How is etsy

Customers and Sellers alike were happy. One can see, from reviews of this site, when things changed, and it is not because of Covid. It is from Greed. Etsy changes policies on a whim, not considering sellers opinions. This is so ironic, because if a seller has a technical problem with their site, the reply one gets from the "form letter" is: "We are only a platform for you to use to sell you items. We don't step in to help with issues with buyers etc.

Ask the seller's community to offer suggestions and help". Essentially leaving us to our own devices, unprotected and exposed.

These are not minor issues which I attempted to contact support about. And I clearly stated why I was reaching out, numerous times. Issues like bogus customer accounts and attempts to steal mine.

When there is an issue with their platform, there is no way to contact the offices of Etsy. Or speak to anyone with a heartbeat. Only a chat which is not manned by humans. Only robots with scripts that are of no help, and don't pertain to the issue at hand. The robots say, "I will escalate this to a higher team, and you will receive an email". Days later when said email arrives, it is another form letter, going on and on about things that have nothing to do with my issue. When I respond to this email, numerous times over a period of weeks, there is never a response from a robot or human.

And we are left to figure it out, or close our shops. With the sneaky. Never breaking down what item was "hit on". If a customer comes from say Google search, and purchases an item, seller is forced to pay for this forced advertising. This only benefits Etsy. And we end up losing so much, or having to raise our prices to compensate, pushing us out of the market. I think it is despicable to take so much from struggling artists.

Especially now when everyone is suffering. Oh look at their stock. It has skyrocketed in the past year as a result of these unethical changes. On top of this, Etsy strong arms sellers into offering Free Shipping, otherwise, you are sent to the back of Etsy's search results as a punishment. That costs us about 4.

Etsy used to be a place where you could confidently sell and buy, because buyers and sellers had to be members or guests. Now, people can just "purchase" an item with no membership, no email and no info other than an address. This is my most recent issue, and my reason for contacting the robots.

In the latest update, Adding shipping required details to your listings and shipping profiles save a lot of time when these changes to renewals go into effect. Etsy will also begin to prioritize these items wherever Etsy advertises in the US—in email marketing, social media, and television ads.

Marking an Etsy order as complete, Etsy sends an email to the buyer to let them know their order is on its way.

Four exceptions to the tracking-number rule:. A survey done by EcommerceByte of Etsy sellers regarding the recent push from Etsy to mark their products with free shipping gave precise results. As per E-commerce Bytes , it is terrible to wait for the requirement to upload the tracking number until the package is in th hands of shipping carriers. But ethically, if you are selling locally in the U.

S, the buyers are going to pay more than they were because the shipping cost would have been less. On the other hand, The new update related to shipping tracking numbers and details has created easiness as well as confusion among the sellers on Etsy. This tool helps you to decide and calculate your price accordingly. Try the Free Shipping Guarantee for your Etsy store. Other than this, Other than this, in case of a new update of tracking numbers and delivery.

When the order is marked, complete, the mail is sent to the buyers that their order is on its way. This mail usually creates confusion among shoppers. Marking the order complete automatically flows a mail to the customer on the same date. As per Etsy offsite ads, you need not do anything to be eligible. Offsite ads make sure to show the most prominent item for every user profile and search query.

The offsite ads fees are charged after purchase; the fee payments depend on the criteria that have to be followed, considering sales made in the past days. The new update changes the idea of optimizing the listings to maximize their visibility across the different platforms. All your correctly listed items are advertised, you need to improve the quality of your listings since Off-site ads pick up your listings and provide them using the details of your product.

The most relaxed and beneficial thing is that you need to pay if a buyer makes a purchase by clicking on the Ad. Etsy reserves 4 rows for the Etsy Promoted Listings on every page of search results. Earlier offsite ads were optional for you, depending upon the revenue you have made in the past days. But now, Etsy utilizes all listings inventory information, including product descriptions, photos, titles, and more.

