DSF

I imagine everyone has a web site with perhaps an online shop or an online presence of some sort.
But I have been wondering about ETSY.

From personal experiance I am not a fan of POD and that seems to be what the majority of ETSY shops are, but I am sure there are some people who are their own POD supplier.

So I am trying to work out, as someone who has never had an etsy account, if ETSY is the way to go. Do you set it up under a side name or as a copy of your main business. I also understand you have to pay fees every month for what your advertising and then you might have to pay for Etsy ads, god knows where the advertisements shown as Ive not knowingly seen one. Although do you make sales then factor in ads or do you purchase ads in the hope of making sales?

BAsically are there any tsy experts on the grou who can "learn me up" or point me at an Etsy roadmap so I can learn about it and decide if its a worthwhile pathway to take.


Thanks in advance

Tony

I'm no Etsy expert but we've been on the platform for a number of years. Initially we preferred it to NOTHS as fees were around 7% on Etsy, 25% on NOTHS. The fees have increased over the years on Etsy to the point where they now take a % of your shipping!

Issue with Etsy is you have to really be on the ball, if you don't respond to a message quickly, ship quickly etc. you get a reduced rating. This happens very easily and impacts your products visibility on searches. Very soon you can get warnings from them.

Contacting Etsy as a seller is made extremely difficult. Best description I was ever given for Etsy is that they are the farmer who owns all of the land, you are renting some of that land without a contract. if they want you "Off my land!!" They just boot you off. Happened to us many years ago, we came in on what should have been a busy Monday morning to find zero orders. Not notification from Etsy but they'd suspended our account. It took me 2 weeks to get to speak to a human being in Ireland and I had to really push to get it investigated. Most folk give up at this stage it appears. Eventually after a further couple of weeks the suspension was lifted. No apology, we were told our account had 'incorrectly' been associated with another seller who was breaking the rules! Ever since we've been fine.

You need 500+ products to stand any chance of standing out. Great titles and descriptions, the algorithm was always getting changed so the goal posts move, it's a full time job keeping on top of everything.

Etsy can and does work but you have to put in the time. Everything is pretty much saturated and it's hard to stand out. Advertising does help but you can find yourself paying £300 per month only to get £300 a month in orders so had to be carefully monitored.

Plenty of online help for sellers, local groups....Etsy Anonymous no doubt

Oh my, that sounds awful. I had heard ebay was bad and shopify a fees nightmare. I wonder what the alternatives, if any, there are

Justin wrote: 11 Apr 2026, 11:01 Plenty of online help for sellers, local groups....Etsy Anonymous no doubt

hahaha, you nearly had me searching for Etsy Anonymous

They have confession as well....."It's been 7 months since my last sale.." Pay 10% commission and £300 advertising my Son.

Justin wrote: 11 Apr 2026, 11:05 They have confession as well....."It's been 7 months since my last sale.." Pay 10% commission and £300 advertising my Son.

So, what alternatives do/will you use please JUstin

My advice would be to concentrate on your own website and drive traffic there, far better in the long run, you have full control. Sure, it's not an easy option but imo much better.

Lots of folk rely on Etsy and it bites them in the bum.

There are essentially 2 views on how to work Etsy.

1/ As many products as fast as possible and advertise everything with loads of money.
2/ Don't do the above.

A link to a chap who is the second option.

https://www.youtube.com/@etsyconsultant

I have linked to that as there are gazillions of "experts" for option 1.

I am just returning to Etsy after years away, so I can't advise which is best. However I am following option 2 to see if it works.

Also trying to get a website running and eBay.

I used to do alright out of eBay and Etsy but got distracted with a different business idea, which never really got off the ground. I should have stuck with what I was doing originally, but "Hey Hoe" that's life.