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Wandering Knitter posted:It's the drat pictures. You don't even need a top of the line camera, you just need to photograph things well. Fancy cameras help make that a little easier for you, but in the end it's all about the lighting (and consequently the white balance) and cropping/how the subject is framed in the photo. Modern digital cameras take pictures at such high resolutions that you can hide any noise or color bleeding from the original image if you're just going to be displaying it as a small image on the web. My old camera would put a purple glow on any bright edges, but if you printed out a 3x5 or shrunk it down to web size, you never would have known it was there.
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Dec 24, 2011 06:26
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You can sell anything at a high enough price if you have a top of the line camera. 
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I opened up my shop! Yay!   http://www.etsy.com/shop/hatpire I specialize in making cut-paper shadowbox art, though you wouldn't really know it yet since I don't have many listed. I just got back from a convention and I've sold pretty much all of my boxes, so I need to make more!   And some other examples of my work which aren't currently in the shop:    I also carry acrylic keychains (I had my designs printed at Printsess.com; they're laser-cut and extremely durable):     
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Apr 30, 2012 05:26
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  Funhilde posted:Added a bunch more ties today Those are adorable! If I had a cat I would totally buy them all and dress my cat up and my cat would probably hate me, but it would be adorable as all get-out. Sapphaholic fucked around with this message at 05:11 on May 10, 2012 |
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May 10, 2012 04:15
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Funhilde posted:Do you do special orders? I haven't considered it! I don't know if I quite have the confidence in my skills to take full-on commissions from scratch, but if there's something in particular you're looking for, feel free to message me via Etsy (I don't have PMs here). I can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do?
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May 14, 2012 01:44
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Dangereuse posted:I have looked at your shop a few times, really wanted to buy stuff but don't live in the US. If you ever decide to offer international shipping (to Australia), let me know I'll be quite honest, I'm not doing international shipping because I've never shipped anything international save for one gift to Canada; I ended up paying super expensive shipping. I have no idea how it works. :unsure: Funhilde posted:Cool. Thinking by best friend would love a shadow box that would be zombie related perhaps. I was actually thinking about putting together a zombie box. :3 I'll message you on Etsy when I get one done and available~
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May 17, 2012 07:26
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flutterbyblue posted:I strongly recommend shipping international. About 25% of my orders are international (just last week I shipped to Malta). As long as you're shipping fairly light weight things, it really isn't much more expensive than shipping in the states--provided you just do international first class, which is all I will do if people do not want to spring for super fancy expensive shipping or if I haven't agreed to a faster method. Once you get out of first class shipping soars crazy fast. I've been looking into it a bit more (you all have been very helpful) and I might open up international shipping in my store soon. It does seem a lot easier and less scary than I thought! My first (real and not withdrawn) sale yesterday may also have influenced my decision a bit. :unsure: quote:P.S. Also, if you decide to offer international shipping, just grab a handful of the little customs forms when you go to the post office (if you mail from the brick and mortar building). I keep a stack on hand since filling them out before I head in makes shipping go so much quicker. 
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May 23, 2012 03:37
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I ended up springing for international shipping. A day later, I sold something to Australia. Go figure.  With that sale plus a few more, I realize that I really don't have all that much stuff in my store and I need to get off my butt, move over to the work desk, get back on my butt, and get to work.I've been browsing the Etsy community forums a little, and I've posted a few times already in various topics, but there's currently a thread full of rage over there regarding shops that sell art of the "fan" persuasion--using characters covered by copyright and the like. People are encouraging reporting shops regardless if they know whether or not the shops have licenses to sell handmade goods based off of an existing IP. It's sort of steered me right clear of posting on those forums again. Half of my favorites are technically violating copyright (video game and cartoon goods) and over half of my own personal purchases off of Etsy were essentially fan art in some fashion. And of course I have fan-art based things in my store. Now I'm pretty much terrified of someone from the Etsy forums clicking on my store and trying to get me shut down because of it. 
