So I decided to check out the competition to see if it was just me. You may remember that back on December 2nd I’d gone through Craft Count and picked out about 20 of the top, comparable sellers of digital collage sheets. In an excel spreadsheet I wrote down their total sales up to that point. Now, 15 days later, I checked in to see how they were doing. I recorded total sales, average price, and subtracted estimated etsy fees. Guess what? It’s not just me. Out of 23 stores—the absolute best of the best selling collage sheets on etsy—only one is netting more than $1000 per month (around $1700). The average is just over $400. To put it in context, not one seller is making above the U.S. poverty level from etsy alone. By comparison, my average sales on etsy in 2011 were $3000-$4000/month.
I know that not every category is down on etsy. There’s even other types of printables (invitations, templates for photographers) that are doing quite well.
But my own niche of jewelry-specific digital downloads isn’t looking too great at the moment.
I’m not pulling the rip-cord yet on this experiment of mine. But it’s becoming more obvious that digital collage sheets on etsy alone will not pay the mortgage.
Day 17 - December 17th
Etsy Sales: $8.94
Etsy Views: 230/day
Total Etsy Items: 398
Updated Etsy Items: 12/398
Facebook Likes: 322 (up one)
Instagram Followers: 500
Posts
2 comments:
I'm so glad that you are doing this. I sell jewelry (and a few other things) and up until this year I thought I would be able to quit my full time job and make jewelry full time. I figured between craft shows and etsy I'd be making more than what I make now. This year my sales are way down, both on etsy and at craft shows and I was really starting to think it was my style of jewelry, lack of promotion or other varied factors that come with not being able to work at this full time. I think those *factors* do play into my sales BUT I am really beginning to believe it's not me and it's etsy and the economy. People just aren't spending as much on frivolous stuff (nor am I) and it's showing. I am very anxious to see where this leads and I think you have done some great stuff so far to try and jumpstart your shop that I myself need to do. Thank you for taking the time to do this and for being so transparent about it all!
Thanks so much Meghan! It's honestly good to know it's not just me. I definitely have friends who are doing okay, and others for whom it's tanking, so I'm trying to figure out as much as I can as far as those factors go that you're talking about. We'll see!
Post a Comment