Apr 7, 2013

It's not Storenvy vs Etsy




There seems to be some line drawn where handmade people think you have to either sell on Storenvy OR Etsy.

Total myth.

You can sell on both. They work well together. And it's easy. Storenvy never set out to compete with Etsy. They just wanted to create a place where indie artists and creative entrepreneurs could open a free online store and enjoy the benefits of being part of a marketplace full of other creatives!

Here is some blunt perspective on this non-existent Etsy vs Storenvy war and how they can actually work hand in hand:

Say you are already selling on Etsy and you want to expand to reach a new market and build your own branding identity by having a fully customized shop, but you're all like "Ugh, I have eleventy billion items listed on Etsy, it's just not worth it to me to spend time setting up on another site" you can start jumping for joy right now because Tonka Park has built an Etsy to Storenvy importer that quickly and easily copies over listings, product photos, descriptions, tags and prices. Pretty awesome, right?

And if you are worried about selling an item on Storenvy that you have listed on Etsy and then that same item selling on Etsy and you're all like "Oh noooooooo, what do I do if I double sell?!" stop worrying and set up an account with Stitch Labs to easily, seamlessly manage inventory on both platforms. When you sell an item from Storenvy, the identical item will be automatically removed from your Etsy shop. Boom. It's that simple. Check out their Storenvy and Etsy integration to learn more.

Then there's the people who think Storenvy doesn't have a place for handmade shops - not true, they have an entire marketplace set up just for handmade shops which makes up a huge chunk of their total number of shops. And I have heard "But I see resellers" - well, yeah. I see resellers on Etsy too, but if you're already selling there, I don't quite understand that concern regarding Storenvy's handmade market, you know? I think as artists all we can do is create beautiful, quality wares - because realistic, true artists are not competing with resellers. But that's a whole different topic altogether. 

And of course there's the concern you can't print shipping labels straight from Storenvy like you can from Etsy. Not directly from Storenvy, but they integrated with Shipstation so their users can print shipping labels for Storenvy orders quickly and easily!

So what have we learned?

It's easy to have both Etsy and Storenvy shops. There's not battle between the two sites. Etsy provides you with a great audience and buyer visibility whereas Storenvy provides you with the ability to create a brand for yourself by allowing total shop customization and the ability to domain host (so you can be yourshop . com). Storenvy is also backed by a powerful search engine within it's marketplace that ranks products in real time popularity so you also reap the benefit of your products reaching a new audience in a much less saturated market, allowing your products to really stand out and evolve.

There's one thing I want to say though - I've helped a lot of people set up a second shop on Storenvy.com and usually, three months later they say it's not working for them. Why? You have to promote it as much as you promote your Etsy shop. You can't just open shop, import products and leave it - you have to market it, talk about, drive your clients to or else how can you expect it to be a success?

What do you think? Will you be taking Storenvy for a test drive?

27 comments:

  1. Love this ! As I sell on both, and I love both sites. I think both sites are amazing for the handmade community.

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  2. I have thought about having 2 shops, but like you said, it seemed like a giant chunk of time gone trying to set up another shop. But, with all the resources you've listed, I might revisit the idea!

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  3. I'm still really glad that I opened up ABFM on Storenvy too. I do plan on rebooting my Etsy shop and having them co-exist. It's interesting to think about.... By the way, eleventy billion monstors would be awesome to see! lol ;)

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  4. I too use both and love it! Great article - Thanks.

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  5. This is such a great post. I had the same thoughts about double selling or managing two shops. Thanks for the links to the importer and the manager, it makes it easy to have both shops!

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  6. Merci Mon Amie,

    Going to do it to launch or new line on May Day!

    You AND your continuing support make you once again Le Tron's Facebook Hero for today!

    Bon Chance,

    Madame Le Tron

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  7. Woohoo! I've tried both too. I have to say I am biased towards SE, but there are some amazing shops on both platforms! <3

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  8. Google supposedly penalizes us for duplicate content. I have hesitated to post my items in two or more places for fear that it will negatively impact the business I already have secured on Etsy.

    Do those of you with shops on both platforms rewrite your title and descriptions when moving the products from Etsy to StoreEnvy?

    If you have the same things on both shops, I would love to hear how using the same wording on both has impacted your sales.

    Thanks for the opportunity to express my thoughts.

