Etsy has made a few changes to the Star Seller Program, you can learn more about them here: www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/exciting-updates-to-the-star-seller/1085067202187?
Very smart and eloquent points, Deb. I appreciate your concern about life-work balance, and to be honest, I'm not surprised that Etsy wants to push for constant sales through this program. They are a business making money off of the shop owners' sales, so they likely wouldn't be concerned with "life-work balance on a personal level", but just how to drive more sales quicker. Finally, I find Etsy's response to that shop owner at time stamp 22:42 in your video to be appalling! How dismissive towards one in their very community. Etsy's response makes the program seem elitist and inequitable.
As a seller of relatively high-priced items I would prefer to see a $300 minimum OR a 10 sale minimum as a requirement. For me 10 sales would usually be about $5,000 which is more than I can produce in my part-time business.
Mine aren't quite that expensive, but agree with the number of sales. In a small niche of a niche, with a product which takes time to make, 10 sales is basically one per week in the time period Etsy is using. Plus, I get multiple sales, which do not count. I could get one buyer buying three individual listings, but it only counts as one sale. The past two months, I have had only eight sales getting counted towards this program - 100% on all other program categories. Frustrating! Not going to bother trying to get this badge.
I loved this video. Etsy's sar seller + free shipping to US nonsense are SO frustrating for a EU seller :/ I'm glad to feel heard here, unlike with etsy.
Great video!! I also find it frustrating because if not everyone who buys leaves you a review and *if* you have one person who leaves a low review for something dumb (like the person didn’t like the way a planner fit on their phone when it’s made to work with goodnotes) we get hit & no way to dispute the low rating effect with Etsy for the star seller program.
Yes I think/hope that they're going to rethink seriously the "reviews" part of the program, they know it's not working I just don't think they know how to fix it yet - and not sure how much of a priority they are making fixing it. - D
The star seller badge seems impossible for small and new shops to get. I didn't know the window Etsy is looking at is 3 months and now I realize that it's going to take forever for my shop to achieve the badge. I'm going into my second year as an Etsy seller, and right now I'm lucky to make half the required revenue in 3 months. I basically have to grow my shop in order to get the badge, and all the while not having the badge is potentially hurting my shop.
You touched on every foreseeable problem with this star seller "thing", even sharing my sentiment how Etsy works (as in "Woo Hoo! Let's do this and see what happens!" with no foresight.) The thing I'm concerned about is if I finally get a Star Seller badge one month, then not the next because I received 93% instead of the required 95%, what are my customers going to think? Now about the auto reply; that has to be set up weekly, so that's a pain! The thing that gets me upset is the fact I was doing pretty good before all this, and it seems as if Etsy has raised the bar for my customer service. If a customer answers that my customer service is impeccable, then how much higher can I go? I'm just a very small shop and I feel I do a great job for all my customers.
These changes are disheartening. My Etsy shop is not my main concern while I still like to give my buyers good service and lovely products. Changes like this makes me think I should be changing my focus. It seems that Etsy is expecting far too much.
My concern is that I offer custom portraits, I need my customers to supply photos for their orders, they often take a long time to supply these photos, which they're entitled to do and they don't mind the delay in their order. However, I'll NEVER get a star seller badge because of these delays, Etsy is a homemade platform, this policy seems to promote the opposite, quick rushed purchases similar to Amazon. It goes against their whole brand, I just don't understand it.
Isn't this strange because this was Etsy's whole thing to begin with, offering the ability to customise items for customers. That's what Etsy was known for back in 2013-16 I feel.. Seems like they are forgetting part of their identity and their roots.
I’m a small candle shop and I got the star but I didn’t see a positive change in order rates. Not even when I was running ads during the week of Black Friday. In fact, I feel like more order rates dropped a bit. It’s a very weird experience.
I agree with you, I sell digital downloads and I've had the star since it launched and it also hasn't positively affected my sales rates yet. I'm still earning relatively consistently what I do each month. I feel like customers might not even be paying attention to it lol. This is just my two cents, but the colour of the badge being inline with Etsy's branding instead of a different eye catching colour makes it blend in with the back ground to me. I also find November to be a tough month, there's too many sales to compete with on and off of Etsy.
