Hi,
I started building my new shop on Folksy last week selling my handmade jewellery. I have some very limited experience on Etsy but know I have lots more to learn. My aim would be to sell an item a week which I think will be harder than it sounds. But with this in mind there isn’t the scope to have professional pictures taken, I want to know if the pictures in my listings are good enough; I took them on my phone. I sometimes think I understand the tags but when I compare them with established shops mine seem too long, so I think I have much to learn there too. I have worked on getting my profile etc set up, and in the listings I have tried to make them more than lists of materials etc. I want to have a critique before I load the remaining necklaces onto Folksy so I can set them up with the best info I have, I am slowly working my way through the tutorials sent from Folksy, so I am trying to get up to speed, the question is have I understood what it takes to appeal and sell on Folksy. An honest opinion would be very helpful.
Thank you.
Debbie
Good morning Deborah…welcome to folksy…I hope you do well on here.
I know nothing about jewellery, so cannot comment on the prices, my only criticism would be the way the necklaces are displayed. I don’t like the “wiggly” look. I think it distracted from their beauty. I would rather see them in a gentle curve. That is of course just my personal view…maybe others can help with some ideas. Just remember that it sometimes takes a while to get noticed on Folksy…so be patient and join in on the forums …good luck x
Morning! Welcome to Folksy!
I agree with Brenda …. The picture is too busy and detracts from the necklaces themselves. It is difficult trying to get the whole of a long item into a short space……maybe in a swirl or two, rather than lots! A curve drawing your eye along the length of the necklace…. other than that they are lovely… Try and list something every day if you can, and have patience. Like Brenda said… join in the forums! Good luck on your new journey!
Hi Brenda,
Thank you, I will give that a go.
Regards
Debbie
Hi Sandra,
Thank you for this advice, I will update my photos as you suggest. I was only using landscape (an Etsy thing) but I see your photos are sometimes portrait which may help me too. Thank you again, love your shop by the way.
Regards
Debbie
Thankyou Debbie!
I have only reopened my shop a few months ago. For your main pic crop it to a square or people will only see some of your item … I am gradually taking that advice from Folksy but have some long ones that people will see when they view your item … try that. Try draping over a box , so you can put some length across the top! …. thinking 
Hi Debbie,
Welcome Deborah,
I’m new round these parts too! I think your product descriptions are really concise and clear. The close up pics of your necklaces are great too so you can get a real idea of the detail. In terms of pricing I’m not as experienced with necklaces like yours with gemstones etc but it might be an idea for that price bracket to post them in jewellery boxes along with the lovely organza bags. I think it follows on from the luxury feel they have from using the quartz/marble backdrop in your photos, the image on the wooden surface with the bag I think could potentially detract from that.
For tags etc I’d say use all of them I think you get 15 here on folksy and it’s always worth doing a quick search to see what other tags people selling similar style items are using.
I hope this helps and good luck with selling!
Best wishes,
Jess
I don’t mind the wiggly look (reminds me of Christmas lights), but it did make me miss the earrings at first on some, I would make sure there is a clear gap between the necklace and earrings so they don’t blend in to one. I would suggest just brightening the photos a little with a photo editor (on my photos I normally add a bit of brightness and then add half the amount contrast, to stop them getting washed out). As others have said, as the thumbnails are square it’s good to have your first image as square (although you don’t currently have any badly cropped) but for the rest of the images it’s fine to have whatever you prefer.
For your tags, I’d go for a mix of multi words and single words, so you could do with adding some single word tags too. Don’t make them too complicated, so for example your “long or wrap twice necklace” tag would work better split into two - “long necklace” and “wrap twice necklace”.
If you look at the theme of the day tags (Folksy - Sign in on Folksy) you’ll see they’re often simple single word tags (and can include things like “amber” and “topaz”) so it can be good to have tags that are just simply “amethyst” or “labradorite” along with the longer ones.
There’s a good blog post about tags here - How to use tags on Folksy
Good luck with your shop!
Thank you for that advice. I will use your tips and work on my pictures and tags. Your shop pictures are amazingly clear, inspiration for me to improve mine.
love your shop.
Thanks
Debbie
Hi Jess,
Thank you for your feedback. I chose organza bags because they don’t get crushed in the post, but I agree with your reasoning regarding a box, I think I will offer a box at no extra charge and this way I can avoid packaging that the customer does not want, and have a smarter photo in the listing.
Thank you for all your advice.
Regards
Debbie
Not certain my earlier reply went to you…
Thank you for that great advice, I see your pictures are amazing so I will have a go with the brightness/contrast tip. Thanks for the tag guidance too. I need to tweak my current listings before I load any more to Folksy.
Thanks again.
Regards
Debbie
Sounds like a great idea!
Hi I love your jewellery but personally I struggled looking at so many squiggles I too missed the earrings. My eye went straight towards the necklace on the neck. Perhaps you could display them in a setting or show the neck and the squiggles as extra photographs.
Takes a while to get it right I still tweak 
Adrienne
Thank you for your feedback. I am experimenting with some new ways to photograph the necklaces. And as you and and a few others suggest I am going to reduce the ‘squiggles’, and try and generally improve the quality of the pictures.
Thank you
Debbie
Best of luck look forward to seeing what you do x