Etsy Seller Interview with Tracy of WildernessSpiritart

How WildernessSpiritart 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, my name is Tracy Rose Moyers, and I’ve been a professional artist for 42 years. I paint watercolour on canvas and paper as well as pets on ornaments in acrylic. I graduated from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Denver, Colorado. Started out doing commercial art, hand-lettered signs, and courtroom sketches for television news stations. But my first love was painting, and when the computer age came in and there was no more need for hand lettering on signs and, around the same time, the court started allowing cameras in the courtroom, there was not much need for courtroom artists, which is when I started concentrating on my fine art of painting. I decided to open an Etsy store because I was running my own gallery and was in some other galleries, but I saw how online selling was becoming a big thing. I list my original paintings and prints on Etsy, as well as my best-selling listing, which is the hand-painted ornaments of customers pets.

Favorite items

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

It's hard to pick a favourite item since each painting is like a child to me, and you love them all the same. But I do enjoy and get great satisfaction from painting customers pets on ornaments and on watercolour paintings as pet portraits. Customers’ reactions are very rewarding, as is hearing that the paintings have touched their emotions. The ornaments are my biggest seller, keeping me very busy, especially during the Christmas season. Here is the link to the highest-selling style of ornament:

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 a year for my first sale, and the biggest reason is because I wasn’t really good at first at knowing how to do the listings, mainly keywords and tags. I also didn’t mess with my shop at first, and it sat without my interaction. Once I did research on how to implement the tags and keywords and concentrated on taking the time to add listings, my shop took off. So, getting seen is very important. Also, back in 2009, I didn’t have social media; now I utilise some social media to promote.

Managing WildernessSpiritart

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 run my shop solely, except that my husband does help me with the packaging and shipping of items. He takes the boxes to the post office so that I can continue painting orders. To operate the shop, I’m very organised with the orders coming in. I make sure I paint them in the order I receive them, so I schedule out how many I know I can get finished in a day’s time so that I can tell my customers when I will be shipping their order. And I’m strict about sticking to my schedule, no matter how late or long in the day I need to work. During the busy season, it can get hectic, but organising and scheduling keep me operating with little stress. During the slower season, I add listings and work on the old ones.

The future of WildernessSpiritart 

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

My goal is to continue painting as much as I can and to add more listings to grow my shop. Having an Etsy shop has allowed me to cut back tremendously on doing outdoor art shows, which get physically harder to do as I get older. Also, I enjoy showing my work in galleries, but galleries are starting to take such a large commission now—most take 50% now—that economically, it’s better to sell them yourself if you're able to. Etsy offers the opportunity to sell online, which more and more people are taking advantage of. Etsy also allows me personal and direct contact with customers that I can’t get in a gallery.

Advice for new sellers

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

Expect to put in the work to build your Etsy shop and have patience. Learn SEO, which is very important, and find ways to market your shop, utilising Etsy’s selling practises. Make high-quality products you can take pride in and concentrate on providing top-notch customer service. Make sure you can handle the orders coming in; set the production time out where you know you can handle it. And respond as soon as possible to your customers; don’t leave them hanging too long. With the app, it is easy to answer promptly, and people really like that quick response.

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 varies due to a very busy season and then a slow season. 

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: My shop conversion rate is 2.3%.