Etsy or Ebay for selling your puppets?

[dkmontgomery]

Hi! I just got introduced to a site called Etsy.com which is a site for selling hand made items. I have been doing Ebay for years now. I am thinking that traffic may not be as good on Etsy, but I am not really sure. I did notice that it is totally less expensive to list items on Etsy. Anybody out there familiar with Etsy? I am exploring it at this moment.

 

[Kevin the Frog]

Dan, I've seen the puppetlady's etsy page and it looks nice and all, but as you suggest I don't think it will get near the eyeballs as ebay. It kinda looks more like a shopping cart, for "stock" puppets like you used to do with your popcorn guy, or eyeballs and stuff. You would have to promote it for it to do anything I would think.

 

[dkmontgomery]

Hmmm

Dan, I've seen the puppetlady's etsy page and it looks nice and all, but as you suggest I don't think it will get near the eyeballs as ebay. It kinda looks more like a shopping cart, for "stock" puppets like you used to do with your popcorn guy, or eyeballs and stuff. You would have to promote it for it to do anything I would think.

I was thinking the traffic would not be anywhere near what Ebay produces. Perhaps it does not receive the promotion that it needs.

 

[staceyrebecca]

It's certainly not a cart for stock products. It *can* be, I suppose, but the idea of handmade items shouldn't be stock in the first place. I have three things that I recreate for my shop for which I use the same photo (a set of frog finger puppets & 2 finger-puppet stands), and everything else has been uniquely created and photographed.

Etsy Pros:
-Inexpensive listing fees (good for 4 months)
-Ethically run (as best as they know how)
-Terribly fun
-Etsy was awarded with the Jim Henson Honor for Community (yay puppets!)
-Everything sold there MUST be handmade by you or someone you are incredibly close to. (Not by empolyees making your stuff for you.) And no reselling is allowed, so your direct competition is working just as hard as you are and deserves success every bit as much as you do.


Etsy Cons:
-Not as much exposure
-Masses who shop for pro puppets don't really know about etsy YET.
-Higher Priced items dont sell as much (see above)
-Vintage and supplies are allowed, but will someday have a separate site altogether. There are good reasons why, so I'm okay with it, but some see it as a hinderance...


And I may have success with it because I've been there for so long...I dunno. Anyway, I know I've answered you three-fold by now, Dan, (its been a long day, so I just talk when asked at this point) but if you have any questions, I'm so happy to answer them.

 

[dkmontgomery]

Thanks!

It's certainly not a cart for stock products. It *can* be, I suppose, but the idea of handmade items shouldn't be stock in the first place. I have three things that I recreate for my shop for which I use the same photo (a set of frog finger puppets & 2 finger-puppet stands), and everything else has been uniquely created and photographed.

Etsy Pros:
-Inexpensive listing fees (good for 4 months)
-Ethically run (as best as they know how)
-Terribly fun
-Etsy was awarded with the Jim Henson Honor for Community (yay puppets!)
-Everything sold there MUST be handmade by you or someone you are incredibly close to. (Not by empolyees making your stuff for you.) And no reselling is allowed, so your direct competition is working just as hard as you are and deserves success every bit as much as you do.


Etsy Cons:
-Not as much exposure
-Masses who shop for pro puppets don't really know about etsy YET.
-Higher Priced items dont sell as much (see above)
-Vintage and supplies are allowed, but will someday have a separate site altogether. There are good reasons why, so I'm okay with it, but some see it as a hinderance...


And I may have success with it because I've been there for so long...I dunno. Anyway, I know I've answered you three-fold by now, Dan, (its been a long day, so I just talk when asked at this point) but if you have any questions, I'm so happy to answer them.

Thanks much. I know I left a similar inquiry on several different places to gather input on this. Glad for your advice. Perhaps as Etsy grows, exposure will come. I can't reacll how it was for Ebay, but everything has to get going somewhere.