Etsy Quick Trick: use your SKU's

A SKU system can work for vintage

In the mid-1980's I worked at a major chain garden center. (Ever heard of Flower Time or Frank's Nursery and Crafts?)

I remember when SKU (stock keeping unit) numbers arrived there... the cashiers hated them, as they had to enter a whole string of numbers rather than just the price. But inventory became much more accurate.

SKU numbers have come a long way since then... In fact, Etsy has recently added searchable SKU numbers. Have you harnessed their power in your shop yet?

Another quick trick for your vintage shop

We might brush it aside and tell ourselves it is more for bar codes and big companies. Not so.

It can be super simple and easy... I have (update: had) some SKU names like “small metal bin” “bracelet bin” “glass shelf” and “hanging” to describe where listed stuff is located. 

Have you ever listed several similar items? You were worried about mixing them up so you put "1," "2," and "3" in the title. But that can look rather unprofessional... Now you can hide that and make it a SKU.

(You have 32 characters to name yours. Do not start with a space.)

Your SKU will show up before the title of your item when you process an order. I really like it.

If you would like to see yours when finding orders you have two options to access SKU locations.

1. Via your device (mobile or PC), where you can see it on the order page.
2. Print up an "order receipt" which may also work as a packing slip for your shop.

Having an inventory system is never a bad idea. This is especially true come tax time. (Ask me why I know.) I am in the process of adding a SKU system to my shop. How about you?

Give SKU's a try!

Here is more information from Etsy.

Adding my inventory SKU's in June, 2018

Etsy Quick Trick: keeping buyers in your shop

Improve the bounce rate in your shop

It is hard enough to get shoppers into your shops... sometimes they bounce right back out. (This increases your "bounce rate" which search engines do not like.)

How can sellers prevent that?

Photography

Have lots of interesting items, photographed well.

On every item page, eight of your items are displayed to the right (from your shop section). Fourmore are on the top right, your most recently listed items. Make sure everything has enticing, clickable photos. Style your photos for your target market.

Item descriptions

Write compelling item descriptions. Tell a story. Do it in the way that your target audience prefers. Make your product listing descriptions appealing to the buyers who are searching for them.

Link to more similar items

Another way to keep buyers in your shop is to provide a link lead at the bottom of every listing. Most websites try to keep you in their store by linking you to an attractive gallery of similar items.

Use phrasing that you see on other websites:

More things you might like [link]
My picks for you [link]
Browse my latest listings [link] 

[Style or item type] selections [link]

[Style or item type] gallery [link] 

[Style or item type] finds [link]  

[Style or item type] selections [link] 

Or personalize it in a way that your target buyers might prefer:

Check out the rest of our [style or item type]: [link]
We have more [item type] here: [link]
More similar items here: [link]
Please see the rest of our [item type] here: [link]
If you liked this/these, you might like more of my [item type] at [section link or shop search]

Shops that sell limited lines of items have an advantage, as you can really target your buyer. Shops that sell a broad range of items and styles will require more effort to implement this. (I have been working at this for some time now.)

On a page with an animal item, I present a link to other animal items. On a listing with sterling silver brooches, I show other brooches. You could show more art deco items on a deco piece, more mid-century modern items for that style. "See more great baby shower gifts here." Whatever items you have that might be of interest a shopper for that particular item. Sometimes I use two or three lines (farmhouse, bedding and boho for example) if the item for sale fits those genres.

This method requires careful attention to tags. It works best if your items that will be presented together have a similar look, make an attractive collection. Think... treasuries!

I put mine at the bottom of each listing. They can go anywhere within your listing text, though. If you think that a buyer might not finish reading the listing and move on, try placing your back links higher in the listing. "Grab" them, prevent them from bouncing out.

According to Etsy admin, these back links do not affect rankings in Etsy search.

Tip: when making the link to your similar shop items, be sure that you you are in the public, customer-facing shop view, not your shop manager view.

Tip: use short links from a site like Bit.ly to streamline (and track) your link.

Etsy quick trick: convert listings to free shipping

Are you offering free shipping? I am. In fact, I decided to permanently convert most of my listings to free shipping.

Quickly convert individual items to free shipping

I went into each one and manually made the change. It took some time.

The back story is this: we moved recently. That is something that can be difficult for those of us who sell vintage. Why? Our buying far outpaced our selling.

