Kate Shoup

If you're looking to channel your passion for crafting and artful creation into a business, consider selling your work on Etsy. Countless crafters have ditched their day jobs to start their own Etsy craft business or have supplemented their existing income by selling their own crafts, vintage items, or crafting supplies.

When pricing your items on Etsy, the trick is to strike a balance. You want to price your pieces high enough to cover your costs and turn a healthy profit. But you need to price them low enough that you can sell a reasonable volume of goods. Finding that sweet spot is the focus of this article. ©Aksonat / Adobe StockNot all creative types share a general distaste for math, but lots of us do.

If you don’t find an Etsy team that meets your needs, you can start one of your own. For example, you may want to start a team for other Etsy members who share your passion for your medium, who live in your geographic area, who are devoted to a particular style of design, who share similar goals with their Etsy shops, or what have you.

Etsy Promoted Listings is one of two tools to Etsy offers to help you advertise your shop. Etsy Promoted Listings, is, to quote Etsy, "good for improving discoverability within Etsy search results." With Etsy Promoted Listings, you simply note how much you want to spend each day on Promoted Listings, and Etsy does the rest — propelling your listings to the top of the heap (or close to it) when prospective buyers type relevant keywords.

Honestly, nearly everyone on Etsy is great. For real. But every so often, you're bound to run into someone who, well, isn't. Whether someone on Etsy is rude, demanding, or simply a pain in the patootie, keep these points in mind: Polish your policies. Clear, concise shop policies can go a long way toward heading off problems down the road.

A convo — short for "conversation" — is a communication with another member using Etsy's internal messaging system. You can use convos to communicate with any other Etsy member. To access your convos, click the Shop Manager link that appears along the top of any Etsy Marketplace page, and choose Conversations in the main Shop Manager page.

You don't have to be "at work" to manage your Etsy shop. With the Sell on Etsy app, available for Android and Apple iOS devices, you could be literally anywhere. Antarctica? Check. The Sahara? Check. The hammock in your backyard? Check, check, and check (as long as you have a cell or Wi-Fi signal, of course).The main page of the Sell on Etsy app looks a little like the main Shop Manager page.

If you're starting your Etsy shop as a hobby, you probably haven't given much thought to the structure of your Etsy business. It's just you, creating or curating stuff and putting it up for sale. But if your Etsy shop grows into a full-time operation — or if you want it to — you'll need to consider what business structure is best for you.

You manage your Etsy shop from . . . well, Shop Manager, which enables you to manage your listings, convos, and orders as well as your promotional activities. Here, you find out how to use it to manage your shop finances, track stats, and more.As you've no doubt noticed, when you open Shop Manager (by clicking the Shop Manager link that appears along the top of any Etsy Marketplace page), the Shop Manager dashboard appears.