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Everything You Need To Know About Etsy's Update
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- Опубликовано: 14 авг 2024
- During the Etsy Q1 Investor's Report, CEO Josh Silverman shared several HUGE updates about shop suspensions, gift mode, and what they expect traffic to look like in Q2.
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☕ More on this topic during the Friday Bean: • A Big Etsy CRACKDOWN I...
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▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 - Intro
00:44 - Etsy sales drop in Q1and slow traffic
02:56 - Etsy's 2024 growth plan
06:00 - Impact of Gift Mode
09:59 - Etsy Suspension crack-down
15:50 - Etsy removing drop shippers and policy violators
17:41 - Updates to SEO and relevancy?
20:10 - Returning to core values - Keep Commerce Human
22:04 - Investor's Q&A
22:32 - Are Chinese competitors like Temu hurting Etsy?
26:16 - Will Q2 be just as slow as Q1?
28:57 - Will Etsy's new $15 fee stop bad sellers?
33:52 - How Etsy machine learning will declutter search pages
37:42 - Creative Fabrica sellers being banned
39:44 - How removing bad sellers will impact Etsy overall
46:10 - Etsy targeting sites like AliExpress for drop shipping
49:41 - Key things to note
#Etsy #EtsyUpdate #HandmadeAlphas
📺 MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO 📺
☕ More on this topic during the Friday Bean: ruclips.net/video/GVAlwqhcUXE/видео.html
➡ Etsy's Q1 Investor Report: s22.q4cdn.com/941741262/files/doc_financials/2024/q1/Q1-2024-Earnings-Presentation.pdf
➡ Etsy Q1 Live Cast: investors.etsy.com/events-and-presentations/event-details/2024/Q1-2024-Etsy-Inc-Earnings-Conference-Call/default.aspx
📷 Photography coach @ByKristinaNicole
🔵 Free Etsy SEO Toolbox: bit.ly/EtsyNoodle
🔴 Etsy Seller Policy: www.etsy.com/legal/sellers/#selling
🔴 Etsy Handmade Policy: www.etsy.com/legal/handmade
Hey do any of these take us to the full video of this live conference? I clicked on both the Investor Report and the Live Cast and I can't seem to find the video in either. Is it an operator error on my end? 😅
It’s interesting to me how he talks about the „buyer experience“ expecting top notch service while the seller experience on etsy is atrocious in terms of customer service.
Right? I wish Etsy would hold themselves to the same standards.
Exactly! Worst customer service for sellers! The support team shows no regard when I ask for help,they simply close tickets without bothering to resolve the issue, which is disrespectful, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.
@@Mich-le2bq Long story short. I had an issue, I got nothing but an AI response.
I have had help from Etsy several times. Not always as quickly as I might wish but always had help. I for example had an account taken over by someone else (no damage done) and Etsy staff was very helpful and it was back in my hands in a few days. Couldn’t ask for more.
And remember the staff at the “front” get all the sh.. from sellers. Be kind but direct when getting help and specify what your issue is and provide as much info as possible to speed up the process.
That's why I refuse to shop on Etsy anymore. I had a shop there once years ago but it's just so awful.
If Josh Silverman says publicly that he doesn’t care if a few accounts that have done the right thing are getting thrown under the bus from the AI suspension system in favour of cleaning up the platform this platform ain’t the place for anyone to built their livelihood on and put 100% honest and true effort in.
YES -- tell the seller what rule they broke. Otherwise, none of us will ever learn!
I was shut down 5 years ago. I eventually got back on (after nearly a month). I never got a reason and this was when people were part of customer service.
I am one of those.
I am an extraordinary seller who is the epitome of the Etsy vision and mission, with truly unique, hard to find items. I was shut down once i tried to take my shop off of vacation mode. When I tried to take it off vacation mode, i was suspended and my shop shut down.
Is a long-term vacation a rule violation? That is the only thing I did and did not see that this was a rule violation. I am clueless and frustrated
The BIGGEST problem is that Etsy would never tell me why I was shut down. I’ve written to Etsy three times with no explanation. I am told “this decision is final.” I truly believe this shop closure was a mistake on Etsy’s part.
I shut down for three years starting in 2020 because of my health problems. I put my shop on vacation mode, not knowing in 2020 that this would be three years. I’m finally able to get back to business. I design and personally make rosaries. They are unique and one-of-a-kind. I listened to your entire cast and adhered to every element (handmade; no fraud; excellent photos; long-time seller with 100% five-star reviews; on-time shipping that charged only actual shipping costs; excellent and prompt communication with buyers, etc).
When I asked which rule I violated, the rep simply said “this decision is final and not subject to any more appeals.” Then radio silence.
I would like to hear from Etsy what rule(s) I violated. i would like to see specifically what evidence they have supporting my shop closure.
Maybe I didn’t well the volume they wanted, and if so I didn’t know this was a rule violation. I’m grasping at straws!
Thank you for pursuing this. As one earlier commenter said, 60% had bona-fide rule violations, but 40% DID NOT VIOLATE ETSY RULES.
If there is even ONE shop closed down wrongly, that is ONE too many! Etsy really needs to do there due diligence. If your shop gets shut down, Etsy needs to let sellers know EXACTLY why and if it's fixable. They also need to make MUCH better tools for sellers. I always feel like I'm using a website from the early 2000s when I use the seller tools, there's no excuse for that. I've never shopped on Temu so I can't attest to the quality but if everything is junk on there, as so many people claim, then how are they able to keep getting bigger and getting more customers? These two things are in direct opposition.
Not necessarily. If a shop thought to be part of fraudulent activity then Etsy can not tell as this would be considered tipping off.
@@oceanfoundtreasures Yet, as OP mentioned, for shops shut down WRONGLY, there should be some due process available for appeal (and you can't appeal, if you don't know what you're appealing, ie, what they're accusing you of doing wrong).
Starla and Dude with her say of all the shops they reviewed, a majority (approx. 60% they said) were really doing something against policy, so they kept saying "a majority were doing something wrong", and I'm like COME ON! 40% who were NOT doing anything wrong is a HUGE %!!!
Lol, "Starla and Dude" made me giggle. But we totally agree. Which is why we are still pressuring Etsy to STOP using automations during the appeal process. If they have to use an automated system to deactivate sellers, then there needs to be a HUMAN who analyzes the appeal when the sellers disputes the deactivation. These emails from Etsy always have a human's name attached to them, but their "comprehensive review" takes around 2 minutes, from what we've seen, after an appeal is submitted. That is INSANE. No human on earth is performing a comprehensive review in two minutes.
