Is Etsy Dead in 2024? What You Really Need to Know

[@3Mfarm]

my biggest struggle is turning favorites into sales. I get people favoriting my items daily, but not buying.

[@adriandolezal3961]

I’ve noticed a lot of people that favorite things are often just doing that, favoriting things just to browse and not really shopping. Ive looked at the profile most times favoring my stuff but then see they favored 50 other things in the last hour

[@MandalaBunnyhome]

Ive been on etsy over 10 years, i even quit my day job at one point, but i gave up this year. My shop is still open but i do literally nothing with it other than fill a few random orders a week, i dont promote it or tell people about it anymore. I have a seperate digital shop and its insane the number of people who steal content and relist it

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

I have a nightmare of a story I’ll have to tell one day about something similar!

[@ScrapHappyYarns]

I’m a indie yarn dyer.. my shop has been open 2 weeks and I’ve gotten 1 sale ( my mom) but several people are liking my listings/ shop. Trying to learn the ins and out so thankful I found your channel!

[@Crystal04913]

My issue with Etsy lately has been the competition. I started my shop in January of 2022 and it was doing amazing the first year because not many shops were making what I do. And now this year there’s been tons of competition and my shops taken a huge hit. I’ve honestly been thinking of leaving Etsy because of this.

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

There is more competition for sure, I think with more you have to really change up your strategies and start marketing in new ways!

[@russellgtw]

The reselling is absolutely destroyed Etsy, and eventually they will figure it out, and they will beg us to come back, they have been knowingly in breach of their terms of service with their maker users. One of these days they are gonna get sued

[@Itravelbackintime]

Etsy is the Titanic platform I refuse to sail with. Having your own platform and having control over your brand and customer list a no brainer. Dont do what most people do but by putting in the work and really own your business. There are no short cuts. The choice is simple either build your business or build someone else's. Its your money and time at the end of the fay so make it count.

[@codyglass809]

Yes it's dead. Been selling on there for like 10yrs. Around April all my traffic tanked and seems may others did as well. Everything down at least 75%. It's for mass produced junk now and I think it's their priority. Even their new app is practically unusable. Cant even post in their forums because I "lack sufficient privileges". Oh and fees are up to about 50% of a sale.

[@anasofiasaavedra5812]

I struggle a lot with posting on social media (even though I literally work as a social media manager lmao!) because I have problems creating content that stands out and reaches the right audience. I mostly post on IG and Pinterest, and IG is my biggest struggle, especially with the demand for video content nowadays

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

Thanks for sharing! It can be tough but I always recommend just filming every part of what you do for your small business and turn those into reels! Share a day in the life, packing orders, making items, or just cute overviews of new items! Those are video ideas you can repeat weekly!

[@daretoskate]

I started selling at the start of 2020, but recently decided to shut my shop down. Why? For the first year or so the fees weren't that bad, but they started inacting all or these extra fees and increasing existing ones. It had also seemed like they had been charging several times for the same fee! After awhile I noticed that when my money got sent to My bank eveyweek, I had only ended up getting less than half of what I should have gotten! The 6% fee that they tell you they charge when you first sign up is a lie, there are all or these other fees that they charge you for that you didn't agree to paying. Another thing was that I had been charged for an advertising fee [which I didn't turn on] several times for my high price items!

[@Jeniveve]

I use a formula of 20 cents plus 9.5% (something like that). There’s a transaction fee and processing fee. Then you possibly have offsite ads. Relative to other platforms like Amazon, etc. Etsy fees are comparable. It’s also the most user friendly.

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

Advertising fees have definitely been a big one I’ve seen sellers upset with!

[@Tish.H]

Ok so now I know I'm not the only one! I thought my eyes were deceiving me but I have also caught being charged multiple fees and sometimes favorites won't show up or sales won't show up. It would be really disturbing if they were taking most of our earnings and we're essentially working for them.

[@daretoskate]

@@Tish.H Thats exactly what I think they are doing! They are always talking about how much they love and are working with sellers to help them grow their businesses but in reality it the other way around. They only care about the buyers and only give sellers enough resources to sell our items to make etsy more money!