Etsy gives you leverage to go much artistic and innovative in maintaining your store. You can be so creative when it comes to the manufacturing of your product, as well as creating listings on Etsy.

The more you detail about your store, your purpose of business, your uniqueness in the process of making, and your talent, the more traffic and conversions you get.

Etsy lets you create a very personalized storefront. It is so easy to set up a store on Etsy. Explore what you can sell on Etsy to become a brand. It becomes more hectic when you have your independent store to manage. If you are also selling on other marketplaces, too, like eBay, Amazon, and Walmart. The listings details on Etsy are usually more lengthy; it asks you to fill up every single aspect of the product.

If you are a full-fledged seller managing all of your stores, building a brand and storefront on Etsy will eat much of your time. Above is a bestseller in Jewelry Category MignonandMignon, you can see how patiently she has curated her store about and policies. You are sure to reach out to the niche customer base because all Etsy deals are Art, Handcrafted, and Vintage products. You can try integrating your Etsy store to your independent store; this will help you manage the cumbersome task of selling.

Moreover, based on a particular factor, it compares your listings among the listings of your product category. It then chooses the best one to pop up on the first page when the buyer searches for a query. Toys, clothing, jewellery, home decor… there are plenty of wares to discover! Collect treasures from the past — Etsy's "Vintage" section contains items that are at least 20 years old.

If you're into gathering antiques, memorabilia, or things that you just can't find on store shelves anymore, you might hit the jackpot here. Give the gift of choice — If you want to buy a unique present for someone but can't figure out what they want, buy them an Etsy Gift Card instead! The perfect gift is the one they pick themselves! Find handmade or vintage stuff near you — You can use Etsy find craft fairs and other events where handmade goods and other antiques will be sold, so you can know where to go to support artists and artisans in your local area.

You can also visit events and workshops put on by Etsy, too. Put your artistic passion to work — If you're an artist or artisan yourself, Etsy can help you sell the things that you make. Why just peddle in your local community? There are people on Etsy from all over the world who might want what you make as a must-have accessory, the perfect piece of home decor, or an original gift idea!

You can use Etsy to buy handmade or vintage goods from people who have signed up on Etsy to sell them. You can also join Etsy as a seller and use it to hawk your handmade or vintage wares. Etsy can also be used to find local craft sales, or to get advice on how to buy or sell handmade or vintage items. My online store sells thousands compared to the 7 or 8 hundred that my ebay store sells.

I do have a niche. I started SatinCordandMore. I have been doing it for 10 years, but my website was a success after a few months. If you have a niche product and know your keywords, etc, you can do it! As for etsy, I rolled out a few sales 6 or 7 years ago, but that went dry quick, so I vacated. I think a lot of it depends on your product and the need or craze for it.

With just a little bit of extra work and a willingness to learn my market, which is what any serious business owner should do, I get tens of thousands of visitors per month. That may not be the millions that Etsy gets, but I would way rather have those thousands of hits of TARGETED traffic, people who have found me because they were actually searching for the things I offer, than the few crumbs that Etsy can throw my way from their millions of hits. I just treat it as the business tool that it is, not as my entire business.

Etsy owns that shop, not me. What do you recommend in my situation? Hi Grace, I commend you for getting started so early! If you want to dip your toes in the water with online selling, then by all means start with Etsy. You cannot legally sign up on etsy and sell there or anywhere else. Any sale is a legal contract which you cannot engage in until you turn Now if you have an adult running things who is in charge of the money and so on, then fantastic! Be a great learning experience.

Be sure you mention this in your profile somewhere. Thanks for this very informative article. I have been toying with the idea of opening an Etsy or similar store but am now seriously considering just doing my own e-commerce site. How do you recommend I approach SEO? Any specific recommendations? Thanks for your time. I think people have to come to a decision about what their longterm goals are for their business and how much their willing to stake for it.

I dislike Etsy. They close down shops complaining that you are not listing correctly, yet leave other shops on there that are listing the same exact item or item that you can tell are not handmade and or fake items.

