How Mineralshopping 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?
Hello, I’m Jonna Sudenius from the Netherlands, owner of Mineralshopping. I mainly sell minerals from my own collection. I’m a 66-year-old woman. A long time ago, I started with buying minerals, but I soon found out that you can search for minerals, so I did that. Mainly in Europe, Morocco, and Turkey. I also exchanged my own found minerals with others, so my collection is huge. I’m not a high-end seller. When I started, I did not have much money to spend on buying minerals. In my opinion, minerals must be reasonably priced for everyone. Even my higher-priced minerals have reasonable prices.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
My favorite item is the collection starter pack:
Customers can choose from boxes for children and for adults. Minerals for looking at with a magnifying glass are; Only calcites, Only quartz, Only German minerals, and Only thumbnails. My 2nd favorite is the rare/systematic minerals:
These are minerals that are seldom offered and often wanted by collectors of systematic minerals.
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?
It took some time to earn my first sale. I started in 2016 and got some sales, but due to serious health problems and a divorce, I really started to get more sales in 2021, and they exploded in 2022. Now I attract customers to my shop with my very reasonable prices, my rare minerals, and my collection/starter boxes.
Managing Mineralshopping
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’m the only one who is running the shop, so I can only manage a certain amount of orders. It takes a lot of time to pack the minerals safely so they arrive in good condition to my customers.
I use the Etsy app, which is not always working well; I post my minerals on Pinterest; and
I always ship within 1-3 working days. I often get orders from customers in other time zones, so I can’t send them the next working day.
When customers have a complaint, I will always try to resolve the problem. I have to keep my reputation as a top seller high.
The future of Mineralshopping
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
Well, I hope to get more returning customers and to have new customers. My offers will stay the same: minerals for reasonable prices.
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
Be truthful, charge reasonable prices, and provide excellent customer service.
Mineralshopping
Minerals from my private collection
