Etsy sellers in race to the bottom

[JMugs]

I haven't done tote bags for a while. I would like to say something worthwhile about that, but I have really just been bumming about with the family having fun, and now need to earn some dosh again.

Wow loads at £5.99....£5.00....£4.95.....then £3.60! How cheap do people want to go? I do chuckle at this, I assume it is worth their while and they are happy. I, however, will not be pricing at those levels!

Now to get back to bumming around, so much more fun.

Janners

[pisquee]

If you join the "Etsy UK Sellers Help Group" your questions will be answered by looking at the posts, that there is so many people on there who do not understand pricing, business, postage costs, commission etc etc ... so many hobbyists on Etsy, anyone can get on ... and does.

I still mourn the loss of Regretsy.com

[JMugs]

Those people who moan because they haven't got any money to buy ink etc. It never fails to amuse me.

Janners

[webtrekker]

I laugh at the ebay sellers who incorporate free postage into the price of an item then find it costs 2 to 3 times that amount to actually send it! Someone even had the cheek to ask my daughter to send them another 8 quid towards postage.

As if! Lol!

[mrs maggot]

I laugh at the ebay sellers who incorporate free postage into the price of an item then find it costs 2 to 3 times that amount to actually send it! Someone even had the cheek to ask my daughter to send them another 8 quid towards postage.

As if! Lol!

Indeed, I have had people undercut me and worked out that they are only making 8-10 pence per item by the time they have taken their fees/postage costs into account.

[Fletcher]

I think alot of it comes down to overheads. The biggest factor round by me is rent.
centre town location 18-26k per year rent plus rates.
outskirts of town 10-14k per year plus rates.
unit on a farm 7-10k per year
Spare room or shed in garden. £0

Many other things are if people are correctly registered as a business.

[mrs maggot]

Oh Fletcher I could not agree with you more, those that do it for a "top up to income" and those that are paying rent and rates on units/shops and trying to earn a main living from it.

[paul 44]

I was on both those platforms ETSY and EBAY, It's cut throat all the time and as you know EBAY has gone down the free postage route, I used to do coasters on there, my mistake was trying to undercut the top seller, which I did by 5p per batch of coasters, (sets of 1,2 4 and 6) so selling a coaster for £1.80, less cost of coaster + free postage + paper to print and less inks and when you factor in the fact that when a customer buys more, the more they save, the more you lose, lucky if you make any profit at all.. dosen't leave you much when you're trying to build a business so needless to say I binned them off lol

[pw66]

I think alot of it comes down to overheads. The biggest factor round by me is rent.
centre town location 18-26k per year rent plus rates.
outskirts of town 10-14k per year plus rates.
unit on a farm 7-10k per year
Spare room or shed in garden. £0

I'm on a run down 1940's industrial estate, that the landlord hasn't spent a shilling on for 30 years. It is reflected in the rent - £295 per month for 1000sq foot.
The added bonus is that the location means that I don't get all of the time wasters and idiots that I would get if I were in the town centre.

Keep on top of the overheads and keep the prices high.

I guess I am of a different generation. I see ebay, amazon, etsy etc as interlopers. Middlemen out for a cut of my trade. I only ever use them to dump some excess stock. I would never build a business around them. If you haven't got the trade comming in your front door, on the phone or in your inbox then you haven't go a business.

[harlequeen]

There are always people ready to undercut you - they make bladders and don't pay taxed quite often. It's not worth competing for that work. I price at my price knowing that others will give ridiculous quotes. I'm not going to be a busy fool, I'd rather have my feet up and earn a little less.