How to do a Black Friday Sale on Etsy

Running sales in your Etsy shop can be a major pain if you don't have some kind of program that automates the discount. You can manually adjust all of your prices, but once the sale is over than you spend a lot of time changing the listing back. There are also coupon codes, but the customer cannot easily see the price change in the search displays and your items can get passed up.

I just thought I would do a quick update on an easy and inexpensive way to do a Black Friday Sale in your Etsy shop. A few months ago I heard about Fotofuze.com. It's a free photo editor that uploads all of your Etsy listings, and with a little highlighter magic helps brighten and clarify your photos. I personally love it since I cannot afford a new camera at this time, and it's hard for me to get the white balance just right in my photos. I highly recommend anybody that uses white backgrounds to check it out.

Well, I noticed that if you are willing to donate any amount of your choice to Fotofuze on a monthly basis through Paypal, they will give you a Pro account. The major bonus of this feature is that you can very easily put your Etsy shop on sale! I tried it a few months ago, and it worked like a charm. I know there are other programs out there that do the same thing, but I liked the ease of setting up the sale, and the fact that I can donate as little as I want to and still get the same benefits!

So if you are looking for an easy and inexpensive way to put your shop on sale in the coming crazy weeks try giving Fotofuze a shot!

Etsy Vs Ebay - New thoughts after a few months

                                


So I've been trying both venues now for the past few months, and I feel like I am leaning towards Ebay. Here is why I feel that way at this moment in time... mind you this could change this afternoon!

I feel like Ebay gets way more hits than Etsy for collectibles and antiques, even (prepare to be shocked...) Vintage clothes. Etsy makes you feel that it's less expensive up front than Ebay to sell something, it's .20 cents for a listing, and it'll stay live for 4 months. If it does sell, they currently charge a 3% sellers fee, and if you use their checkout it's a fee similar to Paypal. Seems cheaper than Ebays almost 10% fee when your item sells. But when I list an item on Ebay, in about a day I find that it has gotten more views than an item on Etsy gets in weeks.

My theory for this is Etsy has ads that you can purchase for a certain amount per day that will push your items to the top of the search engine. I have never opted to do the ad just because I prefer using good search words and I never really have gigantic stock on my Etsy store. I also think the aforementioned lack of items in my store has hurt my chances on Etsy as well. I haven't and probably will never completely list every single item I sell on Etsy. It's a lot of work, for not that many views. You really need a large inventory and almost daily listings to get views on Etsy.

Ebay on the other hand doesn't gank your items chances of being found if you use common search words for that item. I like to peruse other similar items, and I look at the Sold Items category. I look for a highly successful item, basically it sold for a lot of $$$. Then I somewhat plagiarize their listing if it's a similar item. This has worked well for me and I feel like it's a lot less effort in the long run.

Pure and simple for me, and the type of selling that I do, I really like Ebay. I will continue on Etsy. But I kind of like the gamble that Ebay presents. I will keep you up to date with any new thoughts or feelings on the subject! Hope this helps you in your online antique sales journey!

Feel free to comment below on any thoughts you have on the matter.

Antique Turkey and Wishbone Pin Thanksgiving World War One

Here is an item I came across recently that when I looked it up online, I couldn't find anything like it. 

This button has an image of a Turkey inside a wishbone. It also has what looks to be part of the American Flag running behind the image. The back of it has the name of a city, Madison, N.J. with Nov. 28, 1918 printed out. 

I did a little research on the emblem, and it was used in politics around this time period as a sign of bounty and good times ahead. I also looked up Madison, NJ and the history of the town to see if there was something important about that particular Holiday. I couldn't find anything. So the pin remains an enigma... But I did list it on Ebay. I started the bidding at $9.99. It did sell... All things said and done it sold on Ebay for $61.00. I was happy it sold for that amount! But I would like to hear any information you might have on this piece! I am sure I won't find another like it, but I love hearing the story of things. 

Do you need help finding pricing for unique Vintage and Antique items?

Do you need help finding pricing for unique Vintage and Antique items? I know this is something that I myself run across semi-regularly. Usually I look to Ebay for help when I am looking to see what things are going for. I search for an item in the search bar, then once it's popped up you can click the box on the left for completed items. There are usually similar items listed to what I have, and this gives me a big clue towards how to price an item for resale.

But every now and again you come across a very unique piece. This happened to me recently. I looked up the item on Ebay, and there was nothing even close to it. The next step I took was looking it up on Google. I usually search the Images tab first, and sometimes I can find a similar object with pricing info this way. I'd say maybe 50% of the time this works. But still with this recent item I couldn't find anything. So with items that are like that - with no Google search attached to them, I had an idea. How about a blog that talks specifically about the item so that others with the same issue can have some kind of an idea if there's nothing on Ebay. And Ebay seems to only keep records for a limited time period.

So please keep following my blog as I update with these rare items. I would love to hear your feedback on the items as well!