Etsy shop

Done with Etsy for Now

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I have some news: I am done with Etsy for now and have removed listings that I recently posted to my Etsy shop Textiles & Smiles.

Some of you warned me a while back when I mentioned returning to Etsy, you mentioned that sellers had had issues.

Recently I listed a couple of my drawstring/project bags on Etsy (I was getting ready to make a big announcement on my blog and on Instagram that my shop was restocked).

I followed Etsy’s STRONG recommendations (they want to compete with Amazon I think) and provided free shipping on the items, by including the cost of shipping (which unfortunately I had underestimated a little) in price of the item. I also included a coordinated little wallet to sort of offset the slightly higher listing price to include the cost of shipping (it felt sort of like playing a game with your customers that I do not like). Etsy rewards you for offering free shipping by giving your listings are higher visibility.

This weekend wonderful woman, who had reached out with the specific bag she was interested in based on an image she saw on my blog, purchased one of my newly listed bags.

I was preparing her order for shipping today and discovered this in my Etsy Shop Manager platform:

I listed the bag for $35.00 for a large drawstring/project bag to include shipping (but you use the bogus term “free shipping” as it isn’t really free, especially if you are a small small business, you have to include the postage cost).

Etsy took fees for shipping ($4.31, okay I expected that and allotted for that), fees for their commission and credit card fees ($4.85, expected, I am still okay with this), AND then they took a fee called “Offsite Ads” for $5.25 which is 15% of the listing price (which included the cost for me to ship the item).

So this left me $20.59 profit, which if I were to meet a certain sales threshold (which I think is $600) in a year, I would also have to pay taxes on. So if just for very rough example sake, let’s say I was in a 22% tax bracket would be $4.53; so that would bring me to $16.06 in net profit.

So I looked at the cost of materials to make the bag (and the little wallet), my time for making, administrative (photos, creating listing, etc), and travel to the post office etc., I am at sweat shop wages of like $3 an hour or less.

I just started crying as I really wanted to sell my handmade items on Etsy and reach a large audience but I just don’t have the heart to work for nearly free. And I can’t do the volume as a sole proprietor of a business to make the fees okay. I am feeling a bit heartbroken.

And the Offsite Ads? Wow I looked into how to turn those off and could not find a way even following their instructions. Plus they said only some shops will be opted out. Plus I do not think the sale came from Offsite Ads (like Google Ads) as the lovely person who bought the bag first contacted me with an image from my blog.

I looked at the Etsy forums for challenges other shops had with these Offsite Ads and found many forum postings like this:

I also found this about Etsy fees. As you will see below this seller is losing 30% each sale to Etsy fees:

I think the only way to be successful on Etsy is to sell digital products (for example pattern downloads) where you have passive income (you create it once, occasionally update it, but don’t have to do anything major on the product again after you upload it), resell items you’ve purchased at a low price (like the whole vintage item resale market); or if you sell products that you can charge a fairly high fee for or produce very inexpensively compared to what you are selling them for.

As fas a digital products, perhaps I will look into that in the future if I start writing patterns, etc. I don’t like listing my drawstring/project bags for $100 a pop will fly – ha!

So I am looking into other ways to sell my bags including revisiting working with brick & mortar stores again (see my post The Tangled Ball and Project Bags) that want to sell my bags, craft shows, and direct sales (I am working on ideas for that and might post them on a page on my blog, more to come), etc.

For now, I’ve updated my Textiles & Smiles Etsy shop with this message that my shop is on hold.

Thanks for reading my rant 🙂

Maybe I’m just not built for this kind of retail…

(I feel ultimately the Universe is telling me to just focus on my art quilting journey…like slapping me in the face about it right now, lol…)

Feature Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

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Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

37 thoughts on “Done with Etsy for Now”

  2. That is too bad! I left Etsy last year because they just weren’t suportive in any way… Have you checked out Makerplace by Michaels? It is through the Michaels Craft Store chain and I see some people are using that to sell their handmade items. Might be worth checking into 😉

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  3. My goodness that is ridiculous! 😳 I haven’t sold on Etsy for a few years now. Have you looked at Ko-Fi? I have sold a few bits on there for the rescue and it seems fine. Also perhaps a direct selling area on your blog maybe? At least you cottoned on with just the one sale and not a whole raft of them! Sending big and grateful hugs. Xx

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  4. That sounds atrocious, but maybe there is another way to sell your stock. We have a pretty good local handmade market and there might be something similar close to you.

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  7. You are very resilient, and I am certain you will have another avenue for getting your artwork out into the world for others to appreciate and enjoy. In the meantime, I hope that you stay encouraged and stay focused on being creative. Good things are on the way. 😊

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  8. I’m so sorry you had to go through this. Etsy is not as good as it once was to their sellers. Have you thought about using another platform for selling your bags?

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  9. This feels like one of those moments you’ll look back on and think ‘oh this was a good choice, because if I hadn’t left Etsy I’d never have discovered (whatever great thing you’re about to discover)’.

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  11. I don’t blame you for your choices. When I saw the fee schedule for Etsy and how they were changing it and raising the cost (and this was w/o the ad fee) I made the decision to close my shop. I can’t make money on a good portion of what I do with 30% or potentially more taken out of every sale.

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  12. I never got around to setting up an Etsy shop. The only way to profit there or anywhere with all these fees is to set prices really high. Then people don’t want to buy. I sell POD ( print on demand) and a lot of my prospective customers are put off by the price hikes in materials, shipping. One of my online stores charges 10%. Enough ranting. 😎. Sorry about your wasted time on Etsy since you seem to want to give up on it.

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  14. Sorry you had to go through all this, but thanks for sharing. Very informative. I was thinking of setting up an Esty accounts, but looks like they have a pretty complicated (sneaky) fee structure. I see people selling crafted items on Postmark. I’m not sure how the bottom line impact would compare, but their free structure is VERY straight forward. Good luck!

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  16. Etsy is yet another example of how challenging it is to make a living as a creative artist. I’ve heard things had gotten bad, but I didn’t realize it had reached this level. Your bags are charming. Do you have any decent craft fairs that would make it worth while? Your disappointment is palpable.

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  17. Etsy has become “big business” in a bad way – especially that it was originally intended for craftspeople to help them find their way, easily in the online world, without whooping extra charges…

    I’d heard about the new “way”

    And as I’m a bit behind with reading your blog, I had wondered where your sales list was…now I know it’s “gone on pause”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I had one sale before I removed my listings after I discovered the hidden 15% fee. I am still thinking through things and working on a decision on what to do (besides letting the bags gather dust in the closet). Thanks for stopping by and please don’t worry about keeping up with my blog, especially all that daily posting I did in October. 🙂

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  18. I’m so sorry! Etsy can be a real hassle to work with. I had a small jewelry shop on there years ago, and it got to be unreasonable even back then. You will find a good way to make profit with your items. The brick and mortar stores are a good idea! And of course your art quilting is so amazing – great to have time to focus on that 🙂

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