Being on Etsy is like the relationship with my passive-agressive mother, you never know exactly how to please her or when she is going to snap for no reason.
Well it's hard when you get older you don't have as much energy you have aches and pains in places you didn't even know you have and you're watching your family members die and your friends die and it can be a real Debbie downer sometimes
@@phranne1234 i'm a brand new seller, one day open and shop suspended because i accidently put a wrong number when adding my cc so for under 24 hours i had an outstanding balance of .80, no warning just vague email that stated once billing updated suspension should reverse automatically, nope and dont know why, yes i made a mistake, not to mention i broke my arm day before so working with my left hand, no excuse but it was a simple mistake and i had just upgraded my shop so ive basically gave them my money for nothing. my question is, in reality, sellers decide etsys success, if all the sellers move to another, better platform the buyers will follow, so why dont they?
I agree. I have a few issues and tried emails, tried any way possible and can’t find anyone. Customer Service is everything for any business and this platform is not helping.
It’s incredible how basic this is and how obvious Etsy is failing the most basic thing. We live in daily fear that our hundreds or thousands of hours of work disappear overnight due to a simple error we don’t have a chance of fixing because we cannot find out what we did wrong! This is a real, TOTALLY UNNECESSARILY and UNACCEPTABLE abuse of sellers. The frustration is unbearable. It is, quite frankly, CRUEL!
My son's shop ran into problems last month. Etsy returned 2 expensive items and did not even ask the buyers to return the items. 600 dollars in returns. As a result, his shop is shut down. I don't understand how etsy could refund items without respecting the shop. Per his shop guidelines, custom orders are not returnable. And the buyers did not reach out to him to resolve their issue. Unfortunately he had all his eggs in the etsy basket. The sad thing is that I told him to spread his sales to Amazon.
@@casswmsexactly!!! They refund and no product is returned like Poshmark, refunds issued after seller receives goods!! Or items are sent back unsellable, haters try to sabotage you!!
Thank you so much for this video. I'm not a seller yet,but I've been looking into several platforms and Etsy is one of them. It was very informative and good preparation as well. Thank you again. And also, Email.
It’s not just potential competition. We can deal with that, it’s the fact that Chinese sellers steal your designs (even your pictures) and make the items cheap. But not just cheap but a race to the bottom. Etsy advertises as a platform where you can find unique handmade items. That hasn’t been the case for a long time. They will just end up being a crap platform. They also require sellers to have perfect customer service but they have the worst customer service of any platform. Get your own website and start sending traffic there. The AI pics are crap, you can see it right away. There is nothing handmade about AI generated.
Etsy will dig their own grave, this kinda service quality wouldn’t last in this era of rapid change. They’re taking their position for granted, giving their future competitor the key to succeed by not doing what Etsy is doing. Our voice is valuable to you and your current and future competitors.
I am very disappointed of Etsy too. So much of my work is destroyed by deactivating my old and some bestseller listings. It's all 100% handmade by me, all pictures and descriptions are made by me. I should be the perfect products for Etsy... but they don't even answer in person or give me a realistic reason. This is so frustrating and not fair at all. Wonder if it makes sense to invest more time, if everything can be destroyed for no reason in a second... ? 😢 How can they do this with us? What a sad change of the Etsy-Story...
Looks like Etsy prefer and support AI rather than real original artwork. It’s not the same Etsy as 5 years ago, right now is almost impossible to sale anything
Hearing all the horror stories of sellers having their shops closed or suspended with no explanation beyond a template email is one of the things that has really given me pause in working with Etsy. But I come this channel and you guys always make it seem like there is a solution. Here’s hoping Etsy initiates a Sellers Support Team with live people!
With all of these “unfair” business practices without a regulatory framework, surely they are in breach of standard business practices?? Sellers are customers as well - as they are paying for a service - if they don’t have a standard of service, why hasn’t anyone started a class action lawsuit against them? Etsy is breaking consumer protection laws by not providing specific terms of service… they are more akin to a domestic violence abuser rather than a reputable company!
Hey, it’s Vlad! Thank you so much for making this video! TagPup is as handmade as they come; we print our own fabric, sew our own collars, and engrave our own buckles. And yes, I have looked into fabric weaving machines-lol, not yet, but maybe in the future. I’m very fortunate to have my business, and I’m also fortunate that I get to continue to sell on Etsy. News about successful Etsy shops being suspended causes two things: New sellers won’t want to invest their money to grow and introduce high-quality products, which will leave Etsy with either low-quality products from China, as you mentioned, or low-entry products, such as tumblers. Big sellers are either changing their selling channels and moving on to other platforms, or taking their marketing dollars elsewhere, which will hurt Etsy's bottom line. If they used to advertise their Etsy shops on Instagram or Facebook, well, now they’ll change that link to either their Shopify store or Amazon listings. Why? Well, the risk is just too high to promote something that could easily be suspended.
I want to open a new shop but I'm scared that Etsy will auto shut down that store AND MY OTHERS. They're just not supportive of sellers. And when you actually talk to someone through chat, their information is totally different from the seller handbook. Why is so much money being spent on ads when the sellers are totally unsupported? We are the ones making Etsy money!
i have worked in customer service and absolutely nothing can take the place of being able to speak with a real human being to resolve any and every issue. This is not something that ai can ever replace
One more thing - if this is what it takes to “let them know” about this issue, then the failure is utterly complete. If they don’t already know about these issues, I call total BS. The goal is cruelty.
Etsy is moving every single new listing to "Inactive". I have contacted customer support several times and am not getting responses. I'm afraid if I relist them, my shop will get cancelled. I have been selling on Etsy since 2013 in the handmade niche but just started creating POD products. It's pretty much impossible to add new items that I do TONS of research on ahead of time and make sure my items are properly niched but still different enough to be unique. In the Inactive file, there is no "deactivation" note or anything. Just moving items out of "Active". I seriously HATE Etsy now. They won't even give you the courtesy of a response.
When doing pod and publishing from provider are you aware that you need to back into your store, click on product and edit. Go down to screen which says partners and tick. The section is above tags. Hope this helps It was happening to me until I was told this
I’ve started selling on Mercari. You get to keep 100% of the sale and no listing fee. Doing just as much on there. If it weren’t for them I’d really be hurting now. Traffic has tanked to basically non-existent since January.
Yes, Mercari just started that. I have been selling on Mercari for a few years now. I do sell a lot more on Etsy than Mercari but the traffic is not near what Etsy has. I have found that I can’t charge as much on Mercari for my items so now that there are no selling fees it may balance out.
I hate that there’s no phone numbers for us sellers to call a live person, and even when you get them to call back, customer support is not very equipped with the knowledge of Etsy policies and can’t explained why a listing gets taken down. I had a listing suspended and their reason was because it’s an item for kids one year and up and it’s not flame resistant. UHMMM, first of, how do you know it’s not flame resistan? Second, it’s a newborn baby gown. 🤔😤 They said it was the computer system doing the suspensions and that they had people working on checking every single listing that’s taken down to see if it was for a good reason. That was two years ago. 🤔🤔🤔🤔
I opened a brand new POD shop with my 3 of my own designs (non AI) Followed every rule I have read or heard. Trademark checked my 3 designs. Made sure that all my Bank details, credentials were correct. Was suspended by the bots within 24 hours. I filled out the appeal and got the fatal message that my store will not be restored, and that every other attempt to contact will be ignored. The kicker to all of this is, my other store of 3 years is still active without issues.
Me too, exactly the same. I have 2 other stores that are currently inactive. I’m afraid to re-open them because getting banned there too isn’t worth the stress.
I do not use AI for my designs, but I do use it to help with listing descriptions. I really feel for POD sellers with the AI element. I have a graphic design degree and former career as a designer - I’ve said this before but it’s the zillions of low-effort shops with crappy AI designs that bother me that create noise and distractions for the dedicated hard-working sellers.
The thing is it's not just unfair to us who create all our own art for our shops, it's actually causing an even bigger issue. The shoppers that come to Etsy are leaving in droves because they are getting frustrated sorting through the now flooded marketplace of products designed with AI gen images and cheap dropshipped items too, because they go to Etsy to find handmade and artist designed products. Etsy is going off brand and off niche and it is destroying thier marketplace. I actually blame all the Etsy / POD youtubers that keep telling people to put AI images on POD t-shirts and sell them on Etsy. I think these guys and Starla Moore are the only ones who are actually talking about how this is a problem. But all the rest (especially the Printify "gurus") are encouraging this and it irritates me to no end.
I am following you for a long time and I always listen to your podcasts, the speech you had in this episode about the shutting down the shops and being unable to call the Etsy team is just Banger!!! You said the exact same things that millions of sellers think!!! As an Etsy seller of more than 4 years I still experience so much stress of not doing something very silly mistake to be banned. We should really got a top notch customer service because we, the sellers build the ETSY. Thank you so much for this episode!!!
