.

Action step:

Take some time to sit down and write a list of adjectives, colors, feelings, etc. you want your shop to embody. Or, better yet, make a Pinterest mood board! Pin all your favorite colors, materials, and types of products that make you think of YOUR shop and what you want it to be.

Choosing a Shop Name

Shop name

Obviously, your shop name needs a name. Before you get started selling, you absolutely need to iron this out!

Your shop name is what people are going to know you by. It’s what’s going to be on your business card! So it’s ideal to figure it out ASAP, before ads and cards get printed.

Changing a Shop Name

Etsy does allow you to change your shop name without contest only ONCE. You can change it again in the future, if you must, but you have to submit an official request and will need a valid reason for wanting to change the name.

Originally my Etsy shop was named “Kandy Apple Kustoms” because I focused on custom artwork and décor. However, that’s since changed. When I moved from custom artwork to digital, I decided the name needed to reflect the products. It’s now called “Kandy Apple Art”.

I actually did have to submit a request to the Etsy gods to have that change made. Thankfully, they were awesome about it and had no problem changing it for me!

If you want everything to go smoothly, though, and refrain from having to rebrand yourself, change business cards, tell everyone to call your shop something different…etc… I say find a name and stick with it!

Sometimes choosing a name can be difficult, I realize that. There are SO many other shops; it’s never surprising when a desired name is already taken, so be sure to come up with several options before checking for availability.

Action step:  

Brainstorm name ideas ahead of time. Make a list of words – product types, descriptive words, your favorite things, colors, objects… You can even lean on your branding list for this! Once you have a nice list of words, try stringing them together to see what sounds best. It doesn’t always have to make sense.

I mean, I went with Kandy Apple Mama for my blog. I simply wanted a “K” word for my little ones K and K2, and then an “A” word for my own name—Amanda. Plus, I figured I love apples, so why not throw that in there? Ha! Then I stuck “mama” at the end because I planned on focusing on motherhood and parenting topics. Now that I think about it, it sounds ridiculous that I thought up our name this way. But, we’re all rather fond of it now.

I suppose what I really liked about the blog’s name was that nobody else had a name like “Kandy Apple Mama” – which meant I had a better chance of establishing a unique brand. I’m hoping it’ll help people remember me! Once you have a few ideas, try google searching them to make sure no one else is known by that name.

Products

You’ll want to figure out what kind of products you plan on selling BEFORE you actually create your shop. Etsy doesn’t even let you set up a shop unless you list at least 1 item!

Hopefully you won’t end up doing what I did, changing your entire product line after a year into it. What are you passionate about? Whatever that is, I say go for it!

However, there are a few things I want you to think about before deciding on what to sell:

What kind of materials can you get easily and inexpensively?

If you have a ton of extra wood in the backyard that you can use to create wooden signs, good for you! But if you don’t have the means to buy that embroidery machine, you probably shouldn’t sell embroidered blankets and bags.

What do you enjoy making?

Nothing kills your motivation faster than having to create products you HATE. It’s just like working that 9-5 you loathe. You’re in business for yourself, which means YOU’RE YOUR OWN BOSS! Create what YOU love.

What are you good at?

If you’re good at creating something, it’ll be easier for you to make and grow inventory. Your talents goes hand in hand with what you enjoy making and what materials you can accumulate.

Is this item easy (and inexpensive) to ship?

I was making these big beautiful wall rulers made of very high quality wood, and customers loved them! The problem was – their weight. They were so heavy it was over $50 to ship no matter where it was going, which made many refrain from purchasing it. While I ended up selling all of them, (which is great) they were so heavy and such a hassle to get to the UPS store (and to box up) it wasn’t an item I felt comfortable making regularly. I would totally make and sell them at craft fairs, but shipping across the states? SO not my fave.

Will you create custom orders?

Depending on your product type, custom orders can be fun or a nightmare… Creating custom artwork for customers can be VERY demanding, depending on what you do. These kinds of orders can potentially take up more time than it’s worth, if you aren’t getting paid enough. (We’ll talk more about pricing later!)

Often times, you’ll make an item to a customer specifications, but they’re still unhappy. Something is bound to go wrong! I’ve had customers ask me to remake their order SEVERAL times before they were satisfied. This ends up making production time way too long for me. So personally, I prefer creating the product beforehand and selling a finite number of them.