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Jun 9, 2012 06:24
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zoecore posted:People have a lot of time on their hands and I think the power of reporting gives them a feeling of superiority "my art is better than your art". Between here and there, I did get some good tips for international shipping. But overall they seem to have a pretty big entitlement/backseat mod complex. NatashaQuick posted:Ha, let them go ahead. I sold poo poo on IRC alone for over a year before I finally put it all up on Etsy. I don't feel any guilt over raping the poo poo out of Nintendo's IP, and they're not going to waste their time getting Etsy shops shut down either. Now, someone wants a Poptart Cat plushie, so I searched Etsy and saw TONS of that stuff all over the site, but since it was invented by some guy over the internet, I feel obligated to ask his permission before I sell something he came up with. I'm the same way. When I was prepping for Anime Central, the hubby asked if I was going to make any Nyan Cat or Homestuck stuff since I think both are cute and both were also likely to be popular. I told him no, because they were someone's private creation and I respect that. But fan creations of the big IPs featuring stuff that the big IPs don't offer? I'm okay with this. So I've been fooling around with the idea of putting some handmade greeting cards up. I ended up making a prototype card with Sherlock and Doctor Who on it based on the "I believe in Sherlock Holmes" meme. It's on its way to a friend right now, but I think I'm going to make more for sale. I also have a few ideas for some superhero-themed general greeting cards and some Christmas-themed ones for later in the year. 
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Jun 11, 2012 03:36
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mds2 posted:I just opened an Etsy store for my grandfather and myself. He has been a woodworker for over 75 years, and I have recently picked up the craft. Those are beautiful but I can't help but think you're cheating yourself with those prices. They're so low!
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Jul 11, 2012 01:03
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I wouldn't necessarily pay $50 for the original birds as I don't really like budgeting that much to jewelry in general, but the original ones do look way nicer. Painted and sculpted better, photographed better, etc. I don't really like the idea of copying something someone else on Etsy is making, either. If they were each thought of and made independently and they just happened to be similar, there's some leeway there. But on purpose? No thanks.
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Jul 15, 2012 22:17
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Wandering Knitter posted:I just needed to make sure that it was "completely ripping off another artist" and not "Using the same God drat pendants that everyone else uses because Joanns sells it cheap". Yeah, this is in a different realm entirely than the "let's dump That Damned Octopus in brass-colored paint, stick a gear behind it, and call it steampunk" that everyone and their dog does. I feel unoriginal sometimes having fan art up in my shop, but at least it's me taking something in a direction I haven't seen before. 
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Jul 16, 2012 02:35
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flutterbyblue posted:Isn't it against the etsy policies? I know a bunch of places do it, but I thought it was technically against the rules. I think it is, which is a shame since it's a really nice idea and something that Etsy's shipping profiles don't currently offer.
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Jul 16, 2012 08:12
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Wandering Knitter posted:I hate to double post, but is anyone up for an SA-Mart Christmas sale thread? I am! But holy crap I still need to make a bunch of stuff to put up in the store! I'll gladly join in around early October!
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Sep 20, 2012 00:37
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How much does it usually run per person for the banner?
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Sep 20, 2012 19:34
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Wandering Knitter posted:It really depends on how many people join up. We had a ton last year, so it was about $5-7 each. Maybe even less, I'll have to check my notes. Oh heck, if it's even anywhere in that ballpark that's more than fine. I wasted ten bucks on Etsy's advertising that got me absolutely nothing, and this is actually more likely to get me my money's worth.
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Sep 21, 2012 04:37
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I'm also not activating my coupon code until the thread is up. Right now I do have GOONS10 for 10% off, but when the other goes live, I'm swapping them so only the shipping will be active. So there's 10% now for any goons that want to buy something.  Happy Hatpire Designs My specialty is cut paper shadowbox art with a cute, geeky flair! I also have handmade greeting cards available as well as acrylic keychains. Free US Shipping! Just use coupon code: GOONYGOON
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Sep 22, 2012 21:59
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I have a lot more yet to make, but I put up some new holiday-themed greeting cards in my store! I'm not really sure how cards sell nowadays, but they're super cute and unique and I hope there's still an interested enough market for them. http://www.etsy.com/shop/hatpire 
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Sep 24, 2012 09:24
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Funhilde posted:Has anyone else been using the USPS built in shipping label option? I just ran into my first real problem with the scanner not being scanned and the package seeming to be lost somehow. The one Etsy offers? I've been using it religiously since they introduced it, especially since I can ship internationally with it (although I couldn't print a label for a Canadian order, but I'm able to print one for Australia--go figure?). I would get in touch with the post office that took the package. I ordered some supplies recently from an Etsy buyer and got the Shipped notification along with the tracking number from Etsy. It was Priority, and after it hadn't arrived nor been updated on the tracking in a few days, I got in touch with the seller who got in touch with her post office. Turns out it had been sitting there, and once she nudged them they found it and sent it on its way. Got it a week later and the label clearly says it shipped when it was supposed to. So yeah, check with your post office?