Ugh…..more and more it feels like Etsy is being run by people with little to no real world experience. If they were sellers they would know why this whole thing is a disaster. It’s forcing people to focus on things that are not useful or helpful to anyone. My guess is that it won’t do what it is they think it should do and they will eventually abandon it.
Just ran across this video. Yep, I'll be closing down my Etsy shop for good after my listings expire. I've only had a handful of views & haven't made any sales & the way this is going, I never will. It's really hard to compete with shops who resell bulk "handmade" products made in sweatshops. These shops are always on the front pages of Etsy. With no views, no sales & no feedback, I'll likely never be found. And, even if I were found, who would want to take a chance on buying from a shop with no feedback? It's a vicious cycle. Etsy is clearly not the place for me.
Who wants a star seller badge? "You get a badge.. You get a badge... You get a badge too!" Everybody gets a badge!" Take my star seller badge away! After getting the badge my sales dropped 70% if compared to the same time last year! Let me make this really simply: it didn't help me at all!
Thank you Deb, I find your videos super useful. I have one of these shops that sell lower value items (digital patterns for crochet). So while I appreciate that other shops face the same issues, more established shops that have been on Etsy for longer and have a more established client base are probably already able to qualify. So for me and other shops that have recently gone online, we are on the same level but not with other shops that have been around for longer and are able to capitalise on that and get the star seller badge.
I have had a problem with the message requirements tripping (or almost tripping) me up. I do not get a lot of messages from customers. Not too far back a customer placed an order, then changed her mind and cancelled the order. She sent me a message asking me to make sure the order was cancelled. A few minutes later she sent another message telling me she had already received confirmation that the order had been cancelled. There was no need for me to reply, but since I did not reply this brought me below the 95% threshold for November. Fortunately I have since received, and replied to, enough messages to meet the requirements for the December badge. But this example means that going forward I will probable reply to messages that need no response just to make sure I don't get penalized.
I hate the way the replys work... if you exchange msgs with someone you have to get in the last word, even if it doesn't make sense.... I've been sending a lot of heart emojis... so dumb
I have 4 stores and none of them have the badge. 2 of them are making over $3,000 for the 30 day average and one of them around $2,100. I haven't seen any slow down. I don't believe customers care and I don't either lol
Thanks Deb 👍 I got the badge in September but then got it removed because a customer messaged me 4 times with the same message and I only replied to one! I've always provided excellent service and have always replied to messages quickly but it didn't make sense to answer 4 of the same messages. Problem is it takes now 3 months to qualify again because of this!
I only missed out on my Star Seller badge this month because I didn't know I was supposed to reply to 2 sellers who had messaged ME coupons after I purchased from THEM. I would have to get 38 out of 40 messages (I rarely get messages) to qualify this month just because of those 2 messages. I hate this program.
This just happened to me. I ordered a tutorial and did not know l needed to reply when it was sent to me via message. Now I'm done trying. It is what it is.
As an Etsy customer, I can say that I have never paid any attention to 'star seller' status. I visit a store, look at the pictures, then the description, and then I check the reviews. I would say the actual written word of customers gets my attention most. I just assume 'star sellers' are the ones making all the money, and my initial reaction to that is that they don't NEED my money. The next thing I look at would be how many sales they've made and THEN their average star rating. Absolutely DO NOT give a rip whether they're a star seller or not. Didn't even know what it was until watching this video, and it's been 2 years (or so) since they implemented this. I (just now) visited one of my favorite shops, to see if she was a star seller. It took me a bit, but I found the tiny stupid little star. It wasn't super obvious, if you don't know where to look and what it even means. Also, LOVE your videos. Binge watching.
Thanks for the comment, Iris! Correct, yes: "To get the Etsy Star Seller badge you need to have had at least 10 orders over the last 3 months AND a minimum sales amount of USD$300 - or equivalent in your currency." Hope this helps ☺️ - L
Thank toy for this video! I was waiting for answers because etsy support works horrible.. Last month I didn't get badge just because I didn't have 3 euro fee paid, even tho I had money on my balance they didn't take them to pay that 3 euro. It's even more frustrating when you have all requires 100% completed and you don't get it. Thinking more and more to break up with Etsy, here I pay more for fees and ads then I would do if I have my own website.
