Etsy's Handmade Blog
Handy Item Listing Checklist for Sellers
Story by daniellexo
Published on May 30, 2008 in How-To 		Photo by boygirlparty

Dear Sellers,

Want to make sure your getting the most views for your items?  Here's a handy checklist for you to go through before your press that big orange "finish" button on your item listing.   

Step 1: Title & Description 

         ☐  Make sure your title describes your item in both the gallery and list views!  Here's an example of some Etsy felt     moustaches.  In the first gallery view you can see that the title clearly describes the item, in the second the title is just too long, with the important info hidden! 

          ☐  Does your description tell the buyer the exact dimensions and/or size of your piece?

          ☐  Does your description tell the buyer a bit about how you made the item and the materials you've used to create this item? (Hint: write in the active voice and a bit of personality — "I made this moustache by carefully observing the cutest moustaches around town and painstakingly cutting these out of felt with the sharpest scissors I have!"... instead of "These moustaches were made by cutting out felt.") 

          ☐  Is your listing free of spelling or grammatical errors? Spellcheck!  

Step 2: Tagging Your Items

          ☐  Does your first tag designate which category your item belongs in?  See this article for a recent update about searching the Vintage and Supply categories. 

          ☐  Have you used all 14 tags?  The more tags you use, the more likely your item will be found in a search, so use them up! Here's an article that can help you brainstorm tags if you are stuck and another article about Guidelines & Tips that gives you specific ideas for types of tags to use.

          ☐  Have you listed all the materials used in the Material tags area?

Step 3: Price, Quantity and Shipping 

          ☐  Does the price you've set for your item cover your time and material cost?  This Art of Pricing series can help you make sure you are making money!

          ☐  Make sure you have the correct quantity listed, remember you get charged $0.20 for each item!

          ☐  Make sure your shipping fees cover the actual shipping cost (check with your country's postal service website, they can usually help you figure out shipping rates). A shipping article that might help can be found here. 

Step 4: Images 

          ☐  Are your photos at least 430 pixels x 430 pixels?   (Check out the example below.  The image on the left was about 800 pixels square and the one on the right was only 200.  See the difference in quality?)   Uploading photos up to 1000px across is a good idea — that way, when a potential buyer clicks on your photo,  she can see an enlarged version.  

          ☐  Have you used all 5 photos? 

          ☐  Do your photos show your item from all sides?

          ☐  Do you show the item in its natural environment? (i.e a painting hung on the wall, a t-shirt on a model, etc)

          ☐  Is your most "clickable" photo the first one listed?     

Step 5: The final look-over

          ☐  Does this listing fit in with and/or compliment the others in your shop (think about price, color, style, branding, etc)? 

          ☐  Is it clear and does the listing represent your item as accurately as possible?

          ☐  Does it follow Etsy's TOU and Do's & Don'ts?

          ☐  Lastly, after you list the item, if you have sections inside your shop, have your filed this item in its proper section?

Here's a printable PDF checklist that might be handy to keep open on your computer or print out.  Hope this checklist helps get your items the attention they deserve!  

If you're a seasoned seller and have any more tips that should be included just leave them in the comments below!

Tags checklist, How-To, item listings, presentation, seller help, selling, shops, support
All articles in How-To
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49 comments     Login to add your own!

May 30, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. Justpickedvintage

Great article. I feel the critiques forums will soon be filled with, "Go check out this Storque article..."

May 30, 2008 at 10:57 a.m. bubbletime

Thanks for the tips! I'm going to go over my shop with this list!

May 30, 2008 at 10:59 a.m. FrucciDesign

great article Danielle!!

May 30, 2008 at 11:04 a.m. BululuStudio

excellent advice Danielle Thanks

May 30, 2008 at 12:54 p.m. MetalheartDesign

Great checklist! I hope this gets lots of views.

May 30, 2008 at 1:27 p.m. RaeGun

great checklist thanks

May 30, 2008 at 2:23 p.m. SafetyThird

great tips!

Caveat, tho -- I'll add that maybe as many as 15% of Etsy buyers DON'T like seeing their article of clothing on a live model...it's very personal with them. Many threads on that subect. So the seller might want to say "sample". Of course, with OOAK designs that's not possible.

And it's "complement". Compliment was my first sentence.

May 30, 2008 at 2:50 p.m. NestaHome

Great Tips! Thanks Danielle!

May 30, 2008 at 3:32 p.m. janicej

Very useful article. Thanks!

May 30, 2008 at 5:37 p.m. XOHandworks

some of the listings above don't follow the 1st suggestion about the title, but I bet people are clicking on them to find out what they are :)

May 30, 2008 at 6:07 p.m. Vanessa

that's true, but sometimes photos do show the whole item. I think it's more important to have the title be explanatory when your photos are cropped-in or don't show the whole form in an obvious way.

May 30, 2008 at 7:46 p.m. Dianalyndesigns

Enjoyed this article. I will critic my shop using the guide. Thanks!!

May 30, 2008 at 7:59 p.m. Xenotees

Helpful & thorough article, thanks!

May 30, 2008 at 10:16 p.m. Thinkoutsidethebox

I think it extremely important for sellers, especially new ones making the transition from that other 'e' site, to realize and remember that their item's title should be brief and to the point. Because of how a search is done on that other site, sellers have become so accustomed to putting as many 'search' words into their titles. You will find a lot of crazy titles with insane descriptive words not even relevant to the item for sale. This can be a big turn off for some. Maybe in the future etsy will create a word limit for a seller's title? Just a thought...

May 31, 2008 at 12:48 a.m. JJMFinance

Nice list!

I had never thought about the title being read in both list and gallery view.

May 31, 2008 at 4:24 a.m. beta

Great info, just downloaded the PDF, thanks. I'm taking Etsy more seriously this year and really appreciate the time Etsians have taken to post and cover such articles.

