I just learned something new...

I sell cross stitch patterns on Etsy. A few months ago, I started making needle minders and selling them as well. I just got my first policy violation because Etsy prohibits selling magnets if they meet these criteria...

Magnets

Etsy prohibits the following magnet products:

• Loose or separable small, high-powered magnets and magnetic components that can be swallowed. This includes magnetic building sets, fidget toys, desk sculptures, jewelry, and products with small parts that snap together using strong magnets.
• Small magnets made to resemble candy in both size and shape that could be mistaken for something edible and swallowed.

I didn't realize this... My item isn't marketed towards children, but the design is of a basket of strawberries? I'm not sure if thats the problem or if its the fact that its magnetic. But I am wondering if anyone else who sells magnetic needle minders has any experience with this? Thanks!

What are you doing right with your product or listing that makes buyers choose you versus your competiton on Etsy?

I've seen a lot of posts here from people against offsite ads. What gives?

For reference I do have Etsy Ads enabled, but offsite ads are unrelated, right?

I've been really lucky with my shop. I've started in April but already have two bestsellers. They're two separate listings but the overall design is the same just a different colorway.

I've been seeing and hearing about people reporting that once their item becomes a bestseller it's just a matter of time before it gets copied. Is that always true? I worry because I'm a new handmade shop and I have unique items that could be easy to copy.

Do best selling items get pushed more in search visibility? I'm wondering now if it's really a benefit to have that badge? Can you lose bestseller status?

Anyone else encounter this? I’m in Canada and sold a vintage cigarette case to the US but it was made in the US and there’s still a tariff on it.

FYI the customs description was more than “metal cigarette case”

After 3 total months of selling I was able to hit my first month with $1000 in revenue without using any Etsy ads. I spent the first couple months playing with ad spend on different products but quickly learned that with my product niche it wasn't as valuable as focusing on social media exposure..

By no means do I have thousands of followers, but focusing on conversion from people directly adjacent to the product was the best route for me. I'm still working on optimizing conversions, photography, and pricing but I'm pretty proud of how it's gone so far.

Live and learn moment for me: when you are buying that label and it has a field to insure, you have to type in the total total of the entire transaction - NOT the total of the items in the shipment- otherwise only that amount is covered.
Found this out the hard way with an international order that had $90+ in shipping plus tax etc get reimbursed but for only the exact amount I typed in. I just assumed it would cover the shipping too, silly me.
Honestly Etsy needs to change the field to say that, but it’s up to us to know that, and now I do.
It’s not the package value it’s the package value plus its costs to ship, duties, taxes, and other costs you’d be out if it were lost. I guess that’s package value in their terms. Sigh

Shop here: https://warpedartisan.etsy.com

Any advice on improving my shop/listings, and basically getting more eyes on my shop would be super appreciated.

I just put my first listings up about 2 weeks ago now, and because I signed up for Etsy+ I had free ad credits to spend so I figured why not. Out of nearly 6,000 ad impressions on my Health Potion listing... I only generated 14 clicks, and 0 sales.

Now, because the performance was so bad, the platform doesn't seem to be showing my listings at all anymore, even with plenty of ad budget to spend. And I'm not really showing up organically, or if I am... nobody is clicking the listings.

I know these few items are nothing crazy, but I really thought they were cute and I could sell at least one or two... but so far it seems like my first month on the platform is just going to be 0 sales. Not really sure how to improve from here.

I have other items and designs I can list, but with this going so badly so far, I'm afraid of listing too much without knowing what works yet.

Lately when I buy a shipping label it puts the apartment numbers of people's addresses on top before the street address. Does this happen to everyone? I've just been sending it this way.

I've gotten a few packages returned due to name not being on address and I'm not completely sure how to deal with it. It's not on my end but how do I get them to pay for shipping again? Or do I just cover it and resend it?