Sorry to hear that, Sofiia! Having your own website does have some benefits, too. Just depends on how much work you want to put into building a site & marketing it. Check out this post for more tips www.tizzit.co/own-website-vs-etsy/ :) hope this is helpful! - L
The other issue is that I purchased something as a buyer and the seller sent me an auto response, which I did not reply to because it was totally unnecessary. I replied before I found out I could mark it as spam so it didn't count as marked as spam when I finally did. I lost my star seller for that reason. And I'll probably lose it for 3 months until the message I didn't reply to falls off their 3-month look back period. I'm really upset about this! My sales have fallen a lot since this happened.
Hi, I sell Digital items but i have to list as Physical items because I have Price Variations. How do I Keep the Price Variation and still qualify for the Star seller. As I don't provide Tracking info because it is a Digital item, i don't qualify for star seller. What should be done? Please help :)
The real problem with Etsy postage labelsis the cost of the printer and the cost of the labels! Or is there a way round this? Can you print on a regular printer and attach with tape?
Etsy has made a few changes to the Star Seller Program, you can learn more about them here: www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/exciting-updates-to-the-star-seller/1085067202187?
Very smart and eloquent points, Deb. I appreciate your concern about life-work balance, and to be honest, I'm not surprised that Etsy wants to push for constant sales through this program. They are a business making money off of the shop owners' sales, so they likely wouldn't be concerned with "life-work balance on a personal level", but just how to drive more sales quicker. Finally, I find Etsy's response to that shop owner at time stamp 22:42 in your video to be appalling! How dismissive towards one in their very community. Etsy's response makes the program seem elitist and inequitable.
This star seller basicly rewards drop shippers whom only have to focus on customer service instead of creating quality products.
As a seller of relatively high-priced items I would prefer to see a $300 minimum OR a 10 sale minimum as a requirement. For me 10 sales would usually be about $5,000 which is more than I can produce in my part-time business.
Mine aren't quite that expensive, but agree with the number of sales. In a small niche of a niche, with a product which takes time to make, 10 sales is basically one per week in the time period Etsy is using.
Plus, I get multiple sales, which do not count. I could get one buyer buying three individual listings, but it only counts as one sale. The past two months, I have had only eight sales getting counted towards this program - 100% on all other program categories.
Frustrating!
Not going to bother trying to get this badge.
Mine are priced the same $300-$350
I loved this video. Etsy's sar seller + free shipping to US nonsense are SO frustrating for a EU seller :/ I'm glad to feel heard here, unlike with etsy.
Great video!!
I also find it frustrating because if not everyone who buys leaves you a review and *if* you have one person who leaves a low review for something dumb (like the person didn’t like the way a planner fit on their phone when it’s made to work with goodnotes) we get hit & no way to dispute the low rating effect with Etsy for the star seller program.
Yes I think/hope that they're going to rethink seriously the "reviews" part of the program, they know it's not working I just don't think they know how to fix it yet - and not sure how much of a priority they are making fixing it. - D
The star seller badge seems impossible for small and new shops to get. I didn't know the window Etsy is looking at is 3 months and now I realize that it's going to take forever for my shop to achieve the badge. I'm going into my second year as an Etsy seller, and right now I'm lucky to make half the required revenue in 3 months. I basically have to grow my shop in order to get the badge, and all the while not having the badge is potentially hurting my shop.
what's your shop name? I'll go favorite it right now!😁
You touched on every foreseeable problem with this star seller "thing", even sharing my sentiment how Etsy works (as in "Woo Hoo! Let's do this and see what happens!" with no foresight.) The thing I'm concerned about is if I finally get a Star Seller badge one month, then not the next because I received 93% instead of the required 95%, what are my customers going to think?
Now about the auto reply; that has to be set up weekly, so that's a pain!
The thing that gets me upset is the fact I was doing pretty good before all this, and it seems as if Etsy has raised the bar for my customer service. If a customer answers that my customer service is impeccable, then how much higher can I go? I'm just a very small shop and I feel I do a great job for all my customers.
These changes are disheartening. My Etsy shop is not my main concern while I still like to give my buyers good service and lovely products. Changes like this makes me think I should be changing my focus. It seems that Etsy is expecting far too much.