May 31, 2008 at 10:52 a.m. enhabiten

great article daniellexo! everything in a nutshell. i see some areas i need to improve so will use your article as i do. THANKS!!

June 1, 2008 at 12:21 a.m. raggedycats

Thanks for the advice

June 1, 2008 at 1:53 a.m. Medley123

Thanks for the info. Will definitely use the list. :)

June 1, 2008 at 10:04 a.m. nanouke

This is great info, thank you!

June 1, 2008 at 1:42 p.m. quietlifedesign

thanks so much - i'm realizing that i have to treat this as i would my "real" business . . . sales don't just appear - it takes work and attention. it is a lot of fun, though!

June 1, 2008 at 4:08 p.m. iysta

Thank you for the useful information. I am in the process of branding my shop...getting there...slowly but surely - this article was helpful.

June 2, 2008 at 12:03 a.m. tiram13

as a new seller this information is great - i forget to do some of these things!

June 2, 2008 at 4:54 p.m. irecycle

I love how easy etsy is. And now you are making it even easier for a crafter to become a business woman ( or man). Thanks so much.

June 2, 2008 at 10:37 p.m. thewindfarm

One trick I try to remember is to count out the first 19 letter spaces in my title and make sure the ........ don't come in the middle of an awkward word. Like: butt......... er colored yarn; or something like that. Make sure your title will still make sense after it is cropped by the computer.

Thanks for the checklist.

June 4, 2008 at 12:50 p.m. Laughingdogstudio

Useful check list and guide, thank you!

June 4, 2008 at 1:04 p.m. idreamicanfly

How about this one: Does your photo still look good and make sense visually when it's cropped to a rectangle in search and on your main shop page? I reactivate items I've de-listed (found under "Inactive listings") and use them as a test bed by changing them into my new listings. I call this a "soft launch". It allows me to set up my new listings, look at how they crop, and see how they fit into my shop before I add them as new items. This prevents that nasty moment when you realize that you have to edit a newly listed piece, and during that magic minute or two while your piece is on the front page, browsing customers are seeing a blank square and "Unknown item" header instead of a photo of your fabulous new piece...

June 4, 2008 at 1:13 p.m. pisceschar

idreamicanfly --Yikes! I had never thought about that before! I *always* find something to edit right after listing!
Thanks for the tip!

June 4, 2008 at 1:18 p.m. sarita1331

Great tips thanks a lot

June 4, 2008 at 1:28 p.m. AtelierRosemary

This is great Danielle, it really heaps! Thank you!

June 4, 2008 at 1:46 p.m. NewHopeBeads

Wonderful tips, especially for a new commer, comer, coumer...now, where is spellcheck? (really, I've not found it when writting my descriptons.

June 4, 2008 at 4:50 p.m. savoystudio

Thanks for the great article!
Having a copy of the list to double check my future listings will be very helpful.

June 4, 2008 at 11:16 p.m. theBeadAerie

Such an informative article, Danielle! I might add that I've read threads by international buyers requesting that dimensions be listed in metric as well. Now I always convert inches to centimeters (and list both) so that the rest of the world can visualize the item.

June 5, 2008 at 12:09 a.m. knittingmette

great to see all tips in a list!
in a checking-list! ;-))
thx Sanielle!

June 5, 2008 at 2:01 p.m. lovenatalie

Awesome checklist. Question??? I sell some handbags in my store. When you said photograph them in a natural environment, should I be photographing them on a model? I have them in more scenic shots because I live away from friends who could be my models. What do you think?

June 22, 2008 at 9:11 p.m. infraredstudio

Not only are tags important for your etsy shop, it's also helpful when people are search google for items. The more you use tags the more optimized & globably prepared your are within the virtual web world.

June 26, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. SupernovaDesigns

i really dislike the suggestion to use up all 14 tags. sometimes you don't need 14 and grasping at straws to use them all often leads to inaccurate or irrelevant tags.

June 29, 2008 at 2:33 p.m. bluestarbutterflies

I love etsy!

June 29, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. bluestarbutterflies

LOL at the double post. I guess I REALLY love Etsy! : P

Aug. 16, 2008 at 12:47 a.m. foxette

Great checklist and instruction to know before setting up shop, which we are in the process of. Danielle, thanks so much.

Oct. 27, 2008 at 5:09 p.m. bugbitesplayfood

This is a great article! Very helpful & a good reminder! It will be used often.

Nov. 11, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. MerCurios

Awesome article. I now need to rethink my process of tagging and with that drive traffic to my shoppe.

Jan. 21, 2009 at 4:49 p.m. karmajewelry

This is incredibly useful for a newbie!!

March 3, 2009 at 1:26 p.m. pmpekar

Very helpful thank you so much!

March 3, 2009 at 3:12 p.m. PurpleBears

Thanks for the printable checklist - it's just perfect. I'm about to take my first pictures for my first listings. Also thanks to others who added their tips/thoughts.

March 3, 2009 at 3:40 p.m. magicmuse

Thank you! Especially loved that we could print out the list. I just took my first set of photos of my pieces that I want to start my seller's shop with and am now trying to focus on the write-up for each...how to be creative and informative AND make it as functional and accessible at the same time?! I can keep my printout next to me so I don't forget any of the key criteria for each piece. Very Helpful!

March 3, 2009 at 9:55 p.m. ShabbyNChic

A great checklist! I especially like the idea about checking your title wording. Thanks!

April 13, 2009 at 6:20 a.m. SarikArt

I got the impression I was getting it all right, but at the end of the day, a checklist like the one you have done is great!
Im gonna keep it in my Etsy Info Book.
Thank you danielle!

Oct. 31, 2009 at 12:21 a.m. visualcreatures

Great tips!

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