Etsy Seller Interview with Heather of FINCHandHARE

How FINCHandHARE 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?

Finch and Hare began on Etsy in 2012 with a line of five fold-out cards that I designed and produced at home. Since then, we’ve expanded to our own Portland, OR studio with over 300 somewhat inappropriate cards and gifts: stickers, mugs, gift bags, coasters, pencils, and more. We try to make as much as we can in-house, but as we’ve grown, some products (stickers, gift bags, etc.) have had to be outsourced.

Favorite items

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

My original fold-out card line is one of my favorites because it was one of the first items I tried on Etsy and served as proof of concept for my business.

My new favorites are our gift bags. Even if the recipient loves a card you give them, they only get it once. With a gift bag, the joke is potentially regifted again.

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 had my first few sales within a week of opening. I had researched how to run an Etsy shop for months beforehand, so I knew the importance of tags and product names for SEO, and I think that helped me gain ground quickly. I also opened right as the holiday season started, which helped me get a boost in the beginning as well. I worked hard on customer service to get some good reviews right away, which is always important but especially so when you only have a handful of sales.

Managing FINCHandHARE

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 have a couple of part-time employees: one who works in the studio with me and another who does packaging in her own home. We use Shopify for our website, QuickBooks for bookkeeping, and Zoho for inventory management. We handle all the shipping and fulfillment in-house, and because we sell on multiple platforms, ShipStation combines the orders from all of those platforms into one place.

The future of FINCHandHARE 

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

We’re looking to focus more on wholesale, especially in 2023, with more marketing, trade show attendance, etc., to get more stores carrying our product. Another goal is to have bigger, more organized releases rather than trickling in new products throughout the year.

Advice for new sellers

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

Stores are at the mercy of the Etsy search algorithm, which is constantly evolving. Make sure to research the current best way to get your store found in searches (tags, descriptions, sales, etc.). Shipping settings are a huge must for research, especially if you sell internationally. Figure out how you’ll deal with misdelivered packages, lost shipments, etc. My products have a low price point, so it’s easy enough for me to replace packages that don’t arrive. Not every Etsy shop is in a position to do that, so make sure your policies are clear before people purchase.