Turn your hobbies into a profitable business by starting an Etsy shop. You can sell handicrafts, design, antiques and handicrafts by building an online store on Etsy.com. You just have to learn, "how to have a successful Etsy shop?"

Digital market (Internet) offers many business opportunities for small entrepreneurs, like becoming a blogger or even YouTuber. Thanks to the existence of various e-commerce platforms, opening an online handicraft establishment is easier than ever. (Start a business from scratch)

This article explains the steps to open a business on Etsy, (how to build an online store from scratch) the best known digital store platform, and you will know if is selling on Etsy worth it.

"For creative people who loves to make things, starting an Etsy shop is an ideal choice to earn money." Tweet

What is Etsy.com?

Etsy is a digital marketplace for people who loves to work from home. The digital store platform helps people to sell and buy goods around the world by connecting online. No need to have a physical store. Once you create an Etsy shop, you are ready to sell on your virtual store.
Also read: 5 ways to work from home and make money online

How much does it cost to sell on Etsy?

Creating an online store with Etsy is free. But there is a few charge on the item listing. Etsy costs $0.20 USD for each published and listed item you use. Once an item listed on Etsy, it lasts for until the item sold or maximum four months from the publishing date. There is another fee for sell transaction. Etsy costs 3.5% transaction costs.

You might be able to earn some extra money from your hobby by opening your own Etsy shop. 

How to open a shop in Etsy: Setting up an Online Shop

The best-known online shopping platform is Etsy. Founded in 2005, this website is dedicated to the sale of handcrafted items, vintage and crafts materials, in the most separate categories: clothing, jewelry, toys, photography, beauty products, etc. 
Today, Etsy already has more than 40 million items for sale, more than 1.5 million sellers and more than 27 million active buyers.

Etsy is a very simple platform to register, creates a store and start selling products is a matter of following a few steps:

1. Create a user account in Etsy.

Both to sell and to buy in Etsy is necessary to have a user account on the platform. This can be set up with the access data of the Facebook or Google account or filling a form with personal information.

2. Configure basic store settings.

Then, you have to consider details such as the language in which you will be the descriptions of the articles of the warehouse, the currency that will be used for payments and whether it is a full-time business or rather a hobby that you are Time.
Also read: 5 New Ideas for Making Money on the Side With Little Investment

3. Choose a name for the store.

This step is imperative, so you should think carefully. Pick a sound name, easy to pronounce and, as far as possible, be descriptive of the type of items you are planning to sell. And, of course, he is free.

4. Supply the store.

The next point is to start filling the store with the products that you want to market. Unlike other stores, Etsy does not charge a fixed monthly price each month, but a fee of 20 cents for each item that goes on sale. This fee expires after four months, at which point, if the item has not yet been sold, it must be renewed.

5. Set payment options.

Finally, to finish configuring the store, you have to set the payment methods that will be accepted and fill in the tax information necessary to receive the Etsy money.
Recommended: 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Online Business

5 Tips to Sell Online

Opening a store does not mean that it starts to give results by itself, without more. Now comes the hard part: getting to the customers, making the first sales and, who knows, maybe in the future, that your profits become an impressive complement of income. For this, there are some general tips that you can apply in the management of online stores, either in Etsy or on any other platform.

"How to earn passive income through Etsy shop? 5 steps to turn your passion into a profession." Tweet

Have patience

It is the first advice of all who open a business: be patient, because success does not come overnight. Etsy's own website cites as an example the case of a woman whose first sale did not arrive until four months after opening the store. It's a matter of making improvements and revising statistics to see what works and what does not.

Make good pictures of the articles

Another point that is repeated is the importance of the images of the products. A collection of quality photos, well lit and with clean and bright backgrounds where the product itself is the real protagonist will be very attractive for the visitors of the store and encourage them to buy.

Calculate prices well

A balance must be struck between putting a reasonable cost to the product (including some materials, labor and any other expenses derived from the maintenance of the store) and not overstepped, taking into account also the number of benefits  That you want to get the product.

Provide excellent customer service

The sale is not only a process where the buyer completes a form and is sent the product that requests. You have to answer any questions or issues on the part of the customer, be very clear regarding delivery times and returns policy and ensure that each person feels as if it were the favorite of the store.

Networking and promoting

Finally, another point that should be clear is that the store will not be promoted by itself. Part of the job of selling on the Internet is to do online marketing, not only within the sales platform itself (actively participating in the community), but also using other tools such as a blog or even social networking channels.
Read: How to start a blog to make money

Most of the people who uses the internet are often shopping on an online store. By 2020, over 85% internet user will use an online store to buy and sell their needs. If you don't have an Etsy shop for making money, start today. 

If you have any questions regarding "how to build an online store from scratch" or making money online, please feel free to post in comment box. Don't forget to share this article on social media.

Follow the author of the article, Fahim Ahsan, on Twitter.