Thinking about starting my first shop...... advice, veterans??

well I try to keep my prices low

http://www.etsy.com/shop/meimeidesign

between $2 and $20

depending on the type of material

but like kiddo said, promote promote promote

I haven't really sold my items online (I tend to like everything I make so much that I can't ever convince myself to get rid of it, lol) but I do buy handmade things online fairly often.
A handwritten note is always nice, it does really add a personal touch. You should also invest in some nice business cards, and send a few with each order. Then the buyer can have some information on hand if anyone inquires about the item you made.
And if you don't want to give out a gift with each order, you could always hand out coupons. A small percentage off, free shipping on the next order over $x.xx, that kind of thing. I'm always more likely to return to a shop if I like the item I got and I can save a bit of money.

One of my pet peeves as a buyer are over-inflated shipping costs. I will specifically NOT buy something if I can tell the seller is asking way too much to ship the item (especially in the US, we have flat rate boxes now!) So that might be something you'll want to be sure to keep as reasonable as possible

Good luck!