Hi all,

I'm in the final stages of preparing to re-launch PuppetBuilding.com. One of the features I'm looking in to adding on some pages are really nicely formatted and attractive listings of puppets for sale on ebay and etsy. There are lots of ways to do this easily with ebay, but when it comes to Etsy not so much.

Etsy doesn't seem to provide many tools or widgets to help people listings. I think you can create some widgets for your own listings if you are an Etsy seller, but there is no way for someone like me to do it who isn't a member. I've been looking in to the Etsy API (basically a system that allows web developers to create programs that can interact with Etsy) and I've been thinking of developing a little widget for PuppetBuilding.com that would display random puppets for sale on Etsy.

I was just going to do this for Joomla - the system PuppetBuilding.com runs on - but then I thought other people might be interested in having this on their site and help promote people selling handmade puppets on Etsy. If there is some interest in this please let me know and I will investigate it further.

One caveat is that unfortunately I can't put any kind of guaranteed timeline on this. Most of my spare time is consumed with PuppetBuilding.com and PuppetVision at the moment, but I'll try to look in to the Etsy API some more and come up with something in a few weeks if there seems to be some interest.

Andrew,
Of course I would be interested in it. I am actually working on a new system that'll allow users to insert widgets into thier profile and into a custom "dashboard".  It would be nice to have access to something like this.  Would it be flash like the ebay widget?

A widget to help find puppet related object to be sold on both ebay and etsy would be awsome. I would love that too.

Work when you can Andrew and keep us up to date.

I'm not sure it would be as slick as the ebay To Go widgets. I still have to investigate what is possible. Originally I was just going to create a Joomla module in PHP, but something that used Javascript could be embedded on any site.

I'll add my vote for this widget too; I've just started selling on etsy and would love a widfet for my site. But theirs sucks. I really need something where I can pick and choose which products to show; or at the very least, have a random selection, instead of just the 'latest' products.

Hey, Guys, I'm just wondering how you all are doing with selling on Etsy.  I realize that there has been some things discussed here before, but how is it going for you?  I guess I would like to hear some specific ideas of what you are selling and all.
Thanks,
Sara

I'm just starting to sell on etsy, thanks to a big burn out with my own site. I've added puppet eyes (four  different kinds), a range of shadow puppets, and some puppet noses.

Check it out at http://www.puppetsinmelb.etsy.com

Hey Andrew,

As a non-seller on etsy, you can mark certain puppets as your favorites & make a widget from that. The order they appear is the order in which you mark them as your favorites (your most recent favs will appear first) with up to 25 items (5x5)
Pupsinmelb--you can choose the items you show based on the order of your featured items! go in and click the gray stars in Your Etsy next to your listings. When clicked, they'll be green. Click "Featured in shop" off to the left side of the screen and put them in order with the up/down arrow keys.
Here's the link for putting your featured items in order: http://www.etsy.com/rank_featured.php

here's the link to the widget generator:  http://www.etsy.com/mini_generator.php

With something that finds random Puppet-related items, the problem you'll run into is that people mis-tag on Etsy like crazy. Not sure how it is on Ebay--but you'll come up with all kinds of stuffed animals that aren't puppets. The problem with doing it from your favorites is that you'll have to actively update your favorites.

As far as selling on etsy...I've had a bit of luck, but I've been building up momentum for 3 years. And even that momentum is at a snail's pace in comparison to what I think I could/should achieve right now. I'm just really lucky it doesn't need to be our family's sole source of income. The key to selling there are clear, beautiful pictures. There are lots of tutorials & tips that you can find (via a search) in their blog, which can be found:
http://www.etsy.com/storque/ there.
The other thing to do is to accurately tag your stuff. That way it will come up in searches. The other other thing is to make sure you list things often, so your shop stays active & toward the top of the search results. Being active in the community helps as well.

Right now all I'm really selling are my finger puppets. That's pretty much all I'm listing right now, too, so that may be why. I need to start making larger puppets again. When I did, they did okay--but I was one of two or three people who sold mouth puppets on Etsy at the time.
I've been on vacation for all of July so far, but when I'm active, I sell on average of 2-3 things/wk (not much). Things pick up once summer ends and especially before the holidays. I'm sending my stuff to the P of A festival tomorrow (along with myself) so hopefully that will make up for the summer lull

alright, that's enough stalling--time to pack!

I have recently listed my cloth dolls on Etsy, I haven't sold anything yet. Though they are selling in a tourist shop here in Barbados, which helps with the old 'confidence boosting'. I've added a puppets section to my Etsy shop already, even tho I have nothing to sell in the dept. yet.
I have what is selling in 'featured item' on my facebook page, which works ok. It won't work on my wordpress blogs though.
A widget would be great, can't wait!

BTW... it would be great if someone on Etsy would sell puppet supplies like fleece and glue. Now that would be really useful for someone like me.

Just bought this fabric on Etsy, $5 plus $3 to ship to Barbados. And it's 2yds x 60". What a great deal!