#selling on etsy for beginners | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

anbuselvi1 · 1 year

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15 Best Selling Items On Etsy In 2023 – Original Research

What to sell on Etsy: A quick word on the data below Each item below has the following data points: Number of listings: The number of results each item returns on Etsy. Average searches: How many times the item was searched on Etsy (on average). Average clicks: How many clicks the item received on Etsy (on average). A click is recorded when a buyer inputs a keyword into Etsy, then clicks on…

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#best selling digital products on etsy #best selling etsy items #best selling etsy shops #best selling items on etsy #best selling items on etsy 2022 #best selling products on etsy 2022 #etsy popular items #etsy selling tips #etsy top selling products #how to start selling on etsy #selling digital products #selling on etsy #selling on etsy for beginners #selling on etsy uk #selling online #selling stuff on etsy #top selling etsy items

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sketchingspanner · 1 year

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My first painting of 2023 even if it is a mess 💛 my resolution this year is to complete more paintings and try not to abandon my tumblr as much 😬😂

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reallycreative · 9 months

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How to Create a Typographic Poster in Canva and sell on Etsy

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kranthigifts · 1 year

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I Create Inspirational Wall Art

#digital art #digital wall art #how to make printable wall art to sell on etsy #how to size digital wall art #wall art #digital wall art workflow #selling printable wall art on etsy #best digital wall art #digital wall art prints #framed digital wall art #digital wall art videos #digital wall art tutorial #how to make digital wall art #how to make printable wall art on canva #digital products to sell on etsy #digital art for beginners #etsy wall art #printable wall art

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fastmoneyclicks · 2 years

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Can selling Canva templates actually generate income?

Yes definitely you can!!

The internet has become a hub for making money online. When you’re looking for some of the best and most profitable ways to make money online, you have to have a passion and an edge to make the most of it. In this article we will be focusing on CANVA as a tool to create your financial freedom with simple and the best ways to make money with canva.

Have you created anything that you can sell, resell, or share?

Here is The Best Ways to Make Money With CANVA (11 Creative Ways)

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rainbow-baby-one · 1 year

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How to sell on Etsy for BEGINNERS!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o05dWDwXu_4&t=6s

#etsy #how to sell on etsy #make money online #how to make money online #passiveincome

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fernsnailz · 20 days

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i'm sure that you get asks like this a lot so i apologize if i'm beating a dead horse to the ground LOL but for someone who owns an online shop, do you have any tips for beginners just starting off / looking into starting one? not really asking for anything specific, but just rather anything you'd be willing to share based off your experience...!

OOF okay so there's quite a lot that goes into running an online shop, so best general advice i can give is to do your research! there's a lot to an art shop that you need to consider and understand before running into things. sometimes it's a bit hard to figure out where to start your research though, so here are the biggest things i think you should look into first:

manufacturing your stuff: some artists hand make merch at home, but if you don't have the means to do that then you'll need to find places that can manufacture your designs for you. like if you're making stickers, look into custom sticker printing sites like StickerApp or Sticky Brand. a lot of manufacturers will have sample packs you can order for free to get a better idea of what their items are like.

shop hosting websites: figuring out where to actually host your shop and sell your art is very important - my shop is through Big Cartel which i really like, but isn't for everyone. other shop hosting sites include Shopify and Etsy, and Shopify is sorta similar to BigCartel from what i know? Etsy is very different, selling through Etsy means your stuff will be easier for people to find through the Etsy search function (BigCartel and Shopify don't have this, any traffic you get will have to come from off-site and you'll have to advertise the shit outta it). HOWEVER Etsy has some pretty bad practices when it comes to how they treat the artists that sell on there. most people i know that use/used Etsy have been burned by them in some way, so be warned.

money stuff (accounting, budgeting, taxes): LEARN HOW TO MAKE SPREADSHEETS!! spreadsheets with just a few simple addition/subtraction formulas will be a huge help when it comes to budgeting and keeping track of your expenses - and you'll need to keep track of ALL your expenses! taxes can also be tricky, most shop hosting websites will collect sales tax for you but do some research on what freelance/small business taxes look like in your country.

shipping: the two main aspects to shipping are your shipping supplies and shipping labels. you'll want to find mailers that fit and protect whatever art you're selling, and tbh the best way i figured this out was from buying from other artists and seeing how they packaged their stuff! shipping labels are their own beast - some sites like Etsy will make them for you, but not BigCartel. i use a site called Pirate Ship to import BigCartel orders and buy shipping labels for them.

thats about all i got for now, running an online art shop is very hard not gonna lie!! but it's very fun and rewarding to make your own funny items :] best of luck to ya!!

