Do you have an Etsy store?

[Dinobabe]

I'm thinking about opening an Etsy store and was wondering about the pros and cons and if it's actually lucrative in any way. 
The 20 cents per item fee, is that one time or monthly?
I have a personal Paypal account.  Should I use that or create a business account? 

If anyone here has or had a store I would love to hear your opinions.  Thanks!

[Auryn]

Dinobabe
I do have an etsy store
I will be honest I haven't invested much time into it.
Its something I plan on working on more in the next month or so.
The insertion fee lasts for 3 months I believe and its per item- for example if you list that you have 3 of the same item you will pay 3 insertion fees.

I would make a business paypal account- just helps to keep things separate.

From what I am discerned, it does require some time and effort on your part to promote your store
and also when you create the listings you have to pay close attention to the words that you use and how easily someone can find it.

[LadyStitch]

Have any of you used Artfire instead of Etsy?  I was told it was unlimited photos, but a 12 a month fee.

[Lady Christina de Pond]

haven't put a shop on artfire but artfire is a good place to i've visited artfire before

as for the etsy shop i've had folks look but no one bought a thing

[Alexandra Johanna]

I have looked into both Etsy and Artfire and I think it will largely depend on what you plan to sell and how quickly your items will move. I chose Artfire because of the flat per month fee, but what I'm feeling now is that I don't have enough items to justify the cost. If you are able to churn out a lot of items, Artfire would be great. But if you are making more one-of-a-kind items that will need just the right traffic and buyer, you might be better with Etsy.  And yes, the more work you put into directing traffic to your store, the better of you'll be at either one. Both will submit your items to search engines and code your listings to make them visible, but there is a bit of work on your part to figure out keywords and promote and such. Artfire offers a free 45-day success guide, but I don't think too many people follow it to completion.

Just my thoughts after a few months on Artfire.

[Dinobabe]

Sorry for the late reply and thanks for all of the opinons.  I think I'll give it a try. If it fails I'm only out a couple bucks!