Will you create your own inventory, or make orders as you go?

If you plan on creating inventory before setting up shop, make sure you have enough room somewhere in your house to store the product! If you’re in a tiny apartment, making products as they’re ordered may be more convenient.

Making physical products was hard for me because I had nowhere to store them! Switching to digital products requires much less space.

How quickly can you make each item?

If you have a product line where everything is premade and you’re just selling stock, it’ll be easier for you to calculate the product’s price and quicker to ship! If you can sew a baby hat in 30 minutes, you’re probably golden! But if painting that masterpiece takes weeks to do, are you sure you’ll be able to sell it for enough money to make it worth your time? Time is the biggest factor when deciding what to charge for your Etsy products!

I follow this wonderful blogger Ruth from Living Well, Spending Less. When I took a course from her about productivity, one of the things she talked about was calculating how much your time is worth.

How much is your time worth?

Work backwards, starting with what you want to make in a year: let’s say $100,000 – c’mon, dream big!

Now how many hours do you work in a day? I’d say I work about 12  hours a day, every day…  some of you may say “what, what??? You work so much??” Honestly, yes. My blog and Etsy shop (along with everything else in my life) is a work of PASSION. So, I don’t mind working all the time. In fact, I really enjoy it!

Any who—work backwards from your $100k a year mark. How many days do you plan to take off each month? Are you going to take off every weekend? Every holiday? Will you be taking off for vacations? Subtract those days from 365. For example – if I want to take off two days a week, plus one extra day a month, that puts me at working 249 days a year.

Now if I take $100,000 and divide it by that many days, 12 hours a day, my time is actually worth… $33.50 an hour.

(This is important, I promise!)

This figure is NOT what I charge for my Etsy products, nor is time to create the only thing taken into consideration when pricing items.

$33.50 an hour is what I desire to make from ALL my jobs and side hustles put together. And I keep this figure in mind when deciding how to spend my time wisely.

I honestly have to take into consideration – how quickly can I create this product in order to make it worth my time?

Or should I be working on other things that may make me more money?

Is it feasible for me to make an item that takes me seven hours to create and sell it for only $100? For me, no, it’s not worth the time. This is the biggest reason why I am now focusing on digital products! With digital products, I can create something and sell it an infinite number of times because it’s a digital file, and it’s always going to be on my computer (provided nothing goes wrong with my hard drive or backups!).

So what type of products can you make that don’t take you much time, and that you can create over and over?

I have a friend who makes $5+ yeti cup decals and she makes BANK! They’re so easy for her to churn out, super cheap to ship, and people love buying them because they’re inexpensive! She also makes use of stock photos (we’ll talk more about photography later) to show designs instead of making products beforehand. This saves time, money and space.

Action step:

Sit down and brainstorm what kind of products you can make, what materials are most accessible to you, which products are easiest to make, quick to ship, and allow you to charge a price worth your time? Will you be making everything before listing, or will these products be made to order?

If you plan on having an inventory first, start creating! Etsy won’t let you open your shop without at least ONE active listing, and TEN is the recommended starting point.

Pricing

Pricing is HARD to get perfect, especially when you’re starting out. Every shop and seller approaches this differently.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this, but the general formula for pricing an item is:

Materials + labor time + business expenses + profit = wholesale

BUT, this may end up pricing your products higher than you want them to be, so work on your own formula.

Take into consideration – Who’s your target audience? What are your products designed to do? What are other people pricing their similar items at? Do some research by visiting other shops on Etsy.

Also keep in mind that higher quality should mean a higher price tag! If you’re putting your heart and soul into creating a Nordstrom-quality product, don’t price it like Walmart.

You can always experiment with trial and error. When you’re just starting out, sellers often make the mistake of pricing items too low in the hopes of making more sales. At the same time, you don’t want to price items so high that customers won’t even consider purchasing. Ultimately, you’ll want to price your items at whatever makes you feel COMFORTABLE.

Action step:

Come up with your own pricing formula! Are you paying yourself enough for creating this? Does the price make it worth your time to make? Does it appeal to customers? Is it reinforcing the quality of your product?

Collections

Another thing to think about before you start selling on Etsy is—collections. Whatever products you make, you want them to be consistent! Think of collections like a theme in your shop. Something you focus on and excel at before moving onto the next type of product.