I think the worst thing is not being able to get exact reasons for getting banned and to be able to speak with a person. Most people are honest peope trying to sell legitimate products people want. Dont make us all suffer and become disgusted with the etsy platform. 😢 And not just being able to find out WHY you got banned but also getting the option to rectify your mistake!
For reals. I really feel like I can’t trust Etsy anymore. They already took my money for listings that they deactivated, and still waiting to get a response to my suspension appeal. That they don’t explain why people were suspended is suspicious.
@@phranne1234 Me too, i'm a brand new seller, one day open and shop suspended because i accidently put a wrong number when adding my cc so for under 24 hours i had an outstanding balance of .80, no warning just vague email that stated once billing updated suspension should reverse automatically, nope and dont know why, yes i made a mistake, not to mention i broke my arm day before so working with my left hand, no excuse but it was a simple mistake and i had just upgraded my shop so ive basically gave them my money for nothing. my question is, in reality, sellers decide etsys success, if all the sellers move to another, better platform the buyers will follow, so why dont they?
Hello, this is Boluwatife ,It's a pleasure writing to you. Kindly let me know if you're ready for us to have our discussion about improving and upgrading your store performance. Thanks, Boluwatife
Right. It's just common sense that there should be an easy solution to things like this. You'd think an online sales platform would do everything to make it easier for sellers to use the platform so that the longevity would be secured. I've been on Etsy since 2012, and I can say 100% that Etsy used to be so wonderful!
Regarding eBay being a "cheap" platform. I used to be a full handmade on Etsy only seller. After some search algorithm changes on Etsy I was forced to branch out to other sales platforms. Today, my eBay handmade sales DWARF my handmade Etsy sales by the thousands.
My problem with Ebay is that they make you wait 3 months before you can start posting all of your items. You start out with a maximum of 10 posts per months, you cannot post more than that for 90 days, and it is infuriating.
@@bassettmike1 That's what I hear, but I have older accounts so I haven't seen it myself. I'd start with the 10 listings, best sellers, to get a sale or two. After a couple of weeks or so call them and ask if they could increase your selling limit. If your account is in good standing they will usually increase it.
@@bassettmike1Sign up for a Starter store. This will give you 250 listings per month. Or else keep listing 10 of your best sellers and call them from time to time to have them increase your selling limit.
eBay isn’t better than Etsy when it comes to the protection of your store or items. I was selling a product that had over 30,000 sales and thousands of feedbacks. Suddenly it disappeared and they would not do anything to help except tell me to list it again which would have started the counter all over again. At that point I walked away from it, and now I see that Etsy is doing essentially the same thing. Aside from having a website that you own and control, it seems like all of these online marketplaces are out only for themselves and have no regard for their sellers at all. I don’t want to put my fate in the hands of faceless people that I do not see or know with a reputation for destroying peoples livelihoods and years of work.
Not a fan of Temu either. A lot of people I have talked to who has bought something was disappointed with their purchase, cheaper does not mean better.
Can we point out the fact that Etsy allows pornographic filth to be sold on their platform now????? How us parents now need to make sure our children are nowhere around while we are scrolling Etsy bc of the possibility of something filthy will appear??? I am talking FULL, CLOSE-UP NUDITY. Since when has that been allowed? Straight up pornographic images & products. SMH
They are also doing sex trafficking of children on Etsy too! They call it Hot Pizza etc $15,000 call us to arrange delivery. Saw it myself it is happening
100% correct. I have a teenage daughter who used to love shopping on Etsy for items for her dolls and for stickers. She has not shopped on Etsy for almost 3 years now because of the pornography.
Even customers notice the difference in Etsy. From one of my regulars: "I really want to support real, working artists. I have almost given up on Etsy as it has so much mass produced junk on it now, but stay because of artists like you. Thanks for helping me find a gift as special and unique as my niece is."
I have customers at my farmers market use Etsy as the standard. They say “oh, you have an Etsy” in a way that inspires credulity. Etsy just changed my handmade pottery items to “designed.” My work starts as a ball of Clay and it’s being named “designed.”
I have been selling on my Maxie's Gems shop since 2014; I make most of my money selling locally, but Etsy has been a nice little side business. Sales have bombed since the pandemic; and I am not pleased with the increased fees, the off-site ads fee and that allowing production partners makes it difficult for small sellers to compete; also have experienced frustrating glitches. The reduced sales may mean that I am not keeping up with the trends and my creations are not desirable. At any rate I am taking a break at the end of this month to decided what to do. I will have my eye on this topic.
I started a shop with my own designs, not AI designs, my own work. Etsy received a complaint from another seller who had stolen my designs and claimed they were theirs! As a result, I was banned!! I could prove they were mine. Etsy should investigate first, and look at the evidence before imposing a sanction....Very poor...
My shop got banned a day after I started it and I never got an answer as to why. I gave up on it for a while, came back and it said it was suspended and I could appeal. So I did. It's been like 3 weeks. I'm probably just going to give up on Etsy altogether because it's beyond frustrating. I've been buying from Etsy for the last 10+ years but will probably find alternatives now.
i'm a brand new seller, one day open and shop suspended because i accidently put a wrong number when adding my cc so for under 24 hours i had an outstanding balance of .80, no warning just vague email that stated once billing updated suspension should reverse automatically, nope and dont know why, yes i made a mistake, not to mention i broke my arm day before so working with my left hand, no excuse but it was a simple mistake and i had just upgraded my shop so ive basically gave them my money for nothing. my question is, in reality, sellers decide etsys success, if all the sellers move to another, better platform the buyers will follow, so why dont they?
Email guide - this video has been very informative and i love how thorough you guys are. I am just starting out and not really getting sales yet but i also feel that I'm just getting the hang of making decent digital products so I believe it's just a matter of time and I'm realizing that I really need to focus on nichong down more to get my things seen.
2 accounts created, all information, tax, id and bank account valid, and banned within days. Followed all RUclips tutorials I could see to ensure that there was no reason to be banned. No reason given, appeal ignored, and outright stated that they couldn't tell me why it was banned, so there was no way to fix whatever imaginary problem their bot had found. Can't talk to a real person. Etsy simply aren't a trustworthy or reliable business partner, and not worth considering. I would never use them even if they did change, due to that experience.
Temu can be good for some things, like I ordered a set of kitchen scissors. However, their lack of quality is their weakness. I ordered a couple tshirts, much like the onese listed on Etsy (same image), however the design was cheaply printed and the shirt was cheap as well. Not a Bella and Canvas shirt. Etsy sellers need to emphasize the quality of their items as well as the "small business/independent artist" stance.
Exactly! I am in the pet niche and I ordered something from Temu that is very similar to what I have in my shop. Quality was NOT there! It was thin and cheap.
Items from Temu are covered with cancer causing chemicals and heavy metals like lead. I have seen a couple of news stories about it. I would not order anything from them in a million years. Especially not for my kitchen or food.
When I opened my handmade shop in 2011, I had to take a photo of my DL and send it to Etsy. I remember that I also had to take a photo to PROVE that I was the maker. I had another shop already, which was open with no proofs at all.
When the big layoff happened before Christmas, it was inevitable that CUSTOMER SERVICE was going to take a long hit. The stockholders need to have some blame for this. Greed, greed, greed!!!
I opened my shop sometime ago, but have not listed any items as yet. I hae been rather hesitant to continue due to all the rumours ad changes, however after listening to you, I will give it a go! THANK YOU!
Yes I agree, the compotition on price is horrible. Etsy wants us to give discounts, coupons free shipping. How can we do that when we already have to compete with sellers that somehow do all that and price there items below a cost price what is that about.
Thanks so much for this podcast. I had my shop banned as soon as I received my first sale. Thankfully I stayed on it and was able to resolve it. Very frustrating having to chat through emails. Email and roadmap. Thank you I appreciate you sharing this information with me.
Etsy used to have much more detailed policies, they changed the whole 'seller handbook' structure back around 2015/16 I believe and they stripped out a lot of specifics making the policies much more vague and open to interpretation. At the time, they explained this change by saying they "want to apply the policies with discretion based on individual scenarios". So yeah, that has worked out about as well as one would expect.
I think Etsy lost some sellers when the seller could not use the money awaiting deposit into their bank accounts to BUY from other sellers. I didn't realize this until I had $250 that had cleared, awaiting deposit the next Monday (& not available to my bank account until Tuesday, ima). Looking to purchase a gift, that money was not mine for the entire weekend plus Monday. I missed out on two OOAK items and their respective shop sales. Still cannot find another one of those items, even on Ebay, for any amount. Really preferred the PayPal option, as I had ready access to the money for postage.
Guide and roadmap, Ive been a seller on Etsy since 2008 but had to put my shop on vacation mode last year when I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. So I've been off the sight mainly for almost a year. Etsy has never been my only sorce of income, I have a website and sell at conventions.
thank you for being honest and trying to get Etsy's attention they need to be better w customer service. how can they continue to ask us for great customer service when we can't even get a strrait answer from a real person when we need help.
