Etsy Seller Interview with Fi of FisJewelleryDesigns

How FisJewelleryDesigns 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?

Hi, I’m Fi, and I am the founder and designer of Fi’s Jewellery Designs, which is now a gift store selling jewelry, pebble pictures, and candles but began as a jewelry store. I grew up in Scotland, and my mom, Marion, always loved crystal and shells, and we often walked in the Ochils, picking up bits of agate, garnet, and amethyst on our way. This is where my love of semi-precious stones and stones in general came from. Whether they were from the beach or a hill somewhere, there were always interesting and different shapes and patterns. My favorite pastime is beachcombing for pebbles and shells.

As a teenager, I dabbled in making earrings for myself, and after seeing someone making jewelry out of semi-precious beads at a fair, I decided to have a go. I made so many that I began to give them as presents to friends and relatives, and a friend suggested that I sell some. It progressed from there to selling at small events and shows while I was still working at my job in a bank.

After a few years, I decided to make wire-wrapped earrings and pendants, pebble pictures, cork jewelry, and leather jewelry.  love creating beautiful things and feel that I imbibe a bit of my essence with each creation. COVID-19 put a stop to all the events, and I then realized that I needed to sell online as well as at events. That is where my Etsy story begins.

Favorite items

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

I love all my creations, as each has its own challenge, and personalizing them for customers is a great experience. I can imagine who they are going to and how the creation will look in their home or on them. My favorite items in my shop are my beautiful tealights and soy wax room fresheners, as well as the cork jewelry.

I love creating the candles and fresheners in my kitchen while listening to music. It's like alchemy, and the results are beautiful to look at and smell! I also like the fact that they are sustainable, eco-friendly, and vegan. The cork is a very tactile material to work with and comes in the most gorgeous colors; it is hard not to love it. There are so many designs and also many items that can be made out of cork now, and the fact that it is so sustainable, eco-friendly, and vegan only makes it more attractive.

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 opened an Etsy shop in 2017 to begin with and had one necklace on it; it didn’t sell, and I gave up. In 2020, I opened a new shop, had a couple of sales within a month, and was starting to despair. After talking to a fellow Etsy friend, she told me "It’s all about the SEO" I had no idea what SEO was!

Facebook had an advertisement for a guy called Charles Curry, an Etsy Shop Owner, who was advertising a free workshop to increase your sales on Etsy. After checking its authenticity on Google, I decided I had nothing to lose, so I spent an hour learning about how to set up my shop properly and how to create titles and descriptions that would follow the SEO of Etsy. I had an immediate increase in sales; it wasn’t massive, but it was working better! I now follow these rules and advertise on Facebook and Instagram to drive traffic to my Etsy shop.

Managing FisJewelleryDesigns

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 a one-man band and do everything myself, which can be tricky at Christmas! I use the Etsy app on my phone and iPad and, of course, the main website on my Macbook, and find that I can do everything I need to do. The Etsy app is great if I am not at home; I can see what's going on whenever I want and answer messages and queries on the go.

I use the post office for my shipping, as I can just drop it off and go; I don’t need to wait in a queue, and I get tracking and receipts online. I can then fulfill the order with the tracking information, even when I am on the go.

The future of FisJewelleryDesigns 

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

Hand-making everything is very fulfilling, but there is only so much I can physically make. I like to be in control of the designing and making process and feel that my designs would lose the essence that I imbibe into them if they were to be made by others. So, looking forward, I am going to introduce quality gift ideas that I don’t need to make.

Advice for new sellers

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

Do your research on SEO and make sure you set up your shop correctly. Customer Service is key; keep them happy, and they will give you good reviews, which will help your exposure on Etsy.