[@Spinkleofwhimsy]

Etsy is totally dead. Ever since that strike in March 2022 my shop totally died. I was making 3k to 5k a month now I'm lucky to make 500. It seems like people prefer to buy directly from a seller instead of from a platform like Etsy. It's really sad I have been a seller for over 11 years.

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

I’ve definitely seen a noticeable difference as well. I’d really love to see them implement some changes to help bring the focus back on small shop owners and less on mass produced products

[@Spinkleofwhimsy]

@Lauren Heath I feel like they're trying to be amazon. They have kind of a bad reputation now for a bunch of reasons and I'm not sure if they could ever come back.

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

I’ve heard that a ton from people on here! I’ll be interested to see for sure!

[@johnhipp604]

Can I ask you a question

[@agedefyingfitness]

Time to adapt.

[@JasonMax01]

I been selling on Etsy since 2014. This year is already a total loss. I made $29 last week with 2k items. Traffic is gone and sales are gone. Ads just steal my money. The only time my sales pick up is June, November and December. It use to be year around.

[@TwoBusyCrafting77]

Hey Lauren miss seeing you on my timeline 🤗🤗🤗🤗 thank you for sharing great information it’s always a great help ❤ hope to see ya again soon.

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

Thank you!!

[@eugeniaedits]

Thank you Lauren, I have noticed my sales decreased 70% on Etsy and I have 4 stores in totally different niches and I am seeing this across all of them. I do post on IG and do use Tailwind for Pinterest. But I feel like I should start a blog and maybe drive traffic that way. Ugh so fraustrating. Thank you for your video :)

[@clairedenise111]

Same here. Been selling on Etsy for 10 years. Was doing so well. This year has been the worse.

[@brookesugden7915]

Biggest struggle is finding the time to compete with the people that are just powerhouses. I am in the digital product sector btw. I work 40-50 hours a week and still have to have time to do the daily things, but also post enough just to keep up. Second biggest struggle is getting sales defiantly very hard to compete with the top players in this game.

[@feeham]

But these influencers selling idea of passive income and make 1 million a month easily.... hahahaha...

[@DareDavid-or1vf]

Can I be your help with this ?

[@lserrymehl]

There's so much competition on Etsy now it's so hard to be a seller. Most of my listings are showing up on the first page, and often times one of the first items. I used to do really well on Etsy, and my listings are still showing up front page, but due to a flooded market I'm losing sales to cheaper shops, shops that ship same day or offer free shipping (even on items under $10.00 - how's that even possible!?? UGH!) 😄😄

[@stormybaxley975]

I'd REALLY really like to hear your take on tiktok shop... if you've tried it or why you might or might not.... you've got your mind wrapped around this so well and I'm just trying to get someone else's perspective on it!!!🖤🖤🖤🖤

[@firdowskruger9896]

Thank you for sharing. Love from Pretoria, South Africa 🇿🇦 ❤️

[@liciatoday]

My biggest struggle is having items favorited but no sales. I started trying social media but I feel like I really have no clue on if I am posting correctly because I get likes on my post but doesn’t translate to views for my shop.

[@funcreationsadventures1814]

Love your channel! I am interested in learning more about the service that you offer. My Etsy shop is 8 months old and making sales but not as consistent as it was a few months back. I need help figuring out what I can do to improve it.

[@lizwuli1007]

I am overwhelmed with the workload 🤨Creating constantly new high-quality (!) listings is hard. Will there ever be a time when Etsy becomes somehow "passive"? Or are shops only growing or making money if they constantly produce new listings? 🤔

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

It can get to a point of passive income but it still will require work because Etsy is an every changing platform!

[@feeham]

Etsy is a full time job....PERIOD

[@bandofweirdos]

Hi Lauren! I agree, I really miss how Etsy used to be, thanks for sharing your perspective. Are you still running Cotswold & Co? Miss your content but it looks like you’re closed down! I really hope you’re okay, felt a lil worried ❤️

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

Hi! We are not!

[@bandofweirdos]

@@LaurenHeathCreative Ah okay! Do you think you’ll ever do a story time around what happened? If not I totally get it, just thought I’d be blunt and ask 😂💕

[@eduardolima3936]

I agree about everything you do, for generation X Etsy seller to make good artcrafts, spend time trying SEO, making videos and posting at social media is quite complicated ! That´s why "companies are selling well on Etsy" pack and ship.

