Turning Out Top Quality in Your Etsy Shop
04. Feb, 2012 
13 Comments
Sleeved Mantelet Knitting Pattern, Enelya Linwelin, PDF
More than likely, you take pride in your work. You work very hard on your fill-in-the-blank. No one anywhere puts more love and attention to detail into fill-in-the-blanks like you do. For a moment, let’s forget about taking magazine-friendly pictures and writing descriptions that would make Poe applaud you. I want to talk about turning out top-quality in your Etsy shop.
When I make my cord covers, it’s not that I’m not tempted to skip a step sometimes. But I don’t. I always have a nagging thought/scenario playing in the back of my mind that goes like this:
Scenario one:
Customer is actually the owner of a huge brick-and-mortar store who is looking for her next best-selling product. She is devout when it comes to selling quality items to her customers. She goes over my cord cover with a fine-toothed comb under a magnifying glass. Satisfied with the outer surface, the real inspection begins. She undoes my hemming, and what does she find? Instead of serging the unseen edge just this once, I folded it over twice instead. Cord cover goes in the trash, and she goes on to the next product.
Scenario two:
Customer orders 6-foot chandelier cord cover. She actually measures cord cover when she gets it, and it is only 5’11”. She leaves me horrible feedback, saying that I ripped her off. Bye-bye 100% feedback rating.
Okay, so maybe that’s a little far-fetched, but I swear these are things I think about! You should all know by now I’m a little off anyway, but the good news is that my evening sessions with Jack Handy are going great.
I want to encourage you to go above and beyond! Under promise and over deliver. At the least, you should deliver what you promised. Etsy is getting bigger and bigger, and each and every one of us need to make sure that we are putting our best foot forward. There are people who make it their business to showcase less than desirable items that are available for sale on Etsy. These might be items that are just ridiculous, have weird item descriptions, crazy photos, or rip-offs of other items already in commercial production.
As a follow-up piece to this article, I have conducted an interview with the woman behind Regretsy.com. If you haven’t heard of Regretsy.com, then honestly I’d be surprised. She has over 90,000 FB fans, several of which are fellow Etsians. If you haven’t checked Regretsy.com out yet, I want to forewarn you that the language is not kid-friendly. Before you go get offended, I want to console you with the fact that she uses her site to benefit charity shops that are on Etsy. And she’s doesn’t hate all the time. Sometimes she gives props to awesomeness, like these pinatas. She also doesn’t just limit herself to Etsy. There is plenty of supplemental craziness going on over at Craigslist.com.
Before I come back with Part II (Behind the Scenes with Regretsy.com), take some time to go through her site. I’m sure there are a few featured items that you will disagree with, but for the most part she makes some very excellent points. For Part III (Dealing with Negativity in the Etsy Community), I have contacted some people that she has “featured”. Let the journalism begin!
Make sure you hit the Lamebook, Passive-Aggressive Notes, and other links at the top of her page. If satire is your thing, you will be adding those sites to your favorites for sure.
(See treasury Beautiful Blues and Silvers Too for more great quality items like the mantelet pictured above.)
About The Author
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Does the woman behind regretsy have a name ? A neat niche – great concept and I have to admire whoever came up with the idea.The initial bombardment of negativity is a bit scary
but I actually quite like the concept . Thanks for the introduction !
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April Winchell is “Helen Killer” of regresty… Just so gosh darn funny.
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Regretsy is a very interesting site, sometimes funny, a lot “what were they thinking?” & the interesting part is that despite the ‘regrets’ that most of the items illustrate, it truly illustrates the adage “Any publicity is good publicity.” Some of these thing actually sell & even sell well. The woman that makes the gigantic knitted chain necklaces/scarves was once featured in Regretsy & now her pieces are featured everywhere. Even negative publicity can work in your favor. The important thing to remember, though is that quality is still necessary, even in novelty items. The knitted chain necklaces aren’t my thing, but they still seem to be well made. Thanks for the interesting article!
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Let’s face it, a good product comes down to attention to detail. The more you work on the details and not scrimp, the better the product is. As a potter the line between a first and second can be thin. When in doubt, I don’t list. Always best to put your best foot forward.
