What The Heck is a Treasury?

brick and mortar display at Anthropologie

If you know people who are part of the Etsy community, you may have heard us talk about Treasuries.  We make them, tweet them, and heart them.  And if we are in one, we hope above all else that it gets to the front page.  Lost already?  Let me explain.

A treasury is a set of 12 items chosen around a theme. Nine make it to the front page (ie. the always changing group of items you see when you go to Etsy.com)   and 3 are alternates, should something sell from that original list of nine before it is chosen for the front page.  These curated lists reflect a particular person's interests, taste and definition of beauty.  It functions like a display or even a front window in a physical (ie. brick and mortar) store.  Anyone registered with Etsy can make one by going to this page.  Some people and groups make an art of making treasuries, just like marketing geniuses make an art of store displays.

Anyone with an Etsy account can make a treasury, but Etsy admin makes the choice about which treasuries go on the front page. I don't know exactly how they decide, but Etsy promotes certain themes each month as a guideline, like outdoor weddings, back to school, holidays, etc.  A good treasury has a wide price range of goods, is visually beautiful and incorporates a mix of vintage and handmade. The treasuries are on the front page for a half an hour...which is why it is so desirable to have an item in the front page treasury.  People all over the world will see it and often, the item is purchased within minutes.   Not to mention, the whole wide world gets a glimpse of your store and your style.

Making treasuries is also a good networking tool.  I can learn a lot from sellers who make it to the front page frequently. And I often mark the makers of treasuries as favorites so that I can learn more about what is considered top quality in the minds of Etsy administration.  Which in turn helps me in my photography and descriptions.

A Treasury I Made

Recently, (I think?) Etsy has added the option of "hearting"  or marking a treasury as a favorite.  The reason your friends in the Etsy community share these treasuries on Facebook and Twitter and their blogs is to give a treasury momentum, which helps it get noticed, possibly sending it to the front page. It's really nice of you to check these treasuries out and leave a comment or even click on a few of the items that have been collected there. Here are some other examples of Treasuries I have made.

So now you know what a treasury is and why they are made and what they hope to accomplish.  Click away!