Revising

Posted on by LittleFears

I’ve often said, it’s hard earning a living from an online blog or business. The real money comes from the real world and paying clients. Earning entirely from the Internet can be done, but it’s something most of us won’t ever achieve.

My art prints for example. I can take them to market stalls with greetings cards and earn more in a day than my Etsy store earns in weeks. That’s partly my fault for not promoting it enough, and, from the feedback I’ve gotten, it’s also the price.

At markets, I sell them for £12. On Etsy, they’re £15. The reason for the price jump is post and packaging. You have to offer free shipping or Etsy dumps you down in search. I have to incorporate a max of £4.20 into every sale. That’s the shipping to the USA cost. I have hard backed envelopes cost, listing fees, print cost and transaction fees on top of that. Expenses stack up quickly selling Etsy. All that compared to a market stall, £10 for a day, sell as much as I can.

But look at my Etsy shop. Two years and thirty’ish sales. Actually, ignore my shop, that says fourteen. There was a digital hiccup and I lost feedback and sales last year. All the same, you get me? My Etsy store is just sitting dormant.

So, with listing fees needing to be renewed for the next three months, I’ve taken a view. Revised things a bit. The prices on all art prints have been dropped from £15 to £12 including free shipping to anywhere in the world. I also need to start working at my Etsy store. Not just dropping links to it in posts, but getting new art things on there. New original art, ACEOs, new prints like the “Drink Tea” design I have on Threadless. Not just more character images, because they just aren’t cutting it online.

This post might read like a bit of a downer, but it isn’t. I have probably broken even between sales, shipping and listing fees over the last couple of years on Etsy. So it’s cost me nothing to find out selling on Etsy doesn’t work unless you work it hard. That’s fine by me. Lessons in life, business and the Internet are rarely free.

If you fancy visiting my now slightly cheaper Etsy store, hit the following link: littlefears.etsy.com

If you want to get into Etsy yourself, I cannot recommend Melanie Greenwoods course on Skillshare enough. It’s three hours long and covers, quite literally, everything.

It is a premium course, but if you click my link to it, I believe you get two free months of Skillshare premium. https://skl.sh/2kvcAJi

Shout out to my new Patreon, Clare London of clarelondon.com and thanks to Warren for the continued $10 Patronage. 

Ko-Fi | Patreon | Etsy | Books | Skillshare | Threadless

29 thoughts on “Revising”

  2. Yes!! I know exactly what you speak of in terms of Etsy sales and such. I also listen to Melanie’s podcast continually. I’m looking forward to watching the video link you shared. Thanks for the info and good luck with future sales!

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  3. Lessons in life, business and the Internet are rarely free.

    That should be tattooed to our foreheads, like the backwards Ambulance you see on the front of Ambulances that looks stupid until you see it in the mirror. Man. I just threw real $ at a major uni continuing ed program that everything contained therein was readily available on the net for free, or several used books at Half Price Books for $40, or both. Worked my way through them over the last 5 weeks and still had wads of cash to hire a real editior and eat good food. Yeah. Education is worth you pay for it, and sometimes end up kicking yourself because I didn’t want a fucking Ph.D.’s worth of education! Good luck, bro. One of these days when I recover from this last net fiasco I’ll pick up a cloud.

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    1. Urgh, I hate wasting money on education. I once got suckered out of $80 for what amounted to a “top 10 ways of marketing your blog,” thing. It’s why I tend to stick to sites like Skillshare for general small courses or Creative Live for longer courses. At least with Creative Live, you can often watch all the videos before you buy a course.

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  4. Sorry you have been finding it difficult to sell on Etsy. You are appreciated. I bought one of your books and a cup of coffee once. Sorry I disappeared. The fun went out of life and smiling hurt(s) Big squashy hugs for you ❤️

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    1. Squishters! Big hugs, mate. Really, sales on Etsy not being good is my fault. You need to work these things, and I haven’t been working it. No need to feel sorry about that, heh. Cheers for the support, mate. 🙂

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      2. I got ya, mate. Repeating my offer here, if you need a blether, please do drop me an email for a chat, mate.

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    1. Ooof, Etsy is hard. It seems the only sales I get are from people I send to Etsy myself. It’s a common comment on the platform.

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    1. There’s a flock of sheep across the road from me. I could Banksy the lot and they could be an army of Fears adverts, haha!

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  10. Yeah, it’s funny… I get most of my sales from “lemon-aid stand” marketing in my front yard during the sunnier months. People will drop $10 or so (USD), mostly just to hear my story about how the family gets together and makes stuff. It think it’s the personal interaction that makes the sale, not necessarily the product…

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    1. Yes, exactly! Most of my online customers are regular Fears followers. It’s the connection people have that sells sometimes. That said, I still need the income from RL and online sales combined with work I pick up to pay the bills still. I can’t narrow things down to just one income, online or offline.

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  11. Thank you for sharing your frustrations. It is a beautiful piece to read and also it serves as a prompt for things to think about when trying to make a living as a creative.

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    1. Cheers, Michelle. Yeah, I think we need to revise and check what we’re doing with ourselves often and acknowledge when we’re sometimes on the wrong track. Good luck with your own adjustments!

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