Everything You Need To Know About Etsy's Update
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- Опубліковано 4 чер 2024
- During the Etsy Q1 Investor's Report, CEO Josh Silverman shared several HUGE updates about shop suspensions, gift mode, and what they expect traffic to look like in Q2.
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▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 - Intro
00:44 - Etsy sales drop in Q1and slow traffic
02:56 - Etsy's 2024 growth plan
06:00 - Impact of Gift Mode
09:59 - Etsy Suspension crack-down
15:50 - Etsy removing drop shippers and policy violators
17:41 - Updates to SEO and relevancy?
20:10 - Returning to core values - Keep Commerce Human
22:04 - Investor's Q&A
22:32 - Are Chinese competitors like Temu hurting Etsy?
26:16 - Will Q2 be just as slow as Q1?
28:57 - Will Etsy's new $15 fee stop bad sellers?
33:52 - How Etsy machine learning will declutter search pages
37:42 - Creative Fabrica sellers being banned
39:44 - How removing bad sellers will impact Etsy overall
46:10 - Etsy targeting sites like AliExpress for drop shipping
49:41 - Key things to note
#Etsy #EtsyUpdate #HandmadeAlphas
📺 MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO 📺
☕ More on this topic during the Friday Bean: ua-cam.com/video/GVAlwqhcUXE/v-deo.html
➡ Etsy's Q1 Investor Report: s22.q4cdn.com/941741262/files/doc_financials/2024/q1/Q1-2024-Earnings-Presentation.pdf
➡ Etsy Q1 Live Cast: investors.etsy.com/events-and-presentations/event-details/2024/Q1-2024-Etsy-Inc-Earnings-Conference-Call/default.aspx
📷 Photography coach @ByKristinaNicole
🔵 Free Etsy SEO Toolbox: bit.ly/EtsyNoodle
🔴 Etsy Seller Policy: www.etsy.com/legal/sellers/#selling
🔴 Etsy Handmade Policy: www.etsy.com/legal/handmade
Hey do any of these take us to the full video of this live conference? I clicked on both the Investor Report and the Live Cast and I can't seem to find the video in either. Is it an operator error on my end? 😅
It’s interesting to me how he talks about the „buyer experience“ expecting top notch service while the seller experience on etsy is atrocious in terms of customer service.
Right? I wish Etsy would hold themselves to the same standards.
Exactly! Worst customer service for sellers! The support team shows no regard when I ask for help,they simply close tickets without bothering to resolve the issue, which is disrespectful, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.
@@Mich-le2bq Long story short. I had an issue, I got nothing but an AI response.
I have had help from Etsy several times. Not always as quickly as I might wish but always had help. I for example had an account taken over by someone else (no damage done) and Etsy staff was very helpful and it was back in my hands in a few days. Couldn’t ask for more.
And remember the staff at the “front” get all the sh.. from sellers. Be kind but direct when getting help and specify what your issue is and provide as much info as possible to speed up the process.
If Josh Silverman says publicly that he doesn’t care if a few accounts that have done the right thing are getting thrown under the bus from the AI suspension system in favour of cleaning up the platform this platform ain’t the place for anyone to built their livelihood on and put 100% honest and true effort in.
If there is even ONE shop closed down wrongly, that is ONE too many! Etsy really needs to do there due diligence. If your shop gets shut down, Etsy needs to let sellers know EXACTLY why and if it's fixable. They also need to make MUCH better tools for sellers. I always feel like I'm using a website from the early 2000s when I use the seller tools, there's no excuse for that. I've never shopped on Temu so I can't attest to the quality but if everything is junk on there, as so many people claim, then how are they able to keep getting bigger and getting more customers? These two things are in direct opposition.
Not necessarily. If a shop thought to be part of fraudulent activity then Etsy can not tell as this would be considered tipping off.
@@oceanfoundtreasures Yet, as OP mentioned, for shops shut down WRONGLY, there should be some due process available for appeal (and you can't appeal, if you don't know what you're appealing, ie, what they're accusing you of doing wrong).
Starla and Dude with her say of all the shops they reviewed, a majority (approx. 60% they said) were really doing something against policy, so they kept saying "a majority were doing something wrong", and I'm like COME ON! 40% who were NOT doing anything wrong is a HUGE %!!!