I want to add that my husband just found a part for our Phillips coffee maker ON ETSY!!! I said, "no way", but there it was. I actually couldn't believe it that I'm worried about an original design when all you see are copycats & literally now machine parts for sale on their site! Makes me rethink the whole thing.
The platforms need to work together to get rid of fraud. I had images stolen and put on Amazon. Alerted Amazon and Etsy both and they were all helpless Hannah on it and actually threatened me saying it was against amazon terms to falsely report. So I dropped it. That shop eventually disappeared probably probably for not fulfilling orders. I mean they didn’t have my art to print the mugs. I guess they only listen to customers not sellers.
Great video guys, thank you. 🙏 I can’t agree with you more that us sellers need to be able to speak on the phone to a knowledgeable human being at Etsy, as and when is necessary. Hopefully not that often, but having the option to do so is paramount.
No beginner seller can compete in a race to the bottom on price. That’s ridiculous. And that is the message I’m getting, sale,sale, pay for advertising ,pay for advertising
Yup! Last year pricing was a race to the bottom on Etsy. I had declining sales the last 3 years on Etsy not to mention half the net profit year over year due to higher advertising costs, higher costs for products and fees, and the race to the bottom on pricing due to completions sales. The only thing I can say is this will make us better entrepreneurs as we persevere. We will find the answers if we don’t quit.
And “You are charging too much for shipping”. That’s about trying to get you to up your prices to cover the cost of the Free Shipping they coaxed you into offering. Why do they want you to do that? To get you to the mandatory Etsy advertising threshold of $10K that much faster! You can opt out of Etsy placing ads for you until you’ve made $10K in sales. I do t know if that’s all-time or yearly, though. Sneaky, huh?
They actually suggested from my listings that I lower the prices of my products compared to others by 80%!!! If I did that, I would not have a business. I would be unprofitable and paying them to hand make my products. I nearly tossed my computer into the wall. What do they think we all do here??
I am in the startup point and was planning to start an Etsy ship, but I have seen a lot of these disturbing issues in the immediate / recent past, and am suddenly strongly leaning against using Etsy now. I still have some decisions to make, but this seems to be too much of a headache to fight with.
i just found you guys. i have done 200 sales in about 14-16 months--rev @ 60k+ selling plants. Now im getting into plant funny tshirts--could def use some direction
Opened my shop Jan1 this year. Etsy traffic? Not only no sales, but no TRAFFIC. ZERO visits. But I get emails regarding purchasing advertising every day. Note, I am an artisan, not POD or digital downloads. Artisans are not supported at all.
MegansShopCH here. Me too, NO SALES for almost a year now😢😢😢. All the previous years prior, the sales were fairly acceptable. So i don’t know what changed….i'm at my wit's end😢😢😢.
I had opened a shop. Everything was verified, no copyright products, followed all the rules and not even a month old and I was suspended. No warning what so ever. Bad taste in my mouth. Not sure I want to work with a business that treats their income like that.
I've read several accounts by new shops who paid the new shop fee, did everything Etsy wanted and the very next day (or week)were banned with no explanation and told to not contact Etsy again because the decision is final. Etsy kept the admission fee as well as any sale money that had come in. That's basically unjust enrichment on Etsy's part. It seems that Etsy is not being held accountable for these serious errors. It's not right and very discouraging to any new entrepreneur wanting to sell on the platform.
I use AI, in a similar fashion to how you described your wife using it. But I’ll be honest, as an artist who went to FIT for fashion design, and then later got a degree in marketing, and someone who also was a commissioned portrait painter and photographer, with a healthy splash of crafting as a hobby… I have not found AI to be any less work! I’ve gotten pretty efficient with prompts but even then I’m looking at, on average, 50-100 rolls of the dice, to get anything even close to what my original vision was. And after that, I’m spending at least a few days, usually having to correct all sorts of AI weirdness, pixel by pixel, on 3-4 different design and photography softwares (Ps, AI, Canva, etc.), and at no little cost to me. Not to mention the fact that AI isn’t free, either… at least not in the way I use it. However, like your wife, I do all of that just for elements that are unique. The rest still involves me creating all of the other elements, choosing fonts, a layout design, colors, text, and then piecing all of it together, in order to bring my original vision to life. So, as far as I’m concerned, there’s just as much creative vision and hard work that goes into every one of my designs, than if I were to have not used AI. And frankly, with the majority of Etsy listing looking like homogenized advertisements for Creative Fabrica, or the product of the same closely followed YT design tutorials (using the same 4 fonts, in the same layout), the use of AI seems much less of a problem, than the lack of entirely original designs on Etsy, is.
I feel this! Exactly how you said. I think I will resume Ai as a source of inspiration. It takes a lot of work to have homogeneous items also. And I don’t feel like they are very original as my vision could be. Ai looks more like a copy paste to me.
Sorry for the delay! I just saw you commented and wanted access to the NEW $100k Etsy Roadmap. Here's you go - brandcreators.com/100k Enjoy and thanks for being part of our community :-)
I have purchased many items from Temu last year, but they ship everything in plastic bags, even the things that are fragile! Also, the price is not that low for the quality, sometimes you can find better quality here in the US for the same prices they have, or cheaper (example, some socks I bought from them). I stopped buying from them after noticing that.
Another thing Etsy needs to know is that many CEO's have stepped down. The good side of government is looking into fraud, and many other things. That said, Etsy may not get away with everything.
I'm attempting to start/restart possibly a pair of long dormant shops and the current "on-boarding" process is unbelievably counterproductive. The one that is set up now sells exclusively through fulfillment. Onboarding won't acknowledge a product published through Printify as a first product, thus forcing me to create a graphic of a make-believe product and pay for it even though it was fake and created to be deleted. The rest of the experience was a bit of a nightmare. I wasn't allowed to do any branding of the store until it was populated with products. Any sane online business gets everything set up and "prettified" before going public. The responses from support had to be pulled out with tweezers. If I had multiple questions only one would be answered at a time, wasting a lot of time and unnecessarily dragging out the support process. This was further complicated by receiving a message informing me that my store had been closed. I am still not entirely sure this was a hack attempt. The bottom line is that my recent experience with Etsy hasn't felt seller friendly.
They closed my shop and did not give me a reason for it. It’s frustrating after 6 weeks of hard work. I email them and tried to get a hold of them but did not get an answer, they are cold and customer service sucks. Its just plain horrible and should be boycotted. How can you learn from a mistake if you don’t know what you did wrong.
i'm a brand new seller, one day open and shop suspended because i accidently put a wrong number when adding my cc so for under 24 hours i had an outstanding balance of .80, no warning just vague email that stated once billing updated suspension should reverse automatically, nope and dont know why, yes i made a mistake, not to mention i broke my arm day before so working with my left hand, no excuse but it was a simple mistake and i had just upgraded my shop so ive basically gave them my money for nothing. my question is, in reality, sellers decide etsys success, if all the sellers move to another, better platform the buyers will follow, so why dont they?
Ive put off stating a shop due to all this mess. I wont go through a situation where i put all this work into a business and they shut store diwn fir no reason with no feedback or answers.
I've tried to open a shop six times. All six times they were shut down within a half an hour and each time they sent me an email withing 24 hours telling me it was permanently banned.
Y’all are both right about the $15 charge. It shouldn’t get people riled up, especially if they are truly trying to run/start a business. But it’s also true that there is a psychology to these kinds of things. Providing an incentive as part of the trade for the $15 will keep people less griping less.
I don’t know if other shoppers do this, but I learned years ago when shopping on Etsy to make sure I’m only buying within the United States. I learned that lesson the hard way. I always turn on that filter so all these shops coming in from other countries will not even show up for me.
A) some sellers lie and you’ll end up buying from an overseas seller anyway and B) there’s plenty of good honest overseas sellers with great stuff. Thanks for assuming we are all awful🙂
I have purchased some really crap stuff from the United States and have purchased some really beautiful bits from sellers in the UK, France, and Hong Kong, so I'm not sure why you're assuming that US stuff will be better!
Email.. I'm totally new to the etsy seller world but been a buyer for years. Recently attempted to start my own shop just to be suspended with no email explaining just a single sentence. It's a guessing game and I still don't know if it's permanent or temporary but it's at least a relief knowing it's not just me. They are just playing with my emotions I just hope it all gets straightened out. Thanks for sharing all this detailed information, it's more guidance than I've ever had.
I have been shut down twice due to tax id issues and shipping both weeks before the holidays. Took me weeks to get them to understand my items are handmade and my last name is hyphenated. Did get to a real person but to late to recoup the holiday profits, ended up opening up an ecommerce company in case it happens again. Thank you for all your informative Etsy updates
I had 2 shops that were doing well! Etsy decides that one shop was not following their policies so they closed BOTH down. This was 2020. It took me years to become a 5 star shop, learning everything from scratch. I haven't been able to recover since! Thank you Etsy! ~The Crafty Shelf -Handmade Family Jewelry.
