Starting an Etsy Business For Dummies. Gatski Kate

button.

      Etsy creates your account and sends a confirmation email to the address you supplied in Step 4.

       If you don’t receive the confirmation email right away, check your spam folder to make sure it wasn’t intercepted.

      10. Open the email from Etsy and click the link that it contains to confirm your account.

      You’re ready to go!

      Source: Etsy.com

       FIGURE 2-1: Etsy’s main page.

      Source: Etsy.com

       FIGURE 2-2: The registration page.

       Accessing Etsy’s House Rules and reviewing its Terms of Use

      Before registering with and using Etsy, take a moment to access the site’s House Rules and review its Terms of Use. Follow these steps:

      1. Click the Help button in the bottom-right corner of any Etsy Marketplace page.

      The Help page appears.

      2. Scroll down to the Still Have Questions? section and click the Read Our Site Policies link.

      The Our House Rules page appears.

      3. Click the Terms of Use link.

The Terms of Use page appears, as shown in Figure 2-3.

      Source: Etsy.com

       FIGURE 2-3: Review Etsy’s Terms of Use.

      Etsy’s Terms of Use page is kind of like the site’s constitution. It sets out your rights and responsibilities on the site. This 14-point document covers maintaining your privacy, content requirements, proper use of services, termination, warranties and liability, indemnification, handling disputes, and other important legal-type stuff.

       Maybe you’re wondering why you need to read Etsy’s Terms of Use. Here’s our answer: Violating any of the policies spelled out in the Terms of Use is grounds for expulsion from the site. The “But I didn’t know it was a policy!” defense doesn’t fly.

      In addition to its Terms of Use, Etsy has several more House Rules. We cover these in a bit more detail in Chapter 6.

It’s a Sign: Signing In

After you’ve created your Etsy account, signing in is a snap. Just go to www.etsy.com and click the Sign In button in the upper-right corner of the screen. (You can see this button in Figure 2-1, just to the right of the Register link.) Then, in the pop-up window that appears, type your email address or username in the Email or Username field, type your password in the Password field, and click the Sign In button (see Figure 2-4).

      Source: Etsy.com

       FIGURE 2-4: Use your username or email address and your password to sign in to your Etsy account.

       Notice the Stay Signed In check box in Figure 2-4. If you select this check box, you can navigate away from the site and return without having to sign in all over again. However, we don’t recommend you choose this setting if you’re on a public computer (for example, at a library or Internet cafe). Otherwise, a complete stranger could access your account!

      What about signing out? That’s even easier than signing in. Simply click the You button that appears in the header bar when you’re signed in and choose Sign Out from the menu that appears.

High Profile: Setting Up Your Public Profile

      Everyone who joins Etsy has a public profile page. Why? A couple of reasons. For one, being able to check out other Etsy members helps to inspire confidence in the site. That is, it’s not populated by a bunch of faceless buyers and sellers; it’s populated by actual people! For another, it’s fun to see who else is on the site.

      An Etsy profile can (but doesn’t have to) include the following tidbits:

      ❯❯ A profile picture

      ❯❯ Your name

      ❯❯ Your gender

      ❯❯ Your city

      ❯❯ Your birthday

      ❯❯ Your bio

      ❯❯ A list of your favorite materials

      Anyone who visits your Etsy shop can access your public profile by clicking your name or profile picture on any page in your Etsy shop.

      To populate your Etsy public profile, follow these steps:

      1. Click the You menu along the top of any Etsy Marketplace page and choose View Profile.

Your profile page appears, as shown in Figure 2-5. Note the generic profile picture.

      2. To add a personalized profile picture, click the camera button in the bottom-right corner of the generic photo.

      The Add a Profile Photo dialog box opens. It lists various photo specs, including the file type (JPG, GIF, or PNG), file size (smaller than 10 megabytes), and dimensions (at least 400 x 400 pixels).

      3. Click the Choose a File button.

      A standard Open dialog box appears.

      4. Locate, select, and open the photo you want to use.

Etsy shows you a preview of your photo (see Figure 2-6).

      5. If you like the photo, click Save. Otherwise, click Go Back and repeat Step 4 to use a different photo.

When you save your photo, Etsy returns you to your profile page. The profile picture you chose replaces the generic one (see Figure 2-7).

      6. Click the Edit Profile button.

The Your Public Profile page opens. Here, you can enter additional information about yourself. (See Figure 2-8.)

      7. If you want, indicate your gender.

      If you prefer to keep that information private, select the Rather Not Say option button.

      8. Type your city in the City field.

      As you type, Etsy displays a list of matching locales; click your town in the list to select it.

       By entering your city, you enable Etsy buyers near you to find your shop.

      9. Use the Month and Day drop-down lists to enter your birthday.

      10. Type your bio in the About box.

      11. In the Favorite Materials box, indicate which materials you like to use, separating entries with a comma and a space.

      You can add as many as 13.

      12.