A big fraud if you ask me. Etsy is not right for everyone… and building a fully-functional website can be tough too. There are a bunch of Facebook shop applications that let you build stores right inside of your Facebook business page check out ShopTab. Great article, I found this awhile ago when helping my sister research about setting up a web store. Her needs were really simple, she just wanted an online store to post some products and to be able to accept credit cards. Most of the existing stuff was too expensive or complicated for what she needed.

So I built a really simple web app for her to do that. Thanks and good luck everyone! George, I took a look at your bulavard venue, and from what I saw I think that it is great. I like the simple look of your site. Do you have a sample store that a potential seller could look at? I would like to see an example of what my store would look like before I signed up. One thing that may work against you and your site sellers is the spelling of your site domain name.

When people ask a person where they sell online, and they say boulevard, and the person that they told goes to visit the site, they will not be able to find your site. Or, they will find something else, because they did not use the correct spelling when they tried to visit your site. Interesting thoughts — never really considered the disadvantages of Etsy. WooCommerce and other eCommerce platforms seem to be a bit more work, but perhaps they are worth it in the long run.

This article is one-sided. I have my own websites and am a qualified web designer. I also have stores on places like Etsy, Zazzle etc.

They ALL have their good and bad. I use my websites to drive traffic to those stores as well as other income revenues. Far back in this thread I posted how etsy got stupid and greedy then I found Artfire. Well Artfire got stupid and greedy as well now. Ads suddenly appeared all over everyones listings. And not off to the side where you know they are ads, but in with the descriptions.

Want to see my beautiful hand made pen? Click here for some cheap made in china junk. It was horrible! Complaints filled their forum board. The PR person they had already left Artfire.

Sales had tanked about the same time he left. Just search google for anything. Does Artfire even show up anymore? I never see it. And the CEO flat out ignored everyones posts.

They start out great. So did etsy. So did ebay. But one by one they ALL get bitten by the stupid and greedy bugs. So to anyone reading this, if you want these third party, totally out of your control to do what ever they want when ever they want sites, you ALL should first build your own.

Three pages. Briefly, entry pages have to be short and to the point. This is what this site is about.

This is what we offer where you have some pictures and better descriptions. Of course you can build your own store from here.

This way, when one gets stupid and you either pull out or they boot you out for complaining about the greed too much, simply change the link on your own site to where ever you find next. Sure saves on business cards this way if nothing else. As for me personally? Not to mention the countless HOURS listing, promoting, tweeting, pinning just to bring business there only to be treated like an old shoe.

Or forget about it. Since non of them do that, forget about it. Etsy is good place to start but you should have an own website to grow. Depending on how you plan to expand your business, choose the appropriate tool. You should know that free plans are always have some limitations external links or free subdomains which sometimes poorly affect on SEO or make your bussiness little unprofessional. When choosing free website pay attention for shop addons pricing.

They are good, no question about it, but remeber awesome tools not make your profits its your work make it. Sometimes start can be difficult and you may notice poor effectiveness of your site, so you should constantly analyze actions of visitors and learn lessons from your marketing efforts.

External website also gives you ability to sell through Google Merchant Center. I dont think views have dropped on etsy, I have a lot of items for sale though,it does vary daily however.

A lot of sellers that I look up to are doing just fine in sales. Some have been on etsy for 5 years while others have only been on for 2.

I do notice that most dated within the year have few sales. I also have noticed on numerous occasions that the more listings you have, the better. I have not sold anything on either Etsy or Artfire for almost two years.

I am doing other things now. I would like to make a suggestion for everyone no matter what you sell or where you sell your products. Facebook advertising is what I would like to recommend. I highly recommend Facebook advertising over renewing on a constant basis, not counting when the listing expires.

You will have to be willing to spend some money on trial and error first with Facebook advertising. Video engagement is probably the best way to go when you run an ad.