We collected too much stuff. Moving and organizing it is a lot of work. Especially with a roomful if extra items laying around, mixed in.

Inventorying stock

I lost a couple of orders. Yikes. We decided it was time for a full inventory, pulling every item and checking it off a list. This was helpful, identifying some errors.

As we inventoried, I realized that I could convert many listings over to free shipping right then. I just needed to do it quickly while keeping up with the inventory process (my husband checking off items on a big Excel chart).

Eventually I was able to simplify the steps to make listings free shipping. There is a secret.

Set up a FREE shipping profile 

Set up a "free shipping" profile from within "Listings." Then it is easy to convert individual listings. Open it and then one click. Even easier, use the "Quick Edit" feature from within Listings.

Switching is easy-peasy. Use the "Quick Edit" screen

For each item I ask myself, “is it under a pound?” If so, I add a little to the price. (I generally use price points.) Click the “FREE” shipping button. Done.

Doing it this way makes the change a permanent thing, not a limited-time promotion.

(Note that Etsy sets up a separate “sale” section to your shop. For some that is a disadvantage. Others prefer to have no added shop section.)

There, that was easy, right? Have a great selling day!

(More details in the screen shots below about how to set up a free shipping profile.)

A whole article here about how to switch.

Setting up a Free Shipping profile

Using your new Free Shipping profile from an open listing

Etsy Quick Trick: display your entire item description

Etsy recently made truncated descriptions the standard rather than a test. This is where your item description fades into your reviews.

Extra description text is hidden.

Do you like it? Or do you hate it?

If you are in the latter group, there is a simple solution. Short item descriptions are shown in full. How short? Keep your  item descriptions under 1100 characters, including spaces and line breaks, or about 15 lines.

Are your descriptions still fading after you have reduced your characters to 1100? Be sure to take into account how many "hidden characters," line breaks and special characters you use. Reduce your characters until the fading is gone.

Use your photo slots for more information

Aim for under 1100 characters.

Is the prospect of counting to 1100 daunting? Use a character counting program. I use this one. Here is another. And another. Microsoft Word can count characters for you as well.

If you have more to say in your item descriptions, try using your photo slots. Buyers may be more inclined to look at photos than read text anyway. For example, one seller uses her photo slots for routine clothing sizing information.

Here is more information about how to write compelling item descriptions.

Vintage sellers certainly have a unique set of challenges when selling online. How long to make the description is a balancing act. Sellers are trying to make Etsy happy (by keeping it short), make Google happy, and be thorough in describing flaws.

How are you doing walking that fine line?

Thanks for joining me for another Etsy Quick Trick!

Etsy Quick Trick: get rid of Automatic Renewing

Etsy recently announced that all new listings will default to automatic renewal.  There is an easy workaround if you prefer to renew manually.

It is simple. Go to your active shop listings page. Arrange it so that your listings are the newest first. Tic the orange select box to select your newly listed items.

Then, along the top, it says "Renew, Deactivate, Delete." After that is "More." Click that. Select "Manage Renewal Options." 

A box appears that gives you the choice to make those listings manual. Tic (select) the round box next to that. Click "Apply." Done!

Click on "manual," "apply" and you are all done.

(This is possibly a non-issue for those who always copy other listings to make new ones... Be sure to check your new listings.)

Stay tuned for more quick tricks for Etsy selling, and online selling in general.

Etsy Quick Trick: Forums & Team Search

Regularly seen in Etsy's forums is this query:

"Whenever I have a question, I like to search to see whether it has been asked before. But all I find are irrelevant threads. What am I doing wrong?"

Searching the forums can be a challenge!

There are two tricks to finding the information you need from the forums, or even team threads:

1. First, go to the forum most likely to answer your query, like Questions, Discussions, or your team. 
2. Next, go to the topmost search field on the page. Begin to type your query.
3. As you type your query, some choices will pop up.



Select your choice, titles or inside posts

4. Select one and voila! your answers.

Use a Google Search

Another method is to make a search from Google. Something like "Etsy xxxx."

Be aware that in a Google search, the results need to be indexed first. So your results may be older than the first method described.

If you use the Google search method for a teams search, the thread must be public.

I hope that this journey into searching Etsy's communities has been helpful!