My concern is that I offer custom portraits, I need my customers to supply photos for their orders, they often take a long time to supply these photos, which they're entitled to do and they don't mind the delay in their order. However, I'll NEVER get a star seller badge because of these delays, Etsy is a homemade platform, this policy seems to promote the opposite, quick rushed purchases similar to Amazon. It goes against their whole brand, I just don't understand it.
Isn't this strange because this was Etsy's whole thing to begin with, offering the ability to customise items for customers. That's what Etsy was known for back in 2013-16 I feel.. Seems like they are forgetting part of their identity and their roots.
@@KatieThomasCreative its like they're punishing creators for doing what made Etsy unique
I hope you enjoyed the video! What are your thoughts on the Star Seller program? Other questions or comments? Leave them below 👇
Really informative. Thank you so much Deborah!
You are so welcome, Kyneret! Glad it was helpful ❣️ - L
Great video, thank you. I love the birds in the background. 🙂
Thanks so much for watching! - L
I’m a small candle shop and I got the star but I didn’t see a positive change in order rates. Not even when I was running ads during the week of Black Friday. In fact, I feel like more order rates dropped a bit. It’s a very weird experience.
I agree with you, I sell digital downloads and I've had the star since it launched and it also hasn't positively affected my sales rates yet. I'm still earning relatively consistently what I do each month. I feel like customers might not even be paying attention to it lol. This is just my two cents, but the colour of the badge being inline with Etsy's branding instead of a different eye catching colour makes it blend in with the back ground to me. I also find November to be a tough month, there's too many sales to compete with on and off of Etsy.
Ugh…..more and more it feels like Etsy is being run by people with little to no real world experience. If they were sellers they would know why this whole thing is a disaster. It’s forcing people to focus on things that are not useful or helpful to anyone. My guess is that it won’t do what it is they think it should do and they will eventually abandon it.
Just ran across this video. Yep, I'll be closing down my Etsy shop for good after my listings expire. I've only had a handful of views & haven't made any sales & the way this is going, I never will. It's really hard to compete with shops who resell bulk "handmade" products made in sweatshops. These shops are always on the front pages of Etsy. With no views, no sales & no feedback, I'll likely never be found. And, even if I were found, who would want to take a chance on buying from a shop with no feedback? It's a vicious cycle. Etsy is clearly not the place for me.
Who wants a star seller badge?
"You get a badge..
You get a badge...
You get a badge too!"
Everybody gets a badge!"
Take my star seller badge away!
After getting the badge my sales dropped 70% if compared to the same time last year!
Let me make this really simply: it didn't help me at all!
Thank you Deb, I find your videos super useful. I have one of these shops that sell lower value items (digital patterns for crochet). So while I appreciate that other shops face the same issues, more established shops that have been on Etsy for longer and have a more established client base are probably already able to qualify. So for me and other shops that have recently gone online, we are on the same level but not with other shops that have been around for longer and are able to capitalise on that and get the star seller badge.
Congratulations Deb 🎉 such an exciting time! 🙂 x
Thank you for the great tips always😊
Great presentation Deb.
I have had a problem with the message requirements tripping (or almost tripping) me up. I do not get a lot of messages from customers. Not too far back a customer placed an order, then changed her mind and cancelled the order. She sent me a message asking me to make sure the order was cancelled. A few minutes later she sent another message telling me she had already received confirmation that the order had been cancelled. There was no need for me to reply, but since I did not reply this brought me below the 95% threshold for November. Fortunately I have since received, and replied to, enough messages to meet the requirements for the December badge. But this example means that going forward I will probable reply to messages that need no response just to make sure I don't get penalized.
Yes it is ridiculous that basicly the last massage have to be sent by the seller
I hate the way the replys work... if you exchange msgs with someone you have to get in the last word, even if it doesn't make sense.... I've been sending a lot of heart emojis... so dumb
Thanks for sharing, Robert! And yes, sending a canned message to those no-reply-needed messages might be a good idea for sure :) - L
I have 4 stores and none of them have the badge. 2 of them are making over $3,000 for the 30 day average and one of them around $2,100. I haven't seen any slow down. I don't believe customers care and I don't either lol
Thanks Deb 👍 I got the badge in September but then got it removed because a customer messaged me 4 times with the same message and I only replied to one! I've always provided excellent service and have always replied to messages quickly but it didn't make sense to answer 4 of the same messages. Problem is it takes now 3 months to qualify again because of this!
Yes this is so incredibly frustrating .. I am so sorry! - D
You should mark three other messages as spam, so Etsy wouldn't count them.
Thank you so much, Deb! Great tips on how to keep it all in perspective. Wonderful news to hear of your pregnancy, take good care and stay safe 😘
I only missed out on my Star Seller badge this month because I didn't know I was supposed to reply to 2 sellers who had messaged ME coupons after I purchased from THEM. I would have to get 38 out of 40 messages (I rarely get messages) to qualify this month just because of those 2 messages. I hate this program.
You're not alone! Thanks for the comment, Kira :) - L
This just happened to me. I ordered a tutorial and did not know l needed to reply when it was sent to me via message. Now I'm done trying. It is what it is.
As an Etsy customer, I can say that I have never paid any attention to 'star seller' status. I visit a store, look at the pictures, then the description, and then I check the reviews. I would say the actual written word of customers gets my attention most. I just assume 'star sellers' are the ones making all the money, and my initial reaction to that is that they don't NEED my money. The next thing I look at would be how many sales they've made and THEN their average star rating. Absolutely DO NOT give a rip whether they're a star seller or not. Didn't even know what it was until watching this video, and it's been 2 years (or so) since they implemented this. I (just now) visited one of my favorite shops, to see if she was a star seller. It took me a bit, but I found the tiny stupid little star. It wasn't super obvious, if you don't know where to look and what it even means. Also, LOVE your videos. Binge watching.
i wish etsy would just stop changing things.
Did you you say $300 in sales for 3 months? I didn’t catch that you were speaking so fast thank you so much for this info
Thanks for the comment, Iris! Correct, yes: "To get the Etsy Star Seller badge you need to have had at least 10 orders over the last 3 months AND a minimum sales amount of USD$300 - or equivalent in your currency." Hope this helps ☺️ - L
Thank toy for this video! I was waiting for answers because etsy support works horrible..
Last month I didn't get badge just because I didn't have 3 euro fee paid, even tho I had money on my balance they didn't take them to pay that 3 euro. It's even more frustrating when you have all requires 100% completed and you don't get it. Thinking more and more to break up with Etsy, here I pay more for fees and ads then I would do if I have my own website.
Sorry to hear that, Sofiia! Having your own website does have some benefits, too. Just depends on how much work you want to put into building a site & marketing it. Check out this post for more tips www.tizzit.co/own-website-vs-etsy/ :) hope this is helpful! - L
I have the Sell on Etsy app on my phone but it stopped working. I was told my phone was too old and to buy a new one! (but I can't afford it).
The other issue is that I purchased something as a buyer and the seller sent me an auto response, which I did not reply to because it was totally unnecessary. I replied before I found out I could mark it as spam so it didn't count as marked as spam when I finally did. I lost my star seller for that reason. And I'll probably lose it for 3 months until the message I didn't reply to falls off their 3-month look back period. I'm really upset about this! My sales have fallen a lot since this happened.
Sorry to hear this happened to you! Thank-you for sharing 💕 - L
Hi,
I sell Digital items but i have to list as Physical items because I have Price Variations.
How do I Keep the Price Variation and still qualify for the Star seller.
As I don't provide Tracking info because it is a Digital item, i don't qualify for star seller.
What should be done? Please help :)
Unfortunately I will never be a Star Seller as I need my customers to send me pieces to make the item and some take 6 months or longer to send them 😭
The real problem with Etsy postage labelsis the cost of the printer and the cost of the labels! Or is there a way round this? Can you print on a regular printer and attach with tape?
That's what I do. I just print them out on regular printer paper and trim them to size. A little extra work, but no big deal.
@@OldtoNewRestorations Thank you. Thats great to hear.
We'll wait ' till our Deb gives birth to a lovely and instagrammable baby who'll be hopefully a second generation of the Etsy expert in the family.
😂😂😂 This kid already knows everything about Etsy from hearing me recording all these videos in utero 😂
How to reactivate my etsy account
Skip it.