How animalartbyjess got started
Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?
I am an animal artist who started selling on Etsy to supplement my commission income. At first I was only making a small amount on Etsy, but now it probably makes up around 50% of my income, with the rest coming from private commission work (pet portraits), print-on-demand sites, and a presence in a physical shop in the city I live in (York, in the UK). My main requirements for the items I sell in my shop are that they are somehow useful (even if that use is just displaying on a Christmas tree!) and that they are made from sustainable, recyclable, and local materials wherever possible. I avoid plastic in my items and in my packaging as much as I can. I try to focus on more unusual animals in my designs, although I do sometimes do more common ones too.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
I’m very pleased with my handpainted Christmas ornaments (in various dog breeds), but I also love my cat enamel pins:
Sadly, they don’t do very well on Etsy as there’s far too much competition in the cat category! My enamel pins overall sell really well, though (the pet rats are my biggest sellers), and I have much better luck with the cat pins in a physical shop that I sell in.
Getting sales on Etsy
How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?
It didn’t take very long to get my first sale, but sales were slow for the first couple of years. I was mostly selling original artwork at the beginning, and I have found that this doesn’t do very well on Etsy. My sales have slowly built up over the years, mostly through organic search on Etsy and Google but also with a small number of visits driven by my Facebook and Instagram accounts when I release new products. Unfortunately, it’s become tougher and tougher to get a decent reach on social media, but having happy customers share their purchases can be a great boost!
Managing animalartbyjess
How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?
I manage my shop on my own, which works great for most of the year but can be tricky at Christmas when things get really busy! I simply print postage labels (bought through Etsy) on a label printer, which was definitely one of my best investments. I make sure that my items are easy to package, and as most are small, they’re also easy for me to carry to the postbox.
The future of animalartbyjess
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
I think everyone wants their shop to grow, but I definitely don’t want it to get to the point where I’m not able to manage it. I’m mostly hoping to diversify my product offerings but focus on items that are easy for me to make and package, which will give me the time and space to do more "fun" artwork. It can be very easy to end up spending all of your time managing your shop and not actually creating.
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
Be patient; it takes time to build a customer base and for your listings and shop to gain traction in Etsy’s search algorithms. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t make sales right away. Try to find a niche, as you’ll find that for many search terms there are already millions of results and you will struggle to get your items seen.
Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.
Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 4%
animalartbyjess
Animal artist based in York, UK