Etsy really needs to have personal support for the sellers. I mean I can actually get a human on TikTok shop now and I still can't on Etsy? I can even get Amazon Merch on Demand to answer me personally now!
I have been seriously considering leaving the Etsy platform. It seems now that my sales fall flat unless I'm using Etsy adds which has caused my bottom line to shrink to less than 50%. It's ridiculous to loose 50% of profits. The items I sell are inexpensive items so I can't just raise my prices. Etsy was great and not so much now.
As a customer/purchaser - I DON'T WANT TO PURCHASE ITEMS THAT SHIP FROM CHINA OR OTHER COUNTRIES!! How can I tell when a seller is from another country - so I can avoid these sellers?
Oh my gosh I agree with you. That's the whole reason that we go on Etsy is to support small businesses. And I ordered some thing for my friends over Christmas and I couldn't understand why after 3 weeks it wasn't shipping why they hadn't received it and then I come to find out it was coming from China and it took like over a month I was really mad and I didn't even get exactly what I paid for
What annoys me is how so many shops are getting permanently shut down with no explanation (including my friends), yet I miss ONE customer message because my phone had an update and restarted in the middle of the night, and now I'm no longer a Star Seller even though I have 100% shipping times and 5 stars for reviews. In 3 months, I had 5 messages. In order to be a star seller for next month, I need 20 messages to get my rating back up to 95%. Yet they dont have to get back with their own sellers within 24 hours.
The debate on AI was interesting! I use it constantly but it's definitely not easy. I've improved in my use of prompts, etc. So much since I first started and I have almost never been able to create a complete design and place it on a product without tweaking. It erasing a few elements that turned out weird changing up or adding words so AI is extremely useful, but it does not in any way take away creativity, imagination or designability. In fact, I think it actually makes it harder. I spend hours creating designs and choosing the right ones, upscaling them and turning them into syllable designs!
I just opened my Etsy shop 2 weeks ago and I did pay the $15 start up fee but they didn't do the ID verification. Don't know why but maybe they haven't started the ID thing yet. I made my first sale without any issues and got the money deposited in just a few days not the 30 days this podcast is thinking. I am stunned to find out here on YT that if I have an issue there is no live customer service for sellers. WOW! really?! Who runs a multi-million dollar business like that?
My shop was shut down after my first sale, very annoying! It took a week, several emails and one customer service call to get it back up. I had to provide the exact same information to them that I submitted to start the shop a few months earlier. Etsy staff are idiots.
I was banned right after I made my first sale, last spring. I contacted them through email, which lots of RUclips videos were saying is useless with Etsy. I never received a reply from Etsy as to the reason for the banning(their seller support needs some work). a week or a week and a half later boom, my account got unbanned. Haven't been banned again ever since. I can't even start to figure out why my shop got banned in the first place. I wasn't breaking any of Etsy's policies, like selling name brands I didn't own rights to sell, my listing didn't have anything that violated their terms of use, I wasn't plagiarizing someone else's work, none of that. I shipped that first sale on time, communicated well with the customer because it was a personalized product, and the customer ended up giving the product a 5 star review. It will forever remain a secret. But at the end of the day, it's their playground. We're just playing in it.
Etsy seems like they don’t want to have the extra expense of paying for a live support team. Why? Don’t the sellers deserve that? After all, the sellers are the bread & butter of Etsy’s income. Watch what happens if they allow China to sell on the platform & USA sellers hit the road. Let the chaos ensue 🤷🏼♀️
They are allowing China to sell on the platform I found that out over Christmas time when I ordered something for my friends for Christmas and I couldn't understand why it was taking so long for their gifts to be delivered and then I looked and realized it was coming from China
Sorry for the delay! I just saw you commented and wanted access to the NEW $100k Etsy Roadmap. Here's you go - brandcreators.com/100k Enjoy and thanks for being part of our community :-)
Maybe Etsy is run by AI and the only human is the CEO? We need human support Etsy! We need critical thinkers that can trouble shoot issues and not algorithm’s hims that act on black and white data input to ban and punish sellers.
As I recall, the original purpose of Esty's was for small-time artisans to have a national/international platform to sell on. Then it opened up to mass production, antiques/second hand, then large national/international corporations. Is Esty still a good place to sell for OOAK items? Antiques? Collectibles? Repurposed items? Craft supplies, esp. vintage supplies of better quality and rarity? TEMU seems a good thing for buying supplies for us crafty types, like buying from the Michaels stores, JoAnns, Darice (RIP,) Craft for Less, etc., but the prices are better which means a little more in profit.
I think the scariest thing is to work with a new company and starting a new business and to hear that there is not a human to answer questions cause they don’t want to tell how to fix something is mind blowing. I am little scared to have platform on Etsy. I do totally agree to have a back plan, build email list and to have more then one platform just in case. Nice content. Thanks!
Great content. I'm a new seller. As a long time entrepreneur, I don't mind the vetting filters at all. They make sense to me. I wouldn't expect to enter into a high profile marketplace without any vetting or financial skin in the game. On the other hand, I hope the banning of shops will be reduced. It's tragic that longtime sellers would be shut down for no apparent reason.
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Yes let me pay 15 bucks for job insecurity. It sounds like Etsy is a bad idea to start on, and we should just go to shopify.
Being on Etsy is like the relationship with my passive-agressive mother, you never know exactly how to please her or when she is going to snap for no reason.
Well it's hard when you get older you don't have as much energy you have aches and pains in places you didn't even know you have and you're watching your family members die and your friends die and it can be a real Debbie downer sometimes
Motherrrrrr knows best!
😅😅😅😅
@@adaninurs Mother's stock price and user usage says differently. but if tiktok gets banned Etsy may make a comeback.
Ohhh, I feel you!
Etsy needs a new competitor that will come to takes its place. Give sellers what Etsy us we to be
HARD AGREE!
@@phranne1234 i'm a brand new seller, one day open and shop suspended because i accidently put a wrong number when adding my cc so for under 24 hours i had an outstanding balance of .80, no warning just vague email that stated once billing updated suspension should reverse automatically, nope and dont know why, yes i made a mistake, not to mention i broke my arm day before so working with my left hand, no excuse but it was a simple mistake and i had just upgraded my shop so ive basically gave them my money for nothing. my question is, in reality, sellers decide etsys success, if all the sellers move to another, better platform the buyers will follow, so why dont they?
Agreed 💯
Guide
There are alternatives to etsy. But most buyers don't put in the effort to search for them.
Etsy, we really need a live person to talk to when we have problems
Are you encountering any issues on the platform?
@@boluwaiye6181 everyone encounters issues with etsy and will never receive support no matter how many times its on them to fix things.
@@boluwaiye6181of course he/she is..why would he say that?
All of these platforms do not want you to contact them..hiring people to contact,cost them money..they don't like that..don't touch there money!
I agree. I have a few issues and tried emails, tried any way possible and can’t find anyone. Customer Service is everything for any business and this platform is not helping.
It’s incredible how basic this is and how obvious Etsy is failing the most basic thing. We live in daily fear that our hundreds or thousands of hours of work disappear overnight due to a simple error we don’t have a chance of fixing because we cannot find out what we did wrong! This is a real, TOTALLY UNNECESSARILY and UNACCEPTABLE abuse of sellers. The frustration is unbearable. It is, quite frankly, CRUEL!
meanwhile they are okay letting in chinese scammers :D
My son's shop ran into problems last month. Etsy returned 2 expensive items and did not even ask the buyers to return the items. 600 dollars in returns. As a result, his shop is shut down. I don't understand how etsy could refund items without respecting the shop. Per his shop guidelines, custom orders are not returnable. And the buyers did not reach out to him to resolve their issue. Unfortunately he had all his eggs in the etsy basket. The sad thing is that I told him to spread his sales to Amazon.
AMEN! Mark, I agree 100%-April
@@robqwert2696selling Knick off everything!!
@@casswmsexactly!!! They refund and no product is returned like Poshmark, refunds issued after seller receives goods!! Or items are sent back unsellable, haters try to sabotage you!!
If Etsy pushes for sellers to have good communication with its buyers to make people want to come back, Etsy can do the same with its sellers
Thank you so much for this video. I'm not a seller yet,but I've been looking into several platforms and Etsy is one of them. It was very informative and good preparation as well. Thank you again. And also, Email.
Absolutely I been trying to contact them since august
@@gloriablanco6211, im not a seller too . Here in Bulgaria they recommend us trying Spotify
Etsy should close down there rubbish hope everyone leaves the platform
They should, but they chose to do business with large supply chains, and China instead. So they betrayed the people that built their business.
I totally agree that Etsy needs to offer more support to sellers!
It’s not just potential competition. We can deal with that, it’s the fact that Chinese sellers steal your designs (even your pictures) and make the items cheap. But not just cheap but a race to the bottom. Etsy advertises as a platform where you can find unique handmade items. That hasn’t been the case for a long time. They will just end up being a crap platform. They also require sellers to have perfect customer service but they have the worst customer service of any platform. Get your own website and start sending traffic there. The AI pics are crap, you can see it right away. There is nothing handmade about AI generated.
