If you’re thinking about opening a crystal shop, you’ve probably seen that many shops are selling crystals on Etsy. For me, Etsy was the easy choice for my crystal business. Read on to learn if selling crystals on Etsy is right for you, and the 3 keys to success that made me a top 10% Etsy seller in under a year.
Table of Contents
- Why you should consider selling crystals on Etsy
- 1. Master Etsy SEO for your crystal shop
- 2. Don’t use crappy crystal photos
- 3. Shoot for Etsy Star Seller
- Be successful selling crystals on Etsy
Why you should consider selling crystals on Etsy
Etsy is a trusted brand with an easy-to-shop platform. They’re known for their independent sellers who sell handcrafted, vintage, and unique items. And to me, the best part about Etsy is that they bring customers to your crystal shop with no outside marketing required.
An Etsy crystal shop is ideal for people who don’t want to spend lots of time posting on social media or doing other marketing. Everything you need to list, sell, and ship your crystals is included right on the Etsy platform. This is not the case when you sell crystals on Instagram or your own website.
I chose to open a crystal shop on Etsy because I simply don’t want to grow a large social media following. Instead, I can list crystals in my spare time and know they’ll sell, even when life gets busy and I’m not actively promoting my store.
If you want to take the next step and sign up for Etsy, use my link to get 40 free listings (an $8 value!) And get ready to take some notes, because here are my 3 keys for successfully selling crystals on Etsy.
1. Master Etsy SEO for your crystal shop
What the heck is SEO? It stands for Seach Engine Optimization.
Remember when I said Etsy brings customers to your listings for you? SEO is how Etsy decides when to show your listing to potential buyers. To make your listings highly visible, you need to design your listings so Etsy knows exactly what they are.
There are a lot of factors that go into Etsy’s algorithm, but the most important are keywords.
When a buyer searches for a crystal, keywords are essential for matching their search to your listing. You want to make sure the keywords people type in the search bar are included in your listing’s title, description, and tags. The best practice is to fill out all 13 tags on each listing, because every tag is another opportunity for a buyer to find you.
Learn more about keywords, tags, and how to use them in this article by Etsy.
Once you’ve figured out how to add keywords and tags to your listings, there’s another step to take for great SEO results. This involves signing up for a service to help you find the best keywords for your listings. The 2 most popular Etsy SEO services are eRank and Marmalead.
I’ve used both. I think Marmalead is slightly better at helping you find new keywords when you run out of ideas; but eRank lets you spy on your competitors’ tags, which can give you the inspiration to improve your rankings.
Marmalead is a paid service, and eRank has free and paid versions. Be sure to give eRank a try, since it’s free you have nothing to lose!
2. Don’t use crappy crystal photos
Usually, I’m a little more tactful. In the past, I’ve said you need excellent photos to sell crystals online. But here I’ll go one step further and say, if someone is not making sales on Etsy, it’s generally because they’re using poor quality photos.
What makes a picture crappy? By this, I mean photos that are dark, blurry, far away, filtered, have a messy background… basically anything that makes it hard to notice the detail, color, and size of the crystal.
Here’s an unfortunate photo from the early days of my shop:
What’s wrong with this picture?
- The left side of the photo is dark and shadowy.
- The entire photo is out of focus.
- The photo is too far away; it should be cropped so we can see more detail of the flower agate palm stone.
- The fabric background is wrinkled and has weird spots on it.
Now compare that with this photo of a zebra calcite palm stone:
What makes this a good photo?
- This photo is well lit with natural light.
- The palm stone is in focus and fills most of the frame.
- The background has depth and is blurred to avoid taking focus away from the stone.
- My hand is in the picture, so buyers understand how big the stone is.
Which picture do you find more appealing?
It’s also important to include enough photos with your listing. When customers are buying crystals online, they want to see every angle. Etsy lets you add 10 photos and one 15 second video to each listing; take lots of photos so you have plenty of good ones of each crystal.
If you struggle with taking crystal photos, that’s totally understandable and there’s no judgment here! All you need is a decent phone camera, natural light, and a simple, non-distracting background. Find more crystal photography tips in my ebook, How to launch an online crystal business: A step by step guide for beginners.
3. Shoot for Etsy Star Seller
It’s true that there is competition on Etsy, just like on every other platform. The reason all of these shops are on Etsy is because that’s where the buyers are!
Trust me – you want to be where the buyers are. And there’s no reason to be discouraged because other crystal stores are on Etsy. The best way to rise above the crowd is to provide excellent customer service.
I wrote an entire article about how to get 5 star reviews on Etsy. But what I want to emphasize here, is that your crystal shop should be aiming for a Star Seller badge from day 1.
Star Seller is a program that Etsy started in 2021. According to them, Star Seller is a way of “recognizing sellers with a proven record of providing a great customer experience.”
To earn a Star Seller badge, your shop must meet certain targets. You have to respond to messages within 24 hours; send your orders out on time; and get 95% 5 star reviews, among other criteria.
It’s nice to have the badge, but there are other benefits that come along with being a Star Seller. Etsy hasn’t shared if or how Star Seller affects your visibility – but I believe it’s safe to assume that Star Sellers get a boost in search appearance and other on-platform promotions on Etsy.
Etsy is telling us these metrics matter to them, so if you’re serious about your crystal shop, play the game!
Be successful selling crystals on Etsy
Opening a crystal business can be overwhelming, but Etsy is one of the easiest places to start. And now you know the 3 keys to focus on: having good SEO, taking great pictures, and chasing a Star Seller badge. Once you have these things in place, you’ll see your hard work pay off with steady sales!
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