I had several people tell me that I should be doing a blog about my experiences as a first time seller on "Etsy and the trials and tribulations of making dollhouse miniature plants when I had not created any for years. Finally decided to listen to them!
Since I have never even considered doing a blog, it took long enough to get this basically set up, so I am not writing much today.
Just a few notes for now.
Etsy is fun and easy to use really but don't expect to make it a full time job and you will be happy. A few people do, but not very many.
The internet has really changed the miniature marketplace. I knew it well 20 years ago, but am just getting back seriously into it. If you are willing to change with the times, it is better now. It is such a small market, now you have access to so many more items! But shows are still really important now. Sometimes you just need to talk to people in person and see exactly which one of several you want. Pictures just don't do it!
Overall, Etsy is where you get handmade items, Ebay is were you get used and commercial products. There are internet sites but I don't know, I don't seem to use them much. I can't seem to find exactly what I want and I can almost always find things cheaper than they are on Amazon if you look.
Etsy prices are really more stable and overall accurate for the category they are in.
I have seen things on Ebay for 1/2 to 10 times a realistic price, but if you shop carefully, you can find most common items (such as the ones in miniatures.com) for 1/3 or better off ordinary prices. It depends if you are willing to trade the time it takes to shop for the lower price.
There are few retail stores around any more, but I still buy from them when I find one, because you not only see exactly what you are buying but a knowledgeable shop owner can help you in all kinds of ways that someone on the internet cannot so I want them to be there!
In some ways it is easier to get supplies now than it used to be, and in others it is harder. You can find anything on line, but stores don't carry the slower sellers in stock any more, so you cannot check them out before you buy and no one in art or craft supply stores has any idea about what the products they sell actually are. At least around here!
I was making some Sculpy molds for some new flower pots. I wanted to play with them. It seemed like a nice idea to not use any commercial product unchanged as any part of my plants. Haven't made pots in 20 years, but it is coming back! At least I still have most of my tools and by the third batch, I was remembering how to use them! It did take two failed batches first though.
Back then, I didn't have the graphics programs to help design my plants either. University agricultural web sites are great sources for what plants really look like. That is one good source that did not exist before.
I am intending to talk about what the day to day procedures are for making my plants and getting them online to sell, and the interesting things that I find around the internet relating to miniatures, but that will be for the next time. I need to figure where to start. At least this is a start.
We will see what all these new things bring!
Any comments are welcome.
Since I have never even considered doing a blog, it took long enough to get this basically set up, so I am not writing much today.
Just a few notes for now.
Etsy is fun and easy to use really but don't expect to make it a full time job and you will be happy. A few people do, but not very many.
The internet has really changed the miniature marketplace. I knew it well 20 years ago, but am just getting back seriously into it. If you are willing to change with the times, it is better now. It is such a small market, now you have access to so many more items! But shows are still really important now. Sometimes you just need to talk to people in person and see exactly which one of several you want. Pictures just don't do it!
Overall, Etsy is where you get handmade items, Ebay is were you get used and commercial products. There are internet sites but I don't know, I don't seem to use them much. I can't seem to find exactly what I want and I can almost always find things cheaper than they are on Amazon if you look.
Etsy prices are really more stable and overall accurate for the category they are in.
I have seen things on Ebay for 1/2 to 10 times a realistic price, but if you shop carefully, you can find most common items (such as the ones in miniatures.com) for 1/3 or better off ordinary prices. It depends if you are willing to trade the time it takes to shop for the lower price.
There are few retail stores around any more, but I still buy from them when I find one, because you not only see exactly what you are buying but a knowledgeable shop owner can help you in all kinds of ways that someone on the internet cannot so I want them to be there!
In some ways it is easier to get supplies now than it used to be, and in others it is harder. You can find anything on line, but stores don't carry the slower sellers in stock any more, so you cannot check them out before you buy and no one in art or craft supply stores has any idea about what the products they sell actually are. At least around here!
I was making some Sculpy molds for some new flower pots. I wanted to play with them. It seemed like a nice idea to not use any commercial product unchanged as any part of my plants. Haven't made pots in 20 years, but it is coming back! At least I still have most of my tools and by the third batch, I was remembering how to use them! It did take two failed batches first though.
Back then, I didn't have the graphics programs to help design my plants either. University agricultural web sites are great sources for what plants really look like. That is one good source that did not exist before.
I am intending to talk about what the day to day procedures are for making my plants and getting them online to sell, and the interesting things that I find around the internet relating to miniatures, but that will be for the next time. I need to figure where to start. At least this is a start.
We will see what all these new things bring!
Any comments are welcome.
Comments
Post a Comment