How to be Successful Selling on Etsy
Step one: Don’t.
Okay, okay. That may not be completely fair.
Especially coming from someone who was an Etsy seller for two years. And someone who had so many custom orders that she had to close the shop every couple of weeks just to catch up. And someone who had listings featured on the front page. Aaaand, not to sing my own praises, but someone who made half of what they should have but kept selling on Etsy anyway because she didn’t know where else to go.
There it is.
Don’t get me wrong. I love browsing on Etsy. It’s an awesome place to find unique homemade stuff, all in one place. And I can compare different shops to make sure I’m getting the best deal. But, that’s part of where the problem lies for sellers.
Etsy is a business, and their main goal is to make Etsy money. They want browsers to buy, and they’ll make sure that happens by any means necessary. If you have a potential buyer looking at your awesome mousepad listing, there’s nothing to stop Etsy from recommending your cheaper competitors right below your listing.
Yikes.
You might say that system is what helps keep products competitively priced for the customer. But for creators and sellers, it’s a race to the bottom. What’s to stop someone from copying your product and changing it just enough to avoid being called out and then undercutting you? Certainly not Etsy. They’re there to recommend whoever can bring them the most sales.
This was the problem I ran into. Because of how insane the competition was selling on Etsy, I had to keep my prices as low as I possibly could, or not see a purchase for weeks. Sure, it got me more sales and high reviews, but my profits were abysmal. I got paid less than minimum wage when working on custom orders. I was severely undervalued. But I didn’t even consider leaving Etsy because Etsy was the be-all-end-all for individual sellers. And I enjoyed making orders, so it’s not like I wanted to give it up.
How could I expect sales if I couldn’t get found somewhere like Etsy? It’s not like people would magically find me if I wasn’t marketing myself.
And that was true. I just didn’t understand yet how powerful having a website and carving out space in the digital marketplace truly was.
It’s true, Etsy does bring in a lot more potential customers than you could with a fresh new website. And for that reason, it’s a great place to start. You’re renting a spot in their marketplace, and that gives you the potential to compete and bring in sales.
BUT
Etsy is not where you want to be if you’re trying to scale your side business into a full-time income, or even an income of more than $1,500 per month.
Here’s why.
1. You lose the potential to build customer loyalty.
Loyal customers are 5 times more likely to repurchase and 7 times more likely to try a new product from you.
So it would stand to reason that you’d want to target your previous buyers and turn them into lifelong raving fans of your brand. As an online seller, you want to hang onto any customers you get and keep providing them value. That way they’ll keep coming back and tell all their friends about you.
And the best way to do that in the world of online selling is to keep them engaged on social media, or (and this is a huge one) keep them on your mailing list. In many businesses, email marketing is what does the heavy lifting. It can get you 10 times the conversion rates over social media. It’s what gives your customers a personal welcome and helps you gain trust with them.
With a self-hosted online store, building a strong mailing list is as easy as offering a coupon for signing up for your newsletter. Then you’re free to swoop into their inbox with valuable updates and conversion-getting email copy.
Check out this article from Campaign Monitor about how email marketing can make a difference for your business.
But by using Etsy alone, you’re missing out on what could be the strongest marketing channel available to you.
(Note: It is true that many times, as a seller, you can see your customers’ email addresses. But it is against Etsy’s Terms of Use to reach out and contact past customers beyond the scope of the initial transaction.)
2. You lose your brand recognition
Confession time.
Last year, I searched on Etsy for my husband’s and my wedding bands. I got myself a lovely rose gold band and my husband an oak barrel and elk antler band. (It was pretty sick.) Since his band was so unique, I was asked a few times where we got it from.
And as much as I would have loved to shout out the amazing creator and send some attention their way, my answer was “Etsy”.
Because as much as I appreciate the sellers I find on there, I don’t remember their shop names! And that’s true for most Etsy customers.
(I did look up the shop, by the way. Their name is MNhandcrafted and they’re amazing.)
Even the most well-meaning customers are likely to remember your shop as just “Etsy”. And it’s not because your product isn’t unique or their purchase didn’t have an impact on them. It’s because Etsy exists to promote Etsy.
As Sarah Peterson puts it in her unsettle article, “When you use the search function to find what you need in Etsy, all you see is a bunch of tiled photographs and listing descriptions. You don’t see the company’s specific brand. You don’t see how they are different… In Etsy, I can’t make a choice based on what brand resonates with me. I don’t have the ability to see what makes each of these options different, what makes them stand out. All I can go on is price and a picture.”
Etsy essentially erases anything that would make you stand out. And it’s harder to sell your value and build trust on a platform like that prioritizes free shipping over what makes you unique.
3. You’re paying rent instead of building equity.
Selling on Etsy is a lot like renting a booth at a craft festival.
It is undeniably a great way to get attention and it may get a lot of quick sales. But it can’t be your sole marketplace if you want to grow your business.
With an online store of your own, it will initially be harder to bring in business. But consider it a long-term investment. With a website, you can truly make your shop your own.
You can put front and center what it is that makes you different from your competition. You can present your online shop as more “professional”. You can build authority over time by keeping fresh, relevant content on your website. You can use SEO best practices to help your website rank on Google, which will serve your business for years to come.
You can use inbound content marketing, which gets 30 times the campaign conversion rate of traditional campaigns.
And, you can create a sales funnel complete with an email marketing campaign designed to nurture your potential buyers until they’re ready to buy from you.
Oh, and not to mention, you won’t be advertising your competitors on your listings anymore!
And another fun fact: you will spend more on Etsy transaction fees after $1,580 in sales per month than you would spend to use Shopify.
Conclusion
What I’m not trying to say is that Etsy is a complete waste of time and you should close your shop as soon as you finish reading this. Not at all. Etsy is a wonderful place to start and gives first-time sellers exposure they wouldn’t be able to get quickly on their own. But it doesn’t allow enough freedom to grow a serious full-time business.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep an Etsy store in addition to creating your own website and using your own marketing strategy.
If you’re looking to take your online selling business to the next level, I just might know someone. She has experience selling with Etsy and she can help you develop an inbound content marketing strategy and sales funnel.
Hint: I think you already have an idea of who she is.
If you want to see more about how I help online sellers like you, check out my blog on inbound content marketing, or take a peek at my website at hannahhance.com.
And if you think we could work together to reach your goals, get in touch with me here!
