Nobody wants to really talk about how much money they make. It's in poor taste. It's nobody's business but your own. And I agree. (well, kind of. If you're blabbing about how much money you make in public. discussions among friends are fine...)
But those of us that dream of quitting our day jobs, and making a living on Etsy - are very interested.
I read an interesting blog post today here, written by a shop on etsy with over 10,000 sales. So, it got me to thinking.
You can see Etsy's top sellers here http://etsybynumbers.blogspot.com/2009/04/etsy-top-200-sellers-handmade.html.
The #1 handmade shop has sold over 24,000 items, at an average cost of $15 (guessing, it is probably $18) - 24,000 x $15 = $360,000 - etsy and paypal fees = $335, 241. Of course, I have no idea what the costs are for making her items. And the shop joined in June of 2005, so that is over the course of 3 years. I could live well on just about $100,000 per year.
Could you?
It takes tremendous talent, as well as marketing know-how, fabulous customer service too.
But the #1 thing that will make you a success is your product.
How fabulous is your product?? And how much demand is there for your product? Is your product so fabulous that 24,000 people HAVE to have it??
7 comments:
wow, i have never done the math, that's pretty impressive! i agree you really have to have something special and then it's alot of hard work! thanks for stoppinb by my blog!
I'd be fine with much less. I'm not expecting to make a list; I just want to survive with a little extra :) Thanks for posting this info--make you think...
Great blog post...you are right that no one talks about this, but it is always on our minds!
I personally know one of the top few people on that list. She told me that their early success was due to asking customers to blog about how much they loved what they bought. If they blogged about it, they would be sent a small free item. She said that sales went up quickly as a result of people blogging.
Well thanks for sharing that...I don't know if I feel better or worse...lol.
Interesting reading. I'll never be a top seller, my stuff takes too long to make and I can't really charge for my time because people say, "you want WHAT for a doll?!" But I do what I love and I make a bit of money...well at least until next Feb.
I could never do it enough to make it big. I have too many children who need me. But it is everyone's dream, right? Not to have to work 9-5 for someone else.
Melvin's background can be found here: http://mouchois.blogspot.com/2009/05/in-beginning-there-was-melvin.html
He has all sorts of updates since then including problems with seizures, his love for water and also some other minor problems in his life. But that post is his beginning. :)
Thank you for asking!
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