Etsy will dig their own grave, this kinda service quality wouldn’t last in this era of rapid change. They’re taking their position for granted, giving their future competitor the key to succeed by not doing what Etsy is doing. Our voice is valuable to you and your current and future competitors.
I am very disappointed of Etsy too. So much of my work is destroyed by deactivating my old and some bestseller listings. It's all 100% handmade by me, all pictures and descriptions are made by me. I should be the perfect products for Etsy... but they don't even answer in person or give me a realistic reason. This is so frustrating and not fair at all. Wonder if it makes sense to invest more time, if everything can be destroyed for no reason in a second... ? 😢 How can they do this with us? What a sad change of the Etsy-Story...
Looks like Etsy prefer and support AI rather than real original artwork. It’s not the same Etsy as 5 years ago, right now is almost impossible to sale anything
Hearing all the horror stories of sellers having their shops closed or suspended with no explanation beyond a template email is one of the things that has really given me pause in working with Etsy. But I come this channel and you guys always make it seem like there is a solution. Here’s hoping Etsy initiates a Sellers Support Team with live people!
It's like getting dumped on a post it
it is true...everything you hear. I have been through it
Etsy will never y til they have a new CEO
With all of these “unfair” business practices without a regulatory framework, surely they are in breach of standard business practices??
Sellers are customers as well - as they are paying for a service - if they don’t have a standard of service, why hasn’t anyone started a class action lawsuit against them?
Etsy is breaking consumer protection laws by not providing specific terms of service… they are more akin to a domestic violence abuser rather than a reputable company!
Hey, it’s Vlad! Thank you so much for making this video! TagPup is as handmade as they come; we print our own fabric, sew our own collars, and engrave our own buckles. And yes, I have looked into fabric weaving machines-lol, not yet, but maybe in the future. I’m very fortunate to have my business, and I’m also fortunate that I get to continue to sell on Etsy. News about successful Etsy shops being suspended causes two things:
New sellers won’t want to invest their money to grow and introduce high-quality products, which will leave Etsy with either low-quality products from China, as you mentioned, or low-entry products, such as tumblers.
Big sellers are either changing their selling channels and moving on to other platforms, or taking their marketing dollars elsewhere, which will hurt Etsy's bottom line. If they used to advertise their Etsy shops on Instagram or Facebook, well, now they’ll change that link to either their Shopify store or Amazon listings. Why? Well, the risk is just too high to promote something that could easily be suspended.
Were you able to get your store re-opened? How?
Did Etsy change your label to “designed” too? My pottery is handmade with my 2 hands and they changed my label to “designed.”
I want to open a new shop but I'm scared that Etsy will auto shut down that store AND MY OTHERS. They're just not supportive of sellers. And when you actually talk to someone through chat, their information is totally different from the seller handbook. Why is so much money being spent on ads when the sellers are totally unsupported? We are the ones making Etsy money!
Same here
They have so many rules they impose on sellers but I think we should demand a customer service number.
i have worked in customer service and absolutely nothing can take the place of being able to speak with a real human being to resolve any and every issue. This is not something that ai can ever replace
One more thing - if this is what it takes to “let them know” about this issue, then the failure is utterly complete. If they don’t already know about these issues, I call total BS. The goal is cruelty.
Etsy biggest issue is the massive amount of even obvious copyright violation products
Yes! We want reliable and accurate live support for sellers!
Etsy is moving every single new listing to "Inactive". I have contacted customer support several times and am not getting responses. I'm afraid if I relist them, my shop will get cancelled. I have been selling on Etsy since 2013 in the handmade niche but just started creating POD products. It's pretty much impossible to add new items that I do TONS of research on ahead of time and make sure my items are properly niched but still different enough to be unique. In the Inactive file, there is no "deactivation" note or anything. Just moving items out of "Active". I seriously HATE Etsy now. They won't even give you the courtesy of a response.
How do you know it is inactive? Where do you see that at on your store?
@@MissMolly3377 if you look under active you’ll see, inactive and sold
@@MissMolly3377 Stores have a checkbox and the number of active and inactive items listed on the right hand side of the listings page.
When doing pod and publishing from provider are you aware that you need to back into your store, click on product and edit. Go down to screen which says partners and tick.
The section is above tags.
Hope this helps
It was happening to me until I was told this
Just stop with the hysterics! I refuse to watch your sensational, bullshit videos. And I advise everyone else to quit watching every chance I get
I agree we should be able to call and talk to a person. We have made you very rich Mr. Silverman please show us a modicom of respect.
I’ve started selling on Mercari. You get to keep 100% of the sale and no listing fee. Doing just as much on there. If it weren’t for them I’d really be hurting now. Traffic has tanked to basically non-existent since January.
Thanks, I need another platform.
Yes, Mercari just started that. I have been selling on Mercari for a few years now. I do sell a lot more on Etsy than Mercari but the traffic is not near what Etsy has. I have found that I can’t charge as much on Mercari for my items so now that there are no selling fees it may balance out.
Don’t they have that return policy now where they take everything back and they charge it back to the seller?
I hate that there’s no phone numbers for us sellers to call a live person, and even when you get them to call back, customer support is not very equipped with the knowledge of Etsy policies and can’t explained why a listing gets taken down.
I had a listing suspended and their reason was because it’s an item for kids one year and up and it’s not flame resistant. UHMMM, first of, how do you know it’s not flame resistan? Second, it’s a newborn baby gown. 🤔😤
They said it was the computer system doing the suspensions and that they had people working on checking every single listing that’s taken down to see if it was for a good reason. That was two years ago. 🤔🤔🤔🤔
@@Theneedleartnook it’s funny seeing their little “keep e-commerce human” slogan they have in their page
OMG you are 35 min into the podcast and you are STILL, STILL saying, "we are gonna talk about this, we are gonna talk about that" JUST TALK ALREADY!
I opened a brand new POD shop with my 3 of my own designs (non AI) Followed every rule I have read or heard. Trademark checked my 3 designs. Made sure that all my Bank details, credentials were correct. Was suspended by the bots within 24 hours. I filled out the appeal and got the fatal message that my store will not be restored, and that every other attempt to contact will be ignored. The kicker to all of this is, my other store of 3 years is still active without issues.
Same here
I had that happen too and decided to close my first shop myself since all trust in Etsy was lost 😕
Me too, exactly the same. I have 2 other stores that are currently inactive. I’m afraid to re-open them because getting banned there too isn’t worth the stress.
They usually ban all of your stores.
Was this for print on demand?
I do not use AI for my designs, but I do use it to help with listing descriptions. I really feel for POD sellers with the AI element. I have a graphic design degree and former career as a designer - I’ve said this before but it’s the zillions of low-effort shops with crappy AI designs that bother me that create noise and distractions for the dedicated hard-working sellers.
The thing is it's not just unfair to us who create all our own art for our shops, it's actually causing an even bigger issue. The shoppers that come to Etsy are leaving in droves because they are getting frustrated sorting through the now flooded marketplace of products designed with AI gen images and cheap dropshipped items too, because they go to Etsy to find handmade and artist designed products. Etsy is going off brand and off niche and it is destroying thier marketplace.
I actually blame all the Etsy / POD youtubers that keep telling people to put AI images on POD t-shirts and sell them on Etsy. I think these guys and Starla Moore are the only ones who are actually talking about how this is a problem. But all the rest (especially the Printify "gurus") are encouraging this and it irritates me to no end.
Yes, also many digital download listings with over 200 high-res files but just charge just a few dollars. End up no one will treasure real creations.
I am following you for a long time and I always listen to your podcasts, the speech you had in this episode about the shutting down the shops and being unable to call the Etsy team is just Banger!!! You said the exact same things that millions of sellers think!!!
As an Etsy seller of more than 4 years I still experience so much stress of not doing something very silly mistake to be banned. We should really got a top notch customer service because we, the sellers build the ETSY.
Thank you so much for this episode!!!
I think the worst thing is not being able to get exact reasons for getting banned and to be able to speak with a person. Most people are honest peope trying to sell legitimate products people want. Dont make us all suffer and become disgusted with the etsy platform. 😢 And not just being able to find out WHY you got banned but also getting the option to rectify your mistake!
For reals. I really feel like I can’t trust Etsy anymore. They already took my money for listings that they deactivated, and still waiting to get a response to my suspension appeal. That they don’t explain why people were suspended is suspicious.
@@phranne1234 Me too, i'm a brand new seller, one day open and shop suspended because i accidently put a wrong number when adding my cc so for under 24 hours i had an outstanding balance of .80, no warning just vague email that stated once billing updated suspension should reverse automatically, nope and dont know why, yes i made a mistake, not to mention i broke my arm day before so working with my left hand, no excuse but it was a simple mistake and i had just upgraded my shop so ive basically gave them my money for nothing. my question is, in reality, sellers decide etsys success, if all the sellers move to another, better platform the buyers will follow, so why dont they?
