Etsy Seller Interview with Margarita of TouchableLINEN

How TouchableLINEN 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! My name is Margarita, and I'm from Ukraine. On November 2nd, 2019, I opened a shop selling natural linen textiles on Etsy. At the time, I had only a few listings for napkins, tablecloths, and towels. By April 12th, 2020, an important event occurred: I celebrated the first 500 sales in the shop. However, things started to become more and more challenging for me because, for the first six months, I sewed and processed all the orders myself while working on new products at night. My daughter was three years old at the time, and during breaks between working on orders and communicating with customers, I tried to be a good mother. As the number of customers increased and exhaustion set in, I realized that it was time to seek help, and that's how our team began to form. A little over a month later, I realized that I was on the right track. The number of orders increased, and we were able to process them faster. On May 19th, 2020, we celebrated our second event: 1000 sales in the shop.

Throughout this time, we worked hard, adding new products and improving old ones. In the first year of operation, we received nearly 4,000 sales on Etsy. Our range included table and kitchen textiles, and we added curtains, storage bags, and bed linen. We faced many challenges and achieved many victories, but we always knew where we were going and remembered our values. We make things that will last for years, using natural fabrics. We do not manufacture stocks of goods that sit and wait for a buyer. Each order is custom-made for each customer. Over 40% of our orders are partially or completely customized products. Therefore, we are always open to anything, whether it's a huge old table that needs a tablecloth or non-standard triangular windows. And as time went on, the number of our clients grew worldwide, as did we.

But on February 24th, 2022, everything changed. We woke up to terrible explosions and didn't know what to do. On the first day, it was difficult to believe it. I didn't know what to do; I was in shock. I wrote to all my customers about delays in shipping and couldn't understand how to move on or what to do. For the first few weeks, my husband, our little child, and I lived in the basement, and I didn't think about the future or work—only about survival. But many of our customers supported us, which helped us pay our team and somehow continue our work. After a few weeks, we resumed work and started shipping orders to customers who had placed them. We simply worked without planning anything ahead and enjoyed the fact that we could work. But eventually, we gathered ourselves and added many new products—clothing, waterproof table linens, and much more. We have learned to live and develop in the conditions we have and will continue to do so. And our history continues, and I hope to add something very soon about peace and victory.

Favorite items

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

To be honest, it is very difficult for me to choose my favorites; I really love everything we have created during this time. So I will focus on the three best-selling items on our website and Etsy shop. The first is our linen tablecloths; this has been our best-selling product since the first days of the store's creation.

The second is our cotton fitted sheets; they are also available in many sizes and more than 50 colors, with the option of custom sizes:

And the third product is our linen curtains:

I think that the secret of these three products is one and the same: we have many standard sizes and colors and the ability to make completely custom-sized product for those who did not find what they needed in the listing.

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 received my first sale a few days after opening the store. To find new customers, we use advertising and often offer discounts.

Managing TouchableLINEN

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, I am engaged in communication with customers and everything else related to the operation of the store, and my team is engaged in the production of orders. We make some goods in 3-7 days, some (for example, clothes) in 1-2 weeks.

The future of TouchableLINEN

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

In the future (hopefully in the near future), I plan to double the assortment of the store and reduce the production time to 1–5 days for all products.

Advice for new sellers

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

Test, test, and test again—add new things, transform what doesn't work, and it's easy to say goodbye to something that doesn't find its buyer after many attempts. 2. Correctly and carefully calculate the price of your product.

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

Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: Between $12-20K