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Hello


Not sure if this is the correct forum to ask this question but I am hoping that someone might have an answer.

Has anyone had experience selling painted models on etsy.com ? I am trying to decide if it is the right way to go to get more exposure for my work and if it would be worth the time trying to use etsy to sell my work.

It seems to be a place for artists but some of it policies seem overly complicated. Especially, the way you get paid after a sale. I was hoping that someone here might be on etsy or had experience with etsy so I could get a better idea about it.

Thank you all for your advice and help.

I don't think you will find an audience for regular painted miniatures there. You might get people for decorative figurines or something like that but as far as I know miniature painters (wargaming scale) tend to promote themselves through existing communities (like here), mini trading sites (does Bartertown still exist?), or specific sites like http://www.coolminiornot.com/ (I think you put minis in the gallery and then you can buy tokens to get ebay link to your auction), http://www.puttyandpaint.com/ (invitation only), and ebay directly.

I've seen terrain pieces sold on Etsy. I don't know how well they sell, but they're up there! Have you looked on Etsy to see if there are any actual mini's on there? Maybe, if there are, contact the seller and see if they have any pointers.

Putty and paint = Wow!

You will have success on Etsy if you promote the heck out of yourself everywhere else.

If you expect to plonk work on Etsy without any other exposure linking to this sales channel you will become frustrated.

(An Etsy user).

To my knowledge, don't Etsy listings need to have been made by the seller? It strikes me as the wrong place to be selling miniatures, because regardless of the quality of the paint job, the majority of the creation and production was done by another party.

 Tim the Biovore wrote:
To my knowledge, don't Etsy listings need to have been made by the seller? It strikes me as the wrong place to be selling miniatures, because regardless of the quality of the paint job, the majority of the creation and production was done by another party.

Its difficult. However, selling a painted miniature is allowed and would have no problem being listed. On some level it could be morally wrong to list such items on a site like Etsy but the listing rules allow some leeway.

Take a look at the doll conversions for Monster High and custom Kid Robot vinyl toys. There are also successful listers selling painted scale models.
Found object art is a big thing on sites such as Etsy.

The big problem is not the type of item but how you promote your business. Just listing without thought to your customers will lead to lots of likes from fellow members and few sales.

 Mr. Burning wrote:

 Tim the Biovore wrote:
To my knowledge, don't Etsy listings need to have been made by the seller? It strikes me as the wrong place to be selling miniatures, because regardless of the quality of the paint job, the majority of the creation and production was done by another party.

Its difficult. However, selling a painted miniature is allowed and would have no problem being listed. On some level it could be morally wrong to list such items on a site like Etsy but the listing rules allow some leeway.

Take a look at the doll conversions for Monster High and custom Kid Robot vinyl toys. There are also successful listers selling painted scale models.
Found object art is a big thing on sites such as Etsy.

The big problem is not the type of item but how you promote your business. Just listing without thought to your customers will lead to lots of likes from fellow members and few sales.

Thank you all for your advice. I appreciate it. I might give etsy a try but for now I am putting my work up on ebay as fixed price items.