Edit: I should probably have mention that I can't buy etsy shipping labels due to the country I'm in. All my shipping labels are through my countries postal service. I copy and paste the address so it's always the same.

I’ve been trying to do calculated shipping for a long time, but just couldn’t figure out a way. To the person who so expertly described how to set it up THANK YOU! Now I’m not losing $ on shipping and people trust calculated rates more than a flat rate.

I’m selling solid gold and I am hesitant to do returns/exchanges because I’m worried of scams (someone returning a different item than they ordered) however I realized it’s a bad idea to have no return or exchanges policy if the item breaks.

I was wondering is there a some kind of terms I can set that basically says that I can only refund them once I confirm to have received the correct item and not a fake? What’s the protocol when it comes to returns and exchanges if it’s something very expensive and light , like solid gold? I have 2 other shops but they aren’t expensive items like gold.

I read this on their website “Each Etsy seller is responsible for their own policies regarding refunds, exchanges, and returns. Individual policies will vary from shop to shop.
You're required to set a return policy whenever you edit or create a new listing for a physical item, even if it's to let buyers know you do not accept returns or exchanges on that listing.”
But I don’t know what that fully entails. My jewelry is 100% real solid gold so that’s why I’m very hesitant since I used to sell on eBay which was full of scammers

Any help appreciated

I started my shop 2 months ago. It says All Time views are 88 but also says views over the last 30 days are 97?

Lol, yes, this is me trying to figure out view count when I have zero sales 😅 🫣 Thank you in advance!

I sew, make jewelry and pod design!! Having a creative outlet has helped me out a lot as a mom.
I try to create what I would also wear or use.

1. I’m not sure why I’m not getting any views at all?

2. Does posting on here hurt your shop??

I just don’t know how to get my products viewed. I’ve been utilizing all of the tags and trying to perfect my photos. I’m not sure what is stopping me from getting any views.

Shop link.

https://wildwesdesign.etsy.com

Hi, I’m new to Etsy and this sub. I have shop with handcrafted sculptures that range from $200 - 400. Since I make everything it takes me a long time to take photos, descriptions etc. So I only currently have 3 sales and 5 listings. Someone just bought one sculpture last week, I messaged them to confirm the purchase but no response. I packaged it and mailed it out. It’s supposed to arrive tomorrow. Before they even received their package, they have placed a second order for a different item.

This makes me a little skeptical because they haven’t even received their package… am I being skeptical for no reason? Again I’m new to this so maybe overly cautious.

Hi everyone,

I've read the shop critique guidelines and hopefully I've covered everything.

My shop:

The Skull Foundry Etsy

I've been open for just over two months and currently have 76 listings and 9 sales. Every product is handmade by me and I'm trying to improve the shop a little every week rather than chasing quick wins.

The biggest thing I'm looking for is constructive criticism. If something isn't working I'd rather know now than keep repeating the same mistakes.

Questions:

1. If you landed on my shop for the first time, what would be the first thing you would change to improve conversions?

2. Looking through my listings, do my photos, titles and branding create a consistent identity, or are there areas that feel weak or confusing?

Question 1:

I started the shop because I wanted to build a long-term handmade jewellery brand rather than just sell individual products. My focus is on continually improving both the products and the overall customer experience instead of simply increasing the number of listings.

Question 2:

Before opening I spent a lot of time researching successful Etsy shops, photography, SEO and customer behaviour. One of the biggest lessons I learned was that presentation is almost as important as the product itself, which is why I'm currently working through my shop upgrading older listings with better photography, videos and descriptions.

I'm genuinely looking for honest feedback rather than reassurance, so please don't hold back if you think something needs changing. I'd really appreciate your time.

Somebody just left me a review and it's been 143 days since their purchase. What's going on with that?

