Etsy - Platform

The first thing you need when you want to start an etsy shop is a good platform. It needs to be specific and unique. After all, you're competing against about a zillion other crafty people out there who all think that they have something worth buying. What is it about your stuff that makes it stand out?

Ask yourself these questions:

• What am I selling?
• Who will buy it?
• Why will they buy it?

My Shop:

My shop is successful. I define success loosely, of course. I don't make millions, and will never be an independent corporation. But in my case it means that 44 people from 6 different countries have bought and loved what I sell. Some of them come back for more. When I post items, people buy them. I turn a profit, even if it's not on a large scale.

What am I selling?

Harry Potter Wands, and occasional other nerdy paraphernalia. But mainly wands. This is an important aspect to note. A shop that has a motley collection of everything is going to have a harder time selling things.

There are a lot of reasons for this. One of them is Skill. Practice one thing, and you get good at it. You learn and grow and become able to really excel.

Another is reputation. If you get good at something, people will come back for more. But if you just tinker in any random thing, without any sort of logical connection, you're forgettable.

A third reason is the search engine. This is an online business. People browse by keyword. If they want to look at wands, and I only have one wand amongst a million other things, they might not even see it. But if they do, they probably won't stay. I don't want to look through 45 hair bows and 16 combs just to get to a deathly hallows symbol. 

Specific. Focused. That will get you started.

Who Will Buy It?

My target audience is nerds, obviously. But that isn't quite good enough. There is a whole wide internet world of nerdy goods that are ready for the buying. I need to narrow my focus.

So my target audience, specifically, is young nerds. College students who don't have money to buy 100$ wands. Teens who live on babysitting money. Moms who wouldn't dream of handing a fancy schmancy 75$ stick of wood to their 6-year-old.

Again, specific and focused.

Why Will They Buy It?

This is the crux of the platform. What is it about your product that will make it different from all of the other choices out there? Why should someone pick yours?

My unique catch is really about the money. It's easy to find wands online, but it isn't easy to find nice ones that cost less than 50$. Trust me, I looked. In fact, looking is what got me into making wands in the first place. I said to myself "That much? Are you kidding me? Jeez, I could make it myself for less than that... hey! That's an idea."

Wands everywhere, even on etsy, are either nice but exorbitantly priced, or crap (and sometimes still exorbitantly priced.) That's where I come in. I make wands that look good.

(Not to toot my own horn, but they do.)

And I don't charge through the nose for them.

Yes, I could ask for more. The hours I put into them certainly justifies that. But I wouldn't sell so many if I did. Broke nerds deserve just as much of a chance to be ridiculous as rich nerds. And 6-year-olds shouldn't be stuck with ugly plastic junk, just because people are more concerned with money than fun.

At any rate, it does NOT cost 70 bucks to make those wands. Most of those people do it on a lathe, too. Plug in the machine, hold a knife to the wood, and bam, suddenly the 2$ stick becomes a precious gem. Whatever.

Anyway, that's my main selling point. That's what keeps people coming back. That's what makes them choose me instead of someone else.

What is your platform?

Coming tomorrow: Product, a discussion on quality and pricing.