Here we are on the first day of September already! Weren’t we just starting to enjoy the warmer weather of May, only a few weeks ago? Here in the US, the week leading up to our Labor Day holiday weekend always signals the end of summer. Vacations are wrapping up, kids are getting ready for school, and you are taking advantage of this time to make sure your Etsy shop is all set for the fall shopping season. Right?

Autumn Harvest Poe Pumpkin | $12.50 | Parachute425

In just a few weeks of being co-editors of Handmade Spark, Amber and I have noticed several “don’ts” when looking for products and pictures to feature in our blog posts:

1.  It isn’t Mother’s Day anymore. Or Father’s Day. So please: no more mentions of these two holidays in your product titles and descriptions. Think about the fall season and the major holidays between now and January 1st, and update your titles and descriptions (and tags!) accordingly.

2.  Although the official start of Autumn is still a few weeks away, most people consider the fall shopping season to begin just after Labor Day, which this year in the US falls on September 6th. This means that advertising anything for the Spring or the Summer just isn’t going to have the same draw as products appropriate to the Fall and Winter. (The exception to this, of course, is those of you living in the Southern Hemisphere who are just coming upon your Spring and Summer seasons!)

3.  Read your titles and descriptions out loud. Why? Because it is a surefire way to catch typos and errors that our eyes might miss. Typos are a turn-off. (Unless you are me, and you enjoy finding typos like a little detective.)

4.  Tags, tags and more tags. Please don’t tag your orange-colored items as “yellow” or “blue” or “green.” There’s nothing worse than shopping for orange earrings, like I was a month ago, and having non-orange earrings show up in the search results. And yes, there would be a line in the description saying, “Need a different color? Just ask me!” Which is all fine, but then don’t use your 14 tags to list every color you can think of that your product “could” be designed in.

5.  Don’t tag your burnt orange suede purse as “Halloween” just because it is orange. Unless you have embroidered little ghosts and goblins all over it.

6.  If you are part of an Etsy Team, make sure you are using the correct team tag in your listings. We use the tags, for example, when coming up with team features, such as the recent ones we did on Italy, Canada, and Poland.

7.  If you are selling a necklace that has matching earrings, by all means include a clickable link in the description mentioning the matching earrings. Do not, however, use the tag “earrings” for your necklace. Mistagging is also a turn-off.

8.  Make sure that your prices are consistent. I have seen shops that have an identical item listed twice in their shop with two different price points. Don’t confuse your customers.

9.  Consider now whether you will offer anything special like complimentary gift wrap for holiday purchases or free shipping. You need to figure out if your budget can handle offering such things before freely offering up your time and money to cover such costs.

10.  TYPING YOUR PRODUCT TITLE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF YELLING AT YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS.  Yes, I know, you want to have your item stand out. But in today’s online world, netiquette dictates that if you are using all caps, you are “e-yelling” at someone. Use your indoor voice.

11.  Review your shipping fees, especially if you ship internationally. Make sure your shipping policies are clearly outlined, to avoid any last-minute holiday shopping/shipping hassles. Best advice I heard last year from a seasoned seller was to establish a cut-off date for your international orders and stick to it, no matter what. For domestic orders (placed within your own country), make sure you also are prepared with shipping methods that will get your items there safely and quickly.

12.  Read your titles and descriptions out loud. What’s that? I already mentioned this? Good. That means you are paying attention. But I am repeating it here because it truly is that important.

Our resident photography expert Naomi Morgan has provided many tips to improve your product images in several articles which you can see here. Stay tuned for additional examples and great tips from Naomi in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, what tips can you add to this list? Please comment below.

~Laura Kuhlmann