@@peterson6824 exactly
Thanks for the clarity.
Amazon will tell you what rule you broke if you ask them, and there is a way to appeal. Etsy needs to do the same.
Yes at the very least let ppl know what they did, give them the chance to fix it. Give ppl strikes
Etsy could greatly improve if they would have live customer service. I can call Amazon and talk with someone about my seller account, and they'll actually look into it and help me resolve an issue. With Etsy, there's crickets after they take away your livelihood.
Not from what I've read in facebook support groups.
I shop a lot on Etsy as well as sell. THE most annoying "innovation" yet is the checkout window being flung in your face every time you change to a different page as you are searching fro something. And you can't get it to stop! Whose bright idea was it to annoy customers to death??
I hate that so much
AGREED!
YES THIS SO MUCH THIS 😅
I’m eternally frustrated when seeing items that are technically the same as what I make but they are selling for pennies on the dollar that tells me they are likely inexpensive products from overseas that are not handmade. I can’t compete.
Don't compete. Instead, give customers a reason to pay more. Not every customer is looking for the cheapest item. In fact, I talk about how low prices can actually destroy the perception of quality in my recent "Sell with Psychology" video. My advice is to HIGHLIGHT what makes you different and BETTER than the mass produced junk. Put a face to your brand. Add photos of yourself making your items to your listings. When buyers think of Etsy, most still assume items are handmade - so as a legitimate handmade seller, it's becoming increasingly important to showcase the handmade element of your items... which is something the cheap knock-offs could never do. Here's the video I mentioned: ruclips.net/video/Wv0DxA1gmP8/видео.html
This has been happening since its inception
@cynthiaplasters3400 etsy closed my shop. I gave them a breakdown of tools I was using to create my lamps. I got an AI reply saying that the decision is final. They don't reinstate and can't discuss further. Oh, and that I'm free to report someone if I think their item shouldn't be on etsy.
in case no one has told you lately. We really appreciate the enormous amount of time that you guys spend on this research. I am a creative with NO research type skills and would never be able to understand this stuff without your great reporting and keeping us updated. Thank you again!
Thank you! Comments like yours is why I keep doing-and love-what I do!
Suspensions are ridiculous. Talking with a human would help. Wall Street has downgraded Etsy. It is Etsy's own fault. They spent millions on holiday ads but shut down decent sellers' shops for no reason usually. Etsy's C-Suite awards itself stock options only to sell them quarterly and annually (NOT a good sign). This shows they aren't invested in their own company! The entire C-Suite needs to go starting with the CEO.
To me the biggest problem here is that Etsy doesn’t share the reason why they suspend a shop but also suspending just to permanent close after fake appeal management (honestly, I just think they got a template to shoot away). Teach sellers instead. Have a system in place to give sellers a couple of chances before taking such drastic measures. To me it really seems ridiculous that we even need to discuss this. It’s really poor customer service. Don’t forget that we sellers are customers also.
Yup!!! Preach! It was scary for me having all the responsibilities of have to invest in trying to become an Etsy seller but after watching hundreds of videos I finally did and I spent 1 week creating 3 shirt designs and a brand for my new store and two days later my shop was suspended and I was told I’d get an email stating why, which I never did, so I filed a complaint with customer service who said they couldn’t help me basically so all I had left to do was file an appeal to which was almost instantly denied and then they said they were going to permanently ban me but for “security reasons” could not disclose why? Who the hell operates like that? Etsy is going to keep trending downwards by doing this to potential sellers. I don’t see this ending well for them and they’re too stupid to realize it
@@blastereosloud This happened to me, within the first 24 hours. Meanwhile, I recieved 3 messages from scammers that tried to pass as an Etsy "official" communication, but were OUTSIDE the "from Etsy" folder and - surprise! They asked for my credit card details. I wasn't born yesterday, dude. How is it that they have so poor filters for the incoming mail but feel entitled to treat any new seller as a "security threat"?
Exactly, the whole outrage about etsy's shut-downs is not really about shut-downs per se as much as about etsy not providing real reasons why they shut down the shop and this goes back to the fact that etsy is using bots to do their bidding and 95% of the time robots will mess it up, what enrages people even more is the fact that their appeals get denied by robots...again!!!!
Exactly! They say they've done a "comprehensive review" but those emails come within minutes of submitting an appeal. Definitely not human.
@@StarlaMoore Yep, that's what happened to me too last week, I received an email within literally 1.5 minutes from someone named Shakti telling me they re-evaluated my shop and it DOES violate Etsy rules lol
Why does no one talk about Etsy withholding all the money from those sellers who they suspend and ghost?
Its me and 1000s of other sellers who have not received their payment from there last few days of sales or month (depending how your payouts are scheduled)
Who do we talk if they ghost us sellers to get our money back?
How is it possible that they can suspend you because you didn’t pay them 0.45cents but they are allowed to keep your 500$ for themselves and ignore you. That can’t be legal.
Get a lawyer and sue. My roommate had the same thing happen to her with another online giant and she won easily - although it took a long time. A company absolutely CANNOT keep your money just because you are no longer doing business with/through them. They do this because they know 95% of people will do nothing about it - even though it absolutely is theft.
Write Etsy a letter (not an email) and send it Certified Mail - this type of mail requires a signature when your letter is received. In the letter let them know the amount they owe you, name of your store, etc - and any other pertinent details you can. Keep a copy of the letter for yourself and staple the certified letter receipt you'll get from the USPS office to the letter for your records. This letter and receipt will help your lawyer prove that you tried to get your money back the "nice" way before taking them to court.
If you cannot afford a lawyer and cannot find one that will take your case on pro bono, you should consider talking to a lawyer and starting a class action law suit. (98% of lawyers will talk to you the first time without charging you anything.) Yes, each person that signs onto a class action lawsuit will get a lower payout than they are actually due, but they probably will all at least get something.
Yeah, this is another case all on it's own. I'm currently looking into the sellers who pay the new $15 fee to join, then are immediately suspended. Of course Etsy's profits are UP when overall GMS is down. Etsy is still profiting from these $15 onboarding fees.
@@StarlaMoore kind of. I’m not talking about sellers that are opening and loosing 15$. I’m talking about sellers who are loosing 100s or 1000s of $ by not getting paid after a suspension, like me who made sales 6 days prior to getting permamently suspended and I have handed money out of my pocket to manufacture those products but am not receiving Etsys payout for those 6 days. It’s been 3 months for me and no one to talk to, or reacting to my emails. Not even an automated message triggered from Etsy was sent to me to notify me of the suspension. I just found out by logging in and that’s that.