For example, I run a shop where I sell all digital products. Right now, I’m focusing on a collection of coloring pages. They’re all done in the same style, with the same materials, but lots of variety in the actual drawings. Once I excel at coloring pages, I’ll move on to greeting cards!

Successful Etsy sellers advise sticking with collections of items, and always make sure those collections blend in a consistent way. I’ve also read that 3 collections are a good starting point. Each one can be certain kinds of product (for example, baby hats, baby headbands, baby bows) or they may focus on intended recipients, who you would give the item to as gifts (for example, mama mugs, dad mugs, office mugs, etc.).

Learn more

*Morgan Neild has an EXCELLENT email course where you can learn even more about Profitably Etsy Strategy. She went from $0 – $100k in ONE YEAR with her Etsy shop. Learn how she did it here. Totally free, TONS of great information. Each day she’ll email you new info on everything from targeting your audience, to creating collections, to marketing your shop.*

 Personally, I plan on starting with coloring pages, then greeting cards, moving on to inspirational quotes only when I think I’ve mastered the first two.

My good friend who runs a very successful shop on her own only focuses on decals. She has the ability to do many other things, but is an EXPERT on yeti decals. This coming year she’s going to be branching out into another product line. Whether that will be personalizing T-shirts, designing planners, or selling stencils – has yet to be decided. I know she’ll keep her products consistent, though, and I’m sure she’ll continue to be a success.

Action step:

Decide what kind of collections you’ll have. Aim for three. Grow those collections to be EPIC before you start adding more types of products. This will give your shop a boutique-feel, and help you look like the EXPERT you are in that area.  🙂

When customers visit your Etsy shop, they want to be able to look at it and just know what you’re all about. You want them to take one glance and say “clearly, you’re good at _____.”

Morgan Neild says if you try to #sellallthethings you will #sellNONEofthethings – and this is so true!

When I made physical products I didn’t have any consistency throughout my shop. When you looked at my inventory, everything was SO all over the place. In Morgan’s words, it looked like a virtual GARAGE SALE!

This is NOT the kind of shop you want to be known for! Don’t be a garbage sale. I mean garage sale.

Photography

Photos, photos, photos! This is an extremely vital part of running a successful online shop! Good photos.

Your customers cannot touch your products, they cannot feel them, cannot pick them up, look at them and imagine what they would be like in their homes, what it’d be like to wear them, etc.

Your photos have to spell out that message for you.

*Lisa Jacobs from marketyourcreativity.com has an excellent FREE eBook called Market Your Creativity where she talks about the best kinds of photos to take for your products (one of MANY topics she covers). She gives you the lowdown on how she tripled her income from Etsy in 2 weeks and earned more than SIX FIGURES from her initial $100 investment. I cannot recommend it enough! Sign up to receive it here.*

Remember, you want consistency in your shop! This goes for images especially. Consistency in lighting and style with your photography will make your listings recognizable. This is part of branding! There are several DOs and DON’Ts when it comes to taking pictures of products, (Lisa goes into more detail in her ebook, but you can find her do’s and don’ts here) but we’ll focus on the ideal photo styling:

Styling Photos

Blank Background

Taking pictures of products on blank backgrounds is always a good choice. There’s nothing busy to draw away attention from the product. White is the most popular background color, but not if your item is white, of course. I don’t use a white backdrop for my products because they’re printed on white paper – it would just blend together.

Use the item

Another great option is a photo of the item in USE. This helps your customer imagine what it would be like to use the product him- or her- self. For example: hands wearing homemade rings or bracelets, a model wearing a t-shirt, a half-colored coloring page, etc.

Hang it up

A picture of the item hanging up on the wall is excellent for art or home décor. You could even use a stock photo for this if you’re editing or Photoshop savvy. *Speaking of stock photos, this can come in handy if you’re a seller who creates orders as they’re purchased. Many successful Etsy sellers take their design ideas and transpose them onto stock photos (of yeti cups, mugs, t-shirts, etc) and only actually create the product after it’s purchased. This way they aren’t dealing with inventory overload, but can still offer hundreds of different products. Plus, the right kind of stock photos can make your product look super professional.

Details

Close-ups to see textures of fabric or wood are always good options. If you offer a variety of colors or patterns, you can add a photo with all the varieties available for customers to see before making a decision.