[@PatriotLadyFL]

Hello are you available for hire for one on one training for a new Etsy shop?

[@mariner1358]

Is there a better website now?

[@CloudSproutStudio]

I mean, I feel like just being able to pop stuff up and not do anything else kind of defeats the purpose. I honestly don't really want to buy from someone who doesn't care to put any other work into it, coming from an Etsy seller myself. I put tons of work into my business and my art and work two other jobs, but I don't want to just throw my stuff out there and forget about it until it sells. I'm not happy about the market being saturated by other bulk sellers but no matter who you are you have to put work into something that you want to make into a business, not just expect it to all sell itself. I feel like a lot of the comments on here are angry because now they have to put time into their business which....feels like common sense?

[@Jeniveve]

I agree with you. It is way more work than people think. I also see people complain a lot about fees. Seems like a futile thing to fixate on and relative to other platforms, it’s manageable (if you’re not selling $2 digital items…) and it’s the most user friendly.

[@CloudSproutStudio]

@@Jeniveve Exactly! Yes, fees suck, but no matter where you sell your items you will be paying. Paying for your own domain, paying for a booth spot at a festival, paying fees per sale, etc.

[@willsteve7431]

Hi Lauren. We would like you to let us know how to go about having you review our shop. Thanks! Elizabeth and Bill 1:17

[@akine6879]

Thank you very much for this! Do you know any other places where you can do similar things as you do on Etsy, that maybe work better?

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

Really Shopify if your best option outside of Etsy. Although you’ll have to drive your own traffic for that!

[@TeaLeaf222]

Great video. Honest and straight to it!

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

Thanks so much!

[@jonnychavez9932]

Taking a shot in the dark here hopeing some one can help answer my holiday discounts and sales question since when I search all I pull up is "how to boost your sales..." ok so here are my Q - how many days or weeks prior to a holiday should you start offering the sale or discount? Would that be the same for the "Holiday Season" as oposed to lesser celebrated holidays that may still be a good reason to have a sale?

[@blissessentials524]

Aren't we supposed to have a flash sale all the time??

[@Jeniveve]

Are the items holiday specific or are they items in your shop that you want to push for during the holidays? If it’s the latter, are they generating sales?

[@Jeniveve]

General best practices are running sales during times you know your customers are shopping. For example: i get a bulk of my sales on Friday, Sunday and Monday. Run the sale for 24-48 hours at a time so you have that countdown. I could run a 24 hour sale every day for 7 days, but I don’t really find it makes a huge difference. Plus, I do want to urge people to buy. Without knowing too much detail. I’d list the new item for the holiday 4-5 weeks before the holiday. Figure out shipping time (2 weeks before?) and run the sale them. People started shopping about 1.5-2 weeks before Mother’s Day and it totally slowed down this week with the gifts.

[@blissessentials524]

Its definitely somethig to unvest money into .i hear the successful people spends 10k plus just on ads to get a momentum..thats not including the momthly subscriptions and buying nuce mockups..ive invested so munch money to get a little but of momentum and i finally see it starting to take off..and im working on it 8+ hours a day most days im not working at my full time job

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

Interesting! I’ve noticed ads do help but yes they take quite some time to pick up and catch the right eyes for certain products

[@IVFMama22]

How do I get a shop review?

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

Hi Crystal! You can do so here: laurenthurmond.teachable.com/p/etsy-shop-critique1

[@ldiamond0327]

What about VINTAGE????? ITs not all about handmade.....I am just as frustrated, and there are no answers for us Vintage sellers. My sales have plummeted!!!! drastically and this is my only income!!!!!! DISGUSTED!!!

[@LaurenHeathCreative]

I think vintage is a great area of Etsy. But again there are sellers who are sourcing wholesale pieces that aren’t even vintage and selling as though they are

[@HeatherOCain]

They are targeting and deactivating REAL handmade items instead of the Alibaba stuff that makes them $. Even though you can prove your items are handmade they don't care & will not reactivate it most of the time. A real human could see that my items are totally unique and handmade. It is getting very depressing, I guess that is my biggest challenge with Etsy. It seems it is just one thing after another the past couple of years on Etsy, I suggest another platform or your own website!

[@mariner1358]

They are very frustrating.

[@jonbailey6048]

Increasing my conversion rate