I can’t believe the negativity some shop owners have towards folksy. If they feel strongly about lack of sales do some self promotion or leave! I belong to several groups on facebook and in one of the groups there was a folksy shop owner running down folksy to someone asking what folksy was like! The person still has a shop on folksy and I did voice my feelings about the negativity they were expressing!
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Very well said Zoe. The success of individual shops is also dependant on the success of Folksy as a ‘shopping centre’ for all of us. Knocking Folksy does none of us any good.
‘Desconstructive’ criticism is not going to sell anything !
There are a lot of us on here who are happy and doing fine. There are others who are not, who ask for advice but never take it or even bother to respond when it is so freely given.
My answer to those who don’t bother to do any promotion and then moan that they are not selling anything is that, if you were to open a shop in the back street of a town and then didn’t bother to put out flyers you could not really expect to get customers popping in, unless they were by chance walking past the door and your shopfront was so appealing they felt they must pop in to see what was on offer.
Opening a Folksy shop, stocking it and then sitting back without doing any promotion is just the same.
Just promoting on here, on this forum, is really not a very effective method… if you think about it.
How many shops are there on here ? 3000+. So that gives you a pretty limited market. What about all the rest of the world out there ??
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I agree @JOYSofGLASS it is up to shop owners to promote themselves and if they find Folksy is not for them then go elsewhere but don’t discourage others from using this platform to sell on. I sell on the other rival too but most of my sales are at craft events and I like to think that I advertise all three and certainly don’t run any of them down to other people. (Well maybe the odd poorly run fair but that is usually a case where I never go back to that event)
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Poorly run fairs need to be ‘knocked’ to save others the angst of a wasted day.
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I love Folksy…yes it can be slow at times but people have to realise that Folksy sticks to its idea of being for QUALITY British Hand made goods.
Other sites are full of bric a brac etc, which is ok for them too but if people don’t realise this and are getting poor sales it is not the fault of Folksy …
There is a place for everyone and we have to find what is suitable for us and not rubbish the site. Folksy rocks !!
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Hello, very interested to read your posts, I’m currently selling (or trying to) on Etsy, and am just about to throw in the towel, I was thinking of folksy, I’m used to promoting, marketing etc I spend most of my time doing it!! but I’m not even getting views anymore on Etsy… And am very fed up with it. Would it be worth my while moving across? BTW I sell jewellery…
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@andiya So long as you promote yourself and products on social media then you stand as good if not better chance of selling on here than on Etsy. I think there are a lot of jewellery sellers on folksy but because there are only British sellers on Folksy you don’t have so much competition as on the bigger selling platform. There is no reason why you can’t sell on both Etsy & Folksy to see how things go. Good luck☺
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I would advise having as many places to sell your jewellery as possible, look at Folksy and the terms and conditions etc. and see if it’s where you want to be, but keep your other shop for the time being. Good luck whatever you choose to do.
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Thank you for the advice, I think I’ll take note and keep Etsy for now and also start up on folksy, I know jewellery is a saturated market, but Etsy is impossible right now!! I like the idea of just being in a UK based site.
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If I see someone asking what Folksy is like then I will give them my honest opinion based on my experience, and knowing there are some people on here that do really well (as well as others that don’t).
This will include good points and bad points. It doesn’t mean I want to leave, but I’m not going to pretend Folksy is the perfect selling venue because it isn’t. I love the idea but it definitely still needs to grow, which does mean it needs more sellers… but I want to make sure these people have realistic expectations and know they have to put a bit of work in to get sales here.
@andiya You’ll never know without trying. I would suggest you do what I’m doing - start up a shop and give it a full year of listing before you make any decisions on whether it’s worth carrying on or not. Shops usually take a little time to get going, and there are always going to be some times of year that are quieter than others, so I think you need at least a year to get a good idea of a selling platform.
If you get any sales on Etsy I would carry them both on together for a while before deciding which to go for (if you can only afford one).
I’ll also suggest while you’re filling up your shop here that you join in the daily listing 365 challenge. I wouldn’t normally recommend using the forums as the best way of promotion as you’re mostly advertising to other sellers (who yes, do still have to buy occasionally, but I think social media promotion will usually get better results). However, that does really boost your views and favourites while you’re posting, which can help you show on the front page, and some people like to pin everything that gets posted in those threads, so it also helps you get a little extra on pinterest too.
