The best way to make money selling your art on Etsy is to find out what tags your ideal customers are searching with. Avoid getting creative with these and stick with the basic descriptions. Also, use the social media share buttons Etsy provides to let your audience know what’s new in your shop. What to Do Before Opening an Etsy Shop. In additional to handmade items, a lot of Etsy shop owners make money selling craft supplies on Etsy that others then turn around and sell in finished products. Etsy launched back in 2005 and it still the number one online marketplace for selling crafts, homemade items and vintage finds. On Etsy.com, you’ll find a community of makers, small-business owners, and shoppers who all share a passion for uncommon and rare goods. If you’re new to Etsy, take some time to get to know us. Review our seller policies and learn about fees for selling on Etsy to make sure that selling on Etsy is right for you and your business. They have fantastic, well researched articles on optimizing your success on Etsy. The other thing is to really understand what it costs to make what you make. If what you make costs $22, but someone is only going to pay $25 for – you are never going to make any money and you are going to make yourself crazy.

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How To Make Real Money On Etsy Easy
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Selling On Etsy For Beginners

How I used Etsy to give myself a substantial raise each year (and eventually make more than everyone I know…)

Welcome to the wonderful world of being a millennial…where our parents made TWICE our salary 30 years ago, and paying the bills is a constant struggle.

The #sidehustle has become a common staple these days, and I’m no exception…I’ve had about FIVE side hustles…from freelance web design to temporary tattoo shops.

But can you actually make REAL money with a side hustle? Or is the internet just full of liars and thieves trying to convince you this is a real thing?

Considering I write a blog BASED on the fact that I quit my job for a side hustle (guess it’s not a side hustle anymore!)…you’d think my response would be a HELL YES.

But the reality is that it took me MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS (and a bit more patience than I’d actually like to admit) to make this whole thing work.

The side hustle that finally did it for me was an Etsy shop.

I started on Etsy by selling “anti-inspirational” home decor that customers could download and print. See the shop in it’s current iteration here.

I got one of my items featured by a big brand, and made over $800 in a single day. And that was the day it occurred to me: this might actually work.

So I started to expand. Soon my shop grew, and I created new products to reach a different audience:

I noticed that wedding items were pretty damn popular on Etsy. So I decided to join the ranks of wedding sellers with my own options for less conventional brides. My wedding shop is no longer active (Explanation to follow).

Etsy allowed me to get my items in front of a large, existing audience…something I’d been trying to do for YEARS on my own with a website.

But the fact is, starting a website from scratch is a bit harder than it looks.

When you create a website, you’re standing alone in the middle of the desert. There are literally NO website platforms that send you traffic (not enough, anyways). That’s your job.

And if you don’t know how to send that traffic, you’re screwed.

Most side hustlers create a website and then expect to make money immediately. But real life doesn’t work like that.

REALITY CHECK: who knows that your website exists? NOT A SOUL. Literally. Zero People.

That doesn’t exactly reek of full-time income, does it?

Sure, you’ll tell your friends and family, and you’ll post it on social media. But that traffic will run out quickly.

I’m sure we’ve all seen this sad little website predicament:

Here we see a traffic bump on launch day, followed immediately by *crickets*.

That’s right kids, the internet is a cruel mistress. And if you think for a second she’s going to reward you for your mere existence online, you’re about to get slapped in the face with a bucket of NO MONEY at all whatsoever.

Which is why I put myself on Etsy.

And my gamble paid off.

In 2015, I didn’t have a blog or website, I was just running on Etsy and Amazon. Here’s a screenshot of my income during this period (all figures in GBP £) :

(2015 USD = $62,259.75 total with current exchange rates)

How To Buy On Etsy

Considering my (cough cough *verbally abusive*) corporate job was paying me less than HALF that, I was pretty pleased with myself in 2015.

And after about 6 months of begging my husband to let me quit my *shit show of a* day job, I FINALLY got a taste of what it feels like to work for yourself:

My first night of freedom!

2016 was more of the same, I had a year to refine my product range, get my marketing tactics on point, and other *business related items* that no one ever mentions.

…Like that thing where you’re constantly afraid the business will fail and you’ll never be able to pay your bills again.

I never ONCE had a low income month on Etsy, but it took me about a year to finally realize I could trust the business.

Here’s a screenshot of my income for 2016 (all figures in GBP £) :

(2016 USD = $87,565.45 total with current exchange rates)

In 2017, I decided to start a blog.

It felt like every person I’d ever met was asking me to teach them how to replicate my results on Etsy.

And as an ex-web designer with a degree in writing, it seemed like I should try to capitalize on that whole college education thing I did.

So I pulled the trigger and got blogging.

And it pretty much changed everything. I went from steady, painfully slow growth to outright being SHOCKED by my own tax return.

During this time, I moved from the UK to the US, so my finances were divided into two. Here’s the hot mess that is my income for 2017:

2017 Income breakdown:
$141,360.21 (UK income) + $39,701.71 (US Income) =
$181,061.92 Total

Now for a peek at my current monthly income…

⇡ Projected Yearly Income for 2019: $320,000 ⇡

So that moment leads me to this question, which popped into my email inbox about a week ago:

I’m not convinced it’s possible to make six figures selling on Etsy. Most “experts” actually seem to make their money selling “how to” courses. I’d just like to do my due diligence before I spend any money. Thank you.

Reading this (pretty damn #accurate) question made me realize: I’ve never really shared what I made over the course of a year (expenses and all)… Nor have I shared WHY I blog when I could make that same money on Etsy.

Enter the rant I just went on ⇡ up there ⇡. Figures and all, out on display for you!

Ultimately, I created a business that worked for ME.

I figured out what I wanted LIFE to look like, then I built the business around ME.

Once you nail down what works BEST for you (even if that means JUST selling on Etsy without a blog) — you work BETTER.

You’re willing to work HARDER.

Bottom Line: The more EXCITED you are about what you’re doing, the more work you’ll put into it. And this usually creates mad crazy success…just remember, it won’t happen instantly!!

Now for what you need to know about actually MAKING money online…

Here’s the REAL truth about your Etsy #sidehustle

You can make 6 figures doing pretty much ANYTHING if you work at it hard enough. But it doesn’t come easily.

During the last three years in business, I was often working 7 days a week…sometimes I was working 4 hours a day, and other times it looked more like 12 hour days…So I definitely wasn’t just sitting around collecting money.

This is one of the KEY reasons I started a blog — I had to lessen the load on my time. Selling on Etsy requires shipping, photography, marketing, and constant work on your storefront.

If I wasn’t creating so

How To Make Real Money On Etsy