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Sep 28, 2012 04:21
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omgmypony posted:On another note, how do you guys handle international shipping? I use three quotes for shipping on my store--USA, Canada, and Everywhere Else, all calculated through First Class International. The "Everywhere Else" price is based off of shipping to Australia, which I'm told is generally the most expensive location to ship from the US. I figure if shipping to their country ever costs significantly less than the Australia price quote, I can send them a partial refund for the amount over. It's working out pretty well for me so far!
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Oct 20, 2012 22:47
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flutterbyblue posted:I ship pretty much anywhere but Italy, and that's not so much because of the postal system as it is that the vast majority of products are forbidden imports. I literally do not make anything that could not be confiscated by customs. ...holy poo poo, I just decided to take a look at the list to see if I sell anything prohibited for export to Italy, and some of these restrictions are INSANE. A few that just don't make any sense to me: 1. Albums of any kind (of photographs, postcards, postage stamps, etc.). 2. Bells and other musical instruments and parts thereof. 3. Haberdashery and sewn articles of any kind, including trimmings and lace; handkerchiefs; scarves; shawls, needlework including stockings and gloves; bonnets, caps, and hats of any kind. 4. Playing cards of any kind. I mean, they have this stuff listed in the same category as, say, radioactive materials. What the hell?
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Oct 20, 2012 23:08
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Rathina posted:Knowing your way around Photoshop is just as important if not more important then having a light box. Exactly! You don't even need a good camera, honestly. The vast majority of my shop pics are taken with my Galaxy Nexus, because I'm really impatient and my camera battery is never charged. All I usually do in Photoshop is some cropping and then Curves adjustments--I rarely have to adjust anything else in the picture, unless I don't have a solid sample of white or black for my Curves adjustments.
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Oct 24, 2012 01:43
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I make unique items based on things from popular culture. I'm hoping I'm able to keep things up for a while, because you can't get anything like my art from the copyright holders, and people like my stuff. In other (slightly E/N) news, this past week has been HELL and I'm terrified I'm going to get some negative reviews on my shop because of it. Holiday orders are coming in--which is good! Except my wife's car is in the shop getting a new transmission, and we're stuck carpooling via my car until sometime next week. Maybe longer. What this means is that I'm at work pretty much twelve hours a day (our work schedules means the only viable option is for me to go in super early, and then sometimes wait a half hour to an hour+ after I finish work for him to come pick me up). The post offices are closed both before and after I have a car available to me. I'm exhausted, scrambling to get orders together in my home time, and doing my best to mail them all out on time, but I'm starting to run behind. I've been upgrading shipping for any orders I'm running behind on by a day so that people still get their stuff on time, but I feel terrible about it and I'm terrified someone's going to give me a negative review. :/
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Dec 1, 2012 07:34
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flutterbyblue posted:And as knitter said, keeping in touch with people and letting them know what's going on will do a lot to help. Most people are very understanding. Most sellers with negatives for shipping delays are the ones who kept their buyers in the dark, or dragged their feet in telling them about delays. I'm hoping my suave customer service skills will help me avoid negative reviews from the couple of customers that I fell behind with. I completely forgot about the automatic shipping machines, too.  I got a response from one buyer thanking me for keeping them up to date, no response from the other. But now I'm all caught up, I have my car back, and all is right in the world! I think I'm pretty much going to be making cards every day until the orders stop coming in for the month, but I am caught up.I don't know if it's the SA Mart thread or what (and it has worked! Goons are lovely, lovely people and I'm happy they like my stuff!  ), but sales have been totally rocking this month. It's my first Christmas and I really had no idea what to expect. If I could do it again next year, I'd make a TON of extra cards so I can spend the month getting new items up.I have a bunch of designs in various stages of completion that I really want to finish up, but all my time has been spent making more and more cards because people keep buying them. Not that I'm complaining, this is wonderful. But I feel sort of bad that items have remained more or less static for a few months.
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Dec 6, 2012 07:37
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Mizufusion posted:If you think that's bad, you should hear the debates people have on Etsy about using live models for earrings. Hey now I'm pretty sure earrings can't be cleaned and the holes that earrings rest in are basically gaping wounds and you don't want to get aids from someone else's earrings now do you?  Live model or not, I hate it when stores that sell wearables don't have some sort of picture that lets me see how it might look on a person. Heck, give me a frame of reference for the size, at LEAST!
