Our First Questionnaire filled out! Thank you Angela!
To everyone: if there are other questions you'd like to ask eachother, feel free to chime in and say! and Please if, you haven't yet joined the yahoogroup, do so and download the interview questions from the Files page!
Without further ado:
1: what is your name?
Angela
2: what is the name of your shop?
My shop is called Lostzelda
3: Did you start as an Etsy seller or is etsy and extension of a pre-existing art/craft business that you've expanded to online sales? why? (either way)
I started my Etsy shop as an Etsy seller.
4:How long have you been an Etsy seller? were you an etsy buyer before then?
I have been a seller since May of 2011. Before that, I had only been on Etsy a few times but really didn’t know a lot about it.
5: Where did you learn your craft and what prompted you to start a business out of it?
I have done many gallery shows for my paintings but I do many other things and haven’t really sold a lot of my other things. I usually make them for friends and family. One of my friends sells on Etsy and told I should start a shop and here I am.
6: Do you run your E
tsy business from home? a studio? as a side job? I run my shop from home as a side job.
8: Do you participate in local craft fairs? sell at any local businesses? have you found these to be good for your online business or do they keep fairly separate?
I haven’t participated in any local craft fairs yet but I would really like to.
10: Have you sold wholesale or would you be willing to? How do (or would) you set up a pricing scheme so that the wholesaled items would still benefit you but not be overpriced after the retail markup?
I am not sure what whole sale means. ***Wholesale is when you sell your items to someone else and they mark them up and sell them in their shop - they charge the sales tax and you do not, but normally you don't get to charge what you normally would to the general public.***
11: What else would you like to say about your Etsy business?
I try to offer all the things I find fun to make at reasonable prices. I hate when I find something made by someone else that I really love but can’t afford.
12: Do you have any ideas about how we, as a local team might support each-other?
I think it would be really cool if we could organize our own art fair. Like an Etsy shop owner craft/art fair in Davis. The farmers market is very successful and I think if we could g
et enough people to put up tables, we could advertise and have a great success.
***Great idea!!!!***Farmer's market is a little tricky - they have a lot of rules about the theme and content of your pieces....but maybe we could skirt around them a little?
Thank you again Angela!
Thanks, Angela!Yes, Farmers Market is great market but very particular. I was trying to get in for a long time. And I have done many craft shows and fairs including Davis Art Center Christmas sale and Whole earth Festival.
ReplyDeleteMy dream is to have artist coop group and rent out small store- studio with art classes for kids in the afternoon. To save on labor all artists can work several days a month. Oh its a good dream!Good luck!
That coop thing is a really great idea, one worth brainstorming a bit. We have to unite as a group, get as many of the Davis United team together on question and answer session via our yahoo group, unite in a treasury with all our items, each week or so, have a newsletter, and get going on a united facebook and twitter page. Flickr is a great way to go with photos of our team products.
ReplyDeletewhat would happen if . . . instead of inventing our own show, we tried to move in on another! It's time for something in Davis other than the Art Center Show and Sale. Last year there was a not quite successful show (1st time!) at the Odd Fellows Hall. Maybe we could all enter and make it a Davis United combining with their advertising. Thoughts???
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a co-op but worry about how to implement it so it works for everyone (or a lot of people). Personally, I don't have the money to invest in the space or the time to offer. I work 2 jobs and go to school. Ideas? I know this would be something far off becuase it would take a lot of planning and things but maybe we could get the ideas going.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes Amina, my idea was to try and get in on things already happening. Like the Farmer's Market on Saturday. It is such a big thing that is already in place. I will make some calls see what I can find out.
Although, I think we could use the same park (since it is centrally located and gets a lot of foot traffic) and put on a show. If we could get enough people to commit to showing up and running a booth or table, we could have our own art fair. I know me and at least 2 other people I know would do it. One is also on Etsy.
What do you guys think? Again, I will make some calls and come back with what I find out.