Etsy.com AnonymousMe: Hello, my name is Catherine and I'm an Etsy addict. Everyone: Hello, Catherine. Me: Well, I've been addicted to Etsy since September, and.... Someone in crowd: Hey, I'm new here so what the heck is Etsy? Me: What is Etsy?! Well citizens, let me enlighten you!
Etsy is kind of like Ebay in that it is a bunch of sellers selling stuff. But not just any stuff! Everything on Etsy is handmade or vintage (vintage is defined as 20 years or older by Etsy). There are also people who sell commercial supplies on Etsy such as beads, fabric, etc. There are over 170,000 shops on Etsy and millions of items for sale! So, with that many items for sale, how on earth would you find what you are looking for? Etsy has lots of different ways to shop, so whether you are looking for something specific or just browsing it's fairly easy to navigate. For example, you can shop by categories and sub-categories. Once the items show up on the page they are defaulted to be sorted by most recently listed. However, you can change that to sort them by least recently listed, price: low to high, or price: high to low. This is a great way to find stuff if you already have an idea of what you are looking for. If you don't know what you are looking for, don't worry, Etsy took care of that too. You can shop by color, locally, editor's picks, or the time machine (just listed items). You can also 'pounce', which allows you to see shops with no sales yet. There is the showcase in which sellers purchase a spot to show off their items. There is a main showcase and a showcase in each category as well as a gift guide showcase! You can also use the treasury. The treasury is basically a bunch of lists created by users on Etsy . The lists are pictures of 12 items that the user puts together (there is an article on how to make a list at http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/how-to-make-a-treasury-the-nuts-and-bolts-688/). Etsy puts some of these lists on the front page. These front page lists get changed frequently throughout the day. Also, on the front page towards the bottom are pictures of recently listed items which updates every 15 seconds. Another great way to find stuff is by looking at people's favorites, or by seeing who marked a shop as their favorite. You can mark a favorite item or a favorite shop, or both! Etsy has other great resources too! They have a blog called The Storque where you can find all kinds of articles from spotlights to how-to. There are also classes in virtual labs and forums to chat on! So as you can see, it can be pretty easy to spend an entire day exploring Etsy! If you would like to become an Etsy addict, it's pretty easy, just go to Etsy.com and start looking. If you want to buy anything, you must have an account to do so. But don't worry, an account is totally free! Your account will never be deactivated unless you specifically ask Etsy to do so. If you want to sell on Etsy, accounts are also free! Listing an item costs $0.20 per quantity (so if you have 2 of a particular item it would cost $0.40 to list it). If you sell an item, Etsy will charge a 3.5% sales fee. Most sellers use PayPal or some other payment managing service so buyers can check out quickly. PayPal (which is what most have) also charges a minimal sales fee. It's actually fairly cheap to set up a shop! You can also personalize your shop by adding a store banner and having a shop announcement! There are even graphic design stores such as Thompsondesigns.etsy.com that sell premade or custom made shop banners! Well, I think that is enough information to get started! So go have some fun and I'll see you at the next Etsy Anonymous meeting! (Some information in this article comes from Etsy.com) Addiction starter list!
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