Today we had the papio press which is website owned by 3rd years called Harry and Zanna. With this lecturer I learned the positive and negatives of running an etsy page, which has been something I have been think about just in case I wanted to see my work online on an artist comminute.
But before I start taking about etsy. Harry and Zanna tolded me to that the best place to present my work is tumblr because on tumblr people can reblog my artwork onto their blogs which give me more notices and possible clients. But also etsy is good place for getting noticed as an artist because they promote your work on the front page and around the website and we your look at a item it will recommended a product that similar to that theme. Another good place to get notice is facebook because it's a mass media website but I was told by them not to buy the advertising that they offer on facebook because it cost money and it easier to like other artists page which are bond to have someone like your work. With etsy I have to a pay a fee for advertisement which is £260 a year, with this I need to put this into consideration.
The advice give to me by Harry and Zanna was to sell my artwork but not have high hopes when it comes to actual selling the product. What I mean by this is do not get my hopes up and think that I will sell a ton of item's because it can count on few. Some people will think the price is too high, that it not the trend at the moment or just that you need to wait for clients to come. When post stuff on etsy put a basic description of the item, so what it is and what it is made from. I must have basic photoshop skills when ending the photo of the product to look better quality.
When it actual comes to make the product Harry and Zanna suggest to look for a company that can make you products cheap and good quality. I think if I am going to do this I must look up where the other artists get theirs from and compare prices but also look up review of the companies just in case. When it has come to me deciding on what company I want to use to make my products I also need to take into mind that I need to think how many I would need. Also I must take in the postage deliver time because I don't want the customer to wait too long for a package. When it comes to the material to use to create my product Harry and Zanna said what sells best is recycled stuff because the customer then feels eco friendly and it makes you also look eco friendly. I was also told that there will be times when the product comes out wrong, when this situation happens just info the company what went wrong and also info the clients that have bought the produce about the delay. So in general be careful who you are working with to make your products and keep recorded when something goes wrong,just in case it becomes a regular thing and you want to report them.
Also when it comes to me decide what to uses a my product I must consisted what the most easiest and cheapest to send in the post. So again I will have to look up which postage company is the cheapest and quickest at deliver. With etsy itself, I was told that it is better than using a local shop as your sell point because it world wide so everyone is going to see you work so give you more publicity as an artist. But again that would mean that I would have to pay extra for the postage because it's going overseas. Also etsy take 25 percentage profit which can be a lot counting on how much I make the product, so this means I will have to increase my price by added the percentage taken off by etsy, so that I get even profit. Also with the selling products I should consider what the customers want out of the product and if they want any extra but with this in mind, I will have to charge them extra if they want for example a frame for the work. But Harry and Zanna said that they don't offer that because it better for the customer to decide what is the best.
When it comes to pricing my own work I should look around on what artists are charging from pro artists to novice artists.
With etsy I get feedback from the customer which is ideal because I know if the package came on time, the product is right and if there is any more feedback that can help me improve as an artist and as a shop owner. But when it comes to something going wrong don't be shy to tell the customer just tell the customers what has gone wrong with deliver or product stock. There is also theft on etsy and if this does happen to your artwork report it to the etsy website so that the page will be taken down.
With the etsy idea it gave me the idea that I could do some work experience on there because I would be selling my own artwork at my price and running my own online shop. This could also lead to me offering commission work. With the shop side of this business in mind it would teach me how to dealing with products such as restocking and think about quantity control, find the best place that makes the products and find ways to help clients get what they want.
With this overall knowledge of what it would take to run a etsy page, I would not consider doing it as a job because it is not the industry I do not want to get into. But with this knowledge I may change my mind in the future and it would be good to reference back to this.
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