Why Etsy?

What made you open a shop on Etsy?

For years it'd been my dream to be a paid artist. I wanted people to buy my artwork. When I was in high school, I won a citywide award for a clay vase I made, and my boyfriend several years later said someday he was going to buy it off my parents (since I had given it to my mom). Of course, before he did it was accidentally broken. And the dream persisted...

It was never "practical" to try to *be* an artist though; so I found a so-called normal job. I ran a register for a while, got into office work where I stayed for years, then went to school to be a teacher, and eventually got work subbing. When last summer hit, and I was still just a sub and had not found any job for the summer, I decided to try selling things online. I thought maybe eBay, but it seems so... commercial and negative. I had known about Esty from other shops and friends and liked the atmosphere; so I gave it a go!

I did well enough to want to keep doing it when subbing started again, and I have to admit I *LOVE* the feeling of selling My Art to total strangers! It's great when my friends pay for things, don't get me wrong, but knowing that someone who doesn't know me thinks my stuff is good enough to buy... amazing.

What do you like about being a seller on Etsy?

Oh mean other than people actually buying my art? LOL! I like the low fees, the simple layout, the ease (mostly) of posting an item for sale, the lack of advertising, the sense of community...

What don't you like?

I wish there was an easier way to enter tags. The way it is now, I have to click on the main category, then click in the box to type in the next one, then I either hit enter on the keyboard and have to use the mouse to move the cursor down to the new box, or I can use the mouse to click enter and then the cursor goes to the next window, but I shouldn't have to use my mouse, switching back & forth!

And I should have to do them one. At. A. Time. Takes way too long! Especially when I usually want to use a lot of the same keywords over and over when making a big update. It would be nice to be able to copy & paste a bunch all at once.

It would also be great to have a batch upload for pics. You only get 5, why make us do it one. At. A. Time. Again. It takes way too long to update sometimes...