STOP selling on Etsy if you want to succeed as an artist!

Problem is that people will buy your stuff cheap, you can get a good following if it's cheap enough, but you can't make a living at it, as you pointed out...

15% in tax!!! Count yourselflucky. In Sweden it is around 60% for self employed.... and the add Etsy onnthat.. Thanks for the warning!

Estey jumped on the greedy bandwagon. Im so sorry.

Thanks for the heartfelt video, Its so sad what these big companies do to people, I hope you find somewhere else, all the best, Michael.

Thanks for sharing, it confirms my suspicions. I am finding other ways to sell my work, Etsy sucks, filled with junk now.

how about muting your phone? It was kinda ridiculous to watch and you laughing about it like you cant do anything about it.

Thank you for sharing your experience. Wall Street happened. Publically traded stocks and investor profits are more important. I ran into the same thing with eBay sales after the pandemic hit the shipping went really high and the fees just kept adding up. That was a time frame that a lot of thefts were going on in the stores and I couldn't figure out at first how someone could sell products for below wholesale prices (which I couldn't compete with). So I too finally closed down my shop and got out of business. I am in the process of doing art mixed media and scrapbooking. I will probably do sales locally and word of mouth. My daughter had a handmade business and she has never recovered her sales back to pre-pandemic levels.

I started selling earrings on Etsy in 2020, was doing decent that year and then swiftly tanked in 2021-now. I kept my prices lower than they should’ve been and it still didn’t help. After many tears and feeling like such a failure I officially quit making earrings about a month ago. A weight has been lifted and I’m much happier. I didn’t even realize how much all the changes affected my business

Regarding offsite ads, I have read on Etsy forums that someone tested their site having people click a direct link to their site and purchased a product, they were charged offsite ad fee. Obviously if so called click came from an ad for an item that would trigger the fee. They comlpained to Etsy abuot it and was refunded but how many times does this actually actually happen?

My competition is selling items at less than $1.50... by the time yot take out al the fees, they are not makinig any money or nothng that makes any sense. I don't get it!

Its amazing how many videos are like this one. All of them were against Etsy and left them..wow

I sell vintage items on Etsy for about 3 years now. Used to be only for vintage and handmade items but now a bunch of mass produced junk and digital downloads are what I see. My sales are very slow and I was contacted by an Etsy Rep who offered me my own website, when I gladly accepted, I never heard back from her. I'm not sure what's going on with Etsy but it sounds like they have completely forgotten who helped get their platform off the ground and have become very greedy. So sorry to hear about your hard work for nothing, that is so disappointing and unacceptable.

Thank you very much for all the true and honest information you share, it is really helpful. I have a friend who started a shop, sold two items in the 4 days or so, and , when she saw all the taxes, she closed it immediately after sending what she sold.

I've had almost the same experience with Etsy. Did very well the first couple of years and now every sale is a struggle. I do mostly custom portraits and the competition has increased exponentially with so many people willing to work for pennies. I'm very close to closing my shop too.

Their greed knows no bounds. People have started selling Chinese crap bc they can’t make money if they don’t. Absurd business practices by Etsy.

Great information. I have been on Etsy since 2010 and it has changed so much. I still sell on there but what I sell does not have high overhead and it is mostly paperie and ribbons. I still feel like it is not a worth while place to sell anymore. Thanks for this great insight.

Thanks for your video! I’m sorry about how it went with your Etsy shop! My story is kind of similar, I had a booming Etsy plant shop that I started from my backyard. After 2020 big nurseries and greenhouses started selling on Etsy, saturating the platform with large amounts of plants. Since then it’s just hard for me to compete against these big companies. I also am an artist with an art shop that has struggled as well. I believe the true artists get lost in the sea of cheap digital wall art that has taken over Etsy.

I rarely went to Etsy and now I will never go there. They are being thieves without a gun. It's greed begets greed.

Thanks for shedding more light on this problem for anyone who assumed it was just them or their shop. Etsy has become beholden to shareholders and the investor class that refuses to assume risk. Etsy is quickly becoming the Fiverr of design and it's the wage slave issue.

I wholeheartedly agree. I stopped supporting Etsy when they started allowing Manufacturing Partners. Like you, I used to be a jeweler, so I already knew what it would be like to compete with competitors from places like China. No American can afford to live on Chinese wages. What’s more, our overhead if many times greater than a Chinese jeweler’s!

As for the fees, you may as well go to a gallery and pay them the 50% commission—at least they take care of marketing, advertising, sales, fulfillment, and customer service for you!

Wow…so glad i listened to this great advice, I was just about to open and sale my art on Etsy…..changed my mind ! 😅

incredible... how that page still can be alive, people really are able to hold A LOT.

I am sorry you are not the only one, Etsy is a corporation,is in the stock market the have to report to the stock holders, at cost of handcrafters like us. If don't work for us better our own website, or handcrafters shows.

Damn, that black diamond ring story 💔 Etsy is now a publicly traded company, which means it's all about making investors happy - either by growth of the stock or the dividends they pay out. I knew this would happen, when they went public. It was the right decision to leave. That's why they accept dropshippers now. A ton of new sellers, a ton more revenue for Etsy, which they communicate publicly quarterly to investors, this attracting more investors. It's a wet Wallstreet dream.

