Well, as usual, I am behind in keeping my blog up to date! I have been working part time, still trying to get cards made, and working on my new hobby, making jewelry.
I was going to open an Etsy store, but there seems to be a lot of “red tape” to open a store, let alone all the charges for listing, selling, and accepting payment. And that is on top of all the State requirements. And, if you sell in another State, you have to meet their requirements. If I was planning on selling my creations as my main income, I probably would go through all of the hoops. I’m not. I mainly make my cards for friends and family and I’m just getting started in making jewelry.
That being said, anything that I am willing to part with I have listed under my new tap, Crafty Items Available. If an item becomes unavailable (either sold or given to someone), I will remove the items from that page. You might want to check it out from time to time as I can’t seem to stop creating….a great stress reliever!
Well, I just wanted to create a quick post to let everyone know what is going on…..and life does go on.
Thanks for stopping by!
A Little Crafting Time 
Love your work! Necklaces are really nice…I enjoy seeing your posts!
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Thanks Kathleen! I really enjoy making the necklaces! Hope you guys are doing well! Loving it down here!
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This is lovely – so unusual – you really have a crafting talent 🙂
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Thanks Debbie!
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A lovely pendant!
Opening and maintaining an Etsy store is actually quite straightforward; I had one (handmade jewellery & accessories) for a while. Etsy generally takes care of charging any taxes, etc., plus all of the financial transaction, so it should be seamless and not too complicated for you. However, as you mentioned, sellers do have to be aware of their legal obligations such as any state taxes, postal regulations, reporting income on your taxes, etc. Once you do your research, you should be okay.
During the four years or so that I had a shop, I made only about 75 sales. These were fairly niche items that were labour intensive and required more of an outlay in supplies than I could ever hope to recoup, so the endeavour was more a labour of love, not a viable business. But I’d make a sale every once in a while and most of my customers seemed to appreciate the items. (However, you’ll find that only about a third will ever bother to leave a review.) For most of that time, Etsy’s listing fees and percentage that they take per sale were minimal.
But then Etsy started raising their fees – and, although I bent over backwards for my customers all the time, overall they were getting demanding, harder to please, unreasonable, and, in a couple of cases, just plain nasty. And people just weren’t buying much anymore. I realized that the joy had gone out of it for me, and other interests were opening up, so I decided to close my shop. It was a hard decision but the right one for me.
If you’re still considering trying Etsy and have any questions or think I can help, don’t hesitate to ask!
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Thanks for the information! I did decide not to open on right now as it is really just a hobby at the present time. I did read that Etsy generally takes care of charging any taxes for some states, but some of the ones where a lot of my friends are located in, they do not. I really don’t want that responsibility for a simple hobby. So, for the time being anyway, I will just list them on my blog. If I change my mind, I will certainly contact you for any questions that I might have. Thanks again for the information!
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You’re welcome! ☺
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Hi Nancee. As always your jewellery is amazing and worthy of anyone’s money! I have an Etsy shop at present but not very sure if I will keep it, I haven’t sold anything yet but have paid fees not much but as you know you can’t charge too much for hand made cards! My love at the moment is baking cupcakes and cakes, bread etc, and am thinking about turning that into a business, but got a lot of legal things to put in place first. All this is difficult when full time working, but I do agree that if it stops being fun, then your heart will not be in it and then it is hard to carry on. Go with what feels right, and maybe when the world seems normal, you might be able to get a little stall and sell them there! Big Hugs!
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Thanks Kim! There are so many people selling jewelry on Etsy. A lot are dependent on their sales as it is their only employment. I would rather not take a sale away from someone whose only income is from their Etsy store. I’m not in it for the money, more of if I sell something , okay. It not, that’s okay too. I may look into some craft shows around here once things get going again. In the meantime, I will continue to list them on my blog. I’m sure you will be able to sell a lot of cupcakes, cakes, and breads! The ones I have seen look delicious! Thanks for stopping by!
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Thank you. Right now I think everyone needs a cupcake, soul food🧁
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That’s for sure!
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So fun to see your creations Nancee! I took 4 of our granddaughters to Hobby Lobby last week and guess where they spent the time we were there?! In the jewelry findings part! lol
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Love it!
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