Etsy is doing wayyyy too many things wrong and behaving horribly. The fact that they can’t deal with that many sellers does not entitle them to treat sellers as they please. They have not deserved one ounce of sympathy in my opinion.
This is just terrifying. Really second thinking about Etsy. I'm a seller from Brazil so a dollar here is like gold.@@StarlaMoore
Could be Etsy is low on cash and they are robbing Peter to pay Paul. Ponzi scheme at best
I watched your live last week regarding some of these topics and I want to say Thank you. I'm new to Etsy so of course I didn't read the small print, my downfall in life. I just looked around Etsy and saw that people were selling sports teams and characters (Snoopy, etc) handmade items. Which is what I sell. I've done pretty well with that. After watching I took all of those down my sales dropped significantly but if I lost my store there would be no sales. Two reasons I did that is.... One I do not want to lose my store and two both of your passion regarding this subject made me think. My key takeaway is Be Creative and you are right that's what Etsy is about. I'm not the most creative however I'm going to figure this out. Thank you AGAIN.
The thing is, everyone makes mistakes when they are new. I started selling when I was 19 and had no idea that I couldn't list Disney themed items (and I totally did)! The difference is how you pivot after you learn. Many sellers REFUSE to pivot because they believe that they'll never be shut down. In reality, Etsy is shutting down shops in droves. Sellers who pivot when they learn something new are the ones who are invested in long-term growth. There's zero longevity when you're breaking the rules because you never know how long your shop will even be around. So while it may suck to lose those sales from the IP items, you'll ultimately feel a lot better and less afraid in the long run. ❤
Bravo for being brutally honest, turning this into a positive and refusing to be defeated. Seems simple but not these days. I'm proud of you!
Thank you Starla and Marc and those working with you for bringing the concerns of sellers forward and out into the open air.
This is great news for those of us who have been plugging along for years playing by the handmade rules.😊
I’m increasingly disillusioned with Etsy's approach to managing shop closures. Despite my commitment to selling only handmade products, my shop was abruptly closed without any clear justification. This issue isn't isolated; eight other shop owners I know have either been shut down or have closed their shops out of sheer frustration. Just last week,my wife closed her shop, and I've heard about a shop that was in business for six years before being inexplicably closed last month.
My concerns extend to Etsy's inconsistent policy enforcement. Numerous shops blatantly sell copyrighted items, including unauthorized Disney and Toy Story products, yet these shops remain operational. This lack of consistent enforcement not only confuses but also erodes trust and fairness on the platform.
Given these experiences, I recommend establishing your own website. Relying on Etsy can be fraught with unpredictability and may not serve your best interests in the long run.
We always recommend sellers have other avenues alongside Etsy. This goes for any marketplace. Never keep all your eggs in one basket and never build your foundation on rented land. Etsy administration is a mess right now. At one point, Josh basically said that losing sellers isn't a huge deal because there will always be another seller ready to replace the ones who leave/are removed.
I am continuing to pressure Etsy's head of customer support through our communication. Only time will tell whether or not my words are being heard.
@@StarlaMoore I appreciate your support, but unfortunately, I believe this issue with Etsy won’t be resolved. Etsy consistently fails to shut down accounts blatantly violating the rules by selling unauthorized products like Disney items and Captain America merchandise. Despite the clear rule violations, these accounts remain active, highlighting a lack of consistent policy enforcement.
I fully agree that relying solely on Etsy or any single marketplace is unwise. Their current administration doesn't seem concerned about losing sellers, as indicated by Josh's comment. It's a harsh reality that they view sellers as replaceable.
I appreciate your efforts in pushing Etsy's head of customer support, but sadly, it seems that their priorities lie elsewhere. This situation reinforces the need for sellers to diversify and not rely solely on platforms like Etsy.
We actually discuss this in the longer video I mentioned at the beginning. We've also spoken to an IP lawyer about this. As of right now, it is the IP holders responsibility to report items that infringe on their IP. There is a good reason for this. I, myself, sell items related to the biggest fantasy books in the world because I license with these authors and have contracts and agreements with them. I pay a commission to them each month. This is a legal contract between me and the authors. Not between me and Etsy.
If Etsy were to begin policing IP on the platform, this would make them legally responsible for ALL IP on the platform, which is no easy feat. Any IP lawyer will tell you that the safer route for Etsy, as a company, is to hold IP owners responsible for the reporting of those listings by providing a DMCA portal. Which they do. Some companies are FAST when it comes to taking down listings. Some, like Disney, will wait until they notice that a seller has made a large sum of profit from their IP before striking.
While I understand the immediate instinct to point fingers at Etsy for IP violations, there's a lot more complexity to this topic that just "remove all IP". IP is created and determined every minute of every day. In order to fully regulate ANY IP, Etsy would have to regulate ALL IP.
I may try to get an IP lawyer on the channel to discuss the legal side of IP on Etsy, as this is a pretty common question I hear.
@@StarlaMooreAn Etsy IP portal would be amazing. Seems like they’d be years away from making this.
If Etsy was serious about dealing with fraudulent shops they could do it easily.
Hire 1000 people who's job it is to investigate and remove fraudulent shops. If those thousand people investigate 10 shops each per day (no reason it should not be more) that's overall 10000 per day. 300,000 per month. 3.6 million every year. That's not every shop but it's a hell of a lot. And like I said, it's pretty hard to believe that these workers only investigate 10 per day.
"low effort" hits the mark as a description of low quality. Our group produces digital art - art created on an iPad or on a desktop screen using a vector program such as Illustrator. Some times a drawing on paper that is scanned and altered digitally. Often there are many iterations to get the art to your vision. 20 iterations or more is often the case. Also sometimes it all happens quickly with the second draft. Our art is then put on Etsy as prints or printed on products. To do it right requires real focused serious work.
Well Starla, I just opened it in Feb (second shop) and didn't even managed to get one listing in before the suspension, so yeah, I know for sure I did not break any rules. All personal info was added as well etc. Now every few weeks I see the message of suspension and to appeal. I file the appeal and round we go to suspension after few weeks. Nothing in the meantime, no communication etc.
Great video! Nicely done. At last someone has tied Etsy's financial report and direction to what we should be doing as sellers. Very wise! Thank you for making this video.
Glad it was helpful!