#fernasks

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i-crochet-things · 1 year

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Karby Amigurumi Pattern

Pattern is available on Ravelry and on Etsy.

Playing with unusual shapes again. Not a pattern I would suggest to beginners - getting the car to look car-shaped is trickier than it seems.

I’ve realized I have patterns for two other mouthful mode items (lightbulb and traffic cone). Might just have to wrap Kirby around those too.

This is an icrochetthings original pattern © 2023. For personal use only. Do not copy, sell, alter, or distribute this pattern or parts of it. You may sell a limited number of your handmade finished items provided you credit icrochetthings as the designer.

Size: 3.5” tall, 4.5” long

Materials:

DK weight yarn in blue, light pink, medium pink, dark pink, orange, light gray, dark gray, black, white

C (2.75mm) crochet hook

B (2.25mm) crochet hook

Stuffing

Scissors

Yarn needle

Some knowledge of embroidery is needed to complete the pattern as shown. You should be familiar with the following technique(s):

Chain stitch

#crochet #crochet pattern #amigurumi #amigurumi pattern #handmade #plush #kirby #karby #mouthful mode

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cozylittleartblog · 5 months

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hey, so I'm trying to figure out what places would be good to sell my own art at, and I'm wondering- what has been your experience with selling on etsy? I've heard mixed reviews from people, and I want to know your perspective as an etsy seller.

etsy is not perfect but i think it gets a little more shit than it deserves, i've thought about opening my own website but generally i'm actually pretty okay with the services i get on etsy compared to what it costs so i'm just gonna make a subjective pros/cons list for you under the cut (because its loooong)

oh and if anyone else has experience selling on etsy and would like to add their two cents in the replies/reblogs please do!

Pros

⭐ The search function - this is etsy's biggest selling point. it already has a dedicated userbase of millions of people and a search feature to help them find your shop, which takes a lot of the load of marketing off your shoulders, and marketing is a huge factor for pushing sales. i am not good at marketing and a lot of my sales just come from people searching my stuff up lol

⭐ Purchase protection program - if USPS loses or damages your package, you file a missing package report and they confirm they don't know where it is, Etsy will refund your buyers order out of their own pocket (under $250). this is my favorite etsy feature because USPS likes to eat packages every now and again. delicious keychains. if you had your own storefront, you'd just have to replace the order yourself.

⭐ Share & Save program - every time someone makes an order on your shop through a special Share & Save link, etsy will refund you 4% of the fees. it's a nice perk to doing some of your own marketing and it helps combat the moderately high etsy fees!

Trackable letter mail - selling stickers but think it's insane to charge $4 shipping? you can buy letter mail labels for about the rate of regular postage, which is like .65c. this tracking is done through etsy though so you can't track with usps, but it does give customers a little peace of mind. this only works in the 50 US states though.

Customs forms built into your shipping label - shipping internationally is a nightmare. etsy makes it easy though, generating everything you need to ship internationally on one label that you just have to sign and date and slap on your package like normal. for some countries they will actually just have your package sent to a domestic facility where they literally do all that for you. this is miles easier than having to do all that paperwork yourself.

buy shipping labels directly from etsy - related point, and just what it says on the tin. when you fulfill an order, you can buy your labels right there on Etsy so you don't have to mess around with a third party website. it comes out of your sale funds so you don't need to charge a card or a bank account or anything.

star seller program - some people say this is completely useless but i actually disagree! it's incredibly easy to earn this badge, and it lets buyers know you've got some of the best products, shipping, and customer service around. it helps you stand out from some of the more... questionable shops on the website.

