Etsy Seller Interview with Quyen of ParlorTattooPrints

How ParlorTattooPrints 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?

My shop, Parlor Tattoo Prints, on Etsy, was created out of loss. I had lost my job with the police department in 2012. I did see it coming for a few months, so I prepared by creating an Instagram account in March of that year to gain a consumer base for the Etsy shop I was planning on launching later that year. I really had a little help from winning the "proverbial jackpot," if you will. I had been pursuing an art career with pop-surrealistic paintings for about 9 years, but nothing was happening—not until I took a break just to draw up some tattoo designs for myself. I posted these online, and they just took off overnight. Everything changed. It was obvious what people wanted, so it was obvious what I needed to sell. All I needed was art supplies, paper, ink, a scanner, and a printer to build this business.

Favorite items

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

When I added handmade toys to the shop, those were the items I was most proud of. They challenged me to use all my creative skills, and I was making things I’ve always wanted to make, as I’ve always been intrigued by stop-motion movies and puppets. After a few years of switching disciplines from 2D to 3D, the toys started to sell well to the point where I could no longer keep up with the orders. I’ve decided to stop pursuing this route when it comes to toys. I am now just focused on content-making for social media. I’m so blessed that the tattoo prints have sold well from the start. I’ve been told they are very commercial and marketable in style and content. One big factor that helped with this was taking on a "product" that already had a built-in fan base, which was traditional tattoo designs. The other factor was timing. Tattoos were just becoming fashionable and mainstream in the 2010s, and I caught the wave at the right time.

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?

This is a hard question to answer, as in a way, it didn’t take long at all. From the moment I announced my shop, prints started to sell that very day; however, there was a lot of preparation that went into building that traction in the months prior. As of now, the sales I get are strictly from Etsy traffic, as I shifted focus a few years ago to 3D creations.

Managing ParlorTattooPrints

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?

My shop basically runs itself nowadays. I don’t do as much tending as I once did. The orders come through, I print, and I ship. I use shipping tubes, which are lightweight and cost-effective. I funnel all my orders into Shipstation and do all my shipping via their platform. I have my own independent website, as well, so this consolidates everything. From the beginning, I made a point to ship every other day, and that has worked out as people are getting their orders on a timely basis.

It was a lot busier years ago when I had all kinds of products, which included t-shirts (which I printed myself on a commercial printer), coloring books, calendars, magnets, Christmas cards, etc. When I added toys, it became exponentially busier. I was sculpting, molding, casting, shipping, etc. Despite the load of work, I never hired anyone else. I definitely thought about it but did not take that route. Instead, I just slowed down to focus on making art to inspire.

The future of ParlorTattooPrints

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

Currently, it is a good way for passive income to come through, so it will stay as is for a bit of time. I may or may not go back to making prints full-time. As an artist, I’m always searching for new creative adventures, so I’m never sure where those adventures will take me. We shall see!

Advice for new sellers

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

My advice for new sellers is to: Use your gifts and talents to your advantage, fill an unsaturated niche, be the top of that niche, source the best priced materials, do the work yourself and invest in your own equipment to help you save, use social media to advertise (namely, short form videos as everything is turning into tiktok), take professional photos for listings, create a pricing tier to market to a range of budgets, create a cohesive aesthetic or shop, have a backup source of income, work hard but also smart, put your best foot forward in quality and service, and don’t give up.

Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.

Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: I’m essentially retired now, but when I was doing this full-time, I was making on average about $15,000 a month from Etsy. One December, I brought in $9,000. Despite being semi-retired now and having not added anything substantial or advertised for the past few years, I am still bringing in at least a few thousand in prints every month.

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: I’m terrible at math, but my friend once said, "I can’t believe you sell paper," because the margins are exponential. Paper and ink may cost you $1 a page. You sell your prints for $40. It’s exponential.