I’ve found your recent coverage about shop suspension helpful. I’m a true handmade seller with mostly OOAK items made and designed by me since 2010 and had only one shop violation several years ago solely for a tag that was trademarked but not a copy of an actual design. I have since made sure all my tags don’t violate any trademarks but with all the noise about shop suspensions I have been kind of letting my shop stay open but not creating many new listings for fear I will get suspended or shut down for no real reason. I do in person markets but they aren’t very frequent. I’ve been wanting to do more with my Etsy shop but the noise has really killed the motivation. Thanks for bringing to light a lot of the suspensions are for real reasons and this is making me less fearful to start working on my shop again
Of the 300 sellers who contacted us about suspensions, very few of them were "handmade" by the definition most of us would consider (original crafty items). There was one crochet shop but we were thankfully able to get her reactivated. For those selling truly handmade items, it doesn't seem to be happening as often. It DOES happen. But not nearly as often as other categories, like POD.
@@StarlaMoore That definitely puts me at ease knowing that. Much appreciated!
@@StarlaMooreThank you for your awesome work!
Is there any possibility to get a personal opinion of you guys concerning the suspension of a shop?
I had been selling completely handsewn babyclothes and some (also handmade) accessories for 3 years and I honestly don’t find myself in the mentioned 60% you’re talking about. I now find myself not daring to open a new shop anymore cause it gets closed again everytime after hours of setting it up, with the 15$ even less. I just want to know why they closed my shop?!
Greetings from Paris ❤
My handmade jewelry shop has just been reactivated after hiatus for 5 years since my last cross country move. Lots of changes since my last listings, so thanks for this deep dive. My digital shop has stayed open the whole time with evergreen listings, but I need to clean those up, too. Sparkle on! ✨
Great video! I have never seen Etsy being so honest in their investor reports before. I think they can feel the need to change and there are some positive signs they are going in the right direction. As for gift mode: I like to use those options when I’m looking for inspiration for something new. And I’d rather have them experimenting now than q3 and 4
Very true! The busy season of Q3 and Q4 is definitely not a good time for experimenting.
Even half is crazy, that means half DID NOT break a rule...which is insane. It's basically admitting they suspend people who do not break rules
Also claiming if you follow the rules you won't get suspended is wild and simply not true.
Oh yeah, they most definitely do and they know that they do. Which wouldn't even be a big deal if those suspended sellers could reach a human during the appeal process.
I'm curious how blatant trademark violations of Coca Cola, NFL team logos, Disney, the Smiley Face, etc go unchecked for months maybe years, but a shop was shut down for putting Taylor Swift song lyrics on a T shirt. No warning, just closed.
The #1 bestselling cowboy t shirt has the Coors logo on it. Why is that shop still up?
How does Etsy decide who to punish?
That’s for the IP holder to decide. Not Etsy. See the explanation further up
@@tinaindina7032 You didn't understand. Etsy takes it upon themselves to protect trademark or copyright on some items, like Swift's song lyrics, but allows other violations to slide.
Why is that? So you're saying Etsy only removes violations a company specifically complains about?? How do we know this?
@@Tawny593 Actually its the IP holder that scours the internet for anything and everything that pops up with copyright infringement. What they do is they hire a 3rd party who is working in tandem and represents the IP holder, so for TS and her lyrics, her team who is web crawling with keywords and are finding items, then contacting Etsy or whomever is hosting the site to take it down. They are backed with documentation as a representative for the IP holder and Etsy has no choice but to take it down by law. This is happening behind the scenes but the amount of sellers that are doing this, its takes time for their team to search and close down, since lets face it there are a TON of violations (not only on Etsy but everywhere in search).
Yes exactly. Etsy can only shut the shop down if the IP holder (Swift, Disney or …) asks them too. Etsy does not need to warn the shop owner. It’s all in their policies which we agree to when signing up. Problem is people don’t bother to read them and opens a shop because some RUclipsr said it was a great business idea to sell Swift lyrics printed on a T-shirt “as long as it’s your own design”. It’s copyrighted material and it’s not that hard to understand! Be creative and create own unique designs. If people can’t, then they should find something else to do. Disney sometimes do raids on Etsy and boy you do not want to fight with their lawyers because they do not only ask Etsy to take a shop down, they will sue.
@@tinaindina7032 Judging from how much copywrite and trademark infringement is going on, I'd say these companies are never looking for it.
You don't need to lecture me about copywrite or trademark useage. I'm not the one who puts song lyrics on T shirts. I don't copy anyone else's work.
Thank you so much, everything you both do is helpful and reassuring. Always a pleasure to watch you.
Great video! I’ve been an Etsy seller of vintage goods since 2020. I wish more care was done to address and promote the many hard working vintage sellers bringing wonderful goods to the platform. While all the proposed changes sound great, customers are more & more NOT thinking of Etsy as a space for vintage. I look forward to exploring your channel more!
Yes! I'm a vintage seller too and we are an important part of the etsy community! We offer an important and unique service by selling curated, rare and one of a kind items. The handmade, unique and vintage items are what most people love about etsy. It has become a mess of drop shoppers and theives. I won't sell knockoff items.. but so many people do. I have even had some of my pictures stolen. I wish we had more support. When people find out I sell on etsy.. they say what do you make.. and I always feel silly explaining I sell vintage. I should be proud. Not everyone has the eye or the patience. I love it. I would take a risk and buy more to sell if I had more confidence and support from etsy. Although we may not have multiples of the same item.. we definitely have people who continue to come back to us. If you start a group for the Vintage Sellers of Etsy.. please count me in.
Yeah, vintage sellers are at a huge disadvantage right now because not even Etsy is following their own vintage policies. Anything vintage that is attached to a major name brand (vintage Pyrex, for example) is still subject to the same copyright take-downs, even then those items follow Etsy's vintage policies. So for those selling brand-specific vintage items to collectors, it's nearly impossible to use keywords that won't get you flagged if the brand still exists.
No wonder none of my Pyrex is not selling! There’s no vintage button or category on Etsy’s home page so this stinks! I would love to hear an explanation from the company. Do they ever mention what percentage of sales on the platform are from vintage? none of my customers come from etsy search. Nearly all of them come from google or direct traffic. We put in a lot of work making a single listing for each unique item and it’s a bummer that they don’t focus on it more since buying vintage has so many benefits.
You got it….. a lot of POD sellers clog up the first 4 or 5 pages with the same mockups, same models, same designs and by the time the seller gets to that 6th page, they are fatigued. I design everything in my shop including my POD graphic designs but customers struggle to see them because of the reasons you both mentioned.
Another thing clogging up search results is all the people who do not follow the rules and are using IP art or using trademarked words in their tags and titles. Those of us following Etsy rules get our listing buried on back pages, while all the trademark infringers are on the first and second page.