You should be able to get clicks on your video for less than 5 cents per click. If not, you are doing something wrong. Be sure to keep your videos short, which means that they should be only about one minute in length. The longer the video, the greater the drop off rate will be. You can also run ads for clicks to your website. I would not send people to your Etsy shop only a website. This is much better than SEO. I am all for SEO, but Google is all about making money and they want you to spend money on advertising in order for your website to show up on their search results.

It use to be that in about one to two weeks of putting up a website you could show up in the Google search results but that is no longer the case. With Facebook advertising you will get people seeing your products within hours rather than months or years. The target market audience can be narrowed down using Facebook advertising. Finding the right audience to target is the key to a successful ad on Facebook.

Maybe target one state or one city. For example, if you live in California, you may want to target one of the large cities in that state such as Sacramento or a large city you live in or live near. You can adjust the radius of the area around the city you are targeting. Be sure to have some content on your Facebook fan page before you start running any ads. You should have at least four posts on your Facebook page besides the ad.

While this article makes many good points- it is missing the single most valuable point of using Etsy as a selling platform- TRAFFIC, and cheap traffic- sure you can start your own store website, but the marketing dollars to generate anywhere near the traffic that a moderately successful Etsy shop has is why Etsy does so well. We all know that diversification is essential to longevity in online retailing, but Etsy is IMHO the easiest way to build an online business for artisans.

My product is an investment for the future. Thank you for such an informative article. We lost everything because all it took was litterally a handful of unhappy customers out of hundreds on top of hundreds. Absolutely none. Their will always be unhappy people. We had one post a 2 stars reviews because it was a gift and the person loved it but she felt she could have had the item before the due date and could have paid less elsewhere for her custom order.

That two star triggered a shop review because we had someone accidentally open and close a case while trying to message us as a thank you. It is true Having a presence in Etsy is fine but along with it having a website of your own is even more effective and helpful to sell your products. It is easy to start first you need to know some business fundamentally then you can easily do a startup.

In your article I learnt a lot things. What an absolute crock. Including Shopify. Etsy really is simple for a startup. Their pricing structure is fair and lower than most of their competitors. If you want to make money you have to spend dollars and time no matter what you do. Totally agree with Steve. No matter how good their platform is, be it Etsy, Ebay, Amazon or any others, you are at their mercy.

They are in business and gaining profits is their priority no matter what. I am with Etsy for a year plus, although it does bring me quite a number of sales, I have never think that it will be in long term. I have my own website, but I find that recently sales have been more via Etsy. I do have my own brand, which is new but prominent and have repeat customers from there.

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Thanks For Signing Up! How much does it cost to have an Etsy store? What is an Etsy store? Is it worth selling on Etsy? Note: This post above may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase when clicking a link.

Please consult our privacy policy for more information. Artfire is in my own opinion the best selling venue for handmade, supplies, and vintage. Artfire has a low monthly Pro studio fee with no listing fee or final value fee. Aftfire also provides great tools and guides for their sellers. Artfire also provides a blog for their Pro sellers.

I want to find these stores n support them. Come and see what we have to offer and how different we are to Etsy and Ebay. We are Artfire! Pointing your domain does not help your SEO because your site simply redirects to Artfire depending on how you set things up So to sum it up.

Keep an eye on ArtFire over the coming two weeks. You will see a lot of amazing things. Cheers, Nathalie. Can you have tiered pricing for quantity discounts?

Can you have bundled discounts? Can you have private sales for special customers? Is there an email newsletter management system? Full Analytics integration using custom vars via javascript 7. Can you automatically export sales data to quickbooks? Can you zoom in on your product pictures? Free shipping if you purchase Item X These are just a few things that come to mind…. The complication is credibility. Steve asks: 2. Steve asks: 3. Steve asks: 4. Steve asks: 5. Steve asks: 7.

They have info posted on their blog here: Steve says: 9. These are just a few things that come to mind… I hope I have managed to answer you to your satisfaction. Oh, and to clarify since I cannot edit my reply above. My pleasure Steve.