Hello, this is Boluwatife ,It's a pleasure writing to you. Kindly let me know if you're ready for us to have our discussion about improving and upgrading your store performance. Thanks,
Boluwatife
Right. It's just common sense that there should be an easy solution to things like this. You'd think an online sales platform would do everything to make it easier for sellers to use the platform so that the longevity would be secured. I've been on Etsy since 2012, and I can say 100% that Etsy used to be so wonderful!
Regarding eBay being a "cheap" platform. I used to be a full handmade on Etsy only seller. After some search algorithm changes on Etsy I was forced to branch out to other sales platforms. Today, my eBay handmade sales DWARF my handmade Etsy sales by the thousands.
My problem with Ebay is that they make you wait 3 months before you can start posting all of your items. You start out with a maximum of 10 posts per months, you cannot post more than that for 90 days, and it is infuriating.
@@bassettmike1 That's what I hear, but I have older accounts so I haven't seen it myself. I'd start with the 10 listings, best sellers, to get a sale or two. After a couple of weeks or so call them and ask if they could increase your selling limit. If your account is in good standing they will usually increase it.
@@bassettmike1Sign up for a Starter store. This will give you 250 listings per month. Or else keep listing 10 of your best sellers and call them from time to time to have them increase your selling limit.
@@bassettmike1start now and 90 days goes by pretty quick
eBay isn’t better than Etsy when it comes to the protection of your store or items. I was selling a product that had over 30,000 sales and thousands of feedbacks. Suddenly it disappeared and they would not do anything to help except tell me to list it again which would have started the counter all over again. At that point I walked away from it, and now I see that Etsy is doing essentially the same thing. Aside from having a website that you own and control, it seems like all of these online marketplaces are out only for themselves and have no regard for their sellers at all. I don’t want to put my fate in the hands of faceless people that I do not see or know with a reputation for destroying peoples livelihoods and years of work.
Not a fan of Temu either. A lot of people I have talked to who has bought something was disappointed with their purchase, cheaper does not mean better.
Can we point out the fact that Etsy allows pornographic filth to be sold on their platform now????? How us parents now need to make sure our children are nowhere around while we are scrolling Etsy bc of the possibility of something filthy will appear??? I am talking FULL, CLOSE-UP NUDITY. Since when has that been allowed? Straight up pornographic images & products. SMH
I agree, it's crazy that our kids can't be around when we're scrolling on Etsy!
They are also doing sex trafficking of children on Etsy too! They call it Hot Pizza etc $15,000 call us to arrange delivery. Saw it myself it is happening
100% correct. I have a teenage daughter who used to love shopping on Etsy for items for her dolls and for stickers. She has not shopped on Etsy for almost 3 years now because of the pornography.
Agree 200%
@@AlexiblackwellbridalI can see to this issue with one email to a top person.
Even customers notice the difference in Etsy. From one of my regulars: "I really want to support real, working artists. I have almost given up on Etsy as it has so much mass produced junk on it now, but stay because of artists like you. Thanks for helping me find a gift as special and unique as my niece is."
I have customers at my farmers market use Etsy as the standard. They say “oh, you have an Etsy” in a way that inspires credulity. Etsy just changed my handmade pottery items to “designed.” My work starts as a ball of Clay and it’s being named “designed.”
I have been selling on my Maxie's Gems shop since 2014; I make most of my money selling locally, but Etsy has been a nice little side business. Sales have bombed since the pandemic; and I am not pleased with the increased fees, the off-site ads fee and that allowing production partners makes it difficult for small sellers to compete; also have experienced frustrating glitches. The reduced sales may mean that I am not keeping up with the trends and my creations are not desirable. At any rate I am taking a break at the end of this month to decided what to do. I will have my eye on this topic.
I started a shop with my own designs, not AI designs, my own work. Etsy received a complaint from another seller who had stolen my designs and claimed they were theirs! As a result, I was banned!! I could prove they were mine. Etsy should investigate first, and look at the evidence before imposing a sanction....Very poor...
That's awful wow just wow. No good etsy
You normally have to get 3 strikes before you’re banned
My shop got banned a day after I started it and I never got an answer as to why. I gave up on it for a while, came back and it said it was suspended and I could appeal. So I did. It's been like 3 weeks. I'm probably just going to give up on Etsy altogether because it's beyond frustrating.
I've been buying from Etsy for the last 10+ years but will probably find alternatives now.
i'm a brand new seller, one day open and shop suspended because i accidently put a wrong number when adding my cc so for under 24 hours i had an outstanding balance of .80, no warning just vague email that stated once billing updated suspension should reverse automatically, nope and dont know why, yes i made a mistake, not to mention i broke my arm day before so working with my left hand, no excuse but it was a simple mistake and i had just upgraded my shop so ive basically gave them my money for nothing. my question is, in reality, sellers decide etsys success, if all the sellers move to another, better platform the buyers will follow, so why dont they?
Email guide - this video has been very informative and i love how thorough you guys are. I am just starting out and not really getting sales yet but i also feel that I'm just getting the hang of making decent digital products so I believe it's just a matter of time and I'm realizing that I really need to focus on nichong down more to get my things seen.
Here's a guide that shares how we use Email marketing to drive traffic and sales. If you have any questions, let me know.
brandcreators.com/email
2 accounts created, all information, tax, id and bank account valid, and banned within days. Followed all RUclips tutorials I could see to ensure that there was no reason to be banned. No reason given, appeal ignored, and outright stated that they couldn't tell me why it was banned, so there was no way to fix whatever imaginary problem their bot had found. Can't talk to a real person.
Etsy simply aren't a trustworthy or reliable business partner, and not worth considering. I would never use them even if they did change, due to that experience.
I don’t think you can have 2 stores . And if you have same products is worse
@@nildadel9795 I didn't open them simultaneously, Opened one, got banned, then tried to open another, got banned. Then gave up.
@@nildadel9795 Probably the first account was banned, and the @duskjockeysapps created a 2nd account, and that account was banned, too.
Temu can be good for some things, like I ordered a set of kitchen scissors. However, their lack of quality is their weakness. I ordered a couple tshirts, much like the onese listed on Etsy (same image), however the design was cheaply printed and the shirt was cheap as well. Not a Bella and Canvas shirt. Etsy sellers need to emphasize the quality of their items as well as the "small business/independent artist" stance.
Exactly! I am in the pet niche and I ordered something from Temu that is very similar to what I have in my shop. Quality was NOT there! It was thin and cheap.
Items from Temu are covered with cancer causing chemicals and heavy metals like lead. I have seen a couple of news stories about it. I would not order anything from them in a million years. Especially not for my kitchen or food.
And the slave labor thing isn't great either.
Great video, I want live support, Mr Silverman. I believe Etsy should show us a little more respect too.
Why didn't you report the image being stolen to the etsy seller ? Or to Temu instead of buying a product that was a rip-off. ?
When I opened my handmade shop in 2011, I had to take a photo of my DL and send it to Etsy. I remember that I also had to take a photo to PROVE that I was the maker. I had another shop already, which was open with no proofs at all.
i just opened a shop and had to send proof, didnt matter though, one day in and suspended.
I've been on Etsy since 2012 and never had to send photo ID. I have 2 shops. 😮
When the big layoff happened before Christmas, it was inevitable that CUSTOMER SERVICE was going to take a long hit.
The stockholders need to have some blame for this. Greed, greed, greed!!!
I opened my shop sometime ago, but have not listed any items as yet. I hae been rather hesitant to continue due to all the rumours ad changes, however after listening to you, I will give it a go! THANK YOU!
Yes I agree, the compotition on price is horrible. Etsy wants us to give discounts, coupons free shipping. How can we do that when we already have to compete with sellers that somehow do all that and price there items below a cost price what is that about.
Thanks so much for this podcast. I had my shop banned as soon as I received my first sale. Thankfully I stayed on it and was able to resolve it. Very frustrating having to chat through emails.
Email and roadmap. Thank you I appreciate you sharing this information with me.
Thanks for the comment. We added the resources in the description that I mentioned in the video.
Let me know if you have any questions :-)
Etsy used to have much more detailed policies, they changed the whole 'seller handbook' structure back around 2015/16 I believe and they stripped out a lot of specifics making the policies much more vague and open to interpretation. At the time, they explained this change by saying they "want to apply the policies with discretion based on individual scenarios". So yeah, that has worked out about as well as one would expect.
What really needs to happen is an Etsy Sellers union that sellers belong to and support. We only have power as a group.
I think Etsy lost some sellers when the seller could not use the money awaiting deposit into their bank accounts to BUY from other sellers.
I didn't realize this until I had $250 that had cleared, awaiting deposit the next Monday (& not available to my bank account until Tuesday, ima). Looking to purchase a gift, that money was not mine for the entire weekend plus Monday. I missed out on two OOAK items and their respective shop sales.