@@KC-ed1dj 💯 %
I’m a current star seller and on Etsy for ten years, definitely could do better and I’m not living up to my full potential, but I am excited to hear all of these things. It makes me feel like investing more of my efforts into my store will actually pay off.
Imagine for instance you book a market stall, you pay the fee but when you get there the organisers leave you a note saying cant put your marquee up to sell your goods. No explanation why, no refund! No being able to contact Anyone as to why! This is exactly what etsy are doing. Id call it thieving. Take set up fee and suspend you within minutes. Handmade things, no copyright! They are a joke! Who runs a company like that?
Etsy has been getting deeper and deeper into sellers pockets I have been there for over a decade and although my sales have grown so have my fees and the ai has been a nightmare making Etsy way less appealing as a seller
I'm so frustrated with the amount of dropshippers on etsy... I hope to see this reduction soon. People stealing everything from creative people including their photos on etsy. I sell mostly vintage items and I have even found my own photos used. It feels like etsy doesn't care unless you are making them a ton of money. This frustrates and hurts me as a seller, but as a buyer too. Many people are on a tighter budget and looking for deals right now. I've hesitated purchasing something because there are so many shops with knockoffs, fake or super cheap items, and stolen photos. It's getting harder to see what is real and worth it. I'm glad Etsy seems to be starting to listen.
Love Gift mode idea !! HATE when I opened up their categories what they showed was so lacking-- NOTHING like the old days when the first page of Etsy was CURATED by a talented eye
I was just watching another channel last week who was doing a review for an Etsy Seller who handmade exquisite objects with yarn. Of course, these things take time and, as they should, carry a high price tag. They suggested to her that in order to have more consistent revenue, that she purchased some graphics and have a print on demand section for her shop. There would be nothing about those new items which would be handmade. The channels that are pushing print on demand as a high revenue stream for Etsy are not helping, true handmade sellers. There needs to be a separate platform for those kinds of things. Yes, I know there are people who designed their own graphics and then contract to have those graphics printed on specific merchandise. That’s not what I’m talking about in this case.
Again guys, well done with all this needed info! So glad to know you both are on our side!! Keep up the great work!! ❤
If we’re supposed to be using the listing images from a print production company, they only have so many images of mock-ups they have for their products. The robot or whatever they use is going to flag everything
I'm going to assume that Etsy is able to tell (somehow) that the images are from the print partner to ensure those don't get deactivated. Possibly something in the syncing process, though this is just my speculation.
@@StarlaMoore Thanks for the reply Starla! I appreciate it. I'm really hoping they can provide some clarification. Specially with this handmade, print provider, and made to order rules that state different things for listing photos. Hopefully we all dont get burned in the process. Thanks for all your efforts to help guide us on this moving forward!
I never undersood why Etsy didn't include the reason someone is suspended. That seems like a basic thing that should be included in the message. I haven't dealt with this myself, but I see lots of posts in Etsy related groups that I'm in where someone says they were suspended and have no idea why. I feel like you should always know which rule you broke (or at least a general idea what it was related to) if you end up getting kicked off of the platform.
I 1000000% agree that infractions and deactivations NEED to be at minimal, reviewed by a human, and that informing people about what they did wrong should be a given. The opaque and non-existent customer service of modern companies is infuriating and only hurts people's trust in those platforms. It's amazed me that for YEARS, Etsy's standard policy was to deactivate brand new stores before reviewing them and usually allowing them to reopen, but somehow never explaining that there's a process there, so it panics everyone when it happens. They need to consider the user experience, it's that simple.
There was a point in the webcast (during the Q&A) when Josh basically said that removing sellers isn't a big deal because there will always be more incoming sellers to replace those lost. I'm sure he was talking about policy violators, but it does showcase how little Etsy is prioritizing new vendors right now. There are more sellers than there are buyers. I wish Etsy would just temporarily halt the ability to make new shops for a few months while they clean the platform and work through their existing cases. It would be better than new sellers being permanently banned before they even had a chance to start.
@@StarlaMoore I think that would make a ton of sense. I had to apply and hang out on a waitlist before I could drive for DoorDash and UberEats so they could make sure drivers weren't outpacing demand in my area. Etsy doing something similar to slow down the influx of low effort shops would let them catch up and hopefully stay caught up, and let them improve the accuracy of how they handle violations as they go, so everyone feels more confident in the system
@@OverMountainsDesign100% this.
So refreshing to hear from a person that sells actual handmade items! Can't wait for Etsy to delete all the utter garbage
I also have a POD shop, but I work very hard on the designs to make them original.
They won't
I got one shop closed by a bot and the appeal closed by a bot. And I know for a fact that no human ever saw it, because I found someone working at etsy that looked it up for me. It is so crazy. Btw you can get banned for all sorts of crazy reasons, for example because your email is not named like your shop or your name.
I hate when they close down a shop with out warning, they don't realise how much effort people put into promoting a shop
Thank you so much for putting all of this together and walking us through it. You guys rock.
I follow a creator katnipp and a few years ago she had her most popular pin stolen and put up for sale on Ali express and it was taken down for n ESTY and she had to jump through hoops to prove the original design and pin was hers. Which is a bit ironic considering the pin was on ESTY way before it showed up on Ali express.
I have to agree tell people what rule they broke to have a listing pulled or shop shut down, and make their appeal process more specific. Also make a similar or detailed process for people who unfortunately did have a design or item stolen and reproduced. ESTY needs a positive se
You know what sucks, I’ve had other sellers steal my photos and post them as their listing. Imagine Etsy deactivating my shop because someone stole my entire image, how would that be fair? 😢
Definitely report these sellers REPEATEDLY. Have friends and family do the same.
@@StarlaMoore on Etsy yes I’ve done that but sometimes I don’t always spot them as I can’t search all my listings daily 😢 also some have been stolen and listed on Aliexpress and I’ve even tried their customer service and it was completely useless. This is what I fear a lot.
Can they not program the AI to not look at the overall image of the mock-up and look instead for a 100% match? That way it could detect different designs as opposed to the mock-up alone?
Thank you Starla and Marc! I went through Etsy policies and found that some of my listings and shop info should be immediately updated.
I don't believe anything Silverstein says. I am a buyer and was disabled for almost 2 months. I repeatedly sent emails to Etsy, but it was to no avail. Since I was disabled, I could not contact the 2 sellers I bought from who had not sent the merchandise. Finally on May 1st, they sent me a not that said it was in error. Also, I had not been able to contact "help" on Etsy. The problem is there is no longer a customer service number and you are left to A!. I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on Etsy and won't be spending any more money.
