Behind our own Etsy shop
RPGMINIFORGE — our own Etsy shop
What we were given
- An Etsy shop selling 3D-printed miniatures, run with a friend. The models come from sculptors we license, dozens at a time.
- Every new model meant the same afternoon: open the file, check it, photograph it from six sides, work out a stock code, type up a listing, upload it, and then do the next one.
- Two of us needed to do this from different houses, without either of us being the one who knows where everything is.
What we built
- An upload page. Drop a folder of model files on it and it sorts them into models and their parts, spots duplicates, and gives each one a stock code.
- A render studio, which made six photos and a turntable video for every model in the browser, with our logo on. The sculptors’ own renders have since replaced it.
- A listings tool. It pulls the model's details from the database, creates the Etsy listing itself, and writes the Etsy number back so we know what's live.
- The plumbing nobody sees: one database everything reads from, the keys Etsy needs refreshed automatically, a login so two of us can use it, and a regular copy of orders back down from Etsy so the database is the place we look, not Etsy.
What we can show you
- The tools themselves are private — they hold our licences and pricing — but we can show you them running on a video call, from a folder of files to a live listing.
- The write-up we both work from, so either of us can list models without the other.
What they no longer do
- Photograph models.
- Work out stock codes.
- Type listings, or log into Etsy to create them.
- Re-key orders into a spreadsheet.
What to know before you start
It's our own shop, so it's proof we can build this sort of thing — not proof we've done it for a paying client. The newborn photographer whose review is on the Work page is that proof.
It was built in stages over months, alongside other work, not in one tidy build. The first version of the upload tool was replaced entirely once we understood what we actually needed. The plan step exists so you don't pay for that lesson.
Some of it is more than a small business would ever need. The point isn't the size of it; it's that the afternoon per model is gone.
Yours would start with your day, not with this.
Tell us how things are going. The Business Health Check, where you walk us through your day, and the plan cost nothing.
Tell us how it’s going