r/EtsySellers

So Ive had my etsy shop now almost a year. It will be a year on the 26th of this month! I have had just over 500 sales. I have 162 reviews and finally it happened. I got my first 1 star review.

(I sell fossils, crystals and minerals for reference)

So the background is this. A customer from the US order a meteorite slice from me (im based in the UK). They used a discount code, and where brought in from an off-site ad. 3 hours after they purchased they asked for me to cancel the order. Now my shop has a no cancellation policy as ive got an order and within 20 minutes ive had it packaged and dropped down to the post office. (Just depends what im doing when an order comes through)

I had already bought the postage for this item, paid the customs and had everything ready to go and had dispatched it. I explained this to the customer and she was like but I want to cancel it. So i said id speak with etsy.

Etsy basically said they would side with me and support my shop policy etc and as a solution the customer could simply post the product back when they receive it or if they are happy to accept a partial refund minus postage costs etc.

Went back to the customer, explained it, gave them what the refund amount would be etc and they where like just send the item. They thanked me and said they understood etc.

I then flagged everything with etsy and warned that they may try something or give a 1 star review.

Well today I got the 1 star review...

"I do not recommend x"

Whats infuriating is obviously its an opinion, doesnt explain anything or that they even said for me to send the item etc... I figure there is zero point reporting this to etsy as it probably won't be taken down... but what should I do? Do I message her being all polite being like was there any issues with the product etc or do I reply to the review?

I probably shouldnt complain too much as im now a 4.9 stars out of 5 and it makes my shop look more real. But im just really annoyed because if I could have cancelled the order I would have! I may have avoided having to pay offsite ad fees on the item which had lots of likes 🙃

Advice wanted!

I wish they would allow the free shipping option to be raised to $50. Would really help!

Hi everyone, I’m hoping to learn how more experienced Etsy sellers actually choose their tags.

I’ve been on Etsy for about 9 months and currently have 6 sales. After looking more closely at my stats, I’m starting to think one of my biggest issues may be SEO and that my products simply aren’t being shown to enough of the right buyers.

I’ve been going through my tags using Etsy Marketplace Insights, and I’m realizing some phrases I thought sounded relevant have almost no searches, while other related terms have thousands.

So I’d really like to know how you guys approach this.
Do you focus more on search volume, competition, conversion rate, or long tail keywords? Do you use Etsy Marketplace Insights, eRank, or something else? And when choosing your 13 tags, do you repeat important words like “pumpkin,” “door,” or “hanger” across different phrases, or try to make every tag completely different?

I’m not looking for a magic formula. I’m just trying to understand what experienced sellers actually do before publishing a listing.

Any advice is appreciated. I’m definitely willing to hear what I may be doing wrong.

I've been selling on Etsy for 7 years, selling handmade stuff, I dont sell much but I take pride in my craft so I can say more than 99% of my reviews are 5*, be it quality, customer services or shipping on time etc...

But lately, for the last year, I've noticed almost all of my 5* reviews said almost the same thing "Looks exactly as the picture" which got me wondered, how bad was it out there that the bare minimum of "your product looks like your picture" has now become a 5* quality, its kinda sad really.

i got an email from Pirate Ship saying that shipping to non-contiguous states will be 10+ days of shipping and ground advantage under 1 lb will mostly travel by surface (im guessing is slower than air).

i already had a “may be late” on 2 packages that were shipping to alaska and south dakota from ny when i was shipping it out 3 days before my processing time. do you think etsy will adjust for this? theres going to be a lot of angry customers especially with the holiday season

I’ve been on Etsy a year and a half and just hit 200 sales! I resell vintage stuff, and I just love the upcycle/recycle of giving something a “second” home. To my husband and I, our shop is selling at a great rate. Conversion hovers around 2.5% and we’re content with that. Keep on keeping on sellers!

Hello you guys,

I just launched an etsy page targeted to nurses and eventually healthcare professionals but I have now further realised a growing number of people hate "AI slop" and I may have made a mistake making digital products with AI.

Surprisingly, it took me many hours and days to make one product prompting over and over again until it made every little detail as a described.

I tried to post in another reddit yesterday (if that is what you call it) and was rejected because it said "This sub does not allow AI generated posts, comments, images, shops, and products.” And I'm like WTF I envisioned these products specialized for nurses down to every detail due to my daughter's 11 year nursing career. I had to receive constant input but now here I am, not even allowed to post in reddit.

Sooo...I think I made a mistake spending days and weeks creating products and spending 100s of dollars on AI.

I honestly wanted to sell something I felt was valuable on etsy and I am very very happy with what I made because boy, any nurse would love love love my products guaranteed!

I welcome ideas you all have. Is my use of AI ok or should I start over with something else? I don't know what to sell, I am only exceptional at technology so I wanted to put that to use and although I am exceptional at technology. I am not exceptional enough to create what I created with AI. So I am in a major dilemma.

Stop using AI and help sell my family member's crochet or just quit.

