Thinking of opening a Pattern site

[chapeaunoir]

On my own domain. Since my Karthok store is closing at the end of this month and I'm just going to be using the free listings from now on (it's my dollar store so really it doesn't need a 'store', just whatever I'm getting rid of), I'll have that extra $$ per month.

I figure I'll start listing my national dress items and unusual things that don't sell on eBay anymore. Also I'm thinking of purchasing wholesale.

Does anyone here have Pattern on Etsy?

[somany]

Jan 8, 2018 1:02:20 GMT chapeaunoir said:

On my own domain. Since my Karthok store is closing at the end of this month and I'm just going to be using the free listings from now on (it's my dollar store so really it doesn't need a 'store', just whatever I'm getting rid of), I'll have that extra $$ per month.

I figure I'll start listing my national dress items and unusual things that don't sell on eBay anymore. Also I'm thinking of purchasing wholesale.

Does anyone here have Pattern on Etsy?

chap, there’s a lot of patterns for sale on the Facebook ebay overstock and liquidation buy/sell group. 150 uncut patterns for $100. Don’t know if you’re interested in buying any or if they would be what you want but thought I’d let you know.

[chapeaunoir]

I wasn't clear, I'm sorry about that!  "Pattern" is the (confusing, I think) name of an Etsy affiliate site where you can sell anything you want, but it's allied to your Etsy store - not limited to what you can sell on Etsy. They really could have thought of a better name. 


www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/introducing-pattern-by-etsy/41339317184


ETA: But thanks for the info about the patterns for sale - that actually is of interest to me. I used to sell patterns - sold a case and a half of them before I ran out.  So I'll check it out as it was an easy and pleasant item to sell. 

[thekloset]

although the promise seems to be that its seamless, i wonder why you would want to pay fees for an affiliated site that it sounds like you still need to do significant work for (optimization, promotion, etc). i think i would either just make my own true store website/social media store or i would just stay on etsy and save the $15 rent since it cost the same on the FVFs anyway.

or maybe i'm missing something. to be fair, i've never heard of it until the link above so its possible i'm overlooking the benefit of it.

[chapeaunoir]

Jan 15, 2018 12:37:17 GMT thekloset said:

although the promise seems to be that its seamless, i wonder why you would want to pay fees for an affiliated site that it sounds like you still need to do significant work for (optimization, promotion, etc). i think i would either just make my own true store website/social media store or i would just stay on etsy and save the $15 rent since it cost the same on the FVFs anyway.

or maybe i'm missing something. to be fair, i've never heard of it until the link above so its possible i'm overlooking the benefit of it.

Those are all valid concerns, and I have the same. What I'm thinking is that the Etsy affiliation might help with recognition. Also you can sell things on Pattern that don't qualify for Etsy - basically you rent the Etsy platform and their tools, shopping cart, etc., for your own enterprise. It's sort of a half-step to setting up your own website. I'm finding eBay to be less and less of a fit for me and my niche. 

[Deleted]

I've been away, in part serving as an admin in a 26k+ member group of Etsy sellers lol. Although I do not use pattern myself (my sales don't support the additional expense) one of the chief complaints we see from people that use Pattern is that they suspect they lose traffic on Etsy because of Pattern - it doesn't seem to be something the algorithms like (if that makes sense). Almost as if they lose some prime SEO spots on Etsy, and they suspect Pattern is to blame because "it was fine before" they opened it. Again, I do not use Pattern and have never seen for myself, just passing along the word on the street

[chapeaunoir]

Hmmm...people have wild ideas about SEO over there, but...Etsy is in no way a reliable income at least for me (it bounces between $500 and $1250 a month in sales, seriously - it's completely unpredictable), but I suspect the new CEO is going through with his mention of cycling exposure and that may be one way they are doing it. They do make a lot of their money on 'seller services', i.e., Pattern, ads, promos, etc.

After good sales for three months they've dried up to nothing so I'm at a loss. It's almost impossible to plan for anything when it comes to Etsy, that's for certain.

@greenkim - what is this FB group? My account that I had since about 2004 or something was disabled but I have a new one (it doesn't have any of my info on it, though, as that was all lost).

[Deleted]

Jan 17, 2018 5:07:50 GMT chapeaunoir said:

Hmmm...people have wild ideas about SEO over there, but...Etsy is in no way a reliable income at least for me (it bounces between $500 and $1250 a month in sales, seriously - it's completely unpredictable), but I suspect the new CEO is going through with his mention of cycling exposure and that may be one way they are doing it. They do make a lot of their money on 'seller services', i.e., Pattern, ads, promos, etc.

After good sales for three months they've dried up to nothing so I'm at a loss. It's almost impossible to plan for anything when it comes to Etsy, that's for certain.

