piddix's unofficial guide to etsy

1. Always have, wear, or otherwise show off whatever it is that you sell. Many jewelers talk about selling items "off their neck." Cute kids wearing your hats or shirts are the best models. And always give your products as gifts to friends. They'll get compliments from others, and they'll be able to pass along your name.

2. Keep your business cards on you whenever you go out. One place for "free" business cards is www.vistaprint.com (see link at right). They currently have 42 free full-color designs to choose from (though it seems everyone always picks the mod looking green and pink star). They do charge $9.25 for shipping, and on the back of the card they put a small tag line about their web site, which you can delete for $3.99 Even with the nine bucks for shipping, that's still cheaper than other online stores and printing companies, which tend to charge $20-$30 for between 250 and 500 cards.

Another super-fun card that I just discovered is a London-based company called moo. Using your photos in flickr (or several other photo web sites such as Bebo and Habbo), you get 100 mini photo cards, and can personalize them with up to six lines of text with your name, web site, etc. Besides being adorably cute and easy to make, you can also have a different photo on each card. The 100 pack is $19.99 plus $4.98 shipping. Go to www.moo.com/flickr/ and click on the orange button that says "make 100 cards." There's even an etsy seller (splatgirl) who has a lovely tutorial on how to make a moo-pocket to carry your cards, as well as selling the pockets in her shop. And another etsy seller, Josie Soho, has cute moo card tins for just two bucks.

3. Do a craft fair. It's a good place to meet people, hand out your cards, and hopefully make some money, too. It's also a good place to see what sells well and do a little product testing.

4. Once you've started to make a little money, invest in post cards. You can get full color versions pretty cheaply--even on recycled paper. I've had good luck with www.psprint.com, but there are probably hundreds of places online to try. You can also make smaller amounts by creating a 200-300 dpi file that's 4 by 6 inches and taking it down to your local photo print booth (or there's many places online as well). I use the nearest Fred Meyer grocery store and they're only 19 cents each.

When you get your postcards, post them everywhere that has a cork board or a table--restaurants, community boards, random hallways. Put at least a couple in each place so that people can take one for themselves. If you're not any good at graphic design, trade something to a friend or another etsy member that is for some help.

piddix :: images for your art