Tips to becoming Etsy's featured seller

I thought I'd share this post which I posted in the Etsy forums the other day, which can be found here.

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I've never been a featured seller, it's true! I know that chances are slim, there are so many great sellers for the admins to choose from, and I can hardly expect to be lucky enough for them to choose me!

So, as much as I'd love to offer advise from experience, I cannot...so I hope I do not seem arrogant in writing this! I certainly don't mean to be that way!

My advise is based on how I would choose people to feature, if I where the admin doing the featuring.


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First of all, I thought I might address the issue of posting in the forums. Some people have expressed their fear that perhaps posting in the forums would eliminate their chances of becoming a featured seller, but I must disagree!

True, you may not see many featured sellers hanging around the forums, but my guess is this is because they are much to busy to hang out! My understanding is that being a featured seller requires a lot of time and work! Plus, you are likely to get lots of sales, and that will keep you quite busy.

But I hardly think Etsy would create a wonderful community for their users, and then turn around and not choose someone just because they use it.

That being said, I think that how you use the community can effect your chances of being a featured seller!
How do you respond to a post? Do you get to "yelling" in the forums? Do you call out? Are you aggressive? Do you respond unkindly when you disagree with someone?
We are all entitled to our own ideas, and we are free to believe what we want to believe, but if it's going to cause problems, it might be best not to say anything...or to disagree politely and walk away.

What about spam? There is a promotion section in the forums for us to show off our work, and that's fine!
But do you litter the forums with links and self promotion every chance you get? That's probably not a good idea! No one appreciates it, and if you have a decant avatar, they will check you out if they are interested.

So watch your forum etiquette! Be kind, polite, and helpful, and I'm sure Etsy will not turn their noses up at you!

Now lets talk about other things.

Your photos are so important! There are a number of threads that talk about your photos!
Here's one:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6057351

Also is this article I wrote on my blog about photography.
http://etsytreasurechest.blogspot.com/2009/06/product-photography-tutorial-how-i-do.html

Your product descriptions are important too. I bet the admins look at those!
Here's a great critique thread for descriptions!:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5830932

Good customer service is a must! Even if you don't have many sales, I bet admins look to see how happy your customers are. The happier your customers are with you, the better!

I would imagine Etsy would be hesitant to feature someone if they have a questionable reputation in any of the above, you know?
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And there you have it! Those are the basic things that come to mind when I consider how one might become a featured seller.

I'm sure there are lots of other things, (feel free to add your own ideas), but that is the basic things I think about.

I hope you and I are lucky enough to be considered by admin someday.

But for now, lets just work on improving our image and our shops, thus, improving our chances of being chosen!
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Also, here is an insightful comment by one of my readers on the forums:
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holzfurhaus says:

I don't think you mentioned really good product. Part of what I call the "etsy game", the competition with the etsy community. We are all here because we love our craft. We don't really do it for money. So the fun part of the game is the competition, the drive to use our craft, our skills to continue to create better and more beautiful products. What fun would it be if it was easy.

Then you need, not just a good photo, but a spectacular photo of that product. Then hope that admin sees it. There are so many amazing artists on etsy. A perfect example is someone that hearted my shop today. I go to their shop and I am blown away. See for yourselves. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29541151
It is not just a photo of product, the photo is a work of art by itself. So in terms of my stuff being featured compared to my example. I have a lot of work to do. So good luck to us all!
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Thank you holzfurhaus!
Lets all work together on improving!

Branding Your Shop

When I first looked in to opening an Etsy store, I thought all there was to it was to list my items. I quickly learned the error of my ways and thus started a new series of blog posts on things I’ve learned along the way. One of the first things I learned was branding. I’m still working on branding myself and the look of it all, but I have a fairly good grasp of what is working for my shop. So I’ll tell you what I did, how I did it, and (most importantly) why I did it.

Everyone tells you to start with a Logo. My first was a letter “g” with “www.geekdetails.etsy.com” going in a circle around it. It was hard to read, it has the “.etsy.com” in there and just wasn’t what I wanted so I eventually ditched it. I knew when I wanted to brand my stuff that I did not want .etsy.com on my label. Etsy is great for selling right now, but I wanted options for the future. I went to www.godaddy.com and bought the domain name “geekdetails.com” for myself and used their redirect feature to point it towards my etsy.com site. This allowed me to have all my packaging printed with my name on it without being stuck with .etsy.com packaging if I decide to no longer sell on Etsy. The $9ish I spent on that was definitely worth it.

So what’s with the teal panda? The teal panda is my new logo. If I’m posting elsewhere on the internet, you’ll typically see the little teal panda next to the post. It’s on everything from business cards to packaging to web ads. If my geek details name is on something, so is my panda.



Speaking of packaging, here’s a shot of some of mine.



First, notice they all have my url in a prominent way that allows you to easily tell where you can buy more of these great items. They also all have my teal panda on them so that buyers can immediately recognize the item as coming from my store. They all use the same style font which is one that isn’t a typical font and is easily read. Basically I took the same elements and rearranged them to suit my needs for a particular packaging material.



Changes I’ve made since I started? The button/magnet/pocket mirror packaging now simply says “button” “magnet” or “pocket mirror” instead of “2.25 inch button” “1 inch button” etc. I change the color of the bumbly band depending on what type of item is inside so that I can easily tell if I’m sending someone a magnet or a button which helps me eliminate mistakes in orders.



At one point I had different packaging for the sizes of buttons, button packs, magnets, magnet packs etc. I decided to simplify and in the process, I made it easier for me to package my stuff.
You’ll notice that the saying at the bottom of my items change from item to item. I do that because we (friends and I) came up with so many fun sayings for my store and it was hard to pick just one. So I integrated the various sayings in to my packaging and it’s random what saying will be on what package.



The new hand painted dishware sticker is going to have the same bumbly band on it that my button packaging has on it now. The original one served its purpose, but I’m not afraid to admit when a design could be improved. The “geek details” at the top could be replaced with "www.geekdetails.com” and then the spot where “www.geekdetails.com” is currently at can be replaced with the name of the item inside. I don’t make tons of different dish styles yet so I can do that without putting too much into label materials.



My business cards are double sided. The front is fairly straight forward with just my logo, my url, and my tag line. I wanted my info on my card without making it cluttered though so I decided to flip the card around and use the back as well. The back states a text wall of all the wonderful things you can purchase in my store. It allows me to give people an idea of what I do without having the front of my card cluttered up. Eventually the back will hold coupon codes for return buyers and/or convention attendees.

So why do all this? If you google “branding” or “etsy branding” you’ll find a host of articles most of which boil down to this one:

* Delivers the message clearly
* Confirms your credibility
* Connects your target prospects emotionally
* Motivates the buyer
* Concretes User Loyalty
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This article was written by Amanda of Geek Details. Amanda is an organized creative person. She has a blunt/to the point personality. She also has a blog at http://geekdetails.com/blog/.