Etsy Seller Interview with Christina of Fuxigold

How Fuxigold 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 there! I’m Cristina, owner, designer, and seller at Fuxigold. I studied interior design in Barcelona, my hometown. I have always been a crafty person and liked to work with my hands, making architectural models, some pieces of furniture, or jewellery. So when I moved to Berlin, I had more time at home due to the long winter to actually create a lot of things. This is how I decided to make and sell some of the pieces I like to do, and especially since I started learning to work with metals and smithing, in combination with my love for decoration and plants, this is how Fuxigold was born in 2016. After testing people's interest in my products at Christmas markets in my city, I decided to start selling on Etsy. I started with around 20 products, and now I have almost 100 and over 6,000 sales! It has been a beautiful process over the years to see the shop and the traffic grow. 

In Fuxigold, I sell handmade gold geometrical air plant hangers called himmelis made from brass, along with the air plants, which you can buy alone in case you already have a planter for them. All the work is made by me, and it is very satisfying to see how objects I make get to travel around the world and be a part of a new home. Air plants are basically super cute little plants that don’t need soil to live, and they need basic care like a bath once a week.

What I love the most about my products is that I get to combine handmade work with plants, which is a passion that runs in my family. My grandma was a plant enthusiast, and she actually showed me the first air plant I saw in my life. I was 16 years old, and my family had just moved into a house with a big garden. There were some air plants hanging there from other trees. My grandma told me, "Look, that is an air plant!" with a smile on her face.

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 the shop are the air plant holders with crystals to choose from, among others, amethyst, rose quartz, and fluorite. I am personally very interested in crystals and believe in their beneficial effects on people, animals, and plants—basically,  energy. So the crystal will help take care of the air plant and also bring all the good vibes. They are selling really well, as this is a trend, I would say, in the whole world. Also, I got super lucky, and the listing got featured in the Etsy Black Friday campaign back in 2021 in Germany and France, so the product got very popular among this audience.

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?

My shop went online for the first time in September 2016, right before Christmas. The first sale came within the first 3 weeks and kept growing over the next few months. It was a combination of local marketing, showing my flyers at the local arts and crafts markets, and a growing interest in plants and decoration. The big change in the performance of the shop was when I decided to dedicate myself full-time to the business after 2 years. Currently, I try to have a good performance in the shop to keep the customers happy. I have quite a few that are repeat customers, and as for attracting new ones, if your shop performs well, it will be easier to show up in the search. And of course, I’m always working on new strategies and reviewing my SEO every year. Lastly, I launch attractive discounts and new cute products every now and then.

Managing Fuxigold

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?

At the moment, it is only me in the business. However, when I have a big volume of sales, I normally get some helpers, like in the Christmas season. The tools I use when I want to change my listings and work in SEO are Marmalead and Erank, and for bulk editing, Vela is quite useful. I do the fulfilment myself, as I sell living plants within Europe, so they can’t be stored in a warehouse or similar, so I have them all in my studio and take care of them personally.

The future of Fuxigold

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

I’m trying to get my second project as popular as Fuxigold; it is called Fuxiwords on Etsy too. The project is about printable moon calendars and other artwork. Some of the products are to be found in Fuxigold as well, but I would like to make this line of products more popular.

Advice for new sellers

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

My advice is to work on the image of your shop and pictures a lot, as well as the SEO of the listings. These two things are key to a good performance. And if you have difficulties doing these tasks, don’t hesitate to look for help. There are tonnes of free webinars and videos, as well as trained professionals that offer their services in those areas. As a solopreneur, it can be very effective to let someone do some of the work and see the results. Trial and error should not be something to be afraid of on this beautiful journey.  And at the end, the most important thing is to have fun along the way and find work processes that are comfortable for you.