Lol, "Starla and Dude" made me giggle. But we totally agree. Which is why we are still pressuring Etsy to STOP using automations during the appeal process. If they have to use an automated system to deactivate sellers, then there needs to be a HUMAN who analyzes the appeal when the sellers disputes the deactivation. These emails from Etsy always have a human's name attached to them, but their "comprehensive review" takes around 2 minutes, from what we've seen, after an appeal is submitted. That is INSANE. No human on earth is performing a comprehensive review in two minutes.
@@peterson6824 exactly
Thanks for the clarity.
Amazon will tell you what rule you broke if you ask them, and there is a way to appeal. Etsy needs to do the same.
Yes at the very least let ppl know what they did, give them the chance to fix it. Give ppl strikes
Etsy could greatly improve if they would have live customer service. I can call Amazon and talk with someone about my seller account, and they'll actually look into it and help me resolve an issue. With Etsy, there's crickets after they take away your livelihood.
Not from what I've read in facebook support groups.
YES -- tell the seller what rule they broke. Otherwise, none of us will ever learn!
I was shut down 5 years ago. I eventually got back on (after nearly a month). I never got a reason and this was when people were part of customer service.
Why does no one talk about Etsy withholding all the money from those sellers who they suspend and ghost?
Its me and 1000s of other sellers who have not received their payment from there last few days of sales or month (depending how your payouts are scheduled)
Who do we talk if they ghost us sellers to get our money back?
How is it possible that they can suspend you because you didn’t pay them 0.45cents but they are allowed to keep your 500$ for themselves and ignore you. That can’t be legal.
Get a lawyer and sue. My roommate had the same thing happen to her with another online giant and she won easily - although it took a long time. A company absolutely CANNOT keep your money just because you are no longer doing business with/through them. They do this because they know 95% of people will do nothing about it - even though it absolutely is theft.
Write Etsy a letter (not an email) and send it Certified Mail - this type of mail requires a signature when your letter is received. In the letter let them know the amount they owe you, name of your store, etc - and any other pertinent details you can. Keep a copy of the letter for yourself and staple the certified letter receipt you'll get from the USPS office to the letter for your records. This letter and receipt will help your lawyer prove that you tried to get your money back the "nice" way before taking them to court.
If you cannot afford a lawyer and cannot find one that will take your case on pro bono, you should consider talking to a lawyer and starting a class action law suit. (98% of lawyers will talk to you the first time without charging you anything.) Yes, each person that signs onto a class action lawsuit will get a lower payout than they are actually due, but they probably will all at least get something.
Yeah, this is another case all on it's own. I'm currently looking into the sellers who pay the new $15 fee to join, then are immediately suspended. Of course Etsy's profits are UP when overall GMS is down. Etsy is still profiting from these $15 onboarding fees.
@@StarlaMoore kind of. I’m not talking about sellers that are opening and loosing 15$. I’m talking about sellers who are loosing 100s or 1000s of $ by not getting paid after a suspension, like me who made sales 6 days prior to getting permamently suspended and I have handed money out of my pocket to manufacture those products but am not receiving Etsys payout for those 6 days. It’s been 3 months for me and no one to talk to, or reacting to my emails. Not even an automated message triggered from Etsy was sent to me to notify me of the suspension. I just found out by logging in and that’s that.
Etsy is doing wayyyy too many things wrong and behaving horribly. The fact that they can’t deal with that many sellers does not entitle them to treat sellers as they please. They have not deserved one ounce of sympathy in my opinion.
This is just terrifying. Really second thinking about Etsy. I'm a seller from Brazil so a dollar here is like gold.@@StarlaMoore
Could be Etsy is low on cash and they are robbing Peter to pay Paul. Ponzi scheme at best
I shop a lot on Etsy as well as sell. THE most annoying "innovation" yet is the checkout window being flung in your face every time you change to a different page as you are searching fro something. And you can't get it to stop! Whose bright idea was it to annoy customers to death??
I hate that so much
AGREED!
YES THIS SO MUCH THIS 😅
in case no one has told you lately. We really appreciate the enormous amount of time that you guys spend on this research. I am a creative with NO research type skills and would never be able to understand this stuff without your great reporting and keeping us updated. Thank you again!
Thank you! Comments like yours is why I keep doing-and love-what I do!
I’m eternally frustrated when seeing items that are technically the same as what I make but they are selling for pennies on the dollar that tells me they are likely inexpensive products from overseas that are not handmade. I can’t compete.
