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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