Fed up with Etsy? It’s not the only way to sell your products online, believe it or not! In fact, existing marketplaces are some of the worst ways to sell your products. You need your own space with your own rules and full control of everything.
What’s Wrong with Etsy?
- Restrictive Fees: Etsy has multiple fees that continue the entire time you’re with them. To name a few, they charge a listing fee for every item, a subscription fee, a transaction fee, and more features will cost you more money. When you have your own website with us, you don’t have to worry about any of that – just your annual/monthly plan, and you’re good to go.
- Constant Competition: When your shop is on Etsy, you are part of a marketplace among millions of other sellers, making it very easy for other users to copy your products and steal your images and descriptions to sell as their own. These other businesses are recommended with your listings, making the competition worse.
- It’s Their Way or the Highway: Under their roof, if Etsy raises their fees or enforce more rules while you’re still selling your items, your business will be the one to suffer.
- Overall, Your Shop is Not Yours: You’re just another seller on Etsy’s marketplace, helping them to earn money. It’s because you’re just one of their sellers that your shop looks unprofessional, and it’s harder for your potential customers to find your business online, meaning less exposure and profits.
How Do I Gain Control?
What you need is your very own website where you rule the roost. All of your profits are yours to spend. No more random fluctuations that are out of your control, post as much or as little as you want at your own pace for free, not to mention no subscription fees! As a business, it looks way more professional, and you can build your unique brand.
With our siteBuilder, making your own website only takes a few minutes. If you want a designated one-page shop on its own or one that’s integrated into your current website, then shopBuilder is right for you. Once you purchase one of our siteBuilder plans, your online shop is 100% yours – Do what you want with it. Not a fan of technology? Worry not, as we can build your website for you! Just tell us what you want (be as picky and precise as you’d like) and we’ll have it up and running for you in no time.
No more filling in a pre-made template – editing and maintaining your shop is easy and hassle-free, you can even edit it from your phone on the go. You decide the layout, colour, fonts … everything! Oh, and you’ll get a Facebook and Instagram store in every shopBuilder plan, which means even more sales from social media users. With over 250 million people interacting with Facebook ads and 130 million tapping on Instagram ads every month, there’s no stopping you.
If you don’t have an existing online presence, this is a great start. It’s one of the main ways SME’s grow their business and thrive from online sales. Your crafts and multitude of products or services can live in their own space away from the rules and regulations of other marketplaces and e-commerce platforms. Whatever you say, goes.
Can I Grow My Business from There?
Of course! We offer just the tools to do so:
- Grab a domain name from the hundreds we offer, making it easier for people to find your shop online. All annual siteBuilder plans include a free .IE, .COM, .ORG or .EU domain – try yourbusiness.ie, yourbusiness.com, or yourbusiness.shop.
- Improve your SEO, so you’re ranked higher on search engines, something Etsy does the opposite of.
- Get some cloud hosting so you can add lots of media to your website that runs faster for your visitors.
- Give your employees professional emails – for example, try yourname@yourbusiness.com instead of yourname@gmail.com.
- Add some security to your website.
For more reasons to build your own website, check out this blog post. Read here to find out how to use siteBuilder if you’re unsure. However, if you have any questions, just ask!
About the Author: Aoife Wright
