Waiting for your first sale on Etsy can be a long and anxious process.
There’s no guarantee that your shop will begin to sell within the first week or even month of launching on Etsy. There are shops that sell right away, but more likely, your shop will have to take a little time before it begins to sell.
When Should You Expect Your First Sale on Etsy?
New Etsy shops can take from one week to over a month to get that first sale. There are outliers that receive their first sale within three to six months, and there are shops that get sales immediately.
It isn’t an exact science, but you can average about one to three weeks for your first sale, depending on view count. For those shops that get immediate sales, you can probably bet they have a preexisting following of fans or followers on social media that want to invest in these products.
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How Long Does it Take on Average Before the First Sale?
The average length of time that it takes to earn your first sale on Etsy is roughly one to three weeks, depending on your view count our preexisting customer base.
You’re more likely to earn your first sale within the first month of your shop’s opening if you spread the word to friends and family or post online to your social media. New shops that don’t spread the word or invest in themselves by getting their shop out there may not see a sale for over a month or two.
If you’re hoping to get your shop off the ground before the first month is over, consider posting all over your social media.
Get excited about your product! Be proud of your store! Create your own “brand” around it and constantly talk about knitting, writing, painting, sculpting, woodworking, or whatever it is that you’re doing.
How Many Views Do I Need Before the First Sale?
Before your shop can sell, it needs to be seen.
Even a successful Etsy store will have hundreds of views per week and only sell a dozen items. This can be discouraging to new shop owners, and it’s hard to imagine what kind of work it takes to get hundreds of views on your shop.
Well, as we’ve said before, spread the word to get those views! One out of fifty views has the potential to lead to a sale, depending on your target audience and who you’re posting the word about your shop to.
More often, though, shops will have over one hundred views before it makes its first sale on Etsy. This is largely due to the competition on the site, and how many different shops will be selling roughly the same product with different variations.
Visits vs. Views
It is important to remember that a view is not always a new person every time.
“Visits” are individual customers or someone logged in from a different account visiting your shop, while a “view” is how many times that visitor clicks around on your shop to view your products.
This means that one visiting individual could have more than thirty or fifty or even one hundred views or clicks around your shop.
Etsy has a great analytics system that allows you to get an idea of what your shop stats look like at any given time. While you’re looking at how many views you got that month, make sure to check out the “visits” and see how many individual customers are actually looking around at your shop.
How Long Does it Take for Listings to Appear on Etsy?
In our previous articles about Etsy listings, we discussed that Etsy listings are built to show up automatically – if they don’t require some prior approval from the site.
Once you publish the listing, it is out there for the world to see.
Related Article: How Quickly Do New Etsy Listings Show Up?
However, that doesn’t mean that the listing is going to be seen by customers searching within your category right away.
New listings are set in the algorithm to do well, but not right away. Instead, it can take up to four weeks before your listing starts to show up in search results and rate within your category.
This is for a few reasons, whether it is the improper use of SEO, lack of detail in product descriptions or because your product doesn’t have enough star-ratings and customer reviews – either way, the system will take a little longer than most sellers might want in order for their products to show up in front of the right customers.
Once your product is showing up and rating in the Etsy algorithm, you are more likely to start showing up more often, which will lead to more views!
How Long Does it Take to Start Making Money on Etsy?
Once you’ve started to gain views on your Etsy shop, your first sale shouldn’t be too far away!
It can take nearly 100 views before your first sale on Etsy, and even successful shops will go through thousands of views per month but only sell fifty to one hundred items.
This can be difficult for new sellers, because you may spend the first month without sales. This usually happens if you don’t take the time to announce the existence of your shop online or if you set up the shop and then leave it alone to fend for itself. If you’re lucky and spreading the word about your shop, you could earn your first sale within the first week.
To jumpstart this process, consider having friends or family invest in the store by buying a few items and leaving great reviews! Once your shop has some credibility, it makes it easier to get sales in your shop from new customers.
While it can be awkward to ask people you know to invest in you and your dream, compensating them with an amazing product is the best way to thank them for their time and support!
How Does the First Year Typically Look for New Etsy Stores?
The first year for new Etsy stores can be a bumpy ride.
Many sellers are lucky enough to make a good enough profit within the first six months of their shop, while others may not start to earn a profit until after that first-year mark has passed.
New businesses, big or small, take a long time to return on their investments. You may have spent a lot of money on supplies and materials and spent hours each week to make many amazing products or items or designs.
If that’s the case, it may be hard to realize that you won’t see a return on that investment right away or even within the first few months.
An entire year with a new Etsy store is a lot of hard work, patience, and dedication, working hard to get the word out about your shop and keep an eye on how you are running your business. You should join the Etsy community forums, ask questions, get advice, and work hard to make your business the best it can be!
Once your business is off the ground and has made it over the first-year mark, you may find that it gets a little easier from there.
How Do I Get my Etsy Shop Noticed by More People?
Social media is an Etsy store’s best friend.
Posting about your listings and announcing new products is a great way to keep your fans and customers informed about your shop – and also to hopefully make a few sales!
If you don’t have a huge social media following, take the time to be part of the Etsy conversation on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. The more you participate in the community, the more likely that other people are going to follow you and your shop back.
Once you’ve got a small following, ask your followers to rate, review, or share their experiences and purchases online, leading credit back to you and your products.
If your customers are really happy with their experience, politely ask that they leave you a good star-review on Etsy to tell other customers that you are a trustworthy shop!
As a small business owner, you are marketing yourself. You won’t have a team of advertisers and social media gurus behind you to get the word out – unless you’re paying for ads or team members to do so.
If you find that the free methods of social media and spreading the word aren’t working, consider investing in Etsy’s Ads or a third party marketing company to get the word out about your product.
How Do I Know if my Prices Are Right?
The best way to answer this question is to compare your product with other stores that are doing well.
What are their prices, and how are they going about customer service?
While it can be hard to match or compete against the bigger shops and their prices, knowing what their prices are and working your business around those is a great way to be part of that community. Customers will have expectations for shops and their prices, and you’ll want to meet or exceed those expectations.
Furthermore, it gives you an idea of what your shopcould be in the future, and how you will want to curve your brand as the business grows.
How Do You Get Visitors to Buy on a Brand New Store?
Visitors are hesitant to buy on a brand new store without views, reviews, sales, or star-ratings.
This means that you really have to put your best products and your best foot forward. Mostly this comes down to getting help from family and friends.
Even if your friends and family aren’t buying your products and leaving reviews, they can help spread the word about your new business venture. This is a great option for new sellers without huge social media followings.
If you do have a good foothold in social media, convincing your followers to buy comes down to announcing products and making it clear that you’ll be talking about your store moving forward to try and get views. Don’t spam your following, but make sure that they are aware that your shop exists and that you’d like their support!
Can You REALLY Make Money on Etsy?
There are many successful Etsy shops that have become larger businesses and even corporations over time.
Related article: Can Etsy Make You Rich? Here’s What to Expect
However, it can take a long time for an Etsy shop to make enough money to let the owner quit their day-job and work full-time in their shop. In fact, some never make it there – instead, many successful Etsy shops already have an online following or grow their following quickly in order to make it big.
If you do have the time, patience, and dedication to keeping up with your shop, informing family, friends, and your social media followers about it, and making the best product that you can, you have the potential to quit your 9-5 job and go big!
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