Don't compete. Instead, give customers a reason to pay more. Not every customer is looking for the cheapest item. In fact, I talk about how low prices can actually destroy the perception of quality in my recent "Sell with Psychology" video. My advice is to HIGHLIGHT what makes you different and BETTER than the mass produced junk. Put a face to your brand. Add photos of yourself making your items to your listings. When buyers think of Etsy, most still assume items are handmade - so as a legitimate handmade seller, it's becoming increasingly important to showcase the handmade element of your items... which is something the cheap knock-offs could never do. Here's the video I mentioned: ua-cam.com/video/Wv0DxA1gmP8/v-deo.html
This has been happening since its inception
I watched your live last week regarding some of these topics and I want to say Thank you. I'm new to Etsy so of course I didn't read the small print, my downfall in life. I just looked around Etsy and saw that people were selling sports teams and characters (Snoopy, etc) handmade items. Which is what I sell. I've done pretty well with that. After watching I took all of those down my sales dropped significantly but if I lost my store there would be no sales. Two reasons I did that is.... One I do not want to lose my store and two both of your passion regarding this subject made me think. My key takeaway is Be Creative and you are right that's what Etsy is about. I'm not the most creative however I'm going to figure this out. Thank you AGAIN.
The thing is, everyone makes mistakes when they are new. I started selling when I was 19 and had no idea that I couldn't list Disney themed items (and I totally did)! The difference is how you pivot after you learn. Many sellers REFUSE to pivot because they believe that they'll never be shut down. In reality, Etsy is shutting down shops in droves. Sellers who pivot when they learn something new are the ones who are invested in long-term growth. There's zero longevity when you're breaking the rules because you never know how long your shop will even be around. So while it may suck to lose those sales from the IP items, you'll ultimately feel a lot better and less afraid in the long run. ❤
Bravo for being brutally honest, turning this into a positive and refusing to be defeated. Seems simple but not these days. I'm proud of you!
To me the biggest problem here is that Etsy doesn’t share the reason why they suspend a shop but also suspending just to permanent close after fake appeal management (honestly, I just think they got a template to shoot away). Teach sellers instead. Have a system in place to give sellers a couple of chances before taking such drastic measures. To me it really seems ridiculous that we even need to discuss this. It’s really poor customer service. Don’t forget that we sellers are customers also.
Yup!!! Preach! It was scary for me having all the responsibilities of have to invest in trying to become an Etsy seller but after watching hundreds of videos I finally did and I spent 1 week creating 3 shirt designs and a brand for my new store and two days later my shop was suspended and I was told I’d get an email stating why, which I never did, so I filed a complaint with customer service who said they couldn’t help me basically so all I had left to do was file an appeal to which was almost instantly denied and then they said they were going to permanently ban me but for “security reasons” could not disclose why? Who the hell operates like that? Etsy is going to keep trending downwards by doing this to potential sellers. I don’t see this ending well for them and they’re too stupid to realize it
Suspensions are ridiculous. Talking with a human would help. Wall Street has downgraded Etsy. It is Etsy's own fault. They spent millions on holiday ads but shut down decent sellers' shops for no reason usually. Etsy's C-Suite awards itself stock options only to sell them quarterly and annually (NOT a good sign). This shows they aren't invested in their own company! The entire C-Suite needs to go starting with the CEO.
Exactly, the whole outrage about etsy's shut-downs is not really about shut-downs per se as much as about etsy not providing real reasons why they shut down the shop and this goes back to the fact that etsy is using bots to do their bidding and 95% of the time robots will mess it up, what enrages people even more is the fact that their appeals get denied by robots...again!!!!
Exactly! They say they've done a "comprehensive review" but those emails come within minutes of submitting an appeal. Definitely not human.
@@StarlaMoore Yep, that's what happened to me too last week, I received an email within literally 1.5 minutes from someone named Shakti telling me they re-evaluated my shop and it DOES violate Etsy rules lol
This is great news for those of us who have been plugging along for years playing by the handmade rules.😊
As a customer, I do not like them spamming my email. I get several emails every day from Etsy. One a week would be plenty.
Thank you Starla and Marc and those working with you for bringing the concerns of sellers forward and out into the open air.
I’m increasingly disillusioned with Etsy's approach to managing shop closures. Despite my commitment to selling only handmade products, my shop was abruptly closed without any clear justification. This issue isn't isolated; eight other shop owners I know have either been shut down or have closed their shops out of sheer frustration. Just last week,my wife closed her shop, and I've heard about a shop that was in business for six years before being inexplicably closed last month.
My concerns extend to Etsy's inconsistent policy enforcement. Numerous shops blatantly sell copyrighted items, including unauthorized Disney and Toy Story products, yet these shops remain operational. This lack of consistent enforcement not only confuses but also erodes trust and fairness on the platform.
