A Little Vintage Shop

I'm in the process of researching new sites for Back Home Again (the shop) and the one I'm most impressed with is Big Cartel. I love the way it allows you to create more of an individual presence on-line and I'm starting to think it's a  better business model for Back Home Again than Etsy. I don't know about you but I'm tired of working my butt off to bring traffic in to my store and loosing it to other sellers.  I liken it to a brick and mortar having trap doors throughout.  So anyway I've been browsing around over at Big Cartel and I stumbled upon this amazing vintage shop. Patti is the owner of  "a little vintage shop" and she is doing so many things right that I just had to give her a BIG shout out.

Listen up people....

1) She has a warm and inviting look that draws you right in. It's warm, fun and most of all personal. You'll have to click on over to see her front door because I couldn't get a good picture of the entire front page. Isn't the banner awesome?

2) Information about herself.  So many people are afraid they are going to be stalked if they put their info on-line. I'm not saying put up a bunch of personal data but people want to know about you and I think Patti has done a great job with that. It's important to personally connect with your customers  and that sneaker photo does that in a BIG way!

3) Pictures that are interesting without being too over done! Good light, interesting backgrounds and variety make her pictures stand out and make you want to click to see more of the product. I can also see myself wearing this apron and using the typewriter in my home.

{vintage apron in delightful orange & purple fabric - free shipping!}

 

{Royal quiet de luxe typewriter with case - $6.95 shipping!}

I would love to hear from sellers that are on Big Cartel and how you think it compares to Etsy! No bashing please, I just want a good honest business discussion about both models... Leave a comment!

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Comments

[patti @ a little Vintage Shop]

Thanks so much for this darling feature! I love Big Cartel for its ease of use and creative freedom and I totally agree that it offers much more of an individual presence than just having a shop on Etsy. I LOVE your analogy about the brick and mortar store and the trap doors ... I couldn't agree more ♥

I am more than happy to offer a helping hand (or words of sweet encouragement) to you or anyone else looking to switch over to start their own website on Big Cartel ... I don't know everything by any means, but I did do my design all on my own from scratch and knowing absolutely zilch, so hopefully I did learn a thing or two along the way that I can pass on!

Best wishes!

[klutzymama]

Well, I 've never bought anything off Etsy and actually do very little online shopping, but I just had to go over and check out Patti's shop after reading your great description and I agree, it is adorable and I love everything she has on there!

[Barbara]

LuAnn,
I just wonder about traffic.Maybe I don't understand enough about Big Cartel, but it seems to work well for people who have a large audience. Do you think this model would work well for small shops/blogs?

[LuAnn Smith]

From what I understand Barbara, you generate your own traffic at Big Cartel. I am so buried at Etsy that I have to generate my own traffic anyway and do. With Big Cartel your traffic stays in your store vs. hitting the BIG orange Etsy button {trap door}. In terms of size, Big Cartel has a limit of 100 items which keeps all the shops small. I'm seriously considering putting my handmade on Big Cartel and leaving tutorials {coming to your location soon} and vintage on Etsy!

[Natalie Jost]

What a cute store! Good find. I found your post via Big Cartel on Twitter. I left Etsy for Big Cartel a few months ago and have had great success. I wrote about the experience on my blog.

Your analogy of trap doors is so right. I still have my Etsy shop though, for this reason. I am often one of those trap doors people fall through. They are looking for XYZ in someone's etsy shop and find me instead (I feel no shame in that)!

The way I've come to approach Etsy is just like a table at a craft fair. If it's my only selling venue, I'm not going to do well. It's too much work for too little pay-off. But, as a marketing tool to drive business in to my "real" store, it's fantastic. Just like a table at a craft fair, customers hop around and get what they like, but the ones who pick up your business card and track you down after the show are the good return customers worth keeping (and who often spend more).

Not to mention there are lots of retail buyers who shop fairs (and Etsy) looking for talented handmade people to buy from wholesale. I say make Big Cartel your "brick and mortar" and keep Etsy as your "table" or "booth" at the fair.

[Allie]

I found you through Big Cartel's tweet so there's definitely that.