sales tax - they remit sales tax for you. i don't think any of the other online platforms similar to etsy do this but i could be wrong. doing any kind of taxes sucks so i consider it a perk if they do it for you.

website promotions - every now and again etsy likes to host sales out of their own pocket. you get all the perks of having a sale without eating into ur profit margin. HUGE sale booster

generally the site is just very easy to learn and use and it's very beginner and dumbass friendly. i say this as a former beginner and current dumbass 👍

Cons

❌ the fees. oogh the fees. they claim it's just a 6.5% fee per sale, but on top of that you have to pay .20c automatically for every individual item you sell, plus there are processing fees (3% + .25c) that apply both to the item you sold AND the cost of shipping. i think it comes out to like 10% total in fees on average @ > @

❌ but wait, there's more fees! if you make more than $10k in sales a year (very easy number to hit actually) you are forced to participate in offsite ads, which i believe takes 15% of your total sale on top of the fees in the previous point. these kinds of sales are not as common as you'd think, but it's still annoying having a couple bucks shaved off your profits a few times a month because of them.

corporate bullshit - etsy is like renting a space in a mall. you don't own your lot, nor the mall itself, so if upper management decides to make any stupid ass decisions, you just have to deal with it or pick up and move. if they decide to raise fees again, you just gotta Deal. you are a little bit helpless on this website unfortunately

the push for discounts - etsy is constantly shoving it in your face that they want you to do discounts. they want you to have free shipping on orders over $35, they want you to do 25% off or more on sales, they want you to have returning customer discounts and abandoned cart discounts and 'you recently favorited this item' discounts - but you already have to compete with the steep fees, and when a customer gets free shipping, you still owe USPS that $4-ish bucks to send the package. you don't have to do any of this, but they do reward participating shops by favoring them in the algorithm and search results, so you can feel like you're missing out.

there aren't as many cons imo but they Are steeper cons. generally etsy is very beginner friendly and easy to get into and set up, and in spite of everything i do actually recommend everyone looking to get into online retail start on etsy and perhaps move to other platforms in the future. plus, you can combat all the fees by just... making your prices a dollar or two higher than you initially wanted to, and using your 'save and share' link as frequently as possible. the fees are a little bit much, but you have to think about what you get in exchange:

the search is invaluable, you could argue the fees are partially a marketing budget lmao. if you have a private website you alone have to push traffic to your website, and not as many people know about things like shopify and bigcartel so they might not be as trusting putting their card details into it. i miss out on a lot of REALLY COOL STUFF because artists only advertise on instagram and i don't hear about them, meanwhile if i want some cool owl house stuff i can literally just search that in etsy and find a lot of TOH stuff super easily. i cannot highlight enough how GOOD the search function is, especially in this day and age where social media like instagram and twitter will blacklist your posts if you say words like 'shop' or 'sale' and now nobody can find your stuff in that website's search either. its very hard to do your own marketing now a days :(

being able to refund customer's lost orders out of the company's pocket is such a nice thing to fall back on if you have to and worth its weight in fees. USPS lost like... four or five packages of mine in december. that's like $100 or more worth of stuff that Etsy Covered Completely, and a lot of the times the customer will take that refund to make their order again. don't abuse this system, make sure you check with usps that the package is actually Gone, but it's a godsend when you don't make billions of dollars and eating the cost of lost orders would otherwise sting a bit.

if etsy did not make international shipping easy i simply would not ship anywhere but the US to be honest. shipping to europe is still a headache though but that's because europe is stupid

that's everything i can think of, but tl;dr yes please open an etsy 👍 i recommend it completely in spite of everything

⭐ if anyone wants to open their own etsy shop, use my referral link to make your first 40 listings for free! :)c ⭐

#etsy #small business #advice #ask #anonymous #anon #selling on etsy

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cy-lindric · 1 year

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Hi! I love your historical pants. Did you use an existing pattern, or did you draft your own? And if so... Do you sell patterns at all? I'd love to make myself a pair but I haven't learned enough to make my own patterns yet

Hello ! I got this question a lot so I hope you won't mind if I use it as a springboard to make a general public reply about it ! For reference, I started sewing a year and a half ago. I don't have any formal training and started from zero, so I kind of just rely on enthusiasm and trial and error.