@greenkim - what is this FB group? My account that I had since about 2004 or something was disabled but I have a new one (it doesn't have any of my info on it, though, as that was all lost).

SEO IS a big thing.  Being properly categorized and setting up appropriate attributes, your SEO and tags are all that search uses.  Additionally, if you want the chance to be featured by one of the trending front page links (not something you can sign up for, you have to be found by having an awesome listing and product), you need to have amazing photographs and plenty of them (we are now allowed ten instead of five).  Vintage sellers are not as saturated as a lot of the other markets, so if you're comfortable with your income at the status quo, then keep on being you.  Me?  I sell my handmade greeting cards in a market that's heavily overrun by printed and digital content cards - I have to invest a lot of time in staying current with trends so I stay on the first ten pages of search results.  (And sometimes even that doesn't help!)

The current CEO is trying to make Etsy "THE" place to buy gifts, so SEO and tags tied to gifts are becoming essential.  They are a lot of work to maintain.  If you have anything for sale that could be for example, a Valentines gift for her, put "Valentines Gift for Her" in your title, then use up two tag spaces for "Valentines Gift" and "Gift for Her".  Go through and do this for all applicable things.  Then once VD is over, go back and change them to something else, ad infinitum.  It's exhausting lol.

[Deleted]

Oh, I'm sorry, did not finish lol.

The group is called Etsy - Helping Etsians Promote. We have three application questions you must answer, and of course can name drop that you've known me for a long time (Kim the admin lol). ETA:  Say you're one of my "eBay friends" and they'll get scared LOL - Just kidding.  Sort of   Apparently my eBay experiences have made me one of the more traumatized admins lol.

[sunsetpainter]

@greenkim  Is this the correct page?

www.facebook.com/HelpingEtsiansPromote/

[chapeaunoir]

Thanks, @greenkim - I have a lot of competition in vintage* and we don't get much exposure on Etsy, so I rely heavily on SEO, Etsy ads, etc. I'd like to get into that group as a good mind-hive that helps me keep up is a great thing, but am continually blocked by Facebook who has now blocked the second page I just set up, demanding information that I will not give them. They refuse to take either my unmarried or married name saying that it doesn't sound like a name I go under in everyday life.

So I think Facebook and I are done.

*ETA: I should say that vintage clothing is a tougher sell.  I think a lot of vintage décor, particularly mid-century modern (right now) does better, but as I said on the other thread, finding that around here is tough and it's quite expensive when one does. Everyone sells on line, it seems, including the thrifts, though I'm always on the look-out. 

[Deleted]

Jan 17, 2018 14:20:01 GMT sunsetpainter said:

@greenkim   Is this the correct page?

www.facebook.com/HelpingEtsiansPromote/

No, that's our fan page.  This is the group: www.facebook.com/groups/226851564163654

[Deleted]

Jan 17, 2018 20:01:36 GMT chapeaunoir said:

Thanks, @greenkim - I have a lot of competition in vintage* and we don't get much exposure on Etsy, so I rely heavily on SEO, Etsy ads, etc. I'd like to get into that group as a good mind-hive that helps me keep up is a great thing, but am continually blocked by Facebook who has now blocked the second page I just set up, demanding information that I will not give them. They refuse to take either my unmarried or married name saying that it doesn't sound like a name I go under in everyday life.

So I think Facebook and I are done.

*ETA: I should say that vintage clothing is a tougher sell.  I think a lot of vintage décor, particularly mid-century modern (right now) does better, but as I said on the other thread, finding that around here is tough and it's quite expensive when one does. Everyone sells on line, it seems, including the thrifts, though I'm always on the look-out. 

You have good company in feeling less exposed in vintage, it's a common topic unfortunately, but there are not as many of you (which may or may not be a good thing...)  I'm sorry FB is being a jerk, you're welcome any time if you decide to get it sorted.  In the meanwhile, keep a careful eye on your seller update emails and emails about trends (I just received one of the latter this morning), they will give you a good idea on what SEO keywords they'll be promoting so you can utilize them on your applicable wares.  They also have a lot of podcasts and things to keep up with. 

[chapeaunoir]

@greenkim - do you know Cindy Does Stats? I'm on her mailing list - she does a lot of testing and search analysis.

I wish Etsy would just send these updates to out convos instead of our email - my email for any and all selling sites is just for junk, spam and receipts so I never check it because I have way too much junk going in there. I'll have to do so for Etsy - I understand they won't accept another email save for the shop-registered email as I tried to sign up another email.

[Deleted]

Jan 18, 2018 4:31:24 GMT chapeaunoir said:

@greenkim - do you know Cindy Does Stats? I'm on her mailing list - she does a lot of testing and search analysis.

