Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Another Etsy Tool

by Lucie of Lucie Wicker Photography

Alchemy! For those of you who have never heard of alchemy, it is a tool Etsy provides to help potential buyers commission custom orders from Etsy sellers.

Here's how it works:
1. A buyer dreams up an item they would like to buy (a gift for my flower-obsessed mother! a carrot costume for my 5 year old son!)
2. They use Alchemy to place a request for their item
3. Etsy sellers respond to the request with a bid, detailing exactly what they can do
4. The buyer reviews their options and accepts the bid they think is best suits their needs
5. Etsy seller posts pictures, payments are agreed upon and sent
6. Etsy seller sends out the item, the buyer loves it, everyone is happy!

This is a great opportunity to help spread the word about your shop and give your sales a boost. This time of year many people are looking for gifts, warm clothing, etc. so the possibilities are endless.

Example: while I normally do not stray too much from photography/design, I bid on a request for life-sized taco ornament a buyer wanted to give to her boyfriend. I had some polymer clay and thought it sounded like a fun project. I did a few back-and-forth convos with the buyer, sent a few pictures and she accepted it! The transaction went really smoothly and it was a sale I never would have made otherwise as I do not generally list clay food ornaments in my Etsy shop :)

6 comments :

  1. That's awesome! I should totally create an alchemy request for a hot dog with sauerkraut or something. haha! I love how you can find anything on etsy!

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  2. lucie! that's awesome! you are quite talented with clay :) maybe you should start another etsy shop!
    really, you do amazing work. that taco is hilarious!

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  3. Wow! Even though I work in the medium, I'm always in awe of folks who can sculpt and do miniatures in polymer. That taco looks muy rico...

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