Thank you for this video Starla, I agree with many of the comments particularly in regard to Etsy's lack of customer service for their sellers. However this video has wonderful content regarding how to be sure you are staying on the right side of the tracks with Etsy to avoid either products or your entire shop getting removed. I am grateful for having these topics brought to my attention so that I can be sure I am playing by the rules. I've not had any problems so far and will try to avoid them!
36:20 I hope we see that same sort of positive result for sticker sellers. So many people buy images to sell as stickers, whereas I'm out here illustrating and/or designing all my own designs, trying to make something that's NOT all over Etsy already, but I get stuck beneath all these "same old same old" sellers and it's so frustrating.
I moved to handmade and removed my shop that used to do very well. I won't spend time on a website that promotes IP fraud. Etsy died after covid. Blame dropshipping and automation.
They asked me to come back and sign up for their new AI program. Pass.
This mockup dilemma put me in lots of stress, I have 1200 tshirt listing on etsy and I upload daily, after this news I stop uploading and now m very much confused 😕
The mock-up dilemma I believe came from so many stores using a comfort colors shirt mock up but the actual item they were selling was a Bella canvas. If you’re selling Bella canvas 3001 your mock up needs to be of that exact shirt.
I am confused. He said print on demand is within the policy to sell then said sellers are being removed for violating a handmade policy. This is very confusing. Is the issue that sellers were listing items as handmade that were actually print on demand or drop shipping that caused them to be removed please clarify? Thanks
This was just poor wording on Josh's part. POD items are technically classified under Etsy's handmade policies, because Etsy is assuming that you made the design itself by hand, then utilize a print partner. So technically, all POD items fall into the handmade category. Which I actually didn't know up until a few months ago.
Agree. Etsy please let us know what rule we broke.
I think if they figure out a way to give the seller a warning about the rule they are breaking before they deactivate the shop that might help too that way they have a probation period to fix it even if it's a week or few days for them to fix it because people are human and make mistakes then if they don't they will know the reason for the deactivation and it was fair because they didn't act on the rule breaking that got them deactivated. I don't have an Etsy yet because I'm a fresh newbie and learning how to even start everything but if this isn't a thing I think it would be helpful and an AI computer can do it too.
Thank you both again so much for all your dedication and follow through.
Youre amazing and true which is a valued trait. So blessed to be an Alpha.
I love the Alphas!
Does it break ETSY rules if a person posts products in one shop and then removes them later to post in another shop that they've created? For example by someone who has a general store who wants to also have a product or niche specific store?
I'm asking for rules reasons not SEO.
That’s what I was wondering. I had a shop where I sold some jewelry and other items, but I don’t really list anything on there anymore and I had some bead kits for sale. Now, I opened a different shop to sell supplies and I want to sell the bead kits on there. Hopefully it’s OK since they’re not listed in my other shop anymore.
Thank you both so much! This has been very insightful, and helpful. I have been working on many new ideas, products and have been holding off sharing them on my Etsy shop. I just wasnt sure why. Now I know! I use POD, and am so glad that I have taken the effort and time to create my unique perspective on my items. I will be looking closely at my shop now before I upload any of my new items. You guys are so great! I really appreciate you both.
Thank you so much for your help!
Question...
If we do get deactivated, can we fix our mistakes?
I've neglected my 5 star shop for a while. I haven't been deactivated. I'm just wondering if I can get back into it with an amazing niche product if it's completely different and awesome?
Will they consider me if I've improved everything 100%? I have the skill and the will!
hope good things come from some of these changes! I've definitely seen a shift in buyers' attitudes towards Etsy on Threads alone.
I literally opened up my shop yesterday and before the day was over i got my account suspened. It did say that i had a 2 dollar fee that needed to be paid but other than that I dont understand why it was suspened. Everything i posted was designed by me on my computer.
As always, thanks for your vid and information. Wall St isn't buying Silverman's plans. Stock price analyst outlook is grim - it sure didn't pop with his plans.
I hope the appeal process is reviewed by a human. I'm a wedding photographer and reverse search my photos all the time because you would be surprised how many sites steal your photos without asking if they can use them or siting the source of the photo. It's so frustrating that people still don't know how basic copyright works, and just assume because it's on the internet, it's free game. I have found some of my photos on Alibaba. I have tried to contact the shops letting them know they stole my photos and telling them they need to take them down. They never do. They don't give a crap about stealing photos over there, and have no repercussions from the site for doing so. This is scary for me and frustrating. I know I'm handmade and would be happy to show proof of me working, but I have a feeling it wouldn't matter if the big push is going to be to even back out the shops to buyers ratio.
Welp, I watched this vid when it first came out and thought I would be safe since nothing I sell in my small shop violates Etsy's rules and are handmade by me. I do not dropship nor do I do POD. Yesterday Etsy deactivated my shop with NO email or explanation. This after several months of $15 to $20k monthly sales when most shops saw declining sales. Screw you, Etsy.
My Blanket shop was just permanently suspeneded and I can't find a rule I violated. I think at least we deserve to know exactly why. I see blantant violations on Copywright and trademark in shops. I make Milestone blankets. This is my job and I feel like I am being targeted because I am not making huge sales.
I feel your pain. I had my shop suspended 6 days ago and I have no idea why. Been very careful to to everything right when others fill their shop with trademark merch and nothing happens to them. I just don’t get it and I’m so sad my income is gone! Did you manage to get your shop back?
One thing not covered is what happens to all the funds that Etsy is holding from shops they have permanently suspended? I was a new seller of only 4 months selling vintage goods (more than 20 years old) and my store was shut down without warning or specific reason and they are holding my funds for 180 days. The 30-day returns has well passed, there is no reason for Etsy to hold these funds, and they will not respond to requests to release them. Once they suspend you, they no longer communicate with you. So how many people are the doing this to and how much does it add up to?
Starla what about the largest jewelry seller on Etsy? They were held out as one of their best and are usually ranked in the very tops sales. It doesn’t look handmade and how can a store have 1000 handmade items and keep up with production? Seems like they have to be using production company.
They could very well be using a production company. That is not against Etsys policies. It has to be disclosed in the shop though. You can design the jewelry and have someone else produce it. It’s still considered handmade. You cannot however buy and resale on Etsy (unless it’s vintage). Etsy chose to do the change many years ago. The challenge being …is it handmade if you are an artist and get a printing company to print you finished piece for you? Is it a handmade if you buy pieces and put them together to make a necklace? Problem is it can be difficult to decide if the seller designed it and that’s what most other sellers react to. I for example see a lot of “handmade” notebooks in leather binding. These can be bought on every street corner in Delhi India. They are beautiful but are definitely not handmade by Etsys terms, it reselling.