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Dec 12, 2012 04:06
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Rathina posted:There is a whole lot of stuff I see in the Etsy forums that makes me ask that same question...I really try not to go in there anymore. The behavior of a lot of sellers in the Etsy forums also has continued to amaze me. I don't know how it's been lately since I try not to look in there, but the amount of sellers that are overly rude/inappropriate to other forum posters is astounding. They don't seem to realize that every terrible post they make is connected back to their store. I remember one person telling me that they didn't have to be polite/courteous in the forums because they weren't specifically talking to customers. Any time I post somewhere that can be linked back to my shop or my artwork in general, I try to remain courteous. Shouldn't it be common sense that you don't act like a dick in places where the image you present is directly related to how people will think of your store? Edit: Of course, the best Etsy threads are the "Hey guys, my views dropped. <CHANGE TO SITE> ruined things completely!!! This sucks! Etsy should fix it!" threads, because they happen no matter what change/lack of change Etsy has made, and no matter what time of year it is. Sapphaholic fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Dec 12, 2012 |
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Dec 12, 2012 05:50
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Funhilde posted:Are any of you guys on Twitter? I just had some good traffic to my site from there today after posting back to Bruce Cambell about weird jobs. I signed up for the whole Twitter thing (@hatpire), but I don't really post on there much. Like, at all. I just don't know what to post!
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Dec 13, 2012 03:40
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I find myself using Facebook a lot more but I think that's only because I have more space to write AND more followers there (18 as opposed to 3 on Twitter). Most of those are all friends and family though...
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Dec 13, 2012 17:49
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Wandering Knitter posted:I don't know about where you live, but my postman actually refuses to pick up boxes left in the mailbox. I live in an apartment complex with locking mailboxes and they won't pick up ANY mail. Like I can't even do the "mail me DVDs" Netflix because Netflix would never get their DVD back. Our old apartment complex also had locking mailboxes and we didn't have this issue. We complained to the post office, and they told us just to pin our outgoing mail to the public bulletin board above the mailboxes. Yeah, no to that. I'm not pinning private mail up where any of my neighbors can take it, especially if it's a product going out to someone. So instead I just have the postman at my job take the packages when he drops off the mail. 
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Dec 14, 2012 04:59
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sheids posted:I just started my shop in October, but I used to sell jewellery a few years ago. Etsy is pretty sweet. I sell papercuts/scherenschnitte. All hand-cut all the time. Those are amazing! I do papercuts in a more modern/minimalistic/ultra-geeky style, but I love the more traditional scherenschnitte style like nobody's business. The level of detail you're able to get is nothing short of spectacular. What kind of Xacto blade do you use? I've been using the standard #11 blades for all my work, but it's been frustrating because of how fragile the very tips of them are. Sometimes I'm only using the blade for a couple of minutes before the tip breaks off. It's the very, very tip that breaks or bends even if I'm not using a lot of pressure on the knife. The rest of the blade is still sharp obviously, but missing that tiny bit makes it hard to get a lot of the tiny detail work done. I feel bad about disposing of otherwise good blades too, so I end up having like a dozen good blades for larger work littering my desk while I keep going through all the new ones until the inevitable breakage. How do you do it?!
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Dec 31, 2012 01:25
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pepsigloworm posted:Have any of you ever made something you love so much you're hesitant about selling it? I'm really loving the Rainbow scarf. I keep saying I can always make one for myself, but I know I'll never get around to it. Every piece I put up, basically! Same goes for every piece I've ever sold at a show. One of my last-minute bursts of inspiration a few days before my first convention gave me this: It hung around for a while but ended up selling on the second day. Seeing the expression on the person's face that bought it was really, really awesome, but part of me wishes I had it hanging on my wall. I should probably make another, I think it'd do pretty well.
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Jan 9, 2013 23:46
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I listed a couple new things today. A little something for the Browncoats and a little something for the Portal fans! Feels good to list stuff again, and I should have a lot more listings coming now as I prepare for AnimeCentral 2013 in May! http://www.etsy.com/shop/hatpire
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Jan 17, 2013 07:23
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sheids posted:I use an Exacto swivel blade. I guess I've been really lucky so far and haven't broken any tips yet! I also use origami type paper and not cardstock, so maybe that's it? I've seen those swivel-blades around but I've never used a proper one before. I have this Fiskars one, but instead of a regular handle it's some weird stubby loop thing that you're supposed to put your finger through. Seemed like a good idea when I was looking at it in the store, but it's horribly awkward to hold. I might pop by Michael's tomorrow and pick one up (if they've got them--their selection for Xacto knives and blades is nothing short of terrible). I think I press pretty hard AND the mat I was using was fairly thin (I bought a new mat that's at double the thickness and it's a lot friendlier on my blades) so that might be contributing to the breakage. You using origami paper also explains it, since it's so much thinner than card stock. I'd love to try and work with it too, but I don't think it'd work very well for what I do. quote:Edited to add: Your shop is fantastic too! Love the Spirited Away one! Thanks! I absolutely adore that box and it seems like everyone else does, too. Last year at Anime Central I was making them at my table, and people would stop by and essentially buy them before I was even done. I'd have them put a deposit down and tell them to come back in an hour or so. I'm doing the Artist's Alley again there this year, too, so I'll likely at least make one of them at the table. I've made them often enough at this point that I can still chat with people while I'm working on it, and people LOVE seeing things being made.In other news, I went out and bought myself a Silhouette Cameo! I'm really excited to get it (arrives next Friday) so I can put it to work. It's one of the only personal die-cut machines that lets you import your own designs. I am a little concerned about people thinking less of my art if they know it's not 100% done by hand. I'm still designing everything myself and assembling all of the pieces--the only thing that would change would be instead of using a knife to cut out everything, I've got the machine helping me to cut. Cutting everything out can be really fun and relaxing and I'll not be abandoning it completely, but being able to give my poor wrists a break (especially during the winter where EVERYTHING makes them hurt) is going to be really, really nice.