Watermarks

For digital products, you may want to add a clear shot of what’s being purchased, but with a watermark across it. I do this for my digital items so people can see what they’re getting, but can’t right click and save the image without purchasing it.

*If you need help learning how to watermark your items, there’s an excellent tutorial on how to create the watermark, as well as add it to photos here.*

Photography equipment

As I said, consistent lighting is an important aspect of good imagery. It isn’t always easy to maintain, though. The smart photographers use their own lighting equipment and DSLR cameras to get consistent pictures no matter what time of day. (Editing is still required, of course.)

While I haven’t perfected my own photography skills yet, I’ve actually got my own system down. I use my iPhone 6 to take pictures and rely on natural sunlight to get the best quality. Unfortunately, this means I’m at the mercy of time of day and weather! My next business purchase will definitely be that camera and lighting equipment!

If you have the means of setting up your own backdrop and getting your own lighting, by all means do so! You won’t regret it!

*Later.com has a wonderful tutorial on taking great photos with your smartphone here.*

After taking your photos, no matter how good they are, it’s still a good idea to run them through editing software. Using the same or similar editing methods or filters can add a professional styling across the board.

Editing

Obviously Adobe Photoshop is the industry leader in this area. BUT, if you’re like me and prefer free or cheap, user-friendly options, here are a few of my favorites:

Colorstory App – created by the owners of A Beautiful Mess, these filters are to die for! Such an easy app to use, it’s my absolute favorite to edit all my Instagram and Etsy photos with.

PicMonkey  – I use this website to create graphics, blog images and the like, but they also have quite the arsenal for editing photos. Much of their content is free, but you can upgrade to pro and use ALL the features for only $39.99 a YEAR. Totally worth it, in my opinion.

Enhance App – this is another free app I’ve found that works exceptionally well editing photos. It even gives you the option of adding a watermark! This is EXTREMELY useful with Etsy and blog images! Whether I need to transpose an image onto a stock photo or if I need to add my watermark, Enhance has got me covered.

Action step:

Experiment with photography! Take several photos of each product,using the same lighting and styling so that your shop has that cohesive look. Then play around with editing to make it look professional. You’ll want to do the photography side of things before starting your shop so that you have something to list right off the bat!

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Now let’s set up that Etsy Shop!

Step-by-Step How-to

Now that you know all the things you should think about before getting started with an Etsy shop, let’s talk about the technical side.

#1. Signing up

It’s a good idea to create an email specifically for your creative business, first. Then you can use that email to sign up for selling. You can create a free Gmail account here. I’d advise using the name of your Etsy shop for a username. For example, Kandy Apple Mama would be [email protected].

Now open a new tab and go to Etsy.com, click on Sell on Etsy. You’ll need to start by registering your account. (If you visit my link here, you can start off with a BANG and get your FIRST 40 LISTINGS FREE. Yes, I’ll get some free, too. It’s a win-win!)

Etsy gives you the option of signing up with your Facebook or Google accounts, but again, I’d stick with a business email. It also makes suggestions for usernames for you based off your own name. Keep in mind this is your personal username, as the shop owner, not the name of your shop, so using their suggestions is fine. Or if you have a username you tend to stick with, go for it. This will be the name for your personal profile – not your shop!

#2. Shop preferences.

The next screen wants to know a little about your shop. Language, country you’re in, currency to be rendered… it’s all pretty self-explanatory. The last question asks you which best describes how you’ll use the shop – selling full time, part time with full time intent, or just part time. I chose part-time with full-time intent, but choose whatever fits your needs!

Click save and continue.

#3. Shop name.

The moment of truth! What’s your shop going to be called? If you’ve done your brainstorming homework, you should have a list of possible names to choose from. Start with your favorite choice first, plug it in the box and hit “Check availability.” If it’s available, you’re golden! If not, move down your brainstorm list until you find one you like that gets the green checkmark.

Click save and continue.

#4. Shop stock.

Time to stock your shop! You’ll need at least ONE item ready to list in order to start your shop. Of course, the more you have the better. Etsy says 10+ is a great start, but gives priority to shops with 100+ listings. You don’t have to add that many right away! You’ll always be able to add more in the future.