Making Etsy special is not going to happen if Etsy believes in "seller churn". Etsy has to work with sellers to get those special designs and handmade goods. And software cannot do it. Humans vary in their tastes what one person thinks the look is "crap" another sees "beauty". How will software figure it out? Etsy needs fewer sellers who can produce what works for Etsy and so Etsy can work closer with the sellers.
So well said.
Etsy started out for home crafters and now all I see is manufactures products. This makes it hard on home crafters. Can’t compete with cheap products imported .
TY for all the clarification. I have seen to many winey videos about those who got shut down. Honestly it is so much easier to follow the rules etsy puts out then to not check the rules. YOU BOTH ARE AWESOME!!! Again super ty.
You are so welcome!
Really? They shut you down regardless. I'm totally sure NOTHING in my shop was against the rules - no copyrighted items, no nudity, nothing but 3 paintings on canvas. Painted with acrylics and very obviously physical objects, so no AI involved. Where's my fault?
@@whiteshaix and you are directing this at me WHY? i don't know u i don/r know your work but if you use images objects such as campbels soup or Heinz ketchup you are in violation. something you painted went against the rules. also if your listing mentions certain things it gets flagged. go fight it if you feel you are right. they will restore your site.
Thanks for helping interpret what is going on in this presentation 🙂 It makes me a little more hopeful about continuing on Etsy’s platform. My question for you is about the ‘unique art’ factor. I know the tv commercials show higher end products (like custom Adirondack chairs). Does that mean Etsy will be less likely to highlight or support those of us who make small ticket items like soaps or candles?
I highly doubt it. Think of the commercials the same way a car lot displays cars. Most car lots will place the pretty red sports cars at the front of the lot where everyone can see them, even though MOST people will opt to buy a more practical and affordable car. The car lot shows off the "fancy cars" in order to get people into the car lot.
There will always be demand for the smaller items, which I speculate likely make up the majority of Etsy sales. Not to mention, buyers will always come to Etsy in search of smaller items like soap. So regardless of whether or not Etsy features these items, buyers will still type their own queries into the search bar.
I want to see how gift mode will go later in the year. As a supply store, I don’t know if my sales are lower because the time of the year or because of the gift mode.
I'm going to assume that MOST buyers aren't using gift mode because they likely already come to Etsy with a general idea of what they want to buy. I mean, have you used gift mode yet? It sucks right now. And if we think it sucks, I'm sure buyers do too.
Etsy is also surpressing sellers via ads. They will post a yellow banner stating they are testing and you might be a risk…say you had a budget of 1,000 they brought it down to $100.00. The response they are giving is you show risk or order activity they are vague and wont explain what “order activity” is or what you did wrong. They admitted though! They are surpressing you from selling. 😂
Why can’t they tell people you broke this rule and give them an opportunity to fix it before shutting their shop down.
Not me getting a creative fabrics advert right as you’re talking about it! 😂
The irony!!! lol
How do you scale a business, making Handmade items from Home, one-by-one? Also alot of items made, are probably going to be pre-existing online somewhere...
It depends on the item being made. You need to define what is the max that you can-and want to make personally and then decide if you want to add another person to grow more.
😬 omg I thought mockups from place it were allowed.. ?? Wasnt there a video about this recently. What do they expect then for POd sellers? :(
I thought so too. I also purchase mockups of real models wearing the real shirt brands. I just use them to put my design on. Is the AI bot going to think it is a duplicate because a lot of other people use the same mockups, even though my design is unique? I do print on demand and offer various colors. There is no way I could afford to buy a sample of every single one to take photos of it.
Same. Especially since Printify has a message right under the Printify generated mock-ups stating that you can find more mock-ups on Placeit (when you're editing listing in Printify).
Concerning customer convenience, it might help if customers could download digital purchases through their app.
Major thank you for the effort y'all put in to your content. I don't know if there is anyone else on YT that even comes close to the level of commitment you have for this community.
You say that it's not obvious that you had some influence on Etsy but I firmly believe you got their attention. That is saying a lot!
I'm trying so hard! I just wish they'd answer my questions. Etsy's head of customer support will answer my emails but not the actual hard questions I'm asking him.
Thank you for this. I am in process of refreshing and redoing my shop. This report from you is so gratefully appreciated.
So I have several points. Many of customers in my shop mark the sale as a gift.
#2 As I'm shopping as a Customer, If something is in my Cart, I can barely shop without
Its Popups, are so Invasive to check out. I end up removing the item or save to later. It is super maddening.
Etsy shut me down and told me I can't contact them about the decision. No reason, not explanation. This was after I paid the new fee to start my shop, and AFTER I received numerous spam messages, 1 which was calling me vulgar names. I have 2 successful shops, but that really irritated me...
Very good point about notifications about which specific rule was broke.
This makes me feel a lot better about opening a shop. A lot of the clothing I make is hand-stitched lol.
Especially if you have photos of yourself making your clothing in your listings. Photos like this are super helpful for forming buyer trust. 🙂
@@StarlaMoore thanks! I definitely have the photos of my vintage trims and fabric stash pre-assembly as well. I just love to be engulfed in fabric, lol. Several years ago I bought a skirt from Selene Gibbous. She had a little story about it; where she got the components..I though that was so cool.
I was planning to set up a new Etsy shop this week (selling digital downloads): is it no longer worth it to setup a shop ?
Seems like there are only problems these days with Etsy.
I've heard that their terms of service are cryptic; how does one then know if the terms have been violated ?
It's either worth it or it isn't and sadly, there's no way to tell what will happen. Plenty of sellers still find success on Etsy, but as of right now, it seems that new sellers aren't really needed or given much wiggle room when it comes to small mistakes. So if you start a new shop, just make sure you're filling out everything VERY carefully.
Nah, bringing chinese to the platform is a terrible idea. especially in a jewelry field. They've stolen few of my bestsellers including my photos and selling 150$ original product as a mass produced product for just 15$ on aliexpress!!! after that I had to fight drop shoppers who were buying from them and reselling stolen stuff for 40$, now the chinese sellers will just don'tgive a fk and sell it for 15$. And how I can compete with them??? Its exhausting..😭😭
I'm a little confused about how they are going to be able to tell whether listings/ designs are different or the same if everyone is using the same mockups from their print provider. If it's already determined that designs are the same from finding the same mockups, then wouldn't the same thing happen with print provider mockups?