For most of my projects, I use a mix of patterns and draping. I mostly do men's clothing and the patterns I find don't always match my body type exactly, so I rarely get to use them as is. I'm fairly tall and narrow so usually the smaller men's sizes are a good base, but not all patterns include sizes small enough, and there's still much to fix for me in terms of chest length, leg length, thighs, etc. That'll be something to keep in mind if you're smaller or more hourglass shaped for instance.

For the fall front trousers, it was kind of an impulse project, so I didn't work from a book and I bought a pdf pattern from Laughing Moon Mercantile. It was very useful to construct the front, which is quite complex by my second-year-of-sewing standards, but it only came in fairly big sizes so there was a lot of alterations to do pretty much everywhere else. Also worth noting is that the pdf is made for an A0 format, and although you can print it at home on a mosaic of A4 paper using Acrobat, it's impossible to select which "tile" section of the A0 page you want to print. The pdf pattern contains many options and printing everything to get just the pieces I needed was just too wasteful to do. Instead, I printed only the pattern pieces from the first page, and drafted/copied the missing pieces from other pages myself directly on pattern paper. If you're willing to go through the printing and resizing hassle, it's a great pattern with very clear and exhaustive informations on construction and options for both historical and modern notions.

I picked that one because I wanted to do trousers specifically and it matched my needs best with many options to potentially combine, but if you're looking to do shorter breeches or just want to use it for the fall front, patterns are fairly easy to find on etsy or elsewhere. I like Reconstructing History because their smallest men's size works great for me and they cover a huge range of eras and styles. Unfortunately the instructions don't contain as many diagrams and are sometimes a bit more difficult to follow. I almost never buy paper patterns so I can't recommend any. When it comes to actual historical garments that aren't like, halloween costumes, I find it very difficult to encounter paper patterns and I only find what I'm looking for in books or pdf patterns. I find that both is best where you're a beginner ; the book gives great insight, and the pdf is a good base to work off. I'm still fairly new so I only have a few books (some of them physical, a lot of them pdfs, because they're expensive and sometimes out of print) but they're great classics and they help me a lot :

The Cut of Men's Clothes, 1600-1900 by Nora Waugh 17th Century Men's Dress Patterns by Braun, Costiglio, North, Thornton and Tiramani The Medieval Tailor's Assistant: Common Garments 1100-1480 by Sarah Thursfield Patterns of Fashion - Books 3 and 4 by Janet Arnold

Sorry this was so long ! If you're a beginner reading this, keep in mind I just threw myself at this with no prior experience quite recently and I'm having a lot of fun so go for it and don't be afraid to make mistakes and start over ! Good luck :)

#replies #sweetsaltygingerbitch #historical clothing

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angelpuns · 8 months

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MY SHOP IS FINALLY OPEN!!

I am finally opening my shop!!!!

It took a while due to having to wait for some stickers to come in, but it's finally here!!!! This is my first time opening a real shop, so it was a bit of a learning experience!

A lot of the stuff is older art for non-tmnt fandoms, but I have a LOT of stock from when I was doing conventions. Most of the money from sales is going to go towards ordering new/better quality stickers as well as ordering Halloween Turtle Tot stickers!

I got a lot of encouragement to open this shop, so thank you to everyone who gave me a push!!!

I did end up opening an Etsy shop due to my beginner status - I plan to open my own site once I get a better feel for selling things online!

I've put a lot of time and effort into opening this shop, so please enjoy it!!!

Also side note: I plan on making some Kid Leo stuff as well, so look out for polls regarding that ;)

#art #rottmnt #fanart #rottmnt fanart #digital art #comic #rottmnt leo #rottmnt fanfic #rottmnt comic #rottmnt art #etsyshop #etsy #stickers #sticker shop #sticker sheet

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notcaycepollard · 7 months

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I just saw your Barbie jacket and fell in love, such beautiful work!

