Etsy Seller Interview with Michael of artPause

How artPause got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

Hello! My name is Michael, and I am the owner of artPause, which sells prints and box canvas of my original artworks. It all got started after I made a few custom prints as gifts for friends back in 2007. They suggested I should try selling them. 

At the time, eBay was the easiest venue around to sell on. I added a few designs thinking that at best, this might be an interesting part-time hobby which might generate a little extra spare cash.

In 2008, I sold around 300 prints in total, and over the next few years, sales were doubling each year. It was during 2011 that I decided to look at other sales venues and I joined Amazon, set up my own website and at the end of the year, joined Etsy.

Etsy seemed particularly attractive, as it catered specifically for artists and creators, unlike eBay or Amazon, which were just for everything under the sun.

Originally, my most popular artworks were maps. Not your typical standard maps, but artistic and creative maps: watercolor maps, sheet music maps, abstract painting maps, maps made with music notes, text maps, animal maps, dinosaur maps etc. At the time, there was nothing else similar being sold anywhere and they proved very popular.

Since 2012, I have focused on watercolor city skylines. Like the maps, no one was doing anything remotely similar at the time. If you did a web search back in 2012 for a watercolor city skyline, there was virtually nothing except my artworks - just try a search now and see how that has changed. It’s quite humbling thinking that I started not one but two trends!

The skylines actually came about when Ikea approached me requesting some artworks related to cities. In the end, they didn’t go with designs, but I put them on Etsy to see how they would do. That’s when things really took off, propelling my hobby into a full-time job and necessitating artPause becoming a proper Ltd company.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

I think a few of my original artworks are my favorites. They include a Children’s Animal World Map, a Paint Splashes World Map and the Skyline of London. They all happen to also be some of my top sellers so maybe that’s why they are also my favorites! 

I do, however, have some other favorites which are not particularly popular, I just like them a lot, such as this version of the London Skyline.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?  

I opened my Etsy shop on the 3rd of October 2011, but only listed about 10 items to start with, whilst I got the hang of how the site worked. The first sale was on the 18th of October, and then, I had another sale in December. So, only 2 sales in the first 3 months. 

However, the following year, with the introduction of the city skylines, my sales shot up over 3000. At first, I didn’t drive any traffic to the site. But in 2013, I started using social media sites, such as Pinterest and Instagram.

Managing artPause

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

I am responsible for running the company, all of the sales venues and all the artwork and creatives. I do have a small team who help with the manufacturing side of things, the printing and shipping of orders. 

For US orders, I use a Production Partner based in the USA - this is much better for my US customers, as it means faster deliveries and no customs issues. It took a bit of time to find a printer who was reliable and was able to print using the same equipment and paper stock, but it was definitely worth it.

The future of artPause

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

I am looking forward to having a good clean up of the shop, which will involve removing some of the less popular items and introducing some new creative lines.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Stick with it and above all, be original. I have seen so many sellers copy my style of artwork, only to end up closing down due to lack of sales. I just really can’t see the point of trying to do that. At best, you might cannibalize a few sales, but you’re never going to be truly successful by just copying other people. 

For a chance at real success, at really growing a business, and having something you can be proud of and enjoy doing, you need to stand out from the crowd. You can only do that by creating unique and original designs.