I'm going to assume that there is a way Etsy can tell the difference. I don't know how but it could be connected to the actual shop syncing portion. I wish I had answers. 😕
When I look at "gift mode" I understand why Etsy is having issues. Not one single solitary thing vintage showed up in gift mode when I looked...however, there were a TON of sus things claiming to be handmade. While I understand that it could be easy to make hand blown glasses and straws, to sell them for the prices listed tells me that they are NOT hand blown by the sellers. I got frustrated because gift mode was just a bunch of new crap trying to pass as unique.
The straws don’t have to be hand blown by the seller to be handmade by Etsys terms. The sellers just has to design them and can then work with a production company (has to be disclosed in their shop). They can not buy a new product and resale on Etsy
But what if all the sellers are using the same print partner mock-ups ?
I'm going to assume that Etsy is able to tell (somehow) that the images are from the print partner to ensure those don't get deactivated. Possibly something in the syncing process, though this is just my speculation.
Etsy also lies to the customers, on the ship out time, or when they can expect the item. If someone orders at 10pm Tuesday Etsy will tell them to expect their order by Thursday. I see this when I order items as well. There is no way the post office can get and item there that fast unless the customer lives in the same town...
I do not believe Etsy is taking down businesses because every time I go and do a search I find tons of businesses selling NFL products, Disney products, and other products that are not allowed some. I’ve reported and nothing has happened. They’re still there and it’s unfair to all of us.
As we mention in the video, Etsy cannot legally take down IP violating content. Only the owner of the IP can report the content as their own. If Etsy were to start removing Disney content, for example, they would be responsible for the moderation of ALL potential IP violating content. And new IP is created daily. Etsy can either regulate all IP content (not possible due to liability), or they can leave it up to the IP owners to file the reports. Which they do when reported by the IP owner. The best thing you, as a seller, can do is report IP infringement directly to Disney. They have an entire page on their website dedicated to IP abuse. I'm in contact with an IP lawyer who will hopefully be able to come onto my channel soon to discuss these topics.
@@StarlaMoore Yes, I understand the owner of the IP has sole responsibility to report their own content. This is not up to Etsy to remove Disney, for example, if Disney does not make an IP violation report. However, what about violations of Etsy's OWN house rules? There are 100's of shops selling pornography, adult content with nudity, drug paraphernalia, apparel with messages of hatred and violence, weapons, magic spells, tarot card readings, mass-produced merchandise and more. Etsy DOES have the authority to shut down these shops but they do not. Why?
My concern is Etsy’s track record for shutting shops with no justification. I witnessed my neighbors life fall apart as a result of shutting down her shop with no justification. She didn’t have the opportunity to speak with anyone. I’m now fully on Shopify but I do miss my Etsy community.
When it comes to having a production partner.... how far does this go? We have invested in expensive equiptment to help us print our designs onto all sorts of products. So we buy in "blanks" to print into. So for example, we buy in large numbers of blank books where we then create a design and print it onto the book (personalised etc) Do we have to declare that we are buying in blanks and as we are not making them from scratch completely? In ur head they are just "materials" to use to make different products.
Sick of Temu crap on Etsy. Most of the jewellery is Temu.
Hello! Thank you so much for this video. I felt pressured to offer returns for vintage a few years back and I know have that feature on in my store for the past few years. We have had sellers return items for sizing being off, does that downgrade my shops status?
If they really want to "keep etsy human" they are going to have to start cracking down on AI generated art. It's literally everywhere. I see the appeal because it is so fast and so easy, but at the same time - it basically makes it so if you are print on demand - absolutely no part of your business is actually a human experience anymore.
I know a shop owner that opened a POD shop with AI art after months and hundreds of hours learning AI prompting. A newbie with AI can't compete with his designs by far
Exactly. AI art prompts is not art!
So what do we as sellers need to do in order to benefit from the gift mode? Adding tags like “gift for dad , gift for mom “ etc? Can we do an episode on this? Thank you.
Seems like they should just reset everything to the way it was a few years ago. Just get rid of all the cheap Chinese crap, no drop shipping and allow POD, but people need to take their own pictures. No mock ups. People need to invest in their businesses. I did. I didn’t have someone show me what to buy, where to buy it, have it designed and made for me. It just seems like that’s when sellers were making money. I can go to printify and design my own item and have them send it to and save the money. My products aren’t for gifts but I still have everything in gift mode. Doing anything to get my traffic back to what it was. The economy sucks and people are scared what will happen with an election coming up. Not to mention with so many social media influencers pushing a minimalist lifestyle and how to live a bare basic life. It’s only gonna get worse. When it comes to gifts I just get people visa gift cards so they can use the money for what they really need. Gas, food, paying a bill. Ask yourself in these times would you rather have gas in your car to get to work or another coffee cup with your name on it. It’s a waste of money for me and them. People spend real money when it comes to buying something for themselves cause they KNOW they want that. I just feel like pushing this gift thing is wasting time. Maybe do some “Treat Yourself” campaign instead.
On the other hand, there are always birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and holidays. And there will always be demand for these occasions. But I completely agree. Times are hard. And elections historically have a huge impact on ALL ecommerce, even outside of the US. I personally speculate that shoppers will be holiday shopping extra early this year in order to spread out their "spending", as well as to put a buffer between holiday shopping and election time.
(**adding a quick disclaimer for any future commenters that any politically-focused comments will be removed. Comments about the election in general, related to ecomm, are okay as long as they remain unbiased and applicable to the topic)
Anecdotally, I actually just used the gift mode to find a bday gift for my boyfriend and it was actually really helpful. Gave me ideas i wouldn’t have otherwise. I don’t like giving him gift cards so I always try to find something unique. Most of my purchases on Etsy are either supplies for my business or gifts. I rarely buy anything for myself on there.
I get what you are saying about not altering the image and using the same stock photos. How would this affect us selling embroidery items since most of us cannot digitize designs? All the embroidery desings purchaed are from Etsy. They may be the same desing but maybe done in different thread colors. Would this affect my shop?
Do you think this will trickle to machine embroidery? A lot of designs are purchased and embroidered without altering. For instance...a single initial on a towel or t-shirt.
Do you guys think its okay to have duplicates of a listing with the main image changed to the same product but in another color?
You can absolutely have duplicate listings within a single shop. We recommend doing this when A/B split testing things like thumbnails, titles, etc. You just can't have the same item in more than one shop.
49:00 I like Pam's advice about using a different photo as your main image if you are selling that same item on different platforms. Like Etsy and maybe your own website.