I want to get into sewing but have no idea where to start, do you have any tips?

Yes! FYI, I had the privilege of learning to sew at a really young age, around 10-12, thanks to 1) learning the basics from my mum 2) having a second-hand sewing machine I could futz around on as I pleased. But I truly think anyone can learn to sew, it does not have to be a childhood skill.

If you want to try it out before committing to buying anything except fabric, there are almost always community or adult education classes or courses that can teach you basics on their machines. Depends where you live but you might find them through your local community college or high school night class, library, YMCA/community centre, or even by asking at a fabric/craft store.

I highly recommend taking a couple of classes if you're a complete beginner - they can teach things like laying out and cutting patterns, threading a machine, the basic stitch and finishing options, etc. Often they can also teach you how to use your own machine, if you've bought one but you're a beginner.

If you want to try at home, at minimum you will need:

A basic sewing machine - you can very often find good second-hand machines online (ebay, craigslist, local buy/sell Facebook pages). Mine is a Janome and I've had it for almost 20 years, but the old 70s steel Singer machines are fantastic in terms of longevity.

A pair of reasonably sharp fabric scissors. You do not need to pay a million dollars for the best scissors, but going up a level from basic craft scissors, and keeping them only for cutting fabric (no paper) will make your cutting-out experience a lot easier.

A packet of sewing pins. For pinning down patterns and seams. I like the glass-head pins since they don't melt if you iron over them.

A tape measure for measuring yourself and checking your seam width, hems, etc.

An iron and ironing board (or table with a thick towel laid down, if space is a real problem).

A flat surface to lay out and cut your fabric - dining table or floor both work fine.

A needle for hand-sewing - to sew on things like buttons.

A box of empty bobbins to wind your bobbin thread onto.

In terms of patterns - there are a huge range of indie pattern companies online now (meaning they're not the big commercial patternmakers like Butterick). Most often, you can buy their patterns as a PDF and print it out on your home computer. In all honesty I much prefer indie patterns to commercial - they're often a lot more up to date with style, and usually not as expensive - but they can also be limited in terms of sizing, the range of style options, and some people really like a printed paper pattern instead of having to print your own. I recommend Papercut Patterns as an indie option that's great for beginners.

Indie instructions can also sometimes be a bit confusing (I find Etsy patterns the worst for this) although often you can email them and ask - or Google "[name of pattern] sew along" for a video tutorial. You can also find step by step video or blog post tutorials for pretty much every sewing technique, including things like putting in a zip, sewing buttonholes, etc.

Once you've picked your pattern, you'll obviously need fabric. There are a million people online who espouse the virtue of sewing with old bedsheets from thrift stores; in all honesty I don't love doing this because 1) I get a huge amount of joy from beautiful fabrics 2) if you want to make things that look 'professional'/store-bought, bedsheet cotton is not always your best friend. BUT it is probably the cheapest option for fabric, and a very good way to start or to test that a pattern fits and you know how to make it before you cut it out in the nice linen that cost $30 a yard. Using thrifted fabric is also obviously really eco-conscious, although a lot of fabric stores (especially independent ones vs chain stores like Spotlight or Joann) make a point of selling 'deadstock' fabric - fabric leftover from a clothing designer's run.

That's probably enough to start, honestly just fuck around and have fun with it, screw up a few times, lean into the imperfection. I still regularly scrap projects that aren't working for me, no shame in doing so as long as you're enjoying yourself!

#sewing

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taffybuns · 6 months

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Hi Taffybuns! Thank you for being you and artist that has passion to make. My brother told me that he bought two shirts out of it and he loved it, i was surprised you were the artist drew design! (the pokemon ones!)

Though I am curious and i hope you'll able to respond, do you have advice to make my art for merchandise in the future? I don't mind if you want to simplified explaination, a tumblr posts, or dropping a youtube link video; since you're busy with conventions.

I'm picky when it comes youtube art videos that are always give me the vibes of elitism, clickbait videos or others. You're the first artist I wanted to ask, so i hope it's fine if you can reply or not.

