NEVER DO THESE 5 THINGS ON ETSY | 5 Mistakes To Avoid When Selling on Etsy

About this video

(Summarized from the Arabic caption track.) Dylan Jahraus, who says her shop makes $300,000 to $400,000 a year on Etsy after six years, shares five mistakes she made when starting. First, she launched with only one product and one photo; it took two months to get her first sale, by which time she had forgotten she opened the shop, and she says she should have launched with at least 10 to 20 products. Second, her photos were terrible because she pushed exposure to the maximum, which washed out the product’s quality and details; she has since learned photography and still shoots everything on an iPhone. Third, she was not selective about customers: she accepted demanding buyers who sent 20 rapid messages, consumed so much back-and-forth time that her hourly pay on their orders became tiny, and were nightmares after ordering. She says she should have heeded pre-order red flags, trusted her gut, and accepted that not everyone is her customer and some people cannot be satisfied. Fourth, she competed on price, undercutting rivals by $1 until both sides had cut prices by about 20% just to be cheapest and both lost; now she does not compete on price, runs no sales in her shop, prices about 20% above competitors, and presents products as high-quality and premium, supported by six years and more than 17,000 sales, as she claims. Fifth, she did not hire a babysitter, trying to work during her son’s 30-minute naps and carrying him in an Ergo carrier, which she says capped first-year growth. She claims $134,000 in sales in year one, about $80,000 in the first six months before hiring help at six months, and believes childcare could have taken them to $200,000 — a $66,000 difference childcare would not have cost. Her lesson is to overcome a scarcity mindset and hire help for the business or the home when growth demands it.

Key takeaways

• Launch with at least 10 to 20 products, not one — her one-product shop took two months to make its first sale
• Do not overexpose photos; she says maxing exposure washed out product quality and details, and she now shoots on an iPhone
• Screen out demanding customers early — buyers sending 20 rapid messages consumed time and became nightmares after ordering
• Do not undercut rivals by $1: she says the spiral cut both sides’ prices by about 20%, and she now prices about 20% above competitors with no shop sales
• Hire help when growing: she claims not hiring a babysitter cost about $66,000, the gap between her $134,000 first year and a possible $200,000

Episode details: published August 2, 2022 · 6:00 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dylan Jahraus’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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