Ciao,
Sally Anne
PS: I love regresty. Always a good laugh. I am a proud member of April’s Army. Yes, we like to make fun of bad craft, but it’s our love of craft that has brought the bad to our attention. Ok, maybe cruel wit has Helen Killer bringing it to our attention. I’m ok with it.
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I’m such a sucker for sarcasm! The girl’s got talent! My dad was always great at putting people down. And it’s funny until it’s your turn, lol. Ahhh, family….
And I love the name Helen Killer. It’s just funny on several different levels to me. The MJ post was hilarious. It just makes you say “Wow! Really?” And the breast milk post on Craigslist was great!
Can’t wait to get the interview with her posted.
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Whenever I read a horrified forum member who just found themselves featured, I tell them, “If you survived high school, you’ll survive Regretsy.”
As someone who has both followed the blog, and had the dubious honor of being featured on it, I can honestly speak for the quality of my work… and also for the work of friends who have been featured.
Being showcased on Regretsy doesn’t necessarily mean your artwork is “trash” and poorly constructed. (Although some pieces are). LOL
Oftentimes, it’s just the quirkiness of the concept that people love to ridicule. They thoroughly enjoyed questioning my sanity… but a few grudgingly acknowledged my talent too.
You can still have quality without sacrificing your creativity and crazy personality!
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I was featured once and I was super excited. Already an avid fan and member of the community, I was super surprised to see my item up there! It was a lot of fun. Plus, the regretsy readers respond really positively to an artist with a good attitude, so it paid off really well as some fabulous promotion!
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wow. i actually really identify with your scenarios at the beginning. I make jewelry and it is a constant worry of mine that pieces will break. I even do a shake test where I basically hold my jewelry and swing it around as hard as I can and tug on all the pieces. But I still worry that somehow it will fall apart as soon as the buyer touches it.
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Now I have strange images of you swinging necklaces around like a stripper, lol. And I don’t even know what you look like.
But I think we should worry. My cord covers literally help to put food on the table. I don’t have the privilege at this time in my life to spend money on myself. I have GOT to make this work.
Maybe you should send me some necklaces and I should earn some extra money swinging them around somewhere, lol. I think I may have a lime green boa somewhere to offset that kiwi bird necklace….
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It’s funny to read what goes through your mind as you create and sell; I do the same! I shipped my first package to Singapore recently and freaked out that my necklace designs will be made ad infinitum by cheap and flimsy means, but I calmed down. I doubt that will happen, but I see the negative before the positive sometimes, too. But that is also the fuel to do a quality product and double check my materials and work.
I once read on my GA that I got a referal from Regretsy and then really freaked out! But from what everyone has said so far, I’m no longer seeing the negative in that! Thanks, guys! And I did survive high school, so I’m set! (FUNNY stuff TaraFly!)
Very good article, thanks so much!
Rachel
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Very good reminder! Thanks for keeping me honest… and well-made!!!
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I’ve seen Regretsy and hope never to be featured there! I understand sarcasm but it isn’t my favorite form of communication. I do measure things though, having discovered that some of my scarves vary in length by quite a bit, now they are listed as ____size, and you may order other sizes as needed:) Thanks for this important reminder.
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Oh Dear… You have now ruined the way I look at Etsy ;0
After wasting my precious time looking around regretsy & having some wtf moments, I realized I am in the wrong business & I need to start selling egg shells & advertising on my husbands butt crack. I will leave another comment after I make my millions & retire.
*in case that is not your sense of humor- I applaud that site! i am so glad there is sombody or 10s of bodies that are calling people on their bullisht.
Has anyone ever heard of spell check!!!! lol
thanks for sharing the site. I pride myself in the details of my listings & the quality of my work. people ask me why I don’t have something listed yet & I say it isn’t good enough to sell on etsy yet.
I am always up for a laugh & some are ingenius (like the diy cereal bowl) but too bad there are people selling outright crap on etsy.
Here is to all of us who know the difference!
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