Still cannot find another one of those items, even on Ebay, for any amount.
Really preferred the PayPal option, as I had ready access to the money for postage.
Guide and roadmap, Ive been a seller on Etsy since 2008 but had to put my shop on vacation mode last year when I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. So I've been off the sight mainly for almost a year. Etsy has never been my only sorce of income, I have a website and sell at conventions.
Thanks for the comment. We added the resources in the description that I mentioned in the video.
Let me know if you have any questions :-)
thank you for being honest and trying to get Etsy's attention they need to be better w customer service. how can they continue to ask us for great customer service when we can't even get a strrait answer from a real person when we need help.
I want to add that my husband just found a part for our Phillips coffee maker ON ETSY!!! I said, "no way", but there it was. I actually couldn't believe it that I'm worried about an original design when all you see are copycats & literally now machine parts for sale on their site! Makes me rethink the whole thing.
The platforms need to work together to get rid of fraud. I had images stolen and put on Amazon. Alerted Amazon and Etsy both and they were all helpless Hannah on it and actually threatened me saying it was against amazon terms to falsely report. So I dropped it. That shop eventually disappeared probably probably for not fulfilling orders. I mean they didn’t have my art to print the mugs. I guess they only listen to customers not sellers.
They don’t care, they’re in it for the 🤑🤑🤑
Great video guys, thank you. 🙏 I can’t agree with you more that us sellers need to be able to speak on the phone to a knowledgeable human being at Etsy, as and when is necessary. Hopefully not that often, but having the option to do so is paramount.
No beginner seller can compete in a race to the bottom on price. That’s ridiculous. And that is the message I’m getting, sale,sale, pay for advertising ,pay for advertising
Yup! Last year pricing was a race to the bottom on Etsy. I had declining sales the last 3 years on Etsy not to mention half the net profit year over year due to higher advertising costs, higher costs for products and fees, and the race to the bottom on pricing due to completions sales. The only thing I can say is this will make us better entrepreneurs as we persevere. We will find the answers if we don’t quit.
And “You are charging too much for shipping”. That’s about trying to get you to up your prices to cover the cost of the Free Shipping they coaxed you into offering. Why do they want you to do that? To get you to the mandatory Etsy
advertising threshold of $10K that much faster!
You can opt out of Etsy placing ads for you until you’ve made $10K in sales. I do t know if that’s all-time or yearly, though. Sneaky, huh?
They actually suggested from my listings that I lower the prices of my products compared to others by 80%!!! If I did that, I would not have a business. I would be unprofitable and paying them to hand make my products. I nearly tossed my computer into the wall. What do they think we all do here??
I am in the startup point and was planning to start an Etsy ship, but I have seen a lot of these disturbing issues in the immediate / recent past, and am suddenly strongly leaning against using Etsy now. I still have some decisions to make, but this seems to be too much of a headache to fight with.
I appreciate the hard word you guys do to give us good stuff
i just found you guys. i have done 200 sales in about 14-16 months--rev @ 60k+ selling plants. Now im getting into plant funny tshirts--could def use some direction
Opened my shop Jan1 this year. Etsy traffic? Not only no sales, but no TRAFFIC. ZERO visits. But I get emails regarding purchasing advertising every day. Note, I am an artisan, not POD or digital downloads. Artisans are not supported at all.
MegansShopCH here. Me too, NO SALES for almost a year now😢😢😢. All the previous years prior, the sales were fairly acceptable. So i don’t know what changed….i'm at my wit's end😢😢😢.
How's your SEO on Etsy? And marketing in general? @@mpzurich
email guide , and 100k road map, cheers guys good work
Thanks for the comment. We added the resources in the description that I mentioned in the video.
Let me know if you have any questions :-)
I had opened a shop. Everything was verified, no copyright products, followed all the rules and not even a month old and I was suspended. No warning what so ever. Bad taste in my mouth. Not sure I want to work with a business that treats their income like that.
SAME on all counts!
I've read several accounts by new shops who paid the new shop fee, did everything Etsy wanted and the very next day (or week)were banned with no explanation and told to not contact Etsy again because the decision is final. Etsy kept the admission fee as well as any sale money that had come in. That's basically unjust enrichment on Etsy's part. It seems that Etsy is not being held accountable for these serious errors. It's not right and very discouraging to any new entrepreneur wanting to sell on the platform.
I use AI, in a similar fashion to how you described your wife using it. But I’ll be honest, as an artist who went to FIT for fashion design, and then later got a degree in marketing, and someone who also was a commissioned portrait painter and photographer, with a healthy splash of crafting as a hobby… I have not found AI to be any less work!
I’ve gotten pretty efficient with prompts but even then I’m looking at, on average, 50-100 rolls of the dice, to get anything even close to what my original vision was. And after that, I’m spending at least a few days, usually having to correct all sorts of AI weirdness, pixel by pixel, on 3-4 different design and photography softwares (Ps, AI, Canva, etc.), and at no little cost to me. Not to mention the fact that AI isn’t free, either… at least not in the way I use it.
However, like your wife, I do all of that just for elements that are unique. The rest still involves me creating all of the other elements, choosing fonts, a layout design, colors, text, and then piecing all of it together, in order to bring my original vision to life.
So, as far as I’m concerned, there’s just as much creative vision and hard work that goes into every one of my designs, than if I were to have not used AI.
And frankly, with the majority of Etsy listing looking like homogenized advertisements for Creative Fabrica, or the product of the same closely followed YT design tutorials (using the same 4 fonts, in the same layout), the use of AI seems much less of a problem, than the lack of entirely original designs on Etsy, is.
I feel this! Exactly how you said. I think I will resume Ai as a source of inspiration. It takes a lot of work to have homogeneous items also. And I don’t feel like they are very original as my vision could be. Ai looks more like a copy paste to me.
Roadmap guide, thank you I haven't started on Etsy yet. I am doing my research.
Sorry for the delay! I just saw you commented and wanted access to the NEW $100k Etsy Roadmap. Here's you go - brandcreators.com/100k
Enjoy and thanks for being part of our community :-)
I have purchased many items from Temu last year, but they ship everything in plastic bags, even the things that are fragile! Also, the price is not that low for the quality, sometimes you can find better quality here in the US for the same prices they have, or cheaper (example, some socks I bought from them). I stopped buying from them after noticing that.
The slave labor aspect of Temu isn't great either.
Another thing Etsy needs to know is that many CEO's have stepped down. The good side of government is looking into fraud, and many other things. That said, Etsy may not get away with everything.
Your information was very helpful and would like the roadmap guide and email info. Thanks!
I'm attempting to start/restart possibly a pair of long dormant shops and the current "on-boarding" process is unbelievably counterproductive. The one that is set up now sells exclusively through fulfillment. Onboarding won't acknowledge a product published through Printify as a first product, thus forcing me to create a graphic of a make-believe product and pay for it even though it was fake and created to be deleted. The rest of the experience was a bit of a nightmare. I wasn't allowed to do any branding of the store until it was populated with products. Any sane online business gets everything set up and "prettified" before going public. The responses from support had to be pulled out with tweezers. If I had multiple questions only one would be answered at a time, wasting a lot of time and unnecessarily dragging out the support process. This was further complicated by receiving a message informing me that my store had been closed. I am still not entirely sure this was a hack attempt. The bottom line is that my recent experience with Etsy hasn't felt seller friendly.
yes, I have purchased Amazon Basic I did not know that always lot to learn from you two. Thanks for a great video
What would you suggest if only our market was available to the United States and all other markets were shut out what would keep you going?
They closed my shop and did not give me a reason for it. It’s frustrating after 6 weeks of hard work. I email them and tried to get a hold of them but did not get an answer, they are cold and customer service sucks. Its just plain horrible and should be boycotted. How can you learn from a mistake if you don’t know what you did wrong.
i'm a brand new seller, one day open and shop suspended because i accidently put a wrong number when adding my cc so for under 24 hours i had an outstanding balance of .80, no warning just vague email that stated once billing updated suspension should reverse automatically, nope and dont know why, yes i made a mistake, not to mention i broke my arm day before so working with my left hand, no excuse but it was a simple mistake and i had just upgraded my shop so ive basically gave them my money for nothing. my question is, in reality, sellers decide etsys success, if all the sellers move to another, better platform the buyers will follow, so why dont they?
Ive put off stating a shop due to all this mess. I wont go through a situation where i put all this work into a business and they shut store diwn fir no reason with no feedback or answers.
I've tried to open a shop six times. All six times they were shut down within a half an hour and each time they sent me an email withing 24 hours telling me it was permanently banned.
What kind of products were you trying to sell?
Y’all are both right about the $15 charge. It shouldn’t get people riled up, especially if they are truly trying to run/start a business. But it’s also true that there is a psychology to these kinds of things. Providing an incentive as part of the trade for the $15 will keep people less griping less.
I don’t know if other shoppers do this, but I learned years ago when shopping on Etsy to make sure I’m only buying within the United States. I learned that lesson the hard way. I always turn on that filter so all these shops coming in from other countries will not even show up for me.
Why?)
A) some sellers lie and you’ll end up buying from an overseas seller anyway and B) there’s plenty of good honest overseas sellers with great stuff. Thanks for assuming we are all awful🙂
I have purchased some really crap stuff from the United States and have purchased some really beautiful bits from sellers in the UK, France, and Hong Kong, so I'm not sure why you're assuming that US stuff will be better!
Email guide, thank you for this informative video.
Here's a guide that shares how we use Email marketing to drive traffic and sales. If you have any questions, let me know.
brandcreators.com/email
I keep paying Etsy, but get no sales. Can't keep going in the hole.
Have you used Everbee to see what sells? You'll see most items have zero sales in any category.
This. Exactly this.
Same
Same for the ads I have two ads right now cuz I realized it wasn't worth it
Email..
I'm totally new to the etsy seller world but been a buyer for years. Recently attempted to start my own shop just to be suspended with no email explaining just a single sentence. It's a guessing game and I still don't know if it's permanent or temporary but it's at least a relief knowing it's not just me. They are just playing with my emotions I just hope it all gets straightened out. Thanks for sharing all this detailed information, it's more guidance than I've ever had.
Here's a guide that shares how we use Email marketing to drive traffic and sales. If you have any questions, let me know.
brandcreators.com/email
I have been shut down twice due to tax id issues and shipping both weeks before the holidays. Took me weeks to get them to understand my items are handmade and my last name is hyphenated. Did get to a real person but to late to recoup the holiday profits, ended up opening up an ecommerce company in case it happens again. Thank you for all your informative Etsy updates
email GUIDE - thanks guys great info as usual!
Here's a guide that shares how we use Email marketing to drive traffic and sales. If you have any questions, let me know.
brandcreators.com/email
I had 2 shops that were doing well! Etsy decides that one shop was not following their policies so they closed BOTH down. This was 2020. It took me years to become a 5 star shop, learning everything from scratch. I haven't been able to recover since! Thank you Etsy!
~The Crafty Shelf -Handmade Family Jewelry.
Etsy really needs to have personal support for the sellers. I mean I can actually get a human on TikTok shop now and I still can't on Etsy? I can even get Amazon Merch on Demand to answer me personally now!
Roadmap and Email. Thank you both for this wealth of information.
I guess I won’t be opening an Etsy store. Thank you
Good luck selling elsewhere unless you’ve got a following
@@karenl8837all these already existing/established shops have to go somewhere! They can’t all fail just by relocating!
Have you tried Shopify?
I have been seriously considering leaving the Etsy platform. It seems now that my sales fall flat unless I'm using Etsy adds which has caused my bottom line to shrink to less than 50%. It's ridiculous to loose 50% of profits. The items I sell are inexpensive items so I can't just raise my prices. Etsy was great and not so much now.
Guide for email. Thank you guys so much!❤
Here's a guide that shares how we use Email marketing to drive traffic and sales. If you have any questions, let me know.
brandcreators.com/email
Guide and Roadmap. Much appreciated. I just skipped upon you guys, so... glad!
Thanks for the comment. We added the resources in the description that I mentioned in the video.
Let me know if you have any questions :-)
As a customer/purchaser - I DON'T WANT TO PURCHASE ITEMS THAT SHIP FROM CHINA OR OTHER COUNTRIES!! How can I tell when a seller is from another country - so I can avoid these sellers?
Oh my gosh I agree with you. That's the whole reason that we go on Etsy is to support small businesses. And I ordered some thing for my friends over Christmas and I couldn't understand why after 3 weeks it wasn't shipping why they hadn't received it and then I come to find out it was coming from China and it took like over a month I was really mad and I didn't even get exactly what I paid for
What annoys me is how so many shops are getting permanently shut down with no explanation (including my friends), yet I miss ONE customer message because my phone had an update and restarted in the middle of the night, and now I'm no longer a Star Seller even though I have 100% shipping times and 5 stars for reviews. In 3 months, I had 5 messages. In order to be a star seller for next month, I need 20 messages to get my rating back up to 95%. Yet they dont have to get back with their own sellers within 24 hours.
So true
I’ve bought Amazon basic batteries.
The debate on AI was interesting! I use it constantly but it's definitely not easy. I've improved in my use of prompts, etc. So much since I first started and I have almost never been able to create a complete design and place it on a product without tweaking. It erasing a few elements that turned out weird changing up or adding words so AI is extremely useful, but it does not in any way take away creativity, imagination or designability. In fact, I think it actually makes it harder. I spend hours creating designs and choosing the right ones, upscaling them and turning them into syllable designs!
Email. Thank you. Traffic is way off from the site since January.
Mine dropped from averaging 600 a day to 50
Here's a guide that shares how we use Email marketing to drive traffic and sales. If you have any questions, let me know.
brandcreators.com/email
I just opened my Etsy shop 2 weeks ago and I did pay the $15 start up fee but they didn't do the ID verification. Don't know why but maybe they haven't started the ID thing yet. I made my first sale without any issues and got the money deposited in just a few days not the 30 days this podcast is thinking. I am stunned to find out here on YT that if I have an issue there is no live customer service for sellers. WOW! really?! Who runs a multi-million dollar business like that?
My shop was shut down after my first sale, very annoying! It took a week, several emails and one customer service call to get it back up. I had to provide the exact same information to them that I submitted to start the shop a few months earlier. Etsy staff are idiots.
I was banned right after I made my first sale, last spring. I contacted them through email, which lots of RUclips videos were saying is useless with Etsy. I never received a reply from Etsy as to the reason for the banning(their seller support needs some work). a week or a week and a half later boom, my account got unbanned. Haven't been banned again ever since. I can't even start to figure out why my shop got banned in the first place. I wasn't breaking any of Etsy's policies, like selling name brands I didn't own rights to sell, my listing didn't have anything that violated their terms of use, I wasn't plagiarizing someone else's work, none of that. I shipped that first sale on time, communicated well with the customer because it was a personalized product, and the customer ended up giving the product a 5 star review. It will forever remain a secret. But at the end of the day, it's their playground. We're just playing in it.
Etsy seems like they don’t want to have the extra expense of paying for a live support team. Why? Don’t the sellers deserve that? After all, the sellers are the bread & butter of Etsy’s income. Watch what happens if they allow China to sell on the platform & USA sellers hit the road. Let the chaos ensue 🤷🏼♀️
They are allowing China to sell on the platform I found that out over Christmas time when I ordered something for my friends for Christmas and I couldn't understand why it was taking so long for their gifts to be delivered and then I looked and realized it was coming from China
This is a very interesting video, before I even set up an Etsy account! I would love a copy of your roadmap to success :)
Sorry for the delay! I just saw you commented and wanted access to the NEW $100k Etsy Roadmap. Here's you go - brandcreators.com/100k
Enjoy and thanks for being part of our community :-)
Maybe Etsy is run by AI and the only human is the CEO? We need human support Etsy! We need critical thinkers that can trouble shoot issues and not algorithm’s hims that act on black and white data input to ban and punish sellers.
7 on your side, help! @abc7news
I’d like the GUIDE information, I need it. Thanks
Here's a guide that shares how we use Email marketing to drive traffic and sales. If you have any questions, let me know.
brandcreators.com/email
Printify has an Etsy pod store.
Which makes me worry about them stealing our designs if they’re unique enough. 🤔
So they are competing against their own customers?
What is that?
It’s not an Etsy POD store. It’s Printify’s own Pop Up Shops. Has nothing to do with Etsy. You have to totally promote your own merchandise.
As I recall, the original purpose of Esty's was for small-time artisans to have a national/international platform to sell on. Then it opened up to mass production, antiques/second hand, then large national/international corporations. Is Esty still a good place to sell for OOAK items? Antiques? Collectibles? Repurposed items? Craft supplies, esp. vintage supplies of better quality and rarity?
TEMU seems a good thing for buying supplies for us crafty types, like buying from the Michaels stores, JoAnns, Darice (RIP,) Craft for Less, etc., but the prices are better which means a little more in profit.
I think the scariest thing is to work with a new company and starting a new business and to hear that there is not a human to answer questions cause they don’t want to tell how to fix something is mind blowing. I am little scared to have platform on Etsy.
I do totally agree to have a back plan, build email list and to have more then one platform just in case. Nice content. Thanks!
Can I get the roadmap and email guide? I appreciate the video and info!
Thanks for the comment. We added the resources in the description that I mentioned in the video.
Let me know if you have any questions :-)
Great content. I'm a new seller. As a long time entrepreneur, I don't mind the vetting filters at all. They make sense to me. I wouldn't expect to enter into a high profile marketplace without any vetting or financial skin in the game. On the other hand, I hope the banning of shops will be reduced. It's tragic that longtime sellers would be shut down for no apparent reason.