How RossPaintShop 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’m Danae Giacchino, owner of Ross Paint Shop on Etsy. We sell hand-painted and engraved Bibles and art prints, all geared toward drawing people closer to Christ through beautiful artwork. The shop started as a way for me to share my creativity but quickly grew into a place where people came to find Bibles that reflect something special to them, whether it be for their wedding day, to use at home, or to gift to someone special. While my faith is the most important thing in my life, I didn’t intend to sell Bibles at first. I was originally painting wooden signs when someone asked me if I could paint a Bible that would reflect their wedding flowers and could be used for guests to sign at their wedding reception. This first Bible was the inspiration behind our custom Bible guest books, which are our biggest sellers and such a special piece in the shop. Customers give us their color palette, bouquet inspiration, favorite verse, and any other wording they want on the Bible, and we paint that onto the version of the Bible of their choice.
Each Bible has lined margins on every page so wedding guests can highlight special verses, sign their names, and leave a note for the bride and groom. In the end, the couple gets a Bible that’s filled with messages from their favorite people (we don’t do that part, of course! ), is painted to reflect their wedding day, and can last with them throughout the years. We love these so much! While the painted wedding Bibles are one of our biggest shop items, we also offer other painted Bible options as well as engraved leather Bibles (a quickly growing side of the business). Whether it’s for personal use, an event, or a gift, our goal is to create special, unique Bibles no matter what the occasion or inspiration, so we can spread hope and joy in as many places as possible. We get most of our Bibles from Christianbook.com, but we also use other online Bible retailers, depending on who has stock of what we need. From there, I hand paint or engrave them and then ship everything out of my home office.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
My current favorite products are this floral wedding Bible design, our text-only wedding Bibles, and our floral cross-engraved Bible. They are all fairly simple yet able to be personalized, which is why I think they’re the perfect option and some of our best sellers.



The floral wedding Bible has a simple, clean layout that I think is perfect for any couple and can be totally customized to meet their needs. When customers reach out to us, they are usually already overwhelmed with the wedding planning process but still want something that reflects them personally. The answer? A simple Bible design with colors, florals, and wording can be easily tweaked to fit the look they are going for without causing them to make a million decisions. That is this Bible to a tea, and that is why I believe it’s our best-selling wedding Bible.


The text-only wedding Bible is a simplified version of the previous option that allows customers to choose their Bible’s background color, text color, and personalize all of the wording. These Bibles ship quicker and are timeless since they are simple and don’t have any extra fluff other than the couple’s wedding colors and wording choices.

The floral cross Bible is our cross design made of leaves, vines, and flowers that is hand engraved on a synthetic leather Bible (in the customers choice of version). It’s actually one of our simplest engraved designs, but I think that’s why I like it so much. It’s an elegant cross that’s embellished just a bit, giving off a classic look that’s perfect for any girl, and maybe even some guys. It can be personalized with a name or short phrase, which makes it perfect for a unique, sentimental gift.

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?
Since I started the shop more as a hobby, the sales were slower at first. I believe the first sale was within a few weeks, and it continued like that until I could really nail down what our main products would be and move things solely in the direction of Bibles. Our traffic actually comes mostly from Etsyhe sales were slower at first. I believe the first sale was within a few weeks, and it continued like that until I could really nail down what our main products would be and move things solely in the direction of Bibles. Our traffic actually comes mostly from Etsy. I’ve worked really hard to educate myself on SEO, which has really paid off now that we know what our customers are looking for. We are also on Instagram a little bit, have a monthly newsletter, and share products and blog posts on Pinterest, but our largest traffic source is Etsy search.
Managing RossPaintShop
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 currently do everything for the shop, which can be a handful, but since most of the items are very customized and handmade, doing it myself keeps things cohesive and streamlined. With so much inventory and custom products that require several steps to complete, staying organized and on top of things is imperative. One of my favorite tools for organizing is actually Etsy itself. Within the orders part of the Seller dashboard, you can customize the tabs where you see your orders, so I created and customized extra tabs to show where different orders are in the process, which orders I’m doing the next day, rush orders, separate product types, and more.
Here are a few other tools I love as well:
Google Sheets: I created a calendar template where I take every single new order and add it to the day I will complete it. Each order can also be highlighted to indicate what type of product it is and if it’s a rush order. This system makes sure I don’t forget any orders and allows me to plan my schedule weeks in advance because I know exactly how much I have to get done and when it will be complete.
Canva: this tool is everything! Aside from product photos, I create every listing photo on Canva. It’s a design website where you can easily drag and drop photos, text, and other elements, and it’s such a great way to share information about the products and make my listings feel more branded to my shop.
Vela: This is a bulk editor for Etsy. I don’t use it all of the time, but with having so many listings, it helps me change descriptions and listing photos much quicker than going into every single listing on Etsy individually.
Quickbooks: I love that Quickbooks perfectly syncs up with Etsy and records every order that comes in along with all of the associated fees. The only thing I have to do is add in the purchases I make for the shop and make sure I pay my quarterly taxes! This tool has been a lifesaver and also perfectly integrates with TurboTax, which makes tax time a lot easier.
There may be a few other tools, but those are my main ones. I currently do inventory manually, but as we continue to grow, this will likely be one of the next things I need to automate to make sure I have everything I need. As far as shipping and fulfillment go, I use Etsy labels within the platform and ship through USPS. I ship every Wednesday and Friday and schedule pickups when I can, as well as take extra orders to the post office myself. I have found Amazon Subscribe and Save to be a great way to save money on most of my boxes, tape, and packing paper, and I also use USPS flat rate flat mailers and boxes occasionally since they are free and offer great standard prices. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention my Rollo printer! No more spending on ink or manually cutting mailing labels—this has truly been one of my best purchases and favorite products to streamline the shipping process.
The future of RossPaintShop
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
My main goal for this year is to purchase a laser engraving machine to help me be able to take on more engraved Bible orders as well as really take my designs to the next level. I currently engrave everything by hand, and although I love being able to do this, it limits the number of orders I can take on. I’m hoping a machine would help me almost double the production so I’m able to serve more customers as well as reduce some of the pressure on myself each day. Aside from that, I want to blog more frequently on my business website, simplify the shop as a whole, and reduce the number of custom orders I accept.These next few years are about finding the best ways to continue growing and serving customers while allowing for more freedom and balance for myself.
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
Learn SEO ASAP. Your products don’t stand a chance at being seen unless they are properly keyworded. Learn what your customers are searching for by using tools like Erank, Marmalade, the Etsy search bar (don’t discount this! ), Pinterest, and Google. From there, I would say just launch and correct as you go. Once you start hearing from customers, you’ll figure out what products to edit, add, etc. For me, a lot of my best sellers were once custom orders that I turned into listings because I thought other people might like them as well. Lastly, I’d say be patient if this is something you’re really passionate about. It took me a few years before the business turned full time, and if I had given up before then, I would have missed out on something really great. Don’t compare yourself to shops that appear to just take off. Work hard and allow your own timeline to be worthy and valid. Everyone’s experience is so different, and if you know your products are well made and really serving people, you will be successful in time.
Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.
Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: On average about $4,000-5,000
Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: $30-50
Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: My average 2022 conversion rate was 2.8%