Monday, January 10, 2011

Make-it Mondays: Double Agents

Have you ever thought about opening a second Etsy shop? Several people on our Rochester NY Etsy street team already have two (or three). These double agents have taken on twice the work. Should you too? Could you? There are many threads about opening and managing two shops on the Etsy forums including this one posted today.

Quick Checklist: When should you become a double agent?
  1. When you have a line(s) of items that really doesn't fit the demographic/style/medium of everything else in your shop. It's something you don't want to give up but don't have a place for already.
  2. When you want to offer items from widely separate categories. Example: making one store for jewelry and another for bulk jewelry supplies.
  3. When you have the time for it. If one shop is already crazy, think seriously about whether you want to take on another. You don't want one shop getting jealous of the other ;)
Check out what our RNEST members have done:
  1. MFCrafts + MFVintage
  2. GocksFrocks + BettysCloset
  3. JusticeJewelry + BeadHaven2
  4. BeadworkByAmanda +HappyRainbow
  5. Fuzzybunny + FuzzyBunnyFibers
  6. Aimeescreations4U + LoveNaturePhotos
I'd like to thank the team at tonight's meeting for this great blog idea. RNESTer's let me know if you're a double agent and send us the link!

6 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this Carol. I am interested in knowing from the fellow RNESTers is they also sell items from both their shops in shows? If so, do they ever display both kinds of work at one show, or try to determine which items fit best with that particular show?
    I've been working up ideas and items for another shop in the future and am definitely interested in hearing more about this topic.
    All the best,
    Heather

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  2. Mmm...good question. I am pretty sure I have seen fuzzybunny selling both her soaps and her fibers in one show. I guess it would be difficult if your two shop names and aesthetics were completely different...anyone done it?

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  3. I haven't sold my vintage items at any shows. I don't think my crafts and my vintage are going to work at the same type of shows.
    Marie @ MFvintage and MFcrafts

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  4. I'm sorry I wasn't able to make the meeting (food poisoning, ughhh) I hope I see you guys at the Feb meeting & this was a cool post Carol, as always! I've sold some individual pottery shards at shows, but I've sold them with necklaces. I really don't know if I could manage toting all that stuff to shows, but weeks the jewelry is slow, the supply shop tends to get some action, so it keeps things rolling!

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  5. Most of what I have at shows is not what I sell on Etsy. Jewelry is too popular on Etsy so I stick to the geekery. At craft shows, people seem to want to spend less and the circuit board stuff is more of an, "ooh, is that what I think it is?" kind of a display. I've started branching out from doing just jewelry, but everything is tied together through bright color.

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  6. Carol...great post! I had no idea about some of these shops...thanks for doing this...added my hearts to shops!

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