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    1. Since product titles do not contribute to internal SEO like they do on Etsy, you can simply change the title of the product - for instance rather than "white beads, bracelet, jewelry, beaded" that people put in Etsy titles, you can simply say, "White Beaded Bracelet". :) That eliminates the concern of duplicate content. :)

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    2. Beadaciously, with my Etsy listings, I have changed up the wording of the description so it will be different from my regular website (which wasn't getting much in the line of orders anyway due to Google messing with the algorithms) So changing the title like Cody mentioned, should work. Plus I just feel safer making my descriptions a little different from my website, just to roll on the safe side. I always have had it in my brain that duplicate content meant verbatim so I try to stay away from that. Hope that helps!

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    3. Thanks for sharing your perspective, Teri! :) Good info to have!

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  9. Thanks so much for this information! I found you just under a week ago and I have learned so much already! Sharon

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  10. Late to the party here, but I wanted to thank you for writing this. I've been having trouble keeping up with both platforms, and this is going to be a big help!

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  11. I love this article :)
    My personal opinion is that storenvy is much more convenient. The listings are totally free and storenvy doesn't get your money when you sell an order so it's worth it!! :)
    Also I should add that you could customize your shop the way you can. Much better,really.
    http://shewearsit.storenvy.com/

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  12. I am not really sure about Etsy but I just opened a store on storenvy yesterday and will see how it goes.

    http://lovestation.storenvy.com

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  13. Cody actually gave me a few really good pointers on my shop that seemed to help a bit. My store looks pretty neat and she goes to town promoting if you advertise with her. I vave an ad here on her blog. You may want to consider investing a $5.00 bill and see what Happens , ya never know.

    Jack Michaels
    http://cnyphotogifts.storenvy.com/

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  14. Thanks for leaving a comment on my Google+ page https://plus.google.com/u/0/112561990360919844871/posts About the StorEnvy vs Etsy topic.
    Thanks for the tip on Stitch Labs that is one less thing to worry about.
    I'm off to upload all my items over to my StorEnvy site this afternoon and of course I'm going to use Tonka Park

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  15. Great article! Thank you for the tips! I love Storenvy too and set up my shop: http://crystalrockstar.storenvy.com/

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  16. Thank you so much for taking the time to make such a great informative post!!! I was in the fence about opening a second store and choosing Storenvy for it, but now I feel well prepared do it and succeed! TYSM again & God Bless! ;-)

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  17. I got my shop set up today and you are completely right. They are different platforms and serve different purposes. Etsy does more marketing on your behalf but Storenvy allows more freedom in set up. Great post!

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  18. This is THE post I have been looking for and failing to find until now. I've opened on Storenvy first, because of the fee situation, but I keep worrying that I am missing out by not having an etsy shop too. I was worried about the selling both thing (even though that is rather unlikely, and I haven't sold anything yet!) so I will check out stitch labs. Thanks for the great advice!

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  19. Is there a Storenvy forum anywhere for questions? I recently started SE and imported items from Etsy. There are duplicates and triplicates and its a mess to figure it out. I want to bulk dlete all the items on SE and reimport a few at a time. But don't know how.

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  20. Although Etsy and Storenvy are great sites, there are many others to choose from. Boheman is a new one that has a commission feature. It is free to set up a store and sellers only pay once they sell something. It is a flat 5%. It isn't as big as Etsy so you don't come into contact with all the mass produced products you have to sift through on Etsy. Another good thing about Boheman is that they let you promote your shop and your products by being social on their site. Just by sharing, voting, and liking products, they take all of it into account and give you marketing spots on their website, blog, and social media. Boheman is new, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to offer in the future. Boheman - www.boheman.com

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  21. Although Etsy and Storenvy are great sites, there are many others to choose from. Boheman is a new one that has a commission feature. It is free to set up a store and sellers only pay once they sell something. It is a flat 5%. It isn't as big as Etsy so you don't come into contact with all the mass produced products you have to sift through on Etsy. Another good thing about Boheman is that they let you promote your shop and your products by being social on their site. Just by sharing, voting, and liking products, they take all of it into account and give you marketing spots on their website, blog, and social media. Boheman is new, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they have to offer in the future. Boheman - www.boheman.com

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  22. OMG! Thank you so much for letting me know that I can import my Etsy shop to Storenvy!!!! That will save me a TON of time!

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