Like many artisans, I have an Etsy store that hosts all my final jewelry designs for anyone who is interested in purchasing. While I may understand how to set up online store platforms, I already have trouble maintaining an Etsy store, managing listings is daunting.
Maintaining listings seemed to be involved: my old process included taking photos in a lightbox, uploading photos to my computer, adding a watermark and cropping images, then adding all the necessary information to Etsy. The process took hours away from what I truly enjoyed doing: making jewelry. For this reason, I rarely took the time to list my items.
But then I found the Etsy app for sellers. It changed my world. Here are some changes I made that helped me update my Etsy listing in under a week.
Ditch the Lightbox
Most artists use lightboxes to help photograph their jewelry. Why? Because it creates a consistent look without shadows, corners, lines, or otherwise.
Lightboxes are great, I’ve used mine plenty of times. It doesn’t mean that I like it though. In fact, I’m rather uncomfortable using mine. What I’m more comfortable with is using natural light and my cell phone to grab photos. So, this is what I decided to do. Being comfortable means I can do more in less time, and that’s exactly what happened.
Tip: Shoot photos with the light to your back.
Cellphone Photos
I have a wonderful high-res camera, but it’s not nearly as fast or easy for me to use. In my experience, the camera wanted to focus on the high light, not my jewelry. To be more comfortable, I used my iPhone to snap photos. Again, my goal was to be comfortable and work with tools that I enjoy working with.
Tip: If you have a shadow from looming over your jewelry, zoom out and crop your image down to get rid of the shadow.
Etsy App for Sellers
For a long time, I thought the only way to upload products was using my computer. Good news; Etsy has an app that allowed me to list right from my phone. Because I took photos on my phone already this was a great way to easily streamline the entire process. And because I wasn’t uploading photos to my computer, I could take multiples of each item and easily select them from my camera roll.
Tip: Whatever you use, check for an app for your phone. This was the key that allowed me to easily list all my items and the key to my overall sanity.
Batch the Work
I go into many tasks with the best intentions, but I’ve found that no matter what my goals are, repetition is boring. That’s why if you’re going to do a huge project, breaking up the task at hand will help you.
That’s why I broke everything up into manageable chunks. This meant that there was always a light at the end of the tunnel.
Tip: One great way to break up the tasks is to take photos one day, and then list the next. Or, select a certain number of jewelry pieces and fulfill the whole process.
Group for Tagging
Etsy remembers a certain number of tags which is why the fastest way to list items was to do all earrings at once, all necklaces at once, and all bracelets at once. This meant I could select 8 of the tags I wanted to use it saved me time typing them out.
Tip: Think beyond jewelry type. Are you using similar materials across designs? Similar techniques?
Reward
Did you finish what you set out to accomplish? Make sure to reward yourself! You accomplished a big task at hand and that deserves a beer (or another reward of choice).
What other tips do you have for listing items online? Share them below in the comments.
