The craft trade through Etsy

We are sure that lovers of art, crafts, creation in general know - they should - the Etsy platform, a project that allows creators of all kinds to put their works on the market.

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The operation is very simple: Etsy will allow you to publish your creations on any of its websites and will be in charge of managing the transactions derived from your online purchases. A way, without a doubt, quite appropriate to make yourself known if you are starting in this DIY, illustration, etc.

We have been visiting the platform, and far from wanting to make this post a tutorial on how to create your online store on Etsy.com, what we want is to show you our assessment and opinions about it.

Etsy.com: web design and usability

There are certain basic points that influence the user experience on a website, and design and usability are two of the most important. To what extent does the Etsy platform use them? At the usability level, the web has a clean and orderly design that facilitates navigation through its different levels. All product categories and subcategories appear perfectly organized in the main menu, and the predictive search engine makes the task much easier.

Although it is true that it uses a responsive design, that is, adaptable to mobile devices, we believe that perhaps at the graphic level it could be improved; more taking into account that it is one of the platforms with a creative theme par excellence. It has a good color combination in both tabs and typography, it is true, but in general it shows a somewhat classic and low risk look.

How to shop on Etsy

Although each of the articles shown in the different categories of the web varies depending on its creator, at a general level we see that most have a good product sheet. A detailed summary about it, photographs and other alternative purchase options. Also interesting, each product includes an assessment of other users, something that can guide us in our purchase process.

Making a purchase on Etsy.com is easy.

You can do it by registering for free or as a guest, and once you select the details of the order you have several options to pay for it: with a credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express) or via Paypal. It also has two mobile payment systems (for iOS and for Android). In stores in the Netherlands, Austria and Germany the option of bank transfer is also available, and in some cases the option of check or money order. In any case, the seller himself can establish specific payment methods, and the variety is wide.

Regarding the shipping rates and delivery times, it will be each individual seller that specifies them, so they may vary depending on the place of origin of the product.

How to sell on Etsy

You may be interested in selling your original items on Etsy. In that case, you should know that you can publish your first article, it will cost you $ 0.20. You will only pay transaction fees, payment processing fees, and offsite advertising when you make a sale. Thus, you will find these expenses:

• 5% Fee per transaction
• 4% + € 0.30 payment processing fee
• Offsite Advertising Fee: 15%. Etsy pays to advertise your items across the web through offsite advertising. You only pay a fee when you make a sale thanks to one of those ads. We send them all the information from the Etsy listing inventory: listing descriptions, photos, titles, etc. The site's advertising algorithm uses that information to match a user's search or profile information with your ad. They make sure to show the most relevant articles for each user or search.

Bottom line: opinions on Etsy

In summary, we believe that Etsy is a fairly complete platform, very useful to save on our first creative works, although if you are looking for something more professional you should consider creating your own website. Although there are customization options, the design of each online store on Etsy is quite limited and you will not be able to show the essence of your products or creations.