Setting up Your Etsy Shop– Earning on Etsy Series, Part 3

If you’re just joining us, take a look at Part 1: Etsy basics and Part 2: Market Research. Now we are ready to set up shop!

If you don’t already have an Etsy account, it’s high time you get one!  It’s free!  If you sign up through my link you can get your first 40 listings free.  You’ll be asked the usual questions (name, email, password, username, etc) and then you’ll verify your email address.

Opening Your Shop

To open a shop, click sell (on the top left of your screen), then open shop.  Etsy has a really great step-by-step walk-through for opening your shop and making your first listing.  It’s very clear and intuitive, so I won’t bore you with the details here.  I will give you a couple things to note though:

• I was going to tell you to choose your shop name carefully because you can’t change or edit your shop name, but that all has changed since I opened my shop years ago.  Etsy now allows you to change your shop name in the future.  I suggest settling on a name as soon as possible though, so you can start building your brand.
• If your shop name has multiple words, I recommend capitalizing the first letter of each word to make it easier to read.  While #dicipheringwordsinhashtags is fun, you don’t want people to have to struggle to read and remember your shop name.
• You will be asked to enter your payment information so that Etsy can pay you via direct deposit.
• You will also need a credit card on file so you can be billed for your listings and fees.  You can pay your bill with your PayPal if you prefer, but they will still want a credit card on file.

Customizing Your Shop

After getting the basics entered into Etsy, you will have a chance to customize the look of your shop and add a personal touch.  We’ll talk about the pink arrows this time (part 3) and save the green arrows for Part 5.

• Profile Picture

Profile pictures (avatars) can be added for buyers and sellers alike.  Your profile picture can be anything,  a photo of yourself, your logo, or a representative item of your work.   In the future, to add or change your profile picture, go to Your Account >> Public Profile.

• Header

Shop headers are 760 x 100 pixels. Your header is one of the only customizable parts of your Etsy shop, so give it your best! That being said, don’t stress over it either. You can always change it in the future (or with every season if you want)! You can buy premade and custom headers on Etsy, but I’m the DIY type, so I have always just made my own.  You can add or change your header by going to Your Shop >> Info & Appearances.

It’s easy to make your own with PicMonkey (or Photoshop, Paint, etc). As you can see, they don’t have to be anything complicated. Mine features some items from my shop, but you could just have your shop name or logo instead.

• Shop Title

Your shop title is like your shop’s tagline.  If your shop’s name doesn’t explain what you sell, your shop’s title should.  Besides showing up in your shop’s storefront right under the banner and shop name, the shop title also shows up in Google searches, so it’s important.  You can add or change your shop title by going to Your Shop >> Info & Appearances.

Domain Name and Email (optional)

You might want to also grab the .com domain name for your shop name, in case you decide to start a website or blog to promote your shop in the future. Make sure both the Etsy shop name and domain name are available before you pull the trigger on either. I recommend Namecheap for researching and buying domain names. They have been great to work with and have the best prices around.  We host our site through Bluehost and have had a great experience.

I also set up a gmail address with my shop name (shopname @ gmail.com). This is just extra. Most correspondence goes through your conversations (“convos” ) on Etsy, but there have been a couple times it has been really nice to have.

Next Time

This week start working on setting up your shop: Think of a great shop name, create a banner and profile picture, get payment accounts set-up, and get your own domain if you want.  Next time we will talk all about pricing, an important topic that deserves its own post.

More in the Earning on Etsy Series

• Part 1: Etsy Basics
• Part 2: Market Research
• Part 4: Pricing
• Part 5: Marketing
• Bonus: Don’t Forget the Taxes!: Tax Notes for Etsy Shop or Small Business

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  For more information, see my disclosure policy.