Hi, I’m feeling a bit dis-heartened as my views/impressions seem to have gone down over the last week and I’m just not sure why. I review my tags frequently and compare to other similar products, change the categorisation when it’s not working etc. and I’m just stuck as to what else to try. I have seen a lot of chat to say that Folksy just doesn’t have enough unique visitors and that some sellers who sell on both do better through Etsy. I love the Folksy philosophy and that it’s UK based but I’m wondering whether I should do both? Does anyone have any thoughts? It’s just really disheartening when you feel like you’ve done everything possible to make it work with no results. I did ask Folksy whether they could tell me which of my tag words worked best but they said they couldn’t. Feeling lost!
Personally I only sell online through Folksy. My own feeling is that I would rather support a UK-based enterprise, and I think the sheer number of global sellers on the other place you mention, makes selling more difficult unless you are prepared to go hammer and tongs at social media, which I don’t do, so for me Folksy fits my outlook. I have heard people say on these forums that jewellery is a very competitive category in any case, so it might be just a case of hanging on in there - you seem to be doing all the right things and your work is bright, cheerful and very distinctive!
Thanks for replying. I feel the same as you about Folksy 
I also thought Etsy is just too vast and so I’d get lost. I also didn’t like the idea of them advertising me where ever they thought ok but as I’m having a bad week I started to wonder if I was wrong. Maybe I should just stick to my ethos and ride the storm then 
For me I only sell on Folksy, have done the other side but prefer the ethos on here. E…y is just too big for me. Hate crowds in any situation.
I have shops on multiple platforms including Etsy (and obviously Folksy). Yes Etsy does have a bigger browsing customer base than Folksy but it is super swamped with jewellery so it is easy to get lost in the crowd. (Etsy are also forever farting about with the search algorithm meaning you have to continually tweak things and have just introduced the most stupid seller performance cr*p ever) But yes it is possible to have shops on both, I have a carefully selected subset of my items on Etsy and let it tick over on its own with the full range on (and all my social media pointing to) Folksy.
The summer is always quiet for sales - people go on holiday which is expensive, kids off school need entertaining and that’s expensive too and then there are craft markets/ summer fairs which give people the opportunity to shop in real life. It will pick up and you can experiment with reels on instagram for promoting your makes in the interim.
I technically have an Etsy shop, but it has been on holiday mode for over a year. I got fed up with the increasing pressure placed on sellers to spin plates and juggle at the same time. My sales weren’t great there (I got lost). I have always done better on Folksy. For now, I am just focusing on Folksy. I sell art, so in the longer term my plan is to get onto one of the curated Art platforms, but I can’t imagine not having a Folksy shop. I’ve always found it to be a very supportive environment.
Most of my sales come through social media, which can be hard work, but I’d rather direct the sale to Folksy over Etsy.
As others have said, it is quiet at the moment for many of us. It usually is at this time of year.
Thank you, it feels like maybe this is the place for like minded people then 
Thank you, that’s all very re-assuring. I think maybe I need to up my game with social media
Thank you for replying. It’s interesting to hear the point of view from someone on both. I think I’ll stick by my original feeling as I think Folksy better represents me. Good point re. summer hols, that is definately making things tricky!
I have both, I let Etsy do it’s own thing (I refuse to jump through their hoops) it ticks along slowly, but I steer my customers to Folksy and do much better here.
I’ve had a shop on Etsy for 15 years, but like @SashaGarrett, I now treat Folksy as my main shop and just have some items there, because I prefer to get my sales on Folksy but I know international buyers are more likely to use Etsy (and it’s good to have an international option as back up in case I ever leave the country 
). With me focusing here and pushing my buyers here from social media, I do manage to get more sales here now, and I agree with @JudyAdams that as a brand new shop on Etsy, it might take more promotion to get seen amongst the millions.
My sales on both have been quiet lately though. It’s something I usually notice over summer, but particularly this year I think a lot of people have. I got a newsletter from somewhere saying card sales were down this year, even the high street card shops had noticed a 30% drop, but the analysts expect things to get back to normal after summer.
I’d leave your tags for a while as they look fine, but maybe have a look at your photos. The top 5 look good, but the ones lower down in your shop look to have a slight blue tint. This will be because the white balance wasn’t right for the lighting at the time, you often have the option to select different white balance settings when you take a photo, but it’s also something you can change afterwards in photo editing software/apps. I would just try to tweak the white balance and brighten a little, as a few little adjustments in photo editing can make a big difference.
Your photos also look a little small. It’s great that you’ve got them square, but Folksy show images at 642 pixels wide, unless your photos are smaller. As yours all seem to be smaller, buyers just aren’t getting quite as good a look at the items as they could. I don’t know if you’re resizing them down at all, but if you can get them 642 instead that would be perfect.
I agree with @konyskiw, it is worth regularly reviewing your photos. I have been rephotographing some of my older stock today that had dull photos in comparison to some of my later ones. Adjusting the brightness, contrast and temperature on your phone gallery settings is often enough.
As a “Plus” seller you can also rearrange the order of your stock to give your shop a fresher look from time to time. The option is in shopkeeping in your account menu. You can drag and drop to reorder things.
I had a shop on the “dark side” before I found Folksy and at first sales over there were good but recently they have introduced all sorts of silly rules and seem to be favouriting those shops that are what I consider to be “BIG BUSINESS”.
They are much bigger than here, so as someone said …it is easy to get lost among the hundreds of other shops and you are less likely to be found in people’s searches.
I joined Folksy just after I opened my Dark side shop but I have to say that FOLKSY is 100% better . The people are nice, there is always someone to help with advice and it much more user friendly. I much prefer it here and my sales are getting better and better here. It takes time and you need to join in on the forums and promote Folksy as much as you can. When someone asks about where I sell my work, I always say FOLKSY and FOLKSY is the only address on my business cards. Even if someone wants to buy something from me that they have seen on facebook, I still send them to my FOLKSY shop because I treat it as my website. It is up to you but I would say…stick here…tell everyone about folksy and help to promote it.
Thank you!
Thank you, that’s all really helpful. To be honest, I’ve no idea what I’ve done re. sizing on the photos, I’ll have a look. I just email them from my phone and re-save before uploading… complete amateur 
I can see what you mean about the colour. The more recent ones definitely look better I know. Thanks so much for taking the time to help, it’s much appreciated.
That’s a good idea, thank you!
Hi all, I’ve been here for two months and still haven’t sold a single item, is this normal?
Yes I do like it…I’m only new so maybe I’m being a bit impatient
@kuku I think some phones will automatically resize photos down for email, I know I’ve received some tiny ones before and the person sending doesn’t realise it wasn’t a normal size. Phones these days can take massive photos though, so you probably won’t need to send them full size, but bigger than you’ve got right now
I have shops on Folksy and Etsy, always sold more on Folksy but then I only really sold cards on Etsy. I did sell on Etsy without any social media directing to my shop but recently I haven’t had any sales or even many views either so I’ve letting my listing run their course and will probably close it soon.
I really like the community on Folksy and I feel that Etsy now is all about business.