You've seen those big sellers on Etsy who seem to be making sales left and right. You have to wonder how they've made it to where they are: can they actually be FOR REAL? What's their recipe for success? And just how do they do it?

This week's installment of our Etsy Success Story series is all about MaryInk.  In under a year and half on Etsy, the talented duo that makes up MaryInk has made close to 800 sales...How inspiring!  Maryink is made up of Mary and Chris, who currently dwell in Tennessee. "We have been making shirts together for about three years. Our designs are made by arranging found vintage items, our original illustrations, clip art, photos we have taken, and the combinations of all. We print everything by hand, and are also available to print your designs."  

How did you first hear about Etsy, and what made you decide to open a shop on the site?
We first heard about it when selling t-shirts on an online auction site. Another member contacted me (I’m 99% sure it was DanielleDIY), and told me about a new website called Etsy. We were living in the Virgin Islands at the time, looking for a way to sell our t-shirts, since we felt kind of cut off from our market. We had some wholesale accounts, but needed to push things online, since we weren’t in the best position to find new retailers while we were living on an island. We found out about it in early 2006, but we didn’t start selling until June 2006. We had just spent practically every dime we had to move back stateside, and needed to do everything we could to support ourselves.

What do you think your key to success for selling on Etsy has been?
Listing frequently has been the number one factor in our success here. When we first opened shop, we had only a few things that we listed all at once, and didn’t have much action. A little discouraged, we took a break for several months, until December of 2006. We had just gotten back from a crafts fair, and had some winter things we wanted to sell before the season was over. We had started looking at the forums, and I noticed a little tip about listing something every day or more if possible.

By following that one piece of advice, we started selling steadily.  We have also been working on our pictures, to make them visually simple, while showing as much detail as possible. I (Mary) was a photo stylist for years, so this was something I really prioritized, even though I was a little burned out on photo styling. I knew what a good shot looks like, but without access to the equipment, the photographer, model, and everyone else on a shoot, I was a little clueless and frustrated.  We used to shoot indoors, which wasn’t great, but now we take it outside on a sunny day, and things have been much better looking since then. The colors are more true, and there is less editing after the shot is taken. I would still love to shoot these on a person, but it works better for us at this point to do the shirts as stills. 

We do try to offer lots of options, both in prices and products. We have always done totes, and jewelry as a separate shop, and now we offer votive holders, too, as a beginning of a home collection we’d like to build upon. Having one place where someone could come and buy different things but with the same vibe, for themselves and friends, is the idea right now.  Offering international shipping has been great for us, since I think that buyers from other countries are loving the exchange rate right now. It usually doesn’t take too long to ship to other countries and the shipping cost really is reasonable.

How do you promote your shop?
This is the part that’s the hardest for us. Mostly, we tell everyone at the crafts fairs we do about Etsy. We make sure as many people as possible know they can buy our things from our Etsy store, and we pass out our business card with the Etsy address on it with abandon. We really aren’t big on blogging, and keep our forum time to a minimum since it can be soooo addictive, but we do like flickr, when we remember to use it.

How do you handle such a large volume of sales in your shop? What systems have you created to manage the orders?
Since we are two people instead of one, it makes things a lot easier. I (Mary) do all the listing, the shipping, photos, answer most of the convos, most of the designing (although the shirts that Chris designed are my favorites!). Chris does the printing, since he is such an amazing printer. He knows how to do things efficiently and perfectly! Without him, maryink would not exist. 

Sometimes things are going slow, no sales, etc., so we get a little discouraged. Then, from out of nowhere, we’ll get slammed. That is always awesome, and we are so happy when it happens. It can be overwhelming for a minute, then we remember that we’re human and can’t get everything done in one day. We’re pretty up front about our shipping policies in our profile and in our sale notification, so that has helped to take the edge off.  We have a couple of big shipping days a week, plus we ship small amounts pretty much every day if needed.

The system is pretty simple. There’s a dedicated shipping area where all of the shipping supplies are kept, and all of the shirts and totes are organized in covered plastic bins. We go through my sold items and pull everything I need to ship, and put them into mailers and boxes. We write what the item is, and the last name and location on the box. Then, I affix the postage labels, and take them to the post office, or sometimes just give them to the mailman. We use Endicia for mac software, which makes it sooooo much easier. We’re always trying to convert people to that shipping software.

Are your orders mostly from repeat buyers or new buyers? What do you do to gain repeat buyers?
We do have buyers from both camps. We try our hardest to get packages out the door quickly, so by doing that, it makes our customers more likely to stop by again. We are a bit obsessive and perfectionist with product details, so I think it helps to have those tendencies, even though it can be a burden in other ways. We can always do more for our customers, so we have been brainstorming lately about promos.

How do you stay motivated? Does it come naturally?
Sometimes it’s easy for us to be motivated, like when we are having good sales, or if we have a craft fair on the horizon. A fair will force us to think of new items to create, and how we are going to sell them. We have a lot of repeat buyers at crafts fairs, so we want to keep them interested with new stuff, while still offering pieces that people love. This translates into our Etsy store, since we make enough pieces at a time to offer them when we’re back in town and not freaking out with a fair deadline. The idea of going back to work for someone else keeps us pretty motivated, too.

Do you "Etsy" full time or do you have another job too?
Etsy is part of what we do, but it isn’t quite full time. We have lovely wholesale accounts that we work on, and we also have commercial print jobs we do, too. Etsy has definitely allowed us to drop a couple of part time gigs we had (teaching at a local art school, and working for the city archives), which we are incredibly grateful for. We also moved to a place with a cheap cost of living, which has made it a lot easier to pursue what we really want to do.

What is your favorite current Etsy Feature?
Time Machine 2. We have found a lot of favorites that way! We’ve also love the Storque, where we’ve also found new favorites, and picked up great tips.

What features do you use most on Etsy?
We look at the forums a lot...Maybe too much! The crafting and business section is great, and I skim through “Etc.”, although it can be a little too engrossing sometimes! Lately we have been using the search a lot. We are looking for gifts, and are also buying supplies and basic things we need around the house.

What goals do you have for your Etsy shop 1 year from now?
Since we mostly do t-shirts, we have a slower period the first quarter of the year, so we use this time to make new designs and figure out what we need to do to grow. We definitely want to have many, many new designs and products. We’ll likely have more things for the guys, kids, more accessories, as well as more home stuff, in the coming year.

Anything else you want to add?
We just want to say thanks! Without the community here -  the beautiful customers, the hard working administration, the talented sellers who have shared with us - we wouldn’t have the success we have had. You guys rock!

We also did an Open Studio tour with MaryInk.

Check out MaryInk's top Etsy picks are in the gallery below: