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I have been selling on Etsy for 10 years. In that decade I have come to realize Etsy should be used as a tool and should NOT be relied upon for you to succeed.

Etsy should be used as a tool and should NOT be relied upon for you to succeed. So, I figured out a couple of ways to make Etsy more of my employee than a hostile workplace. 

Let me explain.

My Etsy Experience.

I have been selling on Etsy since 2014. My physical product store has recently reached over 22,000 sales and my brand new digital product store has reached over 400 sales since I started putting up listings at the beginning of the year. I have gained a lot of experience and I’m going to share it all with you. No high cost course needed. This super lesson is free. But, you know what’s not free?

Esty Fees

Everyone complains about the fees, cuz fees suck. Obviously. Every online marketplace has some sort of fees and Etsy’s fees aren’t the worst, but they certainly aren’t the best.

Here’s how I put up a fight against these fees and get a little devious without breaking the rules.(Until they change something) I gotta be real with you here, and I don’t know why people don’t present it like this. But, when you make a listing, it costs 20 cents. Your first cost has no promise of a sale, and is gone forever. So, let’s make that 20 cents work for us now. How?

It’s Not a Listing, It’s an Advertisement.

I started my first online shop in 2004 selling macramé cat and dog collars. The ONLY way I would end up in front of eye balls in a search on this ancient version of the “world wide web” was to pay for ads and put fliers at all the pet shops and dog parks. I would have loved Etsy back then.

Even now, if you were to pay for ads on google to go to your own website, for instance, and wanted to actually show up for your keywords, you would be paying $.05 to $1 or more PER CLICK. No joke. Even if you set it at 5 cents per click, you’d have gotten only 4 people to look at your listing for the same price of an Etsy listing to be active for 3 months. And unless you’ve got tracking advertising also, they will never see your listings or website again.

As of June 2024, Etsy had 96 million active buyers, which is the highest number yet, and repeat buyers account for 81% of all purchases on Etsy. When someone looks at your listing, and even better, hearts it, they will continue to see it on their main page and saved collection. 

Google ads don’t have a heart feature. Googlers won’t get a little notification that it’s back in stock or on sale in their google dashboard.

A person who likes your etsy listing or shop just became a possible customer, so let’s make sure they won’t forget about you.

Etsy Pictures are Your Ad Space

I do go over the types of pictures you should have on my Products Success Sheet, which you can get for free in the link below and in the comments, but I am going to share an Etsy specific secret with you right now.

Dedicate a picture slot to collect emails. This is an image I put on every single one of my listings. It’s not even amazing, but it works.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but you must start an email list if you haven’t already. Mailchimp is what I use, but there’s plenty out there. You can then connect it to your website, or if you don’t have a website yet, you can make a free landing page to send people to so they can sign up to your email list. I suggest offering a code of some sort of discount as incentive. 

You can even put another incentive here, such as, if you tag “my shop” on instagram, I will send you a 20% coupon. Now you potentially have customers advertising for you, and you can share the pic for some tasty social validation to other potential customers. 

Ok, I want to stop some fear mongering I have seen in other anti-etsy videos. Yes, your listings will have other peoples listings advertised underneath. It sucks. BUT! This means YOUR listings will show up on others. So, make sure your SEO is on point. 

2 Minute SEO Masterclass

If you hate Etsy because your amazing and truly worthy handmade items aren’t selling, it could be your SEO.

There’s so much info out there, but let’s stop wasting time. Here’s your 2 minute masterclass.

First – SEO won’t make your item popular, it just tells Etsy what it is, so it knows who to show your stuff to. When it is shown to the right people, it will sell.

Second – Don’t have a title like “Cute Purple Dragon Handmade Plush”. Write out the What why who of your Product. Such as:

• What – Purple Dragon, Fantasy, Plush, Stuffed Animal, Gift
• Why – Present, Graduation, Celebration, Recovery
• Who – Child, Kid, Daughter, Son, Baby, Niece, Nephew

Think of it like this. I have a bunch of old bananas and want a recipe but I’m not sure what type. I didn’t search for “yellow curved fruit”. I searched “what to do with a lot of bananas.” Ask yourself, “What is the INTENTION of your customer?”

So, in relation to the example of the dragon plush, someone is searching etsy for “gift for niece”, or “christmas gift for child”, or “fantasy stuffed animals” or “plush for birthday girl”. It’s rare that someone is searching for “Cute Purple Dragon Handmade Plush”…

Go ahead and put these words in the title and tags, but also add all of these other ones somewhere in there. Tags can be 20 characters, so fill them in. Mix and match. “Dragon Plush” Easter Gift” “Preschool Celebration” and so on… 

You’ll notice a lot of these mentioned “gift”. Etsy put out it’s new “Gift Mode” on purpose. They know they are a go-to for gift giving, so jump on that train.

Know – Like – Trust

This is a term in the industry that means customers are more likely to buy from people they know, and like and ultimately trust. 

One way Etsy helps build your trust is with their guarantees. Etsy is a big enough brand that people can count on if they were bamboozled in some way. A personal website could have a hard time generating trust out of the gate. Despite a comprehensive FAQ page, I sure have been weary of a site whose deals were too good to be true.

In addition to money back guarantees, Etsy has customer reviews for your shop on every listing page. Whether it is a review for that particular item, or another in your shop. Seeing a positive review of your products and customer service really does push people into that trust category. Then you get their order and everyone wins!

Send a Message With Each Order

Did you know you can reply publicly to every review! Whether is is positive or negative, it is a great place to point viewers to other listings – even your website!

It’s also a great place to showcase discount codes that you would be ok with anyone using.

Etsy is a Choice

If I were to put all my eggs in my Etsy shops and close down all the other revenue streams I have, I would not make enough to sustain my family and that would not be a good business idea. 

I’d love to be an uber seller, making thousands of dollars a day, but I’m not. And to be blatantly honest, chances aren’t great that any of us will be. BUT! That doesn’t mean that we can’t try our dang hardest at making our handmade business thrive.

If it’s not for you, it’s not for you and that is 100% cool, dude. I’m not trying to shove people on the Etsy train.

I believe Etsy has become a blueprint other similar websites intentionally mimic. Amazon Handmade, GoImagine, etc. I have even recently started a Michaels Marketplace shop, I will update you on what I’ve learned soon.

In the meantime, if you want to see where else you might have success selling in an online marketplace, then check this out.

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