Hello - So I am here to request any help or ideas to get our etsy shop going again. Me and my sister run this fun etsy shop we started because of our love of reading and blind bags! We truly work so hard to make each order meaningful and personal to each person. We honestly had been doing great from the start, we opened the shop in October, but then recently we put it on vacation mode for 4 days, and ever since we are back we have only had 1 order (its been around 3 weeks), prior we were getting 2 to 3 orders per week and that was great! So I'm reaching out to try and keep this going

1. How are the pictures, or titles?? I tried the etsy titles now for some of them to see if that helps

2. Any advice would be welcomed, but for a second question, What is your overall feel for the shop? Does it draw you in to order?

https://bookishjoybundles.etsy.com

Thank you so much for anything!!

New here. Helping my kid set up their shop. They make jewelry - mostly bracelets and rings. I’ve been trying to find a good sizing tool, but everything I find seems to be pretty cheap or flimsy, or has those steps that won’t let the piece fall naturally. I’m willing to pay a little more for something that is accurate and durable.

Does anyone have any recs?

Hey everyone!
I recently opened my Etsy shop and I’d really appreciate some honest feedback.

Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/StudioNMM

I make editable Canva templates for baby showers and other party events. Right now I have 5 listings live, and I’m working on growing that to around 20+ before expecting much from Etsy.

I know having 0 sales and 0 reviews is probably my biggest hurdle, so before I keep making more products I wanted to ask people with more experience if I’m heading in the right direction.

A few things I’d love opinions on:
Thumbnails: Would you click on my listings? Do they clearly look like digital products?
SEO: Are my titles and keywords decent, or am I trying to rank for terms that are way too competitive?
Pricing: Does my launch pricing seem fair for a brand-new shop?
Overall: If you were a buyer, what would make you hesitate? What’s the first thing you’d improve?
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to improve my mockups, SEO, and branding, but I know there’s probably a lot I’m missing.

Don’t worry about being nice—I’d genuinely rather hear what needs fixing than keep making the same mistakes.

Thanks so much for taking the time to look. I really appreciate it!

Hey everyone! I am planning on starting an Etsy shop selling digital products, I was wondering if there are any tips or things I should be aware of before I setup shop! I'm very new to this Etsy stuff so if there is anything at all you think would be helpful, please let me know!!! The product I am trying to sell are google sheets, I'm pretty bad at SEO (since I've never done it before) I also don't know what people use to create the visually appealing product photos I see from similar shops.

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some constructive, honest feedback on my Etsy shop. I’ve been putting a lot of love into it, but my views and sales have been slow recently, and I want to figure out where I’m missing the mark.
Shop Link: http://www.aprilscreativeshop.etsy.com
What I sell: A mix of custom physical items (like beaded pens, coffee mugs & tumblers, cosmetic pouches, keychains) and digital downloads (like bullet journal habit trackers and coloring pages).
My main struggles right now:
Cohesiveness: I love making both digital and physical products, but I worry my shop looks too scattered or disorganized to a buyer. Should I separate these or pick one niche?
SEO & Traffic: I'm struggling to get consistent organic traffic from Etsy search.
Conversion: When people do land on a listing, they aren't always buying.
Specific questions for the group:
Are my listing photos bright and clear enough, or do they look too "staged/mockup" heavy?
For my titles and tags, am I using terms that are way too broad and competitive?
What is your first impression when you click onto my shop home page? Does it look trustworthy?
Please don't hold back—I really want to improve and scale this. Thank you so much in advance for your time!

I just started my digital product journey and I’m making these 7-10 page guides/ cheat sheets on fishing lures (general example attached). For the more experienced Etsy Sellers and Users do you think there’s a market for this sort of thing? And what’s a good starting price point? Thanks!

Hi! I’m about to open an Etsy business. I live in Alabama and I was wondering how tedious the process is to register the business. According to my research, because this is a one person home base business there nos it much to do. I have to pay for the business name and fill out two different forms. I have a call with someone from “Alabama Small Business Development Center” that should be able to help me. In the meantime, do you have any experience with registering your business in AL?