Given these experiences, I recommend establishing your own website. Relying on Etsy can be fraught with unpredictability and may not serve your best interests in the long run.
We always recommend sellers have other avenues alongside Etsy. This goes for any marketplace. Never keep all your eggs in one basket and never build your foundation on rented land. Etsy administration is a mess right now. At one point, Josh basically said that losing sellers isn't a huge deal because there will always be another seller ready to replace the ones who leave/are removed.
I am continuing to pressure Etsy's head of customer support through our communication. Only time will tell whether or not my words are being heard.
@@StarlaMoore I appreciate your support, but unfortunately, I believe this issue with Etsy won’t be resolved. Etsy consistently fails to shut down accounts blatantly violating the rules by selling unauthorized products like Disney items and Captain America merchandise. Despite the clear rule violations, these accounts remain active, highlighting a lack of consistent policy enforcement.
I fully agree that relying solely on Etsy or any single marketplace is unwise. Their current administration doesn't seem concerned about losing sellers, as indicated by Josh's comment. It's a harsh reality that they view sellers as replaceable.
I appreciate your efforts in pushing Etsy's head of customer support, but sadly, it seems that their priorities lie elsewhere. This situation reinforces the need for sellers to diversify and not rely solely on platforms like Etsy.
We actually discuss this in the longer video I mentioned at the beginning. We've also spoken to an IP lawyer about this. As of right now, it is the IP holders responsibility to report items that infringe on their IP. There is a good reason for this. I, myself, sell items related to the biggest fantasy books in the world because I license with these authors and have contracts and agreements with them. I pay a commission to them each month. This is a legal contract between me and the authors. Not between me and Etsy.
If Etsy were to begin policing IP on the platform, this would make them legally responsible for ALL IP on the platform, which is no easy feat. Any IP lawyer will tell you that the safer route for Etsy, as a company, is to hold IP owners responsible for the reporting of those listings by providing a DMCA portal. Which they do. Some companies are FAST when it comes to taking down listings. Some, like Disney, will wait until they notice that a seller has made a large sum of profit from their IP before striking.
While I understand the immediate instinct to point fingers at Etsy for IP violations, there's a lot more complexity to this topic that just "remove all IP". IP is created and determined every minute of every day. In order to fully regulate ANY IP, Etsy would have to regulate ALL IP.
I may try to get an IP lawyer on the channel to discuss the legal side of IP on Etsy, as this is a pretty common question I hear.
@@StarlaMooreAn Etsy IP portal would be amazing. Seems like they’d be years away from making this.
If Etsy was serious about dealing with fraudulent shops they could do it easily.
Hire 1000 people who's job it is to investigate and remove fraudulent shops. If those thousand people investigate 10 shops each per day (no reason it should not be more) that's overall 10000 per day. 300,000 per month. 3.6 million every year. That's not every shop but it's a hell of a lot. And like I said, it's pretty hard to believe that these workers only investigate 10 per day.
"low effort" hits the mark as a description of low quality. Our group produces digital art - art created on an iPad or on a desktop screen using a vector program such as Illustrator. Some times a drawing on paper that is scanned and altered digitally. Often there are many iterations to get the art to your vision. 20 iterations or more is often the case. Also sometimes it all happens quickly with the second draft. Our art is then put on Etsy as prints or printed on products. To do it right requires real focused serious work.
Well Starla, I just opened it in Feb (second shop) and didn't even managed to get one listing in before the suspension, so yeah, I know for sure I did not break any rules. All personal info was added as well etc. Now every few weeks I see the message of suspension and to appeal. I file the appeal and round we go to suspension after few weeks. Nothing in the meantime, no communication etc.
Thank you so much, everything you both do is helpful and reassuring. Always a pleasure to watch you.
Even half is crazy, that means half DID NOT break a rule...which is insane. It's basically admitting they suspend people who do not break rules
Also claiming if you follow the rules you won't get suspended is wild and simply not true.
Oh yeah, they most definitely do and they know that they do. Which wouldn't even be a big deal if those suspended sellers could reach a human during the appeal process.
Thank you so much for putting all of this together and walking us through it. You guys rock.
Great video! Nicely done. At last someone has tied Etsy's financial report and direction to what we should be doing as sellers. Very wise! Thank you for making this video.
Glad it was helpful!
Hello! Thank you so much for this video. I felt pressured to offer returns for vintage a few years back and I know have that feature on in my store for the past few years. We have had sellers return items for sizing being off, does that downgrade my shops status?
