Etsy Seller Interview with Chuck of CustoDad

How CustoDad 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?

CustoDad is the place for custom creations built by a Dad. The idea for CustoDad all came about after my wife and I wanted a clever idea to thank our child's teachers at the end of his school year. Many of our designs in the Shop have been thoroughly tested by our children for Birthday and Valentine's Day Parties as well as Holiday and Teacher Thank You's! After seeing the results of my design sales and the clever concepts, I decided to run with the idea of child-centric designs for classrooms, birthdays, and special events. Many of my designs spawn from trending food and non-food items that would be handouts for children's Valentines.

Favorite items

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

My favourite items in my shop are my custom Valentine cards and tags and teacher appreciation gift card holders. Not only are they fun to conceptualise and design, but they are also fun for my children and family to hand out during their classroom Valentine’s Day parties and as teacher thank-yous!  These items tend to sell well since mostly every child has a Valentine’s Day party, and many children also tend to thank their teacher in some way during the school year. I believe that these items that I designed are simple enough for parents to print and cut out, but they are also popular amongst parents.

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 made my first sale in about a month, and it was actually on a custom birthday invitation I had created. I feature many different themed birthday invitations and stat charts in my shop that are made to order. I market my shop on Instagram (@custodad), but I feel that I get many visitors through SEO and keywords used within my Etsy Listings.

Managing CustoDad

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 am the sole designer and creative specialist for CustoDad; however, I get many of my ideas and concepts from my wife, who informs me of awesome trends and great products to feature my designs on.

My main tool for concept creation and design is the Adobe Creative Cloud. I also tend to browse many stock websites for inspiration and ideas for many of my listings. Instagram (@custodad), Pinterest (@custodad), Threads (@custodad), and Adobe Express are the channels I use for marketing. I tend to use Canva for personalizations as well.

Since 100% of my listings are digital downloads, there is no need for shipping or fulfilment for my shop. Even though this is the case, I do offer free personalization for all my listings. When a customer requests personalization, I am the one who answers them directly, personalises the order, and sends the personalised order directly to their Inbox. There is no middleman or robot answering their messages; only I do. I find that this approach guarantees 100% customer satisfaction with every order placed.

The future of CustoDad

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

My main goal for my shop would be to continue coming up with successful listings that not only generate sales but also joy and simplicity for parents and loved ones every time they visit CustoDad.

Advice for new sellers

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

Find something you love to create. Find a niche that no one else is doing. Be persistent and thorough when creating your listings. Photography is key and will attract many visitors, so create the best vision for your product. Cross-link your listings among many social media channels and create traffic. This will help customers find you in more searches using keywords and listing data.