There are some artist cooperatives online. Perhaps you could research that.

Thanks for all the information

Hi, you seem a very kind person. God bless you, please tell me, do you have any advice for me as i wanna start my shop of a hair mask on etsy? Your words will be my guidance. Thank you

What a sad story :( I used to sell on Etsy and have thought about returning but I think I'll continue working to make my own website. I wish you the best!! Thanks for sharing this!

I became a seller in 2020, opted out and rejoined again. Made total of 4 sales, worked hard to improve my "SEO" "titles" "tags", and still get no views. I didn't have to deal with the off-site ads thing since my business has been so small. But I was indeed shocked by the profit I earned from one of my sales. Nearly 50% of my sales price was contributed to all kinds of fees. It means I made $4 per hour.
I thought I was the only one that couldn't figure out how to price my product, until I see more similar posts on Etsy forum.
And came across your video today, really makes me wonder, do I even want to put more work in my shop to get my sales up, and just to end up like you, being ripped off by all the fees? I know my answer is no. Thank you so much for this video. A lot of sellers are typing and posting, but being able to make a video like you and share your experience is really valuable to a lot of new sellers like me.
I wanted to share something I saw on the forum, that Michaels is starting a website called "Michaels Maker Place". It is not open yet, and it is still taking application for waitlist. (I believe if you type "waitlist" the link will show up") I think it is something worth a try.
Thank you again, and good luck!

It’s not your fault that the shipping company lost their package. What kills me is usps holds no responsibility if they don’t do their job properly. An Etsy seller’s responsibility should stop at putting it in the mailbox. If the customer wants their money back if their package gets lost then they should upgrade to priority shipping. Etsy is not Amazon and these are handmade items. Being punished for a mistake that USPS made is not fair!

And Etsy’s stock has plummeted. I wonder why. They are so stupid. Etsy is not what it used to be. What a shame. Greed has ruined this world.

good evening where might be best to sell simon from the uk thankyou

This shouldn’t be legal!

I’m a graphic designer and design scarves and they are printed in Canada and Italy. I have to compete with resellers who import scarves from China. Their scarves are cheaper than mine. Lately I sold three large silk scarves and calculated that my profit was 6 US dollar… 😂 due to Etsy fees and taxes. Besides that the seo of Etsy is still a nightmare for me, Etsy isn’t bringing me visitors. So I can better leave Etsy.

I sell on Etsy but haven't reached the 10k in one year yet. I'm just selling supplies but I have noticed a lot of items that are from someplace like ali express and people who have just bought a cheap necklace from there and didn't do anything to change it and resell it. A lot of non handmade shops now and I don't think they really care as long as they are making money. :(

Have you tried Amazon? A lot of people have a Etsy and Amazon account

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. That was so eye opener I currently sell on Etsy it hasn’t been quite a year it’s slow moving but ok nothing spectacular . There are many e-commerce out there but which one right 🤷🏽‍♀️ I hope the best for you and many other artists out here who’ve had bad experiences. 🙏🏼❤️

I can’t believe you spent 4 hours on a product that only sold for $50. You were only making $12.50 an hour if everything else was free. This was a money loosing proposition before any Etsy fees at all.

The Chinese government subsidizes the shipping costs, I think they stopped doing that recently.

The sad price of globalization and our addiction to getting things "cheap", not to mention large corporations getting so big they just crush the small operator. Funny too how things always seem to only work in their favor. My only advice is whether you do it on etsy (I haven't used them) or elsewhere build the brand around you and focus on quality and the unique. A lot of the stuff that comes from places like China is going to be crap, often not even the real thing (say if it's stones or gold etc.). Alternately if you can't beat 'em join 'em start selling premade items from a dropshipper. Just my 2 cents, you've probably thought of these things anyway....

The fees. That's why I'm working on getting away from it even after just starting it last year.

I was just discovering Etsy. It just seems so expensive. I wish there was something like Etsy but only for artist create their own work. Something like what Etsy used to be. I’d love to know if there are any alternatives.

So many good people have quit Etsy. We feel your pain.

This is such a great video. Thank you for your candor and transparency. This video really helped me a great deal.

Thank you for making such an informative video. This infuriates me and I will no longer patronize Etsy. Corporate greed at its worst.

I was horrified to hear your story! Producers in third world countries are increasingly being granted fair-trade deals to ensure they receive a fair price for their goods, and yet greedy corporations such as Etsy are now taking advantage of skilled artists without fair recompense. It is disgusting, and I for one will be boycotting Etsy from now on. I purchased from them thinking I was supporting independent artisans like yourself, but now I feel completely duped. Thank goodness you made the break. You deserve so much better, and I wish you and your future ventures all the very best. 💕💕

I'll be honest, I think having your own website would be more beneficial than trying to sell other things over on Etsy. Yes, you would have to pay for it, but you won't have to compete with other people and you won't have to sell on a lost whenever Etsy decide to change their policies to make more money on the creators back while they starve.

Please make them videos maybe it would help me with my shop seo

This is where I'm at with Etsy and my art. Its starting to cost me more to sell and ship on Etsy than is worth it. I made $1 on one of my prints last year. I'm about to leave completely but I don't have much of an online presence off Etsy right now.