Click “+Add a listing”

#5. New Listing

Product photos

It’s a good idea to use all 5 photo slots, if possible. Your first photo is what will show up in the listing thumbnail, so start with your best. Make sure your pictures are high quality JPG, PNG, or GIF. Square crops seem to view the best. Try to aim for 1080 x 1080 px, like with Instagram. (Remember how we talked about imagery before!)

Title

Your title should describe what your product is. Keep in mind that whatever you write for the title, you should add as tags at the end. Keywords, keywords, keywords! What is your audience typing in when they’re looking for your kind of product? For example: if I’m selling a wall ruler that I painted a giraffe on, I might name the product “Giraffe wall ruler / Kids growth chart / Jungle Decor”. This is what I would type in the search engine if I was looking for a ruler to match my kid’s jungle-themed room.

About this listing

Add who made it (you, a member of your shop, or someone else), what it is (finished product or a tool/supplies), when it was created (the year). Self-explanatory.

Category

How would you categorize your product on the Etsy site? Home and living, art, jewelry, clothing, etc…

Price

How much are you selling the item for?

Quantity

How many of this item do you have available?

Renewal options

Listing an item on Etsy normally costs $0.20. (Unless you use my link for 40 Free Listings) This fee is charged each time you list an item, and each time it renews. Listings can be renewed automatically every time it sells out, or every four months (whichever comes first), or you can choose to manually renew them yourself if they expire (after 4 months).

Type

Is this a physical product, or digital download?

Description

A good product description not only describes the listing in detail (dimensions, materials, etc), but also helps a customer’s imagination. As I’ve said before, an online shop is at a disadvantage since customers can’t touch and pick up items. Photos and descriptions help them realize how AWESOME your product is. If you’re at a loss for words, search for other shops selling similar items and check out their descriptions for ideas. Don’t copy them word for word, but you can use them as a benchmark.

Section

This is where collections come in! How are you grouping this product? Coloring pages? Baby headbands? Gifts for mom?

Digital files

You’ll only see this section if your product is digital, not physical. You can add up to 5 files (PDFs, JPGs) including customized notes to buyers, say, with a promo code for future purchases!

Variations

This can get a bit complicated. Are you listing an item that comes in lots of different colors, sizes, or fabrics? This allows you to add options for purchasing your product. You’re only allowed to add 2 types of variations on a listing, so if you need to give your customers more options than that, you’ll have to ask them to add a note or comment when they purchase it.

Shipping

For physical products, you’ll need to figure out shipping costs (you won’t see this section if your product is digital). You can enter fixed costs manually, or let Etsy calculate shipping for you. Obviously, this is the smarter easier way to do things. You can’t always predict where a customer may be shopping from or where they’ll want the item shipped to. Location can certainly affect the shipping price. Add in where you’ll be shipping FROM in the “Origin zip code” section.

Processing time

How long will it take you to get the item shipped once it’s purchased? If your items are custom made or made to order, how long will it take you to create it? How fast can you get it to the UPS/FedEx/USPS store?

Where I’ll ship

Where are you comfortable shipping your items TO? Are you sticking with United States only? Worldwide? Only North America? You can get pretty specific with which countries you can sell to.

Shipping services

What kind of shipping services are you planning to offer on this item? Options range from USPS priority mail to Parcel Select Ground and everything in between. Read their descriptions to figure out which suits your needs.

Free shipping

This is optional, if you want to offer a free shipping option to domestic or international addresses.

Handling fee

An additional cost that Etsy can add to the shipping total, to account for shipping materials and time it takes for you to package things and send them out.

Item weight and item size

This is required if you plan on having Etsy calculate the shipping for you! Weight and size directly affect the cost you’ll incur when shipping the item, so it’s best NOT to guess. Weigh and measure your item and input the info here.

Preview shipping cost

This gives you an idea for how much it’ll cost to ship your product to different countries or domestic regions. This can help you decide whether or not to ship to certain countries. It also lets you know how much you could save by shipping with an Etsy shipping label, instead.

Search terms

SO IMPORTANT!

Again, keywords, keywords, keywords! (Etsy SEO is a whole other monster that we’ll have to cover a different day. Here’s an article that touches the surface.)

Tags

This is where you’ll add keywords and search terms that potential customers will use to look for products. These are what lead them to your item! Use ALL 13 tags and make sure to add the keywords from your listing title, as well. (The order of tags doesn’t matter.) Think like your customer! What words are they searching with??

