Founders

I have been battling with myself all summer to decide if I will continue on making physical products or go all digital.  
My material costs have quadrupled, Etsy fees have nearly tripled since I started (30%+ now) and it seems like there is no way to scale anything easily and everyone wants a deal or discount.  

It seems most people here are all in on virtual items or services (web3 is all about that).  Have most people gone this route because it’s a faster path to profitability?

I have seen some great accounts pop up here that are all in on real world products (agriculture, candles, bread, and branded merch.)

Is scalability something you  are actively thinking about when starting a biz?

I have been battling with myself all summer to decide if I will continue on making physical products or go all digital.  
My material costs have quadrupled, Etsy fees have nearly tripled since I started (30%+ now) and it seems like there is no way to scale anything easily and everyone wants a deal or discount.  

It seems most people here are all in on virtual items or services (web3 is all about that).  Have most people gone this route because it’s a faster path to profitability?

I have seen some great accounts pop up here that are all in on real world products (agriculture, candles, bread, and branded merch.)

Is scalability something you  are actively thinking about when starting a biz?

 https://frame.weponder.io/api/polls/11792

I am a maker. I communicate through photos. Also do metal casting, 3d prints,
AI, robotics and mashups of all of these things.
http://tmophoto.com


Photographer of magical places and collector of experiences. /enchanted-forest 
https://linktr.ee/KristinPiljay

Yes for me Etsy was an integral part of the whole business model when I started.   I didnt tell ANYONE I started the business and was experimenting if Etsy would work and drive all the traffic.   Every day I would make things in the studio while learning and put them up for sale with no real intention of selling and they started selling.   Fees radically change if you make 10000$ or more on Etsy.  They start buying Google ads for your products and if something sells the fee is astronomical, there is no way to opt out.  I just raised all my prices 30% to buffer it.  I don’t have time or the budget for marketing, social media etc and and just let Etsy drive customers.  

I don’t think this would work for anything photo related or tshirts due to the thousands of shops on there competing with cut rate Chinese drop-shippers and people cranking out 100 things a day with ai and slapping it on a shirt or mug.

Etsy fees are FAR less when you are first starting out.  1/3 or so if they aren’t buying ads for you.

Do you find it better to sell on Etsy rather than from your own website? I am just thinking about that as I want to try and sell journals with my photos printed on them using Printify and I could go the Etsy route or set it up on my own website. Of course, I have to drive traffic to my website then. I'm unsure if I'll be able to even sell them yet. I have one so far that I did as a test print and I use it myself. Also have an idea of selling T-shirts. Not happy to hear Etsy takes so much of a fee now though. hmmm

/cal 

Photographer, Artist, Web3 Educator, IP Lawyer, Patent Agent, Explorer 📸⛰️✨ 

 Building /flowcast with /mindfulness 🌊

https://wanderloots.com/links

I did that with the belt buckles that i have been making then have been shifting the etsy store into random hard to find metal casting supplies (i have a foundry store 15 min away and can buy things there for retail prices, mark them up 4-5x and sell them on etsy).  

When I was selling photo related products it was all through smugmug and bayphoto.  the quality and attention to packing was absolutely amazing. 
Has pinterest been a pretty good place for organic growth for photo stuff?  I haven't been over there for years but built a decent account years and years ago.

i do prints through dark room, so I don't use etsy. Darkroom fulfills the orders and the shipping and takes a cut. I can then promote these through pinterest for shopping users. 

My suggestion would be to drastically increase the price of your physicals and purely sell them on a 1/1 unique basis through your own website, promoting it elsewhere

💭 Poll has ended after 48 hours and received 11 votes. View the results here: