Etsy Seller Interview with Artie of qwelqwel

How qwelqwel 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?

Hi, my name is Artie, and I run qwelqwel with my younger sibling! We make jewelry (and hopefully accessories soon!) that remind us of fun days, the ocean, and sunshine. Prior to opening an Etsy shop in early 2014, I had always been interested in making jewelry, particularly necklaces with a natural edge (i.e., focusing on natural materials such as beads made from wood, seeds, or shells). I guess it’s due to being inspired by the beach and the ocean since I was little. =) When I was 11, I tried my hand at making a couple of necklaces with DIY jewelry kits from our local arts and crafts store, and needless to say, they were not very good! I momentarily lost interest after that, but I still found the notion of creating handmade jewelry and sharing it with others super cool!

Fast forward a couple of years. I was working a retail job and considering what it would be like to start a small business instead, as I have always had an inclination towards creating art of any variety (writing and drawing are my first loves!). Around that time, I had done some Christmas shopping at a handmade boutique based in our local mall, which is where I first discovered macramé knotting! I had purchased a macramé bracelet there made with wooden beads, and for whatever reason I felt I wanted to learn how to make jewelry with that same style of knotting. I ended up teaching myself how to macrame a knot, and from there I got back into attempting to make jewelry. The rest is now history!

We make all of our jewelry in our (very small) home studio, where we have two desks and bins of hemp and beads to work with. Listening to music and watching or listening to game playthroughs really fuel us through the workday! (We mostly listen to Yes and Mike Oldfield, though we’ve just recently incorporated the Bee Gees into the mix.)

Favorite items

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

Even though our more popular items tend to be our hemp bracelets, my favorite items in our shop right now are our mini waterproof bracelets, which are made from waxed polyester cord. I made and listed them in Spring 2021, which was a neat time for us, and so they give me good vibes. =) I have also found them to be pretty tough, and they hold up rather well to wear and tear in my experience! Some of the example bracelets featured in the listing photos are actually bracelets I made for ourselves, and we still wear them quite often!

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?

Our shop first opened in March 2014, and we made our first sale in May of that year. To be honest, at first our products were a tad inconsistent, and we didn’t have a whole lot of items listed in our shop, so I feel that had a lot to do with the waiting time. About five or so years ago, I tried my hand at using social media to advertise our shop, but being an introvert, social media can be a little difficult for me to manage sometimes, so now I chiefly rely on SEO and making sure our listings look their absolute best.

Managing qwelqwel

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 sibling and I both run the shop; I take care of customer service, product photography, doodling on the bubble mailers, and finding and buying supplies, and my sibling and I both work on actual jewelry production and shipping. I don’t really use many tools or apps to help run the shop at all, save for the Etsy Seller’s app, although I have used Alura’s fee calculator in the past, which was very helpful.

The future of qwelqwel

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

From the beginning, I’ve always wanted to somehow merge my doodles with our shop, so in the future, I’m hoping to maybe branch out and offer stickers and pins in addition to our jewelry. T-shirts would be nice as well, but so far I’ve not had much luck with that.

Advice for new sellers

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

If you feel that opening a shop is a step in the right direction—if you feel that in your gut—then honestly, GO FOR IT! For us, starting a small business just felt like the right choice, even though at first our sales were slow and there was a lot of learning and improvising to do. But if it is something you really, truly want and it feels right with your soul, I absolutely encourage you to follow your instincts and give it a shot, even if you feel initially nervous and awkward due to being a newbie. You will learn as you go!