Materials

What is your item made of? This information will show up in your listing overview when customers click on them.

CLICK SAVE AND CONTINUE!

Woohoo! You created your first listing! You can add more now, or you can wait until your shop is officially set up to add more.

*If you’re selling a lot of the same or similar products, an easier way to list them would be to wait for now. Later, when your shop is open, click Your Shop > Listings > Listings Manager. It’ll take you to your listed items. Click one, then in the upper right corner there will be a “Manage” button. Click it, and choose “Copy”. It’ll copy all the information into a new listing, where you can update photos, titles, descriptions, and tags. Major time saver!*

#6. How you’ll get paid

How do you want customers to pay you? Choose what country your bank is out of and Etsy will decide what currency you’ll be paid in. Next you’ll need to add your bank account information. Tell Etsy where to send your money!

Next you’ll need to input all your personal information. Etsy has to verify your identity with this. But don’t worry, they won’t share your information.

Click save and continue.

#7. CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT!

Ha, I hadn’t done this yet when creating the tutorial account. It actually won’t let you move on to the next step unless you confirm your email. Check your business email account, go to the email from Etsy, and click “Confirm account”. It’ll lead you to the right page.

#8. Set up billing.

Remember those listing fees of $0.20 each time a listing is published or renewed? Well, there’s also a 3.5% transaction fee, and a 3% + $0.25 payment processing fee…for every time a product sells.

So how are you going to pay for these fees? Here is where you’ll input your credit or debit card information. Don’t worry, you won’t be charged right away. Etsy will charge all fees for the month on the first day of the next calendar month.

Click “open shop.”

Congratulations!!! Your shop is now open!

It looks kind of bare though…

Don’t worry, we’ll fix that.

What to do AFTER your shop is set up

Now that you’re open for business, you’ll need to pretty-up the place!

You can add more listings with the “Copy” feature I talked about above (see the Listings section***). The more products you have to sell, the better your shop will look (and the more Etsy will love you).

To make things pretty, you’ll need to add pictures. Not product pictures, but things like a Shop Banner or Cover photo, Shop profile picture, Shop owner profile picture, shop titles, descriptions…etc. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

Shop Banner or Cover Photo

*Check out our fun tutorial sharing how to create your own Etsy banners and cover photos.*

Etsy allows you to choose a banner or a cover photo, but they do say that banners don’t translate over to mobile. Cover photos do, so I prefer them. Your cover photo should be 1200 x 300 PIXELS (the tutorial I shared only talks about banners). Try using PicMonkey or smartphone apps to create your own design. It should include your shop name and logo (if you have one).

If you’re not design-savvy or would rather have something premade, lots of Etsy sellers sell customizable Etsy banners. You can find some here.

Shop Profile Picture

You can either add your business logo, watermark icon, or even your own personal picture for this. Some shops use stock photos of creative materials they often use. Or you could use a picture of your favorite item you sell!

Shop Title

This is where you can add a brief (one sentence) description of what you sell. This is your tagline and will be what shows up in google search, so make it short, sweet and to the point!

Shop Owner Picture

Ideally, your profile picture should be something professional looking. Selfies are great for social media, but they don’t look so hot on a business profile. If you don’t have a professional looking picture, get prettied-up and have a friend or photographer take one of you (natural lighting is always the most flattering).

Shop Owner About

Totally option, this is the area to talk about yourself! Where are you from, what are your hobbies or interests? Customers love learning more about the minds behind their favorite shops!

Shop Announcements

You can add excerpts in this area to share information about sales, updates, or whatever you want customers to see as soon as they visit your shop!

Featured Queue

Add featured items that will pop up first thing when customers visit your shop page. Click “+Add listings to your featured queue” which will take you to the listings manager. Click the stars on the items you want featured and they’ll be added. Only four will be shown at a time.

About

When editing your shop, you’ll be given the option to add information about your process, workspace, or anything that inspires buyers. Add video, photos, headlines, or share your story.

Local

Do you participate at local craft fairs or sell in your community somewhere? Share that info here! That way, online fans and followers can visit you in person.

Shop Policies

Every shop needs its own policies to increase buyer trust. This is where you can edit info about payment options, downloads, shipping, returns and exchanges, as well as a privacy policy. I only sell digital downloads, so my shop doesn’t have a shipping policy. But no matter what you sell, you still need to disclose how you handle returns or exchanges, whether a customer is dissatisfied or the item delivered was wrong or damaged in shipment.

