Celebrating Ten Years on Etsy

**SusanNewberryDesigns: Creating Beautiful Artwork for Your Home**

This month marks our 10th anniversary on Etsy and 39,000 sales!!! And I say we because I couldn’t do it without my daughter who works with me. While I take care of the creative side of the business, Alison takes care of the day-to-day side of the business including customer service, ordering, and shipping. So, if you get a message from us, it most likely is coming from her!

When I think about how it all started back in 2012, it is almost inconceivable that I would be where I am today. The past two years have been very challenging with a pandemic, economical issues, and now a war that is affecting all of us in some way or another. In March, 2020 we added a second store, SND Printables, where we sell instant digital downloads that you can print yourself. We currently have about 350 listings and we are adding new designs weekly. So check it out if you haven’t already for inexpensive artwork for your home.

As most of you may know, Etsy is a unique, niche marketplace with over 5 million sellers. Through Etsy I was able to turn what started as a hobby into a fulltime business. Etsy has made it possible for me to share my designs with millions of potential customers literally around the world. So, thank you Etsy for making my dreams a reality. We started out with just prints but over the years we have grown to include wrapped canvases, framed prints and canvases and recently added framed canvas prints and blankets.

I also want to thank you, my customer. Without you we wouldn’t be among the 48 top selling art shops on Etsy and in the top 1% of all shops on Etsy (erank.com).

Since Etsy implemented its Star Seller in September of 2021, we have received the Star Seller Badge each month, which rewards response and shipping rate. Currently we have a 99% 5-star rating record, a 99% message response rate, and a 100% on-time shipping and tracking rate.

To kick off our celebration we will be offering 10% off just about everything in our shop during the entire month of March.

if you are thinking about opening an online shop:

1. Be patient: Don't expect that first sale to happen overnight. My first sale took 2 months and sales were slow for a bit.

2. Keep relevant: List new items often to keep your shop fresh.

3. Offer excellent customer service: Answer questions quickly! Customers are shopping around and often the one who answers their question first gets the sale.

4. Be open to suggestions: Learn from friends and customers. Some of my best designs come from customer requests. Read your reviews (yes even the bad ones) and learn from them too.

5. Find your niche: Mine is wedding and anniversary art. I haven't given up on my quotes and children's designs, but my wedding designs are my best sellers.

6. Social Media: Connect your shop to your social media accounts. Let your followers know when you have new items for sale.

7. Work hard and enjoy each stop along the journey!

If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more like this, just sign up below so you won’t miss a thing. You’ll also receive a 10% off coupon to use here or in my Etsy store.