My handmade jewelry shop has just been reactivated after hiatus for 5 years since my last cross country move. Lots of changes since my last listings, so thanks for this deep dive. My digital shop has stayed open the whole time with evergreen listings, but I need to clean those up, too. Sparkle on! ✨
Thank you both so much! This has been very insightful, and helpful. I have been working on many new ideas, products and have been holding off sharing them on my Etsy shop. I just wasnt sure why. Now I know! I use POD, and am so glad that I have taken the effort and time to create my unique perspective on my items. I will be looking closely at my shop now before I upload any of my new items. You guys are so great! I really appreciate you both.
The k you so much for all the info and the help! Is having duplicates of the same listing with different main listing photos ok? Like AB testing
Yes! You can absolutely duplicate a listing. You just can't list the same item in more than one shop. 🙂
I’ve found your recent coverage about shop suspension helpful. I’m a true handmade seller with mostly OOAK items made and designed by me since 2010 and had only one shop violation several years ago solely for a tag that was trademarked but not a copy of an actual design. I have since made sure all my tags don’t violate any trademarks but with all the noise about shop suspensions I have been kind of letting my shop stay open but not creating many new listings for fear I will get suspended or shut down for no real reason. I do in person markets but they aren’t very frequent. I’ve been wanting to do more with my Etsy shop but the noise has really killed the motivation. Thanks for bringing to light a lot of the suspensions are for real reasons and this is making me less fearful to start working on my shop again
Of the 300 sellers who contacted us about suspensions, very few of them were "handmade" by the definition most of us would consider (original crafty items). There was one crochet shop but we were thankfully able to get her reactivated. For those selling truly handmade items, it doesn't seem to be happening as often. It DOES happen. But not nearly as often as other categories, like POD.
@@StarlaMoore That definitely puts me at ease knowing that. Much appreciated!
@@StarlaMooreThank you for your awesome work!
Is there any possibility to get a personal opinion of you guys concerning the suspension of a shop?
I had been selling completely handsewn babyclothes and some (also handmade) accessories for 3 years and I honestly don’t find myself in the mentioned 60% you’re talking about. I now find myself not daring to open a new shop anymore cause it gets closed again everytime after hours of setting it up, with the 15$ even less. I just want to know why they closed my shop?!
Greetings from Paris ❤
Again guys, well done with all this needed info! So glad to know you both are on our side!! Keep up the great work!! ❤
Very good point about notifications about which specific rule was broke.
Thank you Starla and Marc! I went through Etsy policies and found that some of my listings and shop info should be immediately updated.
Thank you for this video Starla, I agree with many of the comments particularly in regard to Etsy's lack of customer service for their sellers. However this video has wonderful content regarding how to be sure you are staying on the right side of the tracks with Etsy to avoid either products or your entire shop getting removed. I am grateful for having these topics brought to my attention so that I can be sure I am playing by the rules. I've not had any problems so far and will try to avoid them!
Thank you both again so much for all your dedication and follow through.
Youre amazing and true which is a valued trait. So blessed to be an Alpha.
I love the Alphas!
TY for all the clarification. I have seen to many winey videos about those who got shut down. Honestly it is so much easier to follow the rules etsy puts out then to not check the rules. YOU BOTH ARE AWESOME!!! Again super ty.
You are so welcome!
This has been so informative!! Thank you!!
Thank you so much for such informative video. I will watch the rest of your videos tomorrow. Great help.
You're so welcome!
I’m a current star seller and on Etsy for ten years, definitely could do better and I’m not living up to my full potential, but I am excited to hear all of these things. It makes me feel like investing more of my efforts into my store will actually pay off.
Thank you so much for sharing this information, and breaking things down. It really means a lot. I do have a question. I create all of my art and illustration, but I recently started working with a print on demand platform so that I could have tshirts made with my artwork on them. Is it ok to use print on demand on Etsy or is that going away? Am I supposed to use their mockup photos or the ones I've bought from other Etsy sellers? I'm a little confused on this. Thank you in advance.
