Midnight Rec: Etsy What is an Etsy, you ask? Etsy is the best online commerce site for handmade goodies. Crafts, clothing, design, art, functional, decorative, and downright bizarre, Etsy has it all. So who actually makes the items on Etsy? The small business owners. These are real people listing their merchandise online through Etsy. They set the price, they set the shipping, they create the listing, they promote it till its sold. Etsy takes a small cut of the sale price and channels that back into constantly evolving features. Say you need a gift for someone, and you know their favorite color is aquamarine. If you shop by the "Colors" link, you scroll over various colored bubbles until you find what you are looking for. Click it. Now you have polaroids of every item listed on the website that is cataloged by that shade as a predominant color. Or what about timeliness? You only want the freshest item? Time Machine (and Time Machine 2) list everything from newest to oldest. Every single item on the website. Is it the most functional search? Of course not. It's the equivalent of browsing through a department store, which is why Etsy is so great. Etsy really is about the sellers, not the site. The site is designed to bring attention to every seller if they take the time to learn its quirks. I have an Etsy that I barely make sales on. Why? Because I do custom work. I list merchandise in a field I'm hitting particularly hard (right now, ceramics), showcase a variety of techniques, then wait for the "OMG I love that gargoyle. Too bad you don't have a castle." so I can respond "I've got more castles to paint than you can handle. We don't even have to go through Etsy if you don't want." Of course, I always do appreciate a sale through the site, too. Especially when I paid for a Showcase slot in the drop down Ceramics and Pottery section. And so ends another mystery of where Trent Sketch gets money.

Labels: Midnight Rec