Sending my best regards to you. Take care and love your art as always. (I hope i can buy your pokemon hawaiin shirt!)

hello! thanks so much for the sweet message!!

apologies for the confusion, though! the pokemon shirts arent mine! i share a joint storefront with my friend and tablemate, you can view all his designs here! we have our store bio set to say we are two artists, but it's hard to see on the shopee site format, haha. i'll pass this message along to him, and i hope you can buy his shirts in the future too, they're very well made! i'm glad your brother enjoys them!

(if anyone is reading this, he also has them listed internationally on Etsy! my items aren't here though, sorry!!)

i assume you're PH based aswell if your brother got our shirts, so i'm gonna link some resources and basic advice under the cut-

i'd be glad to help where i can, though my basic advice is to just start.. i began selling merch with dann (friend who made the pokemon shirts) when we were just classmates in college, and we started at small anime events selling small prints with our table falling apart hahajkfghjk.. but even back then everyone was so friendly, so it was very encouraging !! the art community is very sweet and there is a lot of support for you !!

first, you'll want to find your market! this will determine what conventions you want to apply to and what kind of merch you want to make. do you want to make fanart, or original art? are you doing mostly stickers, tote bags, or anime merch? or do you just want to sell online?

second, what is your budget for merch production? starting out is expensive, personally my funds always circulate between profit and spending on restocks again. this will determine what kind of merch you can make, and then you expand later! i started out with only stickers and art prints, then keychains, and then bags and t-shirts later on!

if you're into original art, some events i recommend for beginners are Patrons of the Arts, Buzzart, Komiket. they have regular events throughout the year. if you're into stickers, there's Stickercon and Sticky Expo!

if you're into fan art, you can try ozinefest (sales are slower but table cost is cheaper), or if you have enough money, split for cosplay ph events

of course these aren't the only events, though they're the ones i regularly attend! if you have a more specialized market, there are dedicated cons like philifur, the grand lason, pokecon, etc. for all of these events you'll either have to keep your eyes peeled for table openings on their pages (rare), or email them to be added to their mailing list so you'll be told when they're open

if you don't have any suppliers yet, you can apply to join Artist Alley Group Order on facebook ! people regularly post about suppliers for all kinds of merchandise that you can look up. if you want any recommendations you can message me off-anon!

as for the merchandise itself, this varies person to person. my market is more obscure fanart that other people don't sell, and cutesy original art! i sell big illustrations as prints, though other people report on having a hard time selling prints. it depends on the content and art style. you'll have to experiment and see, or look around other shops to see what sells! visiting art markets yourself is also a huge help, to see the market, make friends in the artph community, and support artists!

i'd recommend starting out with stickers and prints- they're the cheapest to produce, and people often buy stickers because of their low price at cons. when you get more familiar with the market you can try going onto more expensive things to reproduce!

again if you want details, let me know! this is very vague and general advice, if u have any specific questions i'll do my best if i'm not busy! don't be afraid to surf thru some videos too, a lot are very helpful n not too elitist!

gl and take care aswell anon!

#ask #anon

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kranthigifts · 1 year

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I Create Inspirational Wall Art

#digital art #digital wall art #how to make printable wall art to sell on etsy #how to size digital wall art #wall art #digital wall art workflow #selling printable wall art on etsy #best digital wall art #digital wall art prints #framed digital wall art #digital wall art videos #digital wall art tutorial #how to make digital wall art #how to make printable wall art on canva #digital products to sell on etsy #digital art for beginners #etsy wall art #printable wall art

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trans-axolotl · 2 years

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Forearm Crutch Bag Tutorial

(Images described in alt text)

Hey everyone! I promised I'd make a tutorial as soon as I made the bag. This is what I came up with after a couple days of trying things out. The bag is around 6.5 by 6 inches, loops around the hand grip and also is secured to the main part of the crutch by a tube of fabric. I made mine reversible, with a contrasting lining and inside pocket that can hold a phone. I tested it out walking around with it, and it kind of threw off my balance if I put anything too heavy in there, but it could comfortably hold my phone, keys, a snack, and even could fit a water bottle.

