What in the Heck is a BNR?!

Whoever thought of the idea of BNRs and BNSs was a money-making genius!!!  Now, what are they?

A "BNR" stands for "Buy and Replace" and a BNS stands for "Buy and Stay".  My last post was about treasuries.  Some treasuries, or collections of etsy artisan works, are these BNRs.  A creator, called a "curator" on etsy, creates a treasury and titles it a BNR/BNS.  This would be like any other treasury:  a collection of friends' work, team members, random people, etc.  Usually these treasuries are created by a popular person with a lot of reach or a team.

The idea is that if you want a spot in that treasury, you have to "buy" it.  You don't pay for a spot in the treasury per se, but you need to purchase something from one of the artists in the current treasury.  For example, I decide I want to be in a particular BNR.  If there is nothing in that treasury that I'm interested in purchasing, I click on each item and then check out the shop it came from.  Once I purchase an item from any of the shops featured, I let the curator know and I get the next spot in the treasury.

In a BNR, I purchase from "Artist A" and once the curator is aware of the transaction, they put one of my listings in that slot.  Artist A made a sale and is no longer featured in the treasury.

In a BNS, a "Buy and Stay", I purchase from Artist B and once the curator knows, I get a slot in the next treasury they create.  Artist B stays in their spot in the treasury for the remainder of the sale.  Each treasury, as explained in my previous post, has 16 slots.  Once 16 sales are made, that BNS treasury "closes" and the curator creates a new treasury featuring all the purchasers from the previous BNS.  These are also called "rounds".

Sound complicated?  It took me a while to figure it out!  And the most complicated part?  Each BNR and BNS is different!  The curator of the treasury sets the ground rules, listed in an ongoing chat that appears below the treasury. 

An example of those rules:

• minimum purchase ("$10 before shipping" or "$5 after any coupon codes")
• length of sale ("open until 16 sales" or "closes at midnight")
• amount of slots per purchase ("buy from curator and get 2 slots" or "purchase over $20 buys 2 slots)
• who picks the item to be featured ("curator chooses" or "artist chooses")
• permission to puchase

Permission to purchase is a bit odd to me.  Some curators state in their rules that you must ask them permission to puchase from a particular seller.  For example, a curator might state, "Call out artist in CAPS.  Wait for curator response before purchase."  If I wanted to purchase, I would have to ask "permission" in the chat below the treasury.  I'm not quite clear on why you would want to do this, other than knowing who was "first in line" when it comes to the end of the sale.

BNRs and BNSs are VERY popular on Etsy.  There are entire teams of people that participate in creating these treasuries.  Currently on Etsy, there are 82 teams with the word "BNR" in the title, and 41 with "BNS".  Some people claim it is the best way to gain exposure and make sales. 

As mentioned in the post about treasuries, the more views a treasury has, the higher up on the list it goes.  The most popular treasuries end up on the first page of the treasury listings.  The higher up in the listings, the more people are apt to see it and thus see your work.  The more people deem it one of their "favorite treasuries", the more people's circles of friends will see it.  I didn't quite believe in the power of this idea myself, but I have since changed my mind.

NEXT UP:  My BNS Story!