eBay V Etsy….(for vintage clothes) - can anyone share Etsy experiences?

[alltoomuchrightnow]

eBay becoming harder and harder ….as i'm sure most of you will agree.
I've sold vintage clothes (among other things) for years and they used to sell very well. Now the market is flooded and they're going for peanuts or not going at all. I'm fed up with it all and the time and energy spent for nothing. I still have a lot of clothes to sort through and hopefully sell after clearing out loft at my old flat.
And now eBay scrapping the free 99p listings, and taking 10% of the postage. Making my prices higher is probably putting people off too.
So I had a quick look at Etsy.. something I know nothing about . To my surprise there are vintage clothes being sold on it. I thought it was just a marketplace for crafts. (i mean genuine vintage clothes, not handmade vintage lookalike stuff). Also, the prices are really high for them. Way, way higher than eBay.
I'm assuming these are only the really high quality, pristine vintage items. but for those prices to be listed , things must be selling at those prices, surely? Does Etsy attract an entirely different breed of would be buyer? e.g. those looking for something unique rather than a bargain?
Has anyone else switched from eBay to Etsy? How does it compare?
I'm wondering if I should give it a trial. How does it work , is it expensive? Is it all fixed prices? do you give feedback etc (i.e. how is a sale carried out securely)

[HolidayCriminal]

Etsy is increasingly established; I bought something from there recently I was pleased with & would use them again.
I can't comment as a seller, but good luck. Spokesperson for Etsy was on a business programme recently & made it sound like a terrific selling platform (compared to Ebay which model I know well for costs & drawbacks).

[GemmaTeller]

Etsy is huge in America and attracts sellers and buyers worldwide.

There is a listing fee of 20cents, final valuation fee and either etsy fees for processing the payments or paypal fees.

As an etsy seller you are not allowed to leave feedback (they did a survey and lots of sellers said it was too time consuming to leave feedback so it got scrapped) but if someone leaves you three stars or less you are allowed to reply.

You have to get your keywords, search ads and promotion right so that you get seen.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

thank you both of you. I have some lovely vintage clothes, I shall look into it further

[nickstmoritz]

Etsy vintage clothing has to be true vintage and over 20 years old. One of the advantages is the items are in your own "shop" and can stay for longer than an ebay auction. I think the people looking and buying are probably willing to pay a bit more for what they want. Worth a try I think. I haven't used it yet but am considering giving it a go. I also use Vestiaire Collective for designer items as they get better prices than ebay even taking off the higher commission.

The problems with the password/hacking thing has definitely had an impact on ebay sales recently.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

yes it's all true vintage, i can't stand it when people try to pass off vintage (but modern) lookalikes ….
It's all 60s 70s some early 80s

[nickstmoritz]

Just started stocking my Etsy "shop". I am going to add 10 items before I open the shop so I will let you know how it goes! Fairly straightforward so far to create the listings anyway.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

oh let me know and best of luck!

[nickstmoritz]

Had an email offering free etsy listing for my first 20 items so I am adding some more. Easy to list things but I am being careful with P&P and only using signed for options. I have said £4.50 UK and £10.50 international for items up to £50. Do you think that is acceptable? I am planning to send 1st class signed for/international signed for and possibly do UK special delivery for anything over £50. This would be around £8 I think. Would that put you off buying? Some of the items may be around £80-£100 so I would want to be careful & have tracking/insurance.

If anyone on here buys/sells vintage I would love to hear what you think or any tips for things you like to see on descriptions. Thanks.

[MrsMcEnroe]

I've been selling vintage items on Etsy for a while now, and I would say that items sell much slower on there than eBay, but the calibre of the buyers is much, much higher . Also, with regard to your comments about prices: the same holds true on Etsy as everywhere else which is - if it seems overpriced, it probably is, and it will take longer to sell. I sell 1940s and 1950s dresses etc, and the prices charged by some sellers - particularly in the US - are staggering. However, Etsy is well known amongst the vintage community and you will get loads of people looking at your stuff, so it's well worth a go.

There are facebook selling groups dedicated to vintage too - they are not for the faint-hearted but they do open up your items to a wider audience.

[MrsMcEnroe]

nickstmoritz I send everything with tracking and insurance, no matter where I'm sending it. Your UK rate sounds about right but if you want to offer the same for overseas you're looking at about £11-12 for Europe (for one dress) and £15-ish to the US / Australia. There's a postage calculator on //www.royalmail.com which can help you. Definitely don't take a hit on the postage on Etsy; you can always put a note in your listings to say that you're happy to discuss a lower postage cost at the buyer's own risk, but it's very normal on Etsy to have high postage costs (often £20 to ship an item from the US to the UK!) because people add on a few quid to cover petrol, packaging etc.... I don't do this, and I don't like it, but it wouldn't put me off buying IF an item was really fantastic.
I offer free postage within the UK but, surprisingly, only about 50% of my buyers are in the UK. Definitely be prepared to send a lot of items to the USA and Scandinavia if my experiences are anything to go by!

[nickstmoritz]

oh brilliant! Thanks so much MrsMcEnroe. That was really helpful.Thinking maybe I need to adjust some of my P&P - I have done a bit of underestimating in the past with ebay so I don't want to get caught out with that.

ok I have just pressed "open shop" tadah! done it! eek!

[nickstmoritz]

Well first sale on Etsy. (Yay!) So that has been about 3 weeks from day 1 of opening. It has been fairly quiet up to now but I only have about 12 items listed so far. Payment says pending so I'm not too sure what that is about but I think they paid by card and that is a new thing for me after ebay.

The footfall is definitely less than ebay but from what I have read it can take a while to get going. So far it has been good and hopefully the next bit will be smooth in terms of the transaction. I like the look of the way things are set out and you can leave them for longer than ebay. Photos are limited in number compared to ebay.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

ooh well done!

[alltoomuchrightnow]

i've been hectic (and broadband playing up) but would like to open Etsy shop in thenext month. eBay's been so awful with non sales still

[nickstmoritz]

All went smoothly with the sale. I charged £15 P&P - it still cost £17 but I almost got it right! Sent to USA. So definitely need to cover a decent amount for postage. I sent tracked etc Royal Mail. Slightly different for payment - buyer used card which Etsy process & this takes 3 days then you send item. You have a build up of a "deposit" in your account which gets paid in to your bank on certain days. (might be different for paypal though). Etsy very helpful and replied to some questions I had by email really quickly.

I sold some vintage shoes in new condition for £80 so pleased with that.

[Moominfan]

Anyone still around? Currently sell on depop/eBay but find my vintage stuff just isn't moving. Thinking of venturing into Etsy. Am I right in saying they charge just to list?