What people buy vs. What I wear

One thing that has been really surprising to me about my limited time on etsy is what has sold in my shopt vs. what is still sitting there (and in some cases, what has been sitting there for months). In most cases, the pieces that are selling are fairly different from the pieces that I've made for myself and wear frequently.

For example, I love vintage glass beads. I have several simple necklaces that I've made with pre-WWII vintage glass beads. I've paired these with pearls and/or crystals, and I think they're very cool looking--a nice mix of retro and modern. I love the one pictured above with the brown beads and the pearls. It's a great length and neutral enough that it goes with almost everything...and yet, a copy of this necklace has been sitting unsold in my shop for two months.

Another piece that I love and wear but that seems to have received a lukewarm reception is my paua shell pendant necklace. I sold a similar one a little while back--after it received a ton of views but took a while to sell. I have one that I made for myself and I think it's really striking, so I decided to create and list another one. The jury is still out, but so far, it's received a decent (but not great) number of views, but no "hearts" yet. (An etsy "heart" means that someone has marked an item as a "favorite."

On the other hand, it seems like most of the sterling silver chain necklaces that I've made have sold. Also, anything made with opalite generally has sold quickly. Now, opalite is very pretty, but I'm surprised that it's as "hot" as it seems to be. I do have a sterling silver chain necklace with little garnets that I made for myself a while back (there's a similar necklace in my store), but it's such a "fancy" necklace that I only wear it when I'm dressing up for something. In fact, many of the necklaces that I've sold I would consider to be too "dressy" for everyday wear.

Maybe it's just my personality and the fact that I tend to focus on practicality in my own wardrobe and accessories than anything else. It'll be interesting to see if my sales trends change at all as the holidays approach in a few months.