I used it while I was filling up my shop but have had to leave it for the last couple of months while I have too much work, and I’ve definitely noticed a drop in views, favourites and sales (I can’t guarantee the sales is because of the thread, I wasn’t getting a massive amount anyway, but I know I definitely got a couple through there).
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Andiya @andiya …what have you got to lose…it is only a few pence per listing…people spend more than that on chocolate bars or cigarettes and alcohol…come and join us x
Promotion (to the right customer base) and Search Engine Optimisation are probably the two most important things to get right in order to get people to your shop, wherever that may be. There is a lot of trial, error and patience involved in both.
I have found if I am doing well on Folksy, nothing is happening on the other side, and vice versa. I’m still in the mindset of trying different marketing and listing tactics with both my shops to see which performs best overall. I perform much better on Google searches here than I do on the other side, although I know some people claim the opposite. I suspect Google is a bit of a lottery.
I do like Folksy a lot, so am more motivated about making it work.
Kim @konyskiw is right, I think you need to give it a year to assess the trends. I had a great Christmas here, but I am having a good spring on the other side. It’s possible I will end up maintaining both shops in the knowledge both will have their high and low points over the year.
@andiya, jewellery does seem to do quite well here. Although there is a lot of it, the market is far less saturated than it is on Etsy.
Good luck with whatever you do.
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Also @andiya , as @konyskiw says, use the 365 thread in the forums while you fill up your shop. I got my peak sales on Folksy while I was doing that, because you can end up on the front page and you can get re-pinned etc, though it’s hard to attribute an exact reason why my sales peaked then.
I don’t have time at the moment to go in there every day any more, though still like to keep my hand in. I am pursuing more social media promotion at the moment.
You really do have to try all these tactics to see what works best for you.
Interesting thread. I sell on three platforms. I am no whizz at promoting myself. I suppose that part of it is that I enjoy making too much and find trying to understand how social media, SEO etc. really works rather boring (that’s just me, and if I pay the price in lower sales then it’s my fault!). But anyway - I get a fairly equal, slow rate of sales across all three platforms. I wouldn’t say that any one is better or worse than the others. What I would say however is that Folksy is the friendliest and the most consistent in having other sellers of quality items. It also, for me, seems to be getting more supportive to sellers and helpful in facilitating them. If I had to drop two out of the three platforms, Folksy is the one I’d keep.
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If I google handmade anything Folksy always comes up on the first results page and ahead of the dark side. If I don’t sell it is a deliberate lack of self promotion.I am sure sales will come when I have listed a lot more and make a bit of effort. Google drops them on the Folksy landing page,job half done, we just need to point them at our shops and I think good internal tags are a big part of it.
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Hi Andiya… I’ve just thrown in the towel on Etsy too , I don’t like their new payment scheme xxx and
I’m going to work harder at promoting my FB shop …
Love your hares. Good luck going it alone with Folksy. I’ve been here since 2009 and love it.
I’ve had, still have in fact but on holiday so long I can’t remember my password, an e*** shop for several years. Sold a few things quite easily but didn’t like it one little bit when I was told they were changing payment method so shop went on holiday and it’s been that way since. I even remembered to remove the links to it from my own non-selllng website the other day (while I was looking at it and wondering how best to redesign and redo it on a better platform as I have couple of unplanned very idle months coming up soon).
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Thanks for your kind words Joy, and good luck with your couple of coming idle months , and have fun redesigning your website, I think that your glass work is SO pretty . I must admit to being slightly ashamed of my own hamfisted hand made website, which needs a lot of work too ! [ and a good Folksy plug ]
Here’s a chance to get your shop a bit of FB promotion. Add the url to this post 
:https://www.facebook.com/ClearlyCreativeCommunity/photos/a.318116551632319/1923918987718726/?type=3&theater
I’ve put this as a separate topic as the promotion will be short lived I think so act now 
The Chris Artist got it BANG ON - Promotion to the ‘right’ customer base.
I’m on etsy, ebay & folksy (& Google Mybusiness). Plus, some ‘Bricks & Mortar’ outlets.
For every 1x sale on etsy I get between x30/40+ on eBay (& have yet to get a sale on Folksy, but I do like to keep a presence here).
My outsider art is a bit niche possibly? a little dark & not ‘National Trust Shop twee’. So the Goth, Horror, Steampunk, SciFi, Oddities & ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ fraternity of my usual type of buyers are seemingly not so much to be found on folksy, but they do seemingly scour ebay for the unusual, quirky & weird = ie. Kuriology. I generally sell between x4 - x10 sculptures a week.
Approx. a third of my sales are over seas now.
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