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Jan 21, 2013 08:04
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Rathina posted:Yea I think at this point I can kiss all my Canadian customers goodbye. About a third of my sales used to be from Canada, but then they raised the prices to $3.50 last year and my Canadian sales dropped by 90%, so now that I'm going to have to charge $7.50 to ship something that already costs $8, I probably wont get any buyers from there at all unless they are the kind that are going to drop $50-100 on light switch covers...people who can afford to do that don't seem to have an issue paying shipping charges LOL. I raised my shipping costs for international. I've had more UK buyers than Canadian, but I'm pretty sure that's going to stop for my cards, which is most of what I sell right now. :/
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Jan 24, 2013 03:43
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Oh my gosh, you guys. Someone on tumblr put up my Portal valentine's/birthday card with a link to my shop (and in the same post two other Portal things I've done with links to my DeviantArt), and THAT made its way to Kotaku's official tumblr, and from there someone linked to the card on their webcomic, and THAT led to over 500 views on my Etsy page and a handful of orders so far today where I normally get 50 views on a good day and a few orders a MONTH.  I don't even know what to say about the whole thing. It's awesome and people are awesome and I'm sort of in shock. TIME TO GET TO WORK. 
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Feb 2, 2013 23:42
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Korovyev posted:Seconding this question. I'm a cosplayer with lofty dreams of making $$ by creating props and jewelry for people with the Replicator 2 3D printer I just ordered. I would love to hear the basic tips for starting off on Etsy. ...I think I know someone that knows you who reblogged a Call To Arms about collecting old Sailor Moon toys on your behalf. Ugh. That's a terrible sentence. Anyway, as someone else whose shop borders the copyright line, I fully endorse your shop idea. Display props (even sold as unpainted/rough blanks) would be absolutely AMAZING.
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Feb 26, 2013 20:30
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Wandering Knitter posted:Holy gently caress, it now costs $7 to ship one of my kittens to Canada. Yeah, international shipping is stupid-crazy now and I don't expect to see many international buyers anymore. :/
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Mar 9, 2013 06:39
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I've been neglecting my poor Etsy store! My last sale was on the 4th and I think the last NEW thing I added was in January. Granted, I've been making a lot of stuff, but I'm sort of hoarding it all for an upcoming convention. I'm not sure why, because if I sell it now I'm still making the money, and I can always remake it for the con?
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Mar 27, 2013 04:22
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Funhilde posted:This is an interesting/disappointing piece of news. This is sad. But at the same time, Fox has every right to do so even if it is a money grab on a series they deemed "not good enough" to continue producing ten years ago. I do hope the officially licensed hats are good quality!Jayne's hat was actually my first Etsy purchase. It arrived in a straw-filled box with a handwritten letter from "Ma Cobb". I absolutely adore it.
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Apr 12, 2013 04:25
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Stultus Maximus posted:The funniest part is that the officially licensed product doesn't look right. Aww. I looked it up on Thinkgeek and it does look a little "off", however due to the whole cease and desist thing (Thinkgeek's all "we didn't have a part of this, stop blaming us!"), Thinkgeek is donating 100% of the profits to a Browncoat-run charity called Can't Stop the Serenity until they run out of stock. D'aww. At least something neat's come out of it?
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Apr 12, 2013 04:53
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 07:31 |
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I'm in for  !Shop: Happy Hatpire Designs URL: https://www.etsy.com/shop/hatpire Creates: Handmade cut paper greeting cards and shadowbox art Coupon Code: GOONMAS - Free shipping in the US!
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Nov 12, 2013 10:19
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