Hey guys! If you landed here then I am hoping you are ready to sell on ETSY. Maybe you don’t know where to start or are selling on ETSY already but want to make sure you are taking all the right steps to be as successful as you possibly can. If either of those apply to you then you are in the right place! Last week I told you a little bit about my journey selling on ETSY but now let’s focus on YOU and YOUR JOURNEY. Over the next 4-6 weeks I will be taking you step-by-step through the process of opening your first shop on ETSY and breaking it down into the simplest steps for anyone not already familiar with ETSY. I apologize now if some of the information I share seems self explanatory but I know there are a bunch of people who have no idea where to even start. After the Sell on ETSY series is over I will be turning the heat up and if you already have an ETSY shop this is where you will want to tune in. Be sure you are signed up for the Poofy Cheeks – Sell on ETSY Newsletter so you don’t miss a thing! To kick things off grab a seat, a pen and paper, possibly a binder (because I am going to be sharing a lot of printables throughout this series) and a cup of coffee so we can get down to business. The first thing we are going to talk about is what you plan to sell in your ETSY shop. 
Before I even touch on setting up your account and shop on ETSY we need to know what you are going to sell. What will you fill your shop with? Are you going to focus on a range of items or a variety of the same item? For today I want you to make a list of items that you are interested in selling and then see if there are similar items already being sold on ETSY. ETSY is filled with just about everything these days but don’t let that discourage you. I sell onesies and so do about a zillion other shops on ETSY but I am still raking in the sales. During the Sell on ETSY series I will do my best to teach you how to have your shop stand apart so you don’t have to worry about those other shops. While doing your item research if you come across a shop selling similar or the same items you want to sell note that they are going to be your competition. Take a look at how they are pricing their items and how many sales they are getting. I am sharing a printable for you to use while researching you items with four separate columns. The first column is where you can list the item you are thinking of selling and the other three are where you can list what you find while you search through ETSY. I think making a list and researching your items will give you a better understanding of the demand for the item, the average pricing and you may find a reason you DON’T want to sell an item you had in mind or you might even get a better idea. Grab your item research printable HERE. 
*Please note I am using affiliate links below and will notate those links by placing them within brackets { }. I only link to things I have or would purchase! I am an avid list maker and the great part about filling out a sheet like this is that six months down the road you can reference back to it if you need to. If I could I would sell a million different things but I just don’t have time for that so I focus on what works best for me and my family. However, around the holidays I like to mix things up so I refer back to lists from previous years to get ideas. Sometime this week I urge you to find a {binder}, {three hole punch} and be ready to print a few printables to help you with your shop planning. We are working on laying the groundwork for your ETSY shop and depending on the goals you have for your shop this needs to be something you are willing to put a little effort into. If you decide to go the binder route like I do I have another printable below that you can slide in as your binder cover. 
Now what are you waiting for? Print out the Item Research page and head to ETSY to start researching. You don’t have to stop and look at every.single.shop but just scroll through and get an idea. If a shop stands out to you maybe notate what makes it appealing to you or what you do/don’t like. All of these things are going to help you when it comes time to open your on shop. If while researching you aren’t sure how to view a shops sales here is how you go about it… From a shops main page scroll down until you see the Shop Info on the left sidebar and within that box is the number of sales the shop has had. Also note you can see how long the shop has been open. 
If you click on the number of sales they have had it will show pictures of the sold listings. Click on the list view instead of the grid view and you will also see the dates for each sale. As you can see this shop (this is my shop – Poofy Cheeks Shop) has recently sold a lot of vinyl Easter bucket labels. The red arrow below shows how to get to list view. 
In list view you can see the date on which I sold each item. By looking at the dates you can get an idea of how often a shop is making sales. This will be very helpful as you try to gauge how often a certain item is selling on ETSY and help you to determine what your possible sales might look like. Take note your sales probably won’t start out very fast because you need to build a reputation and build your sales number as well as positive reviews. 
So tell me – what is it that you plan to sell in your shop? I would love to know!! Comment below and let me know!
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