More information

This section gives you space to add a FAQs page. If customers often ask you the same kind of questions (even if the answers are clearly defined in product descriptions), it’s a good idea to add that question and answer combo to your FAQs section.

PHEW!

This is a LOT of information. You may not be able to get through this all in one sitting, so feel free to bookmark it for later.

Remember, implementing these steps is key. Don’t just stop at brainstorming – get it done! I hope this tutorial helps you out. If you’re looking for more information on actually making sales, read these tips on how this Etsy seller hit 5000+ sales (and counting)!

*If you’d like to start your shop off with a BANG and get your FIRST 40 LISTINGS FREE, visit Etsy through this link to sign up. I’ll get free listings too for referring you. It’s a win-win!*

How to Set Up an Etsy Shop A Complete Guide | Tutorial to Set Up an Etsy Shop | Complete Guide to Set Up an Etsy Shop | How to Set Up Your Own Etsy Shop | How to Sell on Etsy | How to get Started with Etsy | Successful Etsy Shop #etsystore #etsyshop #etsy

How to Set Up an Etsy Shop A Complete Guide | Tutorial to Set Up an Etsy Shop | Complete Guide to Set Up an Etsy Shop | How to Set Up Your Own Etsy Shop | How to Sell on Etsy | How to get Started with Etsy | Successful Etsy Shop #etsystore #etsyshop #etsy

How to Set Up an Etsy Shop A Complete Guide | Tutorial to Set Up an Etsy Shop | Complete Guide to Set Up an Etsy Shop | How to Set Up Your Own Etsy Shop | How to Sell on Etsy | How to get Started with Etsy | Successful Etsy Shop #etsystore #etsyshop #etsy

How to Set Up an Etsy Shop A Complete Guide | Tutorial to Set Up an Etsy Shop | Complete Guide to Set Up an Etsy Shop | How to Set Up Your Own Etsy Shop | How to Sell on Etsy | How to get Started with Etsy | Successful Etsy Shop #etsystore #etsyshop #etsy

How to Set Up an Etsy Shop A Complete Guide | Tutorial to Set Up an Etsy Shop | Complete Guide to Set Up an Etsy Shop | How to Set Up Your Own Etsy Shop | How to Sell on Etsy | How to get Started with Etsy | Successful Etsy Shop #etsystore #etsyshop #etsy

How to Set Up an Etsy Shop A Complete Guide | Tutorial to Set Up an Etsy Shop | Complete Guide to Set Up an Etsy Shop | How to Set Up Your Own Etsy Shop | How to Sell on Etsy | How to get Started with Etsy | Successful Etsy Shop #etsystore #etsyshop #etsy

How to Set Up an Etsy Shop A Complete Guide | Tutorial to Set Up an Etsy Shop | Complete Guide to Set Up an Etsy Shop | How to Set Up Your Own Etsy Shop | How to Sell on Etsy | How to get Started with Etsy | Successful Etsy Shop #etsystore #etsyshop #etsy

How to Set Up an Etsy Shop A Complete Guide | Tutorial to Set Up an Etsy Shop | Complete Guide to Set Up an Etsy Shop | How to Set Up Your Own Etsy Shop | How to Sell on Etsy | How to get Started with Etsy | Successful Etsy Shop #etsystore #etsyshop #etsy

How to Set Up an Etsy Shop A Complete Guide | Tutorial to Set Up an Etsy Shop | Complete Guide to Set Up an Etsy Shop | How to Set Up Your Own Etsy Shop | How to Sell on Etsy | How to get Started with Etsy | Successful Etsy Shop #etsystore #etsyshop #etsy

7 thoughts on “An EPIC Guide + Tutorial on How to Start an Etsy Shop”

  1. I NEVER comment on things, but I just read through this entire post and feel compelled to comment. This is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for! My husband and I have been discussing starting our own shop for a while so I’ve been looking for all of the tips and tricks that I can find. Must seem to be very short, onesies or twosies, though. This is so incredibly comprehensive and helpful! Thank you so much for putting this together!!

  2. This is the best tutorial I have seen on how to set up an Etsy shop. Thank you for all the thought and time that went in to it. I really appreciate your sharing.

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