Well, so this is interesting. About a year ago I have launched an Easy shop and now I should be a successful entrepreneur right? Not really. And I don’t say that with any bitterness. I have learned new things, met some lovely customers, got great reviews – but did not make much money. I have covered my costs and got little bit of profit but not enough to keep me motivated. By now the shop is closed and put on hold probably indefinitely.
Here are main reasons why I decided to do that. It took a way more time to manage, my products were too cheap and I would have to sell a large amount of each item. The shipping was expensive and labour intensive. First I did not mind running to the post office with every little order but it wore off by several months.
What went wrong? I don’t blame Easy at all. I think it is a great platform for people who make products by themselves. I however had stationary products that were more of a supplies for arts and crafts. My big downfall was that I did not think it through properly and jumped into it without asking myself whether I am passionate enough about selling stationary and running to the post office every day. I realised it was not for me. I must say that the customers were really nice and often left a very good review. Some customers became frequent customers and dare I say – fans 🙂 It is a very friendly place and you can meet some wonderful people there which is quite unique thing to experience on a selling platform. Things to ask yourself before you give it a go:
1/ What is my profit margin? /I made a mistake selling cheap items with small profit and had to sell large amounts to get some profit./
2/ How much time I can invest into this? /I had to be engaged every day. You can close for holidays but it is not recommended, some orders can come when you are on holidays, on weekends, during Christmas and so on./
3/ Can I secure the shipping? /I was visiting post office with numerous packages and queueing with people being that were very grumpy because I had ten parcels of different weight and value. After a while I started to dread that situation./
4/Does my product stand out or am I one of many? /I did not have a unique product. I think if I had something that was hand-made or more unique I would be more successful./
So – I hope I did not discourage you but learn from my mistakes – it can save you time 🙂 My next venture is self-publishing…I know I am bit late to enter this field but who knows maybe I will be more successful then with my shop on Etsy. I will keep you posted!
Update: 2019 – Etsy shop did not work for me. I also tried publishing on Amazon – did not work either (but still trying). I took a part-time job at local school which changed to full-time now. It is an interesting work but very exhausting. I do not have time to pursue my business activities. I am thinking about some new business ideas but at the moment they are just in my head…
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