I just don't know what to do 😔

I am writing this to make others aware of what goes on inside Anne Maud’s program, Upstrider, before anyone else hands over their hard earned money. I was roped in and stayed in her membership for about five months, paying £100 a month, before I fully realized what was actually happening and decided to walk away. I didn't even bother wasting my energy asking for a refund because I knew their policy is completely locked down, so I just cut my losses at £500 and got out of the loop.

When you see the ads on social media, it is heavily marketed as an e-commerce academy that teaches you how to scale a digital products business to £30k a month on Etsy. But as soon as you buy into the program, the reality of her "30K Ecosystem" changes completely. Almost immediately, she basically tells you that you cannot just sell on Etsy alone to make that kind of money. Instead, the strategy shifts entirely away from organic Etsy growth and she pushes you onto Instagram to sell, sell, sell.

The actual business model is a pyramid scheme at its finest. You are instructed to take generic, AI-made digital products from her library, like packages of 300 Instagram posts, and list them on your Etsy store for under £1. Some people sell for like 69p so make absolutely nothing if they even manage to sell anything anyway!

Then the catch is that these cheap products have Upstrider links planted all over them and you are told to add your "special" link everywhere. The entire hope is that the buyer will buy the cheap item, click the link inside it, and get sucked into Anne's high-ticket funnel which is 2/3/4 emails a day promising them that they too can make £30k a month just like the buyer who sold you the 69p product!! If they sign up for her course through your link, she pays you a percentage of it.

The "ecosystem" is literally just you acting as an affiliate salesperson, setting up an Etsy shop as a front to recruit the next wave of buyers into her high-ticket course. In the 5 months I have joined only 1 person from the whatsapp group made an affiliate link sale, all new members came directly from Anne. But everyone on the whatsapp group, including me for a while, is adament a sale will come... but it never does! Like who is going to buy an item for 69p on etsy from a niche that is most of the time unrelated to becoming an etsy seller e.g. a children's brithday invitation, and then decide to buy Upstrider's £2000 membership?!?!

Meanwhile, you are paying her either £100 a month for the privilege of doing her marketing for her, or you've just paid a massive lump sum of nearly £2k upfront!!

I am still sitting in her private community WhatsApp group right now, and it is deeply frustrating to watch so many other people pay her money without realizing what they are actually trapped in. If you are seeing her ads or considering booking a call, please protect your finances and don't fall for the polished lifestyle marketing. Real e-commerce doesn't require you to pay a monthly subscription just to resell your coach's course.

Just please be warned and be careful!

I am newer to Etsy and trying to get my site going well. Been here a few times asking questions and have got good feedback so far, besides a few turds, haha!

I am working on getting more designs done so I can have more listings. How many listings is the minimum you think a shop should have?

I don’t want to use AI a lot because it deters some people away. Are there good canva templates to help out with pictures, or what do you use to create backgrounds, text, dimensions on pics?

Do you have much luck on getting traffic from pinterest?

Hey everyone,

I'm very new to Etsy, only finished setting up my listings last week.

I create original Artwork; dreamscapes, surrealism and more and I am selling museum grade Giclee prints. It's only been a week, but I've barely had any traffic. I have 1 sale (from a friend) but just wanted some advice and if I could improve my shop somehow?

https://www.etsy.com/shop/DanielleJaneArt

I tried ads today, so being patient for results.

Also is it worth uploading more listings of other artwork, even though I've just begun?

Thanks in advance and I hope you like my artwork :)

1 - www. jtkmedia.etsy.com

2 - I am trying to figure out whats going on with my Etsy store to drive business and sales. I cannot figure this out on my own as I’ve had hundreds of apps and sites thrown at me to sign up with instead of answers.

Is there something that I have not done right that I can fix on my store listings?

What SEO tags should I change to for better sales?

3 - I started my shop to bring apparel, gear, and wall art for the Pup Community. The largest reason I started Good Pup was to show that there is a SFW side that has nothing to do with misconceptions of sex and promiscuity.

Before I opened my store, I looked at what it would costs to start making my art and supplies. I started with just decals and have been fighting an uphill battle ever since, as I have only had some word of mouth traction on social media. I haven’t sold any of my apparel yet, but only the carabinersthat I have and one decal. I have been selling at Pride and local events only, and have been trying to expand to online so I can sell at larger events in NC. Many, like OutRaleigh, require me to have a decent footprint before I can apply to sell at OutRaleigh Pride.

I feel that my products are special, not just because i made them, but because they can be worn as everyday wear. I have gone out of my way to help design and make safe-for-work gear and apparel to help with my goal of showing that there is a non-sexual side to pup play.

Hi there peeps, I have an exclusive artisan skin care line made with Amazonian botanicals imported from South America. I understand that a lot of successful sellers here have many products. But I have maybe four or five really good products that are well vetted in South America, have their repeat clients. That being said, if the visuals, marketing copy, and SEO are well optimized does having few products matter? Thanks ahead of time!