I wish Etsy would just send these updates to out convos instead of our email - my email for any and all selling sites is just for junk, spam and receipts so I never check it because I have way too much junk going in there. I'll have to do so for Etsy - I understand they won't accept another email save for the shop-registered email as I tried to sign up another email.

I do not know her.  I have the great privilege of a good friend who does listing rewrites and SEO sales packages on Etsy, she is an amazing analyzer and comes up with some very helpful stuff so I haven't had need of anything else aside from occasionally checking EtsyRank.  Even canceled my Marmalead sub, they almost never helped.

I learned my lesson about deleting Etsy emails without looking... right after they launched the sales option... and I missed the specifics for getting in on their first official promoted sale.  Now I read them all like a hawk lol.

[chapeaunoir]

I FINALLY got onto my newer FB page - sheesh. I think they kept directing me to my old page. I applied to your group - my FB is Gen Marek (married name) just so you know. 

@greenkim - I was pretty successful in both of their promoted sales and would do another again in a minute - they did NOT promote vintage, at all, until well into the Labor Day sale. They did better at the Christmas sale. They really, really needed some help from merchandisers to code both of those sales correctly, it was pretty flakey, but it STILL worked.  

Who is your friend who does SEO packages? 


ETA: - THANKS! I'm in! 

[Deleted]

Jan 18, 2018 4:54:04 GMT chapeaunoir said:

I FINALLY got onto my newer FB page - sheesh. I think they kept directing me to my old page. I applied to your group - my FB is Gen Marek (married name) just so you know. 

@greenkim - I was pretty successful in both of their promoted sales and would do another again in a minute - they did NOT promote vintage, at all, until well into the Labor Day sale. They did better at the Christmas sale. They really, really needed some help from merchandisers to code both of those sales correctly, it was pretty flakey, but it STILL worked.  

Who is your friend who does SEO packages? 


ETA: - THANKS! I'm in! 

I saw you and added you, I remember who you are from years back <3  I'm not around here much but I was on the CAB for years, scaled back on eBay for my crafts on Etsy.

I sent you a PM via FB messenger from my personal page (Kim Huffman) with a link to one of our documents with an excellent SEO guide that was written by my friend, Jen (the one who also sells her services).  Check your "other" folder.

That first sale was a mess... and the second one wasn't a heck of a lot better.  There was a huge outcry on the forums because so many of us were not represented by the clickable front page categories they designed even though we used the exact SEO we were told to use.  They ended up having to add more categories mid-sale but a lot of us still didn't get any exposure.  And then there was/is the software glitch that allows some shops to have multiple spots on each page of the top ten pages and others weren't found at all even with people using the exact SEO from their listings to test. *sigh* 

So many problems... but... they are working on it.  A lot more to be done still if Etsy is going to be the "premier" site for gifts, but IMO it's best to stay with it because it's going to be great once things are more settled.

[RetroMonde]

"So many problems... but... they are working on it. A lot more to be done still if Etsy is going to be the "premier" site for gifts, but IMO it's best to stay with it because it's going to be great once things are more settled." 

So nice to hear your positive thoughts about Etsy Greenkim. They do seem to be making changes and working hard to improve the site WHILE getting more buyers for us. I run 3 different stores there but have still relied more on eBay sales to pay the bills. Since the first of the year Etsy has been WAY better for me than eBay so I'm planning to put more effort into my stores there, including doing promotions (which I've never done). And it's interesting about the gift promotion- I need to go change some tags & titles now. Was Etsy also considering a reality show about makers?  

[chapeaunoir]

@greenkim - thank you! I downloaded it. I read a lot about SEO but am always willing to read more by a fellow actual seller who had had successful experiences, as I think this is much more applicable than theory.

I'm also happier with the way things have been going on Etsy - very up and down but seems to be improving, even on the vintage side.

[Deleted]

Jan 18, 2018 18:10:10 GMT RetroMonde said:

"So many problems... but... they are working on it. A lot more to be done still if Etsy is going to be the "premier" site for gifts, but IMO it's best to stay with it because it's going to be great once things are more settled." 

So nice to hear your positive thoughts about Etsy Greenkim. They do seem to be making changes and working hard to improve the site WHILE getting more buyers for us. I run 3 different stores there but have still relied more on eBay sales to pay the bills. Since the first of the year Etsy has been WAY better for me than eBay so I'm planning to put more effort into my stores there, including doing promotions (which I've never done). And it's interesting about the gift promotion- I need to go change some tags & titles now. Was Etsy also considering a reality show about makers?  

I'm probably going to butcher this because I was only half paying attention lol...  Etsy did a recent podcast with the person who I believe is the person who writes the Etsy trending guides (?) or something like that lol.  She said she was going to be a judge on some sort of reality show which I think is going to be kind of like Shark Tank for handmade.. or something.. lol.  I do not have TV so I pretty much tune out when people bring it up.