Buying and selling online is easier than ever these days. You can have a business directly from your house by using sites like Etsy. Make what you love, and get paid doing it; that’s everybody’s dream. To start selling, you need to set up an Etsy store with these simple steps.

1. What are you selling? Before you can create a store, you need to have a product. Think about your interests and what you enjoy. Etsy is unique in that everything sold must be handmade, vintage, or unique goods. Find your passion, and make it a product.
2. Create an Etsy account. It’s incredibly easy to create a simple account with an email and a password. Verify your email address, and then click on Sell.
3. Choose a store name. As you create your seller’s account, you’ll need to have a store name. Come up with something that is catchy, but reflects what you do. For example, a jewelry maker who handcrafts pieces is called Fingerprint Jewelry. It’s unique, and it represents the product that is being sold.
4. Have realistic goals. You don’t need to create every product profile all at once. You also shouldn’t expect to see your products fly off the shelves within 1-2 days of posting it. Things like this take time to develop a method and a buyers reputation. Once people give you reviews, then others will be more inclined to buy from you. Likewise, you’ll perfect your product listing so that your products make it to the top of the search list. Take your time with it, and give yourself realistic goals that you can achieve every day.
5. Take great photos. Everything online needs to be incredibly visibly appealing. We buy with our eyes, and the photos need to make you want it. The first few photos can be clear images of the product, and the other images can have markers to help tell the buyer how large the product is. Stage your photos so that there is little to nothing else in the frame. Artfully arrange jewelry on beautiful scenery, or wear them to show how they fall when worn.
6. Have a thorough description: Try to answer any question that the buyer might have in the description. This is where people will make their decision. They want to know if it can be customized, or if you have it in different colors. They want to know if you have larger sizes, and how much it is. All of these things should be clearly spelled out so people know exactly what they are getting. If they have all the information upfront, then they are happy with the purchase they make. You will have less returns and a higher rating from buyers.
7. Use keywords. Just like Google, Etsy uses keywords to populate items when someone puts in a search request. If someone is looking for a pearl ring, then you want to include that in the title of your product and in your description. The more relevant your posting is to that search query, then higher your listing will be. The higher up you are, the more customer eye’s see your product.
8. Have unique packing supplies for shipping your product. You’ve made the sale! Congratulations! Now it’s time to ship it off to the customer. Think about how it will be presented. Wrap your item in neatly folded packing paper, secure it with a professional sticker, and add your logo to the front of the box. Leave a business card in the box so they have your information incase they would like to order more directly from you.

Over time, you’ll create more and more products making your store more versatile. When people have more to choose from, then you have a higher chance of making the sale. The more product listing you have active, the more opportunities there are for buying eyes to see it. The best part is that Etsy takes barely anything from the transaction, which leaves more money in your pocket to keep creating. Have at it, entrepreneur!