Etsy Seller Interview with Stephen of BloominLuvly

How BloominLuvly 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?

I am of a certain age these days; I have worked with graphics and film in television, and I have an interest in images of times past, especially from the 1900s onward. It was a time when quality mattered, and even humble railroad posters were of the highest standard and really were works of art. I don’t like to see such things lose their place in history. This interest helped me decide what to sell.

For practicality I decided that whatever I sold would have to be reasonably inexpensive to Mail (as most of my sales would be to the USA, Canada, Australia etc., most of the way around the World.  I wanted them to fit into an A4 envelope so very large Prints were a non-starter. I wanted the prints to last and never fade so I hit upon the idea of lamination which would be invisible when framed. I wanted the prints to look ‘’finished’’ so I put a printed ‘’frame’’ around them to set them off.

Favorite items

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

My favorite items are my best sellers. If a print doesn’t sell after 18 months of being listed, it's out! I monitor how many hits a print gets almost daily.

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?

The first sale happened after about 3 weeks, and then a steady trickle began and increased quite quickly. Now business is brisk. 

I think having good reviews for potential clients to read gives them confidence to go ahead and buy. I also have a horror of someone buying something and simply not liking it, so I don’t quibble about refunds where necessary.

Managing BloominLuvly

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 a one-man band. I choose the prints, enhance their colors, clean them up, repair damage where necessary, print them, pack them, and take them to the post office. I make a promise that packages will be sent within 24 hours, and I stand by that. When COVID came along, mail times were impossible to meet, so I closed the shop rather than disappoint clients. At my end, the Postmaster is a personal friend, so I get advance warning of postal strikes, holidays, etc. We have lots of holidays in Spain! I am too old for "tools and apps," so I keep things simple; it has worked so far.

The future of BloominLuvly 

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

The boat seems to be sailing along quite nicely, so I am not planning on doing anything to rock it.

Advice for new sellers

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

You are not doing this to be bored. So sell something that interests you—something that gives you satisfaction to make. You must enjoy what you do, or it will become just a daily grind.

Just because something interests you doesn’t mean that it interests other people. Consider what other people enjoy and what makes them happy.What would be a nice item for them to buy as a gift for relatives and friends? Maybe something nostalgic?

Remember that the images you place on Etsy are your shop window. They are your only chance to entice a customer to buy from you rather than someone else.