How Long Does it Take to Get Your First Sale on Etsy?
This question gets posted in various forums so often by new Etsy sellers looking for their very first sale and the answers are never even remotely helpful.
Sometimes the answer is very definitive: "it takes six months". Usually it's a range months such as 6-12 months or 10-18 months. Because the sellers replying to this are giving their own experience.
Which ultimately means nothing at all to someone else's situation and it isn't even the kind of info that's actionable. What do you even do with info like that? Is it reassuring? Not reassuring? I don't know.
What if I told you that I've launched three digital stores on Etsy in the past 12 years and for each one I had my first sale in week one.
Would that be helpful? Probably not. Not on it's own anyway. It's probably disheartening if you've been waiting for six months for your first sale and it hasn't happened yet.
But that's because sellers are asking the wrong question. Asking, how long did it take to get your first sale, is not a useful or helpful question.
Instead, try asking, how does one go about getting sales quickly after launching their Etsy shop?
That question is bound to give you some really good actionable steps you can take. It also means that the people likely to answer it are not other sellers struggling to make sales, but experienced sellers who know how to get sales.
See the difference?
Here are my top tips answering the question:
How do I Get Sales Quickly After Launching My Etsy Shop?
1. Do your homework first! Don't skip this very important step, there are loads of things you need o know BEFORE launching an Etsy shop. Prep yourself to know what those are.
2. When you do launch your shop, fill it out completely. I can't over state this. There are parts of your shop info that Etsy uses for your shop quality score that affect ranking in search.
3. Look and act trustworthy. There are so many scammers and crooks operating on Etsy. If your shop is legit, make it look legit. Be open and transparent, offer as much info as you can - fill out your shop info!
4. Offer quality products that people actually want to buy. This takes research. Do the research. KNow your product industry and your target customers.
5. Make sure your listings are filled out fully, accurately and in detail.
6. Understand and implement good SEO. This is how you get found in search. If you do a poor job you won't get found and you won't make sales.
7. Have a plan to drive your own traffic. Etsy isn't going to do all the work for you. There are so many products on the platform that you simply can't/shouldn't be relying on Etsy exclusively for traffic.
Bottom line, you have to do the work. If you half-ass the job you aren't very likely to get great results. Set yourself up for success by putting everything you have into it. It may seem hard at first but it gets easier in time once you've learned the ropes and understand the dynamics of the site.
Shawnna