I've tried both Etsy and Big Cartel and I'm not really sure about either. Etsy lets me sell without overtly selling myself. However, I'm pretty sure my shop there is full of trap doors because no one buys anything. The market I market to, people who buy illustration prints and customized vinyls toys, has a lot of artist loyalty. If you're on Etsy for it, you're on it for one person. I don't think anyone is actually finding my shop. I can't even tell if I'm getting traffic.

On Big Cartel, it was infinitely customizable, which was what first drew me to it. I felt like I could make it my perfect shop and I could with a little work. But the whole community was invisible and I felt invisible with it. Looking back, that was nothing but paranoia because I was getting hits, even when I did nothing to promote myself. I think I was really just intimidated, by both my lack of a "fan base" and the sheer possibility.

In the end, it's a matter of which you have the balls for in my case. Big Cartel is likely what I'll go with once I set up a domain. For now, it's an Etsy. But it's definitely interesting to see other people's opinions on the two who come from a different background.

[LuAnn Smith]

Wow Natalie, I so appreciate your insight. Great point about being on the other side of the trap door! I've been reluctant to park Back Home Again on 2 different sites but I really think it may be the way to go. Great analogy comparing Etsy = craft show to big cartel = brick and mortar. I've also seen people compare Etsy to having a booth at an antique mall and big cartel to having your own boutique store. I think I'm over needing Etsy for the community aspect. That just seems to suck up my time (which I have so little of) and my blog keeps me connected to my customers... Anyway, there's always lots to think about. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I really do appreciate it!

~LuAnn

[LuAnn Smith]

I checked out your blog Allie. Your work is pretty amazing and you are obviously very talented. Congrats on your graduation and I appreciate your comments. I think Big Cartel and Etsy are tapping in to different markets but I'm just not sure what they are. LOL For sure, it's a matter of what you have the balls for!

~LuAnn

P.S. I couldn't find your store on Etsy, if you come back, would you leave a link please...

[Matt from Tonka Park]

Have you considered http://storenvy.com? They allow custom templates, but not extra pages, at least not yet. They also have social shopping like etsy but they allow all carts to be combined in a single checkout. Oh and did I mention they are free! No fees attached. Just pay the Paypal 3%. And I hear storenvy has some of the best screen printing services around.

[liza cowan]

I'm thinking of using BigCartel too. (found this thru their twitter) Glad you found it easy enough to design.
I have brick and mortar store and am looking forward to the next step. Not interested in Etsy exactly because of the trap door effect.

Does bigCartel have a good support system. Are they there to answer questions?

Glad to meet you. Thanks. Liza

[gina]

stumbled on this conversation via BC's tweet, and just wanted to chime in to say that BC support (which, I think, consists of one woman) is really awesome. Fast, informative and friendly (a very welcome relief after some shockingly bad correspondences from Etsy's 'support' team).

[Dahlila Found]

This is great insight. All this time I thought I just haven't been working hard enough, but maybe I'm just lost in the Etsy maze.

Taking on a 2nd venue seems like SO much more, but maybe it's necessary to compete. No matter how hard I work, I so often don't get found.

thanks for the pointers!
dahlila

[LuAnn Smith]

I agree about the work involved with being on two venues Dahlila. But then I think about restaurants in town that are in two locations. They choose those different locations to draw from different traffic and I'm beginning to think it's the same when selling on-line!

Etsy reminds me of the California gold rush of 1849. There were a few miners that hit gold and made money but most lost their shirts. The people that made money were merchants that sold gold mining equipment {think supply sellers on Etsy}!

Good to “see” you Dahlila and I do appreciate your input. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

[patti @ a little Vintage Shop]

What a great conversation!

I have my shop on Etsy as well. I don't really find it to be too much more work because it is soooooooo much easier to list products on Big Cartel and then I just copy them over to Etsy if and when I have time.

I have e-mail access via my iphone so I can monitor when an item sells and then if I am not near a computer I can mark the product sold or deactivate it via my iphone as well in the other venue.

It takes a lot of time for a website to build up a following and for people to feel comfortable buying from an online independent shop, so I do recommend utilizing multiple venues when first starting out. I also like that I can sell whatever I want through my own website. Sometimes I find amazing things that I think are "20 years or older" but they are so rare and unique that I can't "prove" it or sometimes they are not quite that old but are still pretty cool finds. Thus, I can list them on my own website and not have to face violating any Etsy TOUs ♥