Need money

I need money for my college course. So I want to set up an etsy shop. Does anyone have any tips on it?
I want to sell plushies and bracelets. Does anyone think what I have made will sell?
Also how does the paypal payment work?
Do you get much money quickly from selling on etsy?
Do I have to tell the tax people that I am selling on etsy to get money to pay for my college course?

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16 replies since 13th August 2011 • Last reply 13th August 2011

Reply #1:

You only have to include Etsy in your taxes if you've made a considerable income from it. You might want to talk to a tax consultant.

PayPal works like an online bank, except anyone who knows your email address for the account can send you money or request money from you. Etsy and PayPal work together so that you can link a PP account to Etsy and people can pay you directly from the Etsy site.
Etsy does take a commission, so between Etsy and PayPal, you will be losing about 6% of what you sold an item for.

Typically it takes a while for new shops to make a sale. Making consistent sales can also be a challenge because a lot of people won't leave feedback on Etsy, which buyers look at before they purchase something from a shop.

With all the fees involved with Etsy, if you're actually trying to make money and not spend it, I would say go to Artfire since you can list up to 12 items for free with no commission to pay to AF when they sell.

Another option if you're only going to sell things for about $5 a piece is to check out fiverr.com, a place where people tell you what they will do for $5. Some people can make a decent bit of cash this way. But, Fiverr will probably require paypal as well since Fiverr allows buyers to take their money back if someone didn't deliver a service to them on time.

With Etsy, your postings are live as soon as you list them, but they can take up to a day to show up in searches. With Fiverr, you typically have to wait 12-24 hours to see your gig get posted.

Etsy can be a money pit when you're first starting out, especially with listing fees. I'd probably go with Artfire if you want to sell things without having bits of your profits carved away.

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Reply #2:

ok thanks, I've never heard of fiverr or artfire before, I'll go look at them.

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Reply #3:

Oh actually Artfire will let you do like a 30 free trial and then you have to pay monthly. I had a store there, but they just changed it so I'm not using it anymore Happy
But you can try Folksy.com too, I havent tried there though.
I actually really like my Facebook Business page, its free! You just need to set up a paypal account so you can send and recive money to people. But I like facebook because all my friends and family can see what I'm doing and pass it along to thier friends too.

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Reply #4:

i will look at these places and see what would be best (may do a little on all of them to see what works)
I don't have many friends on facebook (less then 100, and about 30 of them are family)
whilst im making things to sell, does anyone have any idea of what i could call my shop?
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/animalnikki/6043281585/" title="Bracelets by AnimalNikki89, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6133/6043281585_0cb237622c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Bracelets"></a> these are the bracelets, the patterns are stripes, diamonds, hearts, flowers (or no pattern) they can be bracelets or anklets
the plushies would be any animal or cushions.i was also thinking of doing request items if people wanted them or custom colours for the bracelets, but metallic ones will have to cost more because the thread is more then double. also the blue and orange one is made with half the amount of threads so it is half the thickness. what do people think? criticism appreciated, please try to be constructive though!

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Reply #5:

Shop name... Nikki's Knacks? Super cheesy but also very catchy, haha.

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Reply #6:

Hi, FYI: t's Official - Artfire Basic Accounts Ended August 15th ... Artfire is retiring all FREE basic accounts.

Groove Press Steps in with 5 months free....

Artfire is a similar handmade venue, to Groovepress.com

For the past two years, they had offered their sellers a free, basic account - They announced officially that their Basic Accounts would be shut down on August 15, instead they plan to offer 30 day trial periods to all new sellers. (similar to Groove Press)

We respect any company’s strategic actions, and for AF to retire over 42K shops, it must be the right decision to best suit their business model. So how can we over here at Groove Press help all you "X patriots " of AF?

How about 5 Months FREE. List 100 items

Groove Press ~ A collective of creativity + marketplace for independent artists, crafters, makers, vintage, indie retailers and supplies

Groove Press ~ gives you your own e-commerce website and the tools needed to gain consistent exposure, build your brand, and help you create a community of followers.

Groove Press takes all the confusion and stress out of operating an online storefront.

With powerful but simple features you can be up and running in 15 minutes or less! And managing your storefront on an active basis will be fast, easy and fun. Add new products, track orders, use the FREE selling tools and more...

Regardless of the type of seller account you choose, we guarantee NO listing fees, NO final valuation fees, NO exclusive contracts, and NO commissions due to us. Really. NO Kidding! Why pay more?!


What sets Groove Press apart?


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With Groove Press, your Success is our business, and the possibilities for you are endless!

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Reply #7:

um, is this spam?
because it kinda seems that way.

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Reply #8:

Yes. It sure seems to be.

Groove Press isn't getting my business either way.

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Reply #9:

me neither. i was thinking of sticking to one i have heard of frequently: etsy, maybe folksy.
i like Nikki's Knacks, sounds funny Happy

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Reply #10:

i just looked at fiverr.com, its not for me, after they take $1, the $4 i would get, converted into £ would give me £2.40ish, not that much (i dont want to sound greedy but i need to cover expenses of buying stuff and postage, not much to UK, but more to elsewhere)
edit: just looked at artfire, free for 30 days, $11.95 a month after that. If i'm not selling much I think i would be loosing money fast that way. need to have a look at the prices etsy and folksy charge for listing an item

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Reply #11:

I found this http://support.folksy.com/kb/legal-obligations-for-uk-sellers/tax-guide-for-folksy-sellers which says if i sell for profit i should tell the tax people

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Reply #12:

eBay is great.
It reaches more people, and is easy to use.
It does take a bit of your money though.

Let me know when you do open your shop, I will buy something Happy

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Reply #13:

This is my facebook page, I'm actually just about to take pictures to list items.

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Reply #14:

I just listed my first few items on Folksy and Etsy!!
http://folksy.com/shops/AnimalNikki
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AnimalNikki

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