Etsy Seller Interview with Melanie of BoyBandzAndBabyGear

How BoyBandzAndBabyGear 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?

My Etsy shop is called BoyBandz and Baby Gear. It all came about through my beautiful, yet bald, firstborn son. One day I thought, "He needs something cute, but he won’t wear a hat; why can’t I put a cute, traditional crochet headband on him?" Not a giant pink bow and sequins, but something more my style that matches his clothes. I’ve always tried to challenge my assumptions about gender and break gender stereotypes. I found someone selling a simple brown crochet headband on Facebook and wanted to purchase it, but I never heard from her after the first message. If she had sold me a headband, that would’ve been the end of the story; it was just a nice thing for myself and my baby. But I could not find a simple brown headband! I’ve always loved crafting, so I decided to learn to crochet and called up a friend to see if she would teach me. I was going to sell headbands for boys myself. 

I’m a big planner, and I always try to do things right the first time. So I did a lot of research. I read about creating an Etsy shop. I tested to see what yarn would be soft and of high quality. I looked for buttons that were cute, tasteful, and available in large quantities. I timed how long it took me to make a headband and how much yarn it would use so that I could decide what I would need to pay myself. Since I am a photographer, the photos were my favorite part, and I asked many mom friends to let me photograph their babies and use their pictures for my shop. Finally, I knew it was time to open the shop, even though it definitely wasn’t polished or perfect. It still took a lot of work, with more to come. By this time, I had my second son and used him as the main model for my logo. So it did take quite some time between the initial idea and opening the shop!

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My favorite items are the original crochet BoyBandz and my most recent set of screen-printed boys’ t-shirts. I’ve always loved picking out yarn and buttons, and crochet headbands generally work best for babies, which was my original intention. I had the "baby gear" part of my name from the beginning because I knew I would expand to have my own designs on clothes, stickers, and maybe nursery decor. So I took a screen-printing class. After doing a fair amount of unisex rainbow animal onesies (all colors and all animals are for all genders), I wanted to do something to counteract a lot of the messaging that boys get. Boys are told that they are strong, sporty, and rough. But boys are also sensitive, caring, and gentle! Those qualities should be celebrated and encouraged.

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?

I got my first sale right away: My mother-in-law bought a headband for a baby shower. Family and friends sales are real; don’t tell yourself they don’t count. Family and friends believe in you, and they show it when they buy something from your shop. I watched some really helpful videos on the Etsy site about getting more sales, and this taught me more about product photography (I had been mostly a wedding and portrait photographer up to that point). I also have a lovely and generous friend who started a shop years before me. She told me a lot about promoting my shop on social media and what to include in item descriptions. I still find that Etsy-promoted listings work best for me. Generally, people are googling or searching for boy headbands without knowing if there even is such a shop, so that’s where I want to be sure they see me. As a busy single mom, I don’t have much time for social media or in-person sales. I like to let advertising do the work for me.

The future of BoyBandzAndBabyGear 

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

I would like to add more designs to my series of T-shirts that highlight gentle, nurturing, and kind qualities in boys. I have three more designs in the beginning stages now. I would also like to add downloadable images for nursery decor. I have so much fabric I need to release too.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Many amazing, talented crafters and artists start shops with no understanding of business, especially customer service. Retail experience is very helpful. You get practice understanding how to communicate patiently and respectfully. Customers give you a gift when they ask you questions; they want to buy your product but need more information. So don’t be snarky just because they’ve asked the same question that everybody else asks. And if you are getting the same question over and over again that you have answered in your listing, well, you haven’t done a good job getting the information to the customers. I will put the most common information as an infographic in my images. So people can read it in the comments or see it when they’re scrolling through the product pictures, which is what most people do. As for messages, start your response with, "Thank you for asking me this question." Because people who don’t bother asking the question buy from a different shop.