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I sell prints of public domain artwork on Etsy [0]. I’ve automated the print production and fulfillment, so all I need to do is set up the artwork and maintain

I sell prints of public domain artwork on Etsy [0]. I’ve automated the print production and fulfillment, so all I need to do is set up the artwork and maintain the product listings. It consistently brings in around £100-300 per month and if I put any time at all into marketing it could probably do a lot better. I also maintain a directory of UX tools, resources and information [1]. It currently doesn’t bring in anything but it’s more of a repository for stuff I find interesting than a commercial venture. [0] https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheDoveAndTheSeagull https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheDoveAndTheSeagull [1] https://www.uxlift.org/ https://www.uxlift.org/

nabeards 6y ago
Could you elaborate on your automation toolset?
- mattkevan 6y ago
  There are a number of print-on-demand companies, like Printful and Pwinty that integrate with Etsy and can print and fulfil orders. Annoyingly there’s no single one that does everything I need, so I use a few, depending on the customer’s location and the type of print they’ve selected. I’m also working on a Jekyll-based site that uses the Etsy API to build a stand-alone e-commerce site from all my Etsy store listings.
XCSme 6y ago
The uxlift directory is pretty cool. Any way to submit more tools/articles to it? I am working on a side-project that's like a self-hosted hotjar ( https://www.usertrack.net https://www.usertrack.net ), which might be helpful for the readers.
- mattkevan 6y ago
  Oh that’s cool, thanks for sharing. I’ll post it when I’ve got a moment. There’s a form on the site, but if you’ve got anything else you want to share just send it to uxlift@kevan.tv. I’m really interested in self-hosted, privacy-respecting alternatives to the big tracking platforms so this is right up my street. (Having said that, I do use GA, but I’m not happy about it.)
abetusk 6y ago
I've often thought about doing this or something similar. Can I ask, how long have you been at it? How did you pick your initial round of public domain pictures? What was your growth curve like? And did you automate the print/production initially or do it only after you'd been around for a while? If you don't mind me asking, what print/production company are you using, how did you find them and why did you settle on them (vs. someone else, say)? Any more information would be welcome.
- mattkevan 6y ago
  I’ve been doing it for around 4 years now. Growth has been slow initially because you need a lot of listings to be noticed - the bigger sellers all have over 1000. I knew I wanted to do something with public domain art prints, so I researched other sellers to find the types of things that were popular. Lots of places like the Library of Congress, NYPL and the Rijksmuseum have open access policies, so I regularly hunt through their collections to find interesting stuff. The problem is always finding something in the public domain that’s also very high resolution. For a long time I produced the pieces myself as buying top quality paper and a decent printer worked out cheaper than using a print company - and I quite enjoyed it. However I’ve decided now that the convenience is worth the extra cost. I’ve also automated creating listing images by using Cloudinary and a few shell scripts. This has been a massive time-saver. As for print companies, it’s a balance between cost, quality and price. The big ones like Printful or Gooten are cheaper and do everything from t-shirts to phone cases, but have a limited range of paper and sizes. Specialist fine art places have a huge range of paper and produce better prints but are much more expensive.
  - giarc 6y ago
    Does etsy have add-ons/integrations like Shopify does? For example on Shopify you can integration with printful and the orders automatically get set to printful for fulfillment. Edit Never mind, I see your response to another question.
  - yonig 6y ago
    Growth has been slow initially because you need a lot of listings to be noticed - the bigger sellers all have over 1000. Have you thought about padding your collection for the sake of exposure?

nabeards 6y ago

Could you elaborate on your automation toolset?

mattkevan 6y ago
There are a number of print-on-demand companies, like Printful and Pwinty that integrate with Etsy and can print and fulfil orders. Annoyingly there’s no single one that does everything I need, so I use a few, depending on the customer’s location and the type of print they’ve selected. I’m also working on a Jekyll-based site that uses the Etsy API to build a stand-alone e-commerce site from all my Etsy store listings.

XCSme 6y ago

The uxlift directory is pretty cool. Any way to submit more tools/articles to it? I am working on a side-project that's like a self-hosted hotjar ( https://www.usertrack.net https://www.usertrack.net ), which might be helpful for the readers.

mattkevan 6y ago
Oh that’s cool, thanks for sharing. I’ll post it when I’ve got a moment. There’s a form on the site, but if you’ve got anything else you want to share just send it to uxlift@kevan.tv. I’m really interested in self-hosted, privacy-respecting alternatives to the big tracking platforms so this is right up my street. (Having said that, I do use GA, but I’m not happy about it.)

abetusk 6y ago

I've often thought about doing this or something similar. Can I ask, how long have you been at it? How did you pick your initial round of public domain pictures? What was your growth curve like? And did you automate the print/production initially or do it only after you'd been around for a while? If you don't mind me asking, what print/production company are you using, how did you find them and why did you settle on them (vs. someone else, say)? Any more information would be welcome.

mattkevan 6y ago
I’ve been doing it for around 4 years now. Growth has been slow initially because you need a lot of listings to be noticed - the bigger sellers all have over 1000. I knew I wanted to do something with public domain art prints, so I researched other sellers to find the types of things that were popular. Lots of places like the Library of Congress, NYPL and the Rijksmuseum have open access policies, so I regularly hunt through their collections to find interesting stuff. The problem is always finding something in the public domain that’s also very high resolution. For a long time I produced the pieces myself as buying top quality paper and a decent printer worked out cheaper than using a print company - and I quite enjoyed it. However I’ve decided now that the convenience is worth the extra cost. I’ve also automated creating listing images by using Cloudinary and a few shell scripts. This has been a massive time-saver. As for print companies, it’s a balance between cost, quality and price. The big ones like Printful or Gooten are cheaper and do everything from t-shirts to phone cases, but have a limited range of paper and sizes. Specialist fine art places have a huge range of paper and produce better prints but are much more expensive.
- giarc 6y ago
  Does etsy have add-ons/integrations like Shopify does? For example on Shopify you can integration with printful and the orders automatically get set to printful for fulfillment. Edit Never mind, I see your response to another question.
- yonig 6y ago
  Growth has been slow initially because you need a lot of listings to be noticed - the bigger sellers all have over 1000. Have you thought about padding your collection for the sake of exposure?