The Unique Shops of Etsy
When I fell in love with Etsy years ago it was for the unique handmade items. There was so much to choose from and it was fun to buy gifts for the special people in the family and watch their eyes light up. I tend to look for unique vintage and jewelry featuring horses, watch parts and unique signs. I also love to dream and scout out shops of things I would really love to own someday.
Today I was able to take a few minutes and look through my favorite categories. (A word to the wise, don’t bother with browse, you will see the same shops over and over and nothing seems to changes). I started with horses and found both jewelry and vintage that I fell in love with. The trick is to weed out the resellers and those that just attach a pendant or charm to a chain or bracelet and call it handmade. This bracelet is a very good example of one of kind art jewelry.
FireHorseArtJewelry: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FireHorseArtJewelry?ref=l2-shopheader-name
From there I moved on to home décor featuring horse shoes in the designs. Now this is something I could really use in my home! He also has plenty of wall hangings, useful items for the home and clever gifts ideas for the ranch or farm family in your life.
FabricationsByBruce : https://www.etsy.com/shop/FabricationsByBruce?ref=l2-shopheader-name
Switching gears, I decided to search for yellow Labrador retriever art. This is a fun category because the imagination is endless and filled with all types of personalities that portray the yellow lab as the fun, hardworking and loving dogs they are…
MaddieLabStudio : https://www.etsy.com/shop/MaddieLabStudio?ref=l2-shopheader-name
Searching Etsy takes skill and practice, not to mention patience. Often the trick is to use a – (minus sign) in your search to eliminate an excess of the wrong items showing up and forcing you to wade through pages of the wrong items. This will happen due to the fact sellers will either unintentionally or purposely mistag their items. Vintage is a real tough one. If you search vintage, you will see ‘vintage like’ , ‘vintage inspired’, ‘vintage retro’, and any other vintage phrase they can conjure up to sneak into the vintage search. If you are persistent, you will be rewarded and find the right combination to get you to the correct search.
Recently Etsy and Google went their separate ways in the realm of how each one defines searches and now when searching on Google for a specific article you will no longer have an Etsy shop pop up with that item for sale. Those days have ended. You may get an image of a necklace, a wedding cake or a completely different item. Off to the right side you will see ads that are paid for by Target, Wal*Mart and other big box retailers. It’s a brave new world out there for cyber shoppers, one where you must be determined to find what you want and have more than a few minutes to find it and buy it.
On Etsy right now, it’s all about the search and trying to find what you really want in unique and handmade. If you find it, favor the item or the shop or follow them. There is no guarantee you will ever find that seller back in that vast ocean of shops and poorly constructed search that relies mainly on the seller to be honest and knowledgeable about their tags and titles.
Edited after blog was originally published: This is how Etsy sellers approach their search for items. The question was posted in the forums under questions.
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