If you would like to make one for yourself, check out the link to the tutorial I made, with images for every step! I'd say it probably requires about a novice sewing level--this isn't a great first project for someone, but is pretty beginner-friendly if you've sewn some things before.

Later this summer I will reopen my etsy shop and sell these there, but right now for a limited time I am happy to make a version of these for free, for mutuals and followers while I'm still in the pattern testing stage. If you're interested, dm me to discuss the details.

Lastly, if you found this tutorial useful, consider sending me a tip on paypal!

#personal #disability #cripple punk #actually disabled #mobility aids #forearm crutches #pots syndrome #ehlers danlos syndrome #physical disability #chronic illness #chronic illness tag #spoonie #elliott's arts and crafts

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ghouljams · 8 months

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You collect BJDs??? Can you please tell me where you buy some? I’ve been wanting one for so long and only found design models on Etsy, 1 actual doll that cost $8000, and literally nothing else. I gave up on the search and have no clue any irl stores that could sell them 😭🙏

I wouldn't buy anything off etsy unless you're grabbing a Kabbit print, and those should only run you about $100 max for a blank doll. I'm going to put doll hobby talk under the cut, but yeah I can give you my rec-list

I bought my first BJD off of cpfairyland which is the official Minifee retailer, but if you're in the USA I would also suggest checking out Denver doll emporium! They have a few different brands and quick shipping if you buy in stock. Minifee are great starting dolls, they have a ton of different heads, they're an industry standard and you can buy a doll with their makeup already done. Which means you can put money towards clothes and wigs(which is the fun part anyway).

I am an anti-recast hobbyist, and I genuinely recommend not buying recasts if you want to make friends in the hobby. So I'm only going to be telling you legit sites, which also means dolls are going to be a little more expensive(but I'll give you some less expensive recs too).

Alice's Collective bjd(acbjd) is a great site the acts as a third party for a ton of different brands. If you want a doll that looks a little(or a lot) different from the standard fashion doll they have a lot of great options.

Jane's Dolland is another sight that acts as a third party seller. They sell blind box tiny bjds(that are great quality I have a few)(only $30 too) and a few other cheap brands. You might have to paint the face yourself, or find a repaint artist, but the dolls themselves can be as low as $50. I actually bought an Imomo doll from them to customize for my sister last Christmas and she was really great for a beginner bjd.

Withdolls has some tiny bjds that are really fucking cute. I have one and he was under $200. Their dolls are adorable, but their tiny doll sizing is a little hard to shop for.

I mentioned Kabbit dolls! Kabbit is a 3D print file available for sale on etsy super customizable and cheap if you have a 3d printer! Or a library with a 3d printer! I've done 3D prints through my local library and I have a friend that printed a Kabbit they really like. Dollightful also has a free tiny bunny bjd on thingyverse I think.

I have bought dolls off of Facebook and Instagram, but you gotta be willing to be a little mean if you buy second hand. Always make sure you get a certificate of authenticity! And know what the doll you want is worth! I collect 1/4 MSD sized dolls, the last 2 heads I bought were about $100 each but they were also harder to find heads. One of the heads was being sold with a body for $150(but I only wanted the head so I overpaid) so you can find cheap(authentic) dolls if you're looking.

I also buy a lot of artist dolls on pre-order. Which means I follow the artists on Instagram and then I am very patient, and lucky. BJD buying is a lot of hurry up and wait if you want to go the independent artist route. You can always check bjdsale on Instagram, the tag is full and people are always selling.

Depending on where you live you can check on Facebook to see if you have a local bjd group! I have one in my area and we are always excited to help new people in the hobby!! They'd have dolls for sale, but also would have more ideas on where you could buy online. Dolls are such a niche hobby everyone sort of knows everyone, and we love sharing with new folks!! If you have any other questions you can send me a dm and I'm happy to talk more ❤️

#ghoul speaks #bjd talk #do not buy off of allie express or shien or wish #artists work hard to make their dolls and deserve to be compensated for their work #penny's box dolls are really good quality and are super cute #theyre blind box but only $30

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