Thanks for this honest video. I work full time as a nurse for over 30 years and getting my Etsy/Printify shop up and running and having fun watching and learning from your videos!
1. I started with Etsy in June with my four T-shirt designs. Total newbie. Had trouble exporting my four mockup T-shirt designs and sixteen color choices and sizes from my Customcat POD. Went to Shopify. Found it difficult to navigate but I figured out how to export my four mockups and they exported real nicely. Shoppers could sample the colors on my four design mockups. But I still found Shopify difficult so I decided to go back to Etsy. I exported my mockups to Etsy and they staged nicely except only nine colors were staged. One more spot was available for one more photo.
Viewing your July 2022 video now in March 2024, on the heels of news about changes to Etsy’s policies along with reports of many folks getting their Etsy shops closed down without warning/merit and/or Etsy withholding $ from sellers. Given these developments, I wonder whether you’re ready to take another look at comparing Etsy with Printify to see how they compare with each other today. Could be very useful for newbies like me just now considering getting into the POD biz. Thanks, Heather!
Haha! 🤣 I love your last bit of the video! Great information here. 👍 The tax info you gave is a priceless insight. Thanks for sharing! 👏 And I love your FB community! Lots of important stuff in there.
Hey heather, I get what you're saying because I'm wanting to get back into doing RU-vid videos again, but at the moment I'm sacrificing doing/starting that because I'm too busy juggling shopify and etsy and a 2 and 4yr old who don't go to daycare! Yes its hard to do it all. I feel like my shopify store is just about where I want it to be (after nearly 2yrs of building it up) but I'm still gearing up my etsy because I've only been in that game for about 9mths. Regarding the tax, its an absolute killer. I now pay income tax plus 10% gst on every sale in Australia. I'm lucky to get $5 on a shirt. Don't even get me started on afterpay (bnpl) fees. Yes you need to find other products with higher profit margins that help a lot more. I have started mixing it up with hoodies, sweatshirts, jewellery, car seat covers etc
Heather is talking finances here, ladies and gentleman, and this is of utmost importance. At the 6:02 time mark in this video, I still worry about this and won't start my store until I figure it out. Imagine guys and girls, your selling, very happy, think you are making a profit and the hundreds of dollars you thought you made, are coming out of your bank account and sent over to Facebook or whomever. Horrible !!! And of course, a big thank you to you, Heather !!!
Agreed, it's a more active involvement in statistics and reviewing those on a daily and weekly business. Some days I'd get 10+ sales on Shopify with ads, the next it would be 0 to 1 sales and I spent $100 a day on ads. Of course this evens out but the profit + stress was not encouraging enough to continue(at least with t-shirts haha). I'm interested to give it another go but that will have to be when I have more freed up time or I would need to hire help like VAs if I decide to try again.
@@itsheatherstudio How frustrating ! I was ready to "Click" reply to a long response to what you wrote and PUFF ))))))) it magically disappeared. Anyway, I am glad you are looking to every possible angle to capture profit. I know this because I see you are working hard posting videos. (By the way, I also freak out over spiders, but I just can't kill anything, lol). I haven't started selling just yet, but if I find a phrase or design I create starts selling well, I might consider applying for a Trademark. This is in addition to considering designing a piece of Jewelry, and applying a for a Patent with a Lawyer, for a design I made (Portable Exercise Apparatus). And what is so disturbing about you spending the $100.00 a day on advertising is, if you end up selling at a loss, the company charging you for advertising still gets their advertising fees. There is so much more I could write about, but the one thing we need to always keep in mind is, wealthy people are wealthy because they keep pushing through the struggles. Even when things seem stacked against us like the never ending high fees. We got this Heather and I know you will do GREAT !!!!
Thank you so much for doing this video. I was thinking about a Shopify store however I’ve decided to leave that as a backup plan (if for some reason Etsy closes my shop.) I don’t want the stress or to work that hard by trying to manage both.
Thank you for posting this ! I have been on Shopify for over 5 years and I have so much trouble with my store. I can't get my products approved for the Facebook Channel , which also means no Instagram. Microsoft and Google also won't work for me as well. I have spoken with both about some Integration issues but everyone blames the other party and I never really get anywhere. I spend a lot of time trying to make my Shopify store work properly and then on top of that trying to market and physical make my products. I am about to give up on Shopify totally and see if there is a better option for me.
3. Also, I've been thinking of going into hoodies and sweats and I'm glad you mentioned this. It confirms my decision. Yes, I kind of see the same thing profit wise regarding T-shirts...But l need to hear it anyway. But I really think my designs will fill a spot. Didn't know about the tax situation. I'll have to contact Shopify CS. Thanks for the info.
2. And there's the problem. Etsy algorithm was seeing my sixteen mockups as photos but they're really not. I want all sixteen colors available for shoppers. I wouldn't be able to load any of my photos on to Etsy either. So I decided to go back to Shopify and somehow work with the CS which is excellent. Etsy CS is the pits. I'm almost done setting up my Shopify store.
I agree, I think Shopify is still really great and gives longterm control. Etsy doesn't have the audience gain and retention that you can get with social media, ads, email marketing and Shopify. However, email marketing, ads and social media take a long time to build up and added skills and involvement. Learning these really can help someone grow as an entrepreneur at the end of the day.
Thanks for this balanced informative video. I really like your videos!! I agree, unless one has a minimum $20 profit on an item advertising on Facebook/Instagram is not sustainable. Even now Facebook for POD or dropshipping is too expensive and most have moved to TikTok. I have a question, why do you just do T-shirts?
Thank you for all your videos! Started following this year and you’ve answered so many questions. 1 more! Do you need to get a resellers certificate to do print on demand when setting up LLC? Tia!
@@j348011 thank you, I was sure if print on demand counted as reselling or if it was in the same category as dropshipping. Do you know which naics code to use when setting up my LLC? I was planning on using 454110. Thank you for your reply!
Hi Heather, thank you for the in depth videos they are super helpful. There’s so much information and videos so it can be difficult to know who to trust and listen to. I find you very relatable and genuine, can you please do a video on the costs which no one talks about. Eg. If I purchase a hoodie for 15.00 and build in free shipping at 5.00 now the price of the hoodie is 20.00 so how do you make a profit without making your item too pricy? Thank you
Hoodies right now sell for $40+ market value for competition I've seen on Etsy. I suggest over $40 and I see sales at this price for my own store. Hopefully this helps!
4. I'm glad I'm with Shopify. I hear so many stories about Etsy. I don't have a lot of things on my plate so I should be ok time wise. I just want to get my designs out there and pull in $400/month average to reduce my work hours even more. I know that's wishful thinking but I can always hope... OK, thanks for the helpful info and your perspective.
@@itsheatherstudio .. I'm confused why you are saying "Etsy & POD store" and "Shopify + POD store".. it's just Etsy POD store and Shopify Shopify store, right?
