What I Wish I Knew Before I Started Selling Vinyl Decals On Etsy

Read on so that you don’t make the same mistakes that I did!

When I started my Decal business, I had no prior experience of selling on Etsy, running a business, being my own boss or anything like that so I learned by doing, and in the beginning, I got a lot wrong! So in this post, I’ll tell you some of the things I wish I knew beforehand so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes that I did.

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How Much Easier It Is To Sell Decals Than Finished Products

The first thing I wish I knew instantly, as soon as I bought my Cricut, was how much easier it is selling vinyl decals than finished products. I didn’t think anyone would be able to apply the decals on their own, but I mean if I could apply them, why wouldn’t everyone else be able to?!

So I spent a lot of time trying to sell pre-made signs, totes, makeup bags and various other items and losing lots of money in the process. This obviously isn’t the case for everyone, but for me personally, decals just made such better business sense and as soon as I started selling them, that’s when my business really took off.

There are a lot of reasons why I think decals are better, if you want the full list, check out this post below…

That I Worked Out My Prices Properly

The next thing I wish I did, was actually work out my prices properly. In the beginning I lost a lot of money from underpricing and undervaluing my time. I said yes to jobs that I thought would be really quick so I didn’t charge that much, but they ended up taking 10 times as long. I also didn’t factor in all of the other things that go with running a business like bookkeeping, designing, marketing, post office runs, paying for software etc. So it took me a while but once I worked out everything properly I started to make a good profit.

If you want to know how to price your decals, or any other kind of crafted item really, I’ve put everything I’ve learned since about it into my latest course on Skillshare. Click below for more information (it’s free for 2 weeks for all new members!)

Simple Designs & Colours Only

Another thing I should have done was start with simple designs and a small range of color choices. Then once I got to know what my customers wanted, and received requests, then I could have expanded into other options. But instead, I did it the other way around and offered them the choice of any color they could think of, and I ended up with a drawer full of random colors, some of which I had for ages afterwards as nobody ever asked for them again.

So start simple and go from there, otherwise you may end up wasting money on stock you will never use. 

To Make It Clear What I’m Selling

A big mistake I made early on was assuming that everyone knew what a decal was, and that they would be able to tell what it was just from a picture. But as I’m sure you can guess, they did not! So I ended up with a few bad reviews and a few customers wanting refunds before I made it clear in my title, description, photo and anywhere else I could add it.

Saying that though, you can repeat it 30 times on your selling page and some people still don’t read what they’re buying. But as long as you have made it as clear as you can, that’s all you can do.

That There Will Be Mistakes

A real learning curve for me was accepting that there will be constant mistakes and not beating myself up about it. I still get a little bit frustrated sometimes if I cut something the wrong size or color, but I just try to remind myself that it’s human nature, no one is perfect, and technology is not perfect either - so as long as I’m factoring in time and expenses for mistakes that’s all that matters.

Also the more I get annoyed about it, the more things seem to go wrong, so it’s definitely better if I can calm myself down as quickly as possible. 

Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash

Quality Pictures Are Worth The Effort

A good picture for Etsy and social media is definitely worth making the extra effort for. When I started I had some absolutely awful pictures and really bad mockups and I wondered why nobody was buying my stuff. As soon as I actually spent a bit more time working on a photoshoot, setting up the lighting properly and editing my photos so they looked brighter and more colorful, sales started pouring in.

Check out my video on creating mock-ups if you want to know how I do that…

…And So Is A Good Brand

Similar to having good pictures, a good quality brand goes a long way in getting your customers to trust you and buy from you. It’s so easy these days to make your own logo on Canva, and put some complementary colors together and be consistent with using them. But if you want to step it up a notch then hiring an expert is even better.

Check out my other course, How To Start A Vinyl Business if you need some help in that department as I have sections on designing logos and picking brand colors…

Don’t Worry Too Much About Difficult Customers

Although good customer service is key to growing, I’ve realised I can’t worry too much about difficult customers. I still occasionally get a bit of anxiety about the potential of a bad review if a customer isn’t 100% happy, but I’ve learned how to avoid that most of the time by communicating with them. For my tips on that, check out my post on how to avoid bad reviews…

Learning How To Say No Is Essential

Not worrying too much about difficult customers also leads me to my next point, which is learning how to say no, as well as how to set boundaries. This may look like switching message notifications off in the evenings, saying no to jobs that you know will cause you headaches, or anything that isn’t necessary that takes away from the joy of you running your business.

Don’t be scared to put Etsy on holiday mode if you need to either, a lot of people seem to have some sort of superstition around this, but I’ve put mine on holiday mode countless times, sometimes for a month at a time, and although it is a bit slower when I first open it, it doesn’t take that long to get back to the levels it was at before I took the holiday. And it’s 100% necessary for your mental health to take breaks and switch off. After all, you can’t pour from an empty cup!

Photo by Tara Winstead from Pexels

Celebrate The Small Wins

Also don’t forget to celebrate the small wins - it’s quite easy with an Etsy shop as they send you little notifications every time you reach a certain milestone, but without those you can get so busy planning to make x amount of money, or do x amount of sales, you forget to look at just how much you have achieved already! And the more little wins you celebrate, the more it will spur you on to achieve your next little win, and so on…

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Diversify Your Income

And my last piece of advice to anyone starting out is to diversify your income streams as quickly as you can. If you can make other income alongside your Etsy shop, especially ‘passive income’ then it gives you more opportunity to take breaks and experiment with things, and it means you’re not putting all of your eggs in one basket. 

Check out this post for lots of ideas on how to do that…

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Just a pretty quick overview there, but I hope you found some of that advice helpful, and best of luck to you if you are just starting out in your business journey!

Let me know in the comments if you have any other good advice or if you are ready to take that leap to selling your decals or starting an Etsy shop. 

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