Etsy Seller Interview with Lin of Humbltee

How Humbltee 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 shop came about after many attempts to make money online. I finally landed on designing shirts where I could use my skills as a graphic designer. I think the reason this business succeeded as opposed to others was that I used the skill I went to school for and had honed after many years. Other things I tried were day trading, affiliate marketing, blogging, etc., but these all failed because I lacked the passion or skills to excel in them. This store is a print-on-demand store, and I source my products from Printful.

Favorite items

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

Some of my favourite products are the following:

These are my favourite shirts I sell because they make great gifts. For example, one is a shirt for kindergarten teachers that is themed for Thanksgiving or Halloween. I have gotten a lot of amazing feedback on these items and love seeing people wear them in the wild.

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?

The fact that my store has been open since 2013 is misleading; I didn't actually do much with my store until 2020. That was when I first saw success. I think using attractive mockups makes a big difference in getting sales, which is how I currently attract customers. I ordered blank Bella Canvas shirts and used a professional camera to create the mockups I use myself. I also started a second store selling these for other stores to use as well. These mockups for Etsy can be found on creativsupply.com.

Managing Humbltee

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 shops on my own. I would like to eventually hire a VA for customer service, but at the moment it is not necessary. One of the most important tools I use is the Chrome extension ‘Copytasker’, copytasker.com. It helps me fill out my listings much faster and gets me the best SEO keywords for my titles and tags. Google Sheets is also useful for accounting purposes, and I use it every month to check if my profit margins have changed. I have also used Allura in the past as a way to bulk manage my listings. Shipping and fulfilment are handled by my production partner, Printful.

The future of Humbltee

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

My goal would be to get $10,000 in revenue per month. I also have plans to add many more products. I currently have 400 products listed and would like to have over 1000 listed.

Advice for new sellers

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

My advice is to keep trying, even when things slow down or seem hopeless. Try different mockups for the same items and see which works better. List more products to give yourself more chances to make sales. Out of all my 400 items, 20% of my products bring in 70% of my revenue. This was a hard lesson for me to learn in the beginning, but I have now embraced it and do my best to get as many items for sale as possible.

Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.

Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: My monthly revenue this year is on average $1,000 for this store. 

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: 20%

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: My all time average is 2.5%