Yes, POD is allowed on Etsy. However, be careful with your mockups. Per Etsy, you are to use the ones provided by your print provider or create your own. Printify was told by Etsy that the mockups bought from Etsy sellers and the mockups from PlaceIt were also allowed, as long as the seller made sure it was the exact same shirt style and color. However, I have noticed POD shops being suspended because of using these mockups so proceed with caution. I have a recent video on making your own mockups: ua-cam.com/video/a6zsHRwVpoU/v-deo.html
Thanks for the great info. Peace and blessings
Thanks for sharing the info. However, now I’m not sure how to classify my shop. I have an embroidery shop and mainly personalize towels, hoodies, etc. How would this be classified? I read the link regarding the handmade policy, however I’m more confused than ever.😮
Great video! I have never seen Etsy being so honest in their investor reports before. I think they can feel the need to change and there are some positive signs they are going in the right direction. As for gift mode: I like to use those options when I’m looking for inspiration for something new. And I’d rather have them experimenting now than q3 and 4
Very true! The busy season of Q3 and Q4 is definitely not a good time for experimenting.
I was just watching another channel last week who was doing a review for an Etsy Seller who handmade exquisite objects with yarn. Of course, these things take time and, as they should, carry a high price tag. They suggested to her that in order to have more consistent revenue, that she purchased some graphics and have a print on demand section for her shop. There would be nothing about those new items which would be handmade. The channels that are pushing print on demand as a high revenue stream for Etsy are not helping, true handmade sellers. There needs to be a separate platform for those kinds of things. Yes, I know there are people who designed their own graphics and then contract to have those graphics printed on specific merchandise. That’s not what I’m talking about in this case.
Do you think this will trickle to machine embroidery? A lot of designs are purchased and embroidered without altering. For instance...a single initial on a towel or t-shirt.
Thank you this is great information as always
Thank you very much for your information and ideas! ✅✅ℹℹ
Thanks for helping interpret what is going on in this presentation 🙂 It makes me a little more hopeful about continuing on Etsy’s platform. My question for you is about the ‘unique art’ factor. I know the tv commercials show higher end products (like custom Adirondack chairs). Does that mean Etsy will be less likely to highlight or support those of us who make small ticket items like soaps or candles?
I highly doubt it. Think of the commercials the same way a car lot displays cars. Most car lots will place the pretty red sports cars at the front of the lot where everyone can see them, even though MOST people will opt to buy a more practical and affordable car. The car lot shows off the "fancy cars" in order to get people into the car lot.
There will always be demand for the smaller items, which I speculate likely make up the majority of Etsy sales. Not to mention, buyers will always come to Etsy in search of smaller items like soap. So regardless of whether or not Etsy features these items, buyers will still type their own queries into the search bar.
I 1000000% agree that infractions and deactivations NEED to be at minimal, reviewed by a human, and that informing people about what they did wrong should be a given. The opaque and non-existent customer service of modern companies is infuriating and only hurts people's trust in those platforms. It's amazed me that for YEARS, Etsy's standard policy was to deactivate brand new stores before reviewing them and usually allowing them to reopen, but somehow never explaining that there's a process there, so it panics everyone when it happens. They need to consider the user experience, it's that simple.
There was a point in the webcast (during the Q&A) when Josh basically said that removing sellers isn't a big deal because there will always be more incoming sellers to replace those lost. I'm sure he was talking about policy violators, but it does showcase how little Etsy is prioritizing new vendors right now. There are more sellers than there are buyers. I wish Etsy would just temporarily halt the ability to make new shops for a few months while they clean the platform and work through their existing cases. It would be better than new sellers being permanently banned before they even had a chance to start.
@@StarlaMoore I think that would make a ton of sense. I had to apply and hang out on a waitlist before I could drive for DoorDash and UberEats so they could make sure drivers weren't outpacing demand in my area. Etsy doing something similar to slow down the influx of low effort shops would let them catch up and hopefully stay caught up, and let them improve the accuracy of how they handle violations as they go, so everyone feels more confident in the system
@@OverMountainsDesign100% this.
woahhh this is super helpfulllll!!! great content, great yall sat down and recorded this
Love you, Hannah! Always down to share additional findings with you from our suspension study if you would like the info for your own audience. My email is starla@handmadealphaacademy.com
@@StarlaMoore oh sweet! I am always blown away by how much love and time you put into doing the deep research, would love to have you on my channel! I will email you!!
Question about the AI shop evaluations. If you have deactivated a listing and it is a listing that breaks a rule, will AI still tag/flag it? Is the AI only evaluating active listings?
I’m thinking if you have a listing deactivated so you can still use it as a template to save time, can this get your shop dinged?
I am loving this "skill or the will!" Great video!
Will having violation items deactivated be in violation and get you shut down?
Major thank you for the effort y'all put in to your content. I don't know if there is anyone else on YT that even comes close to the level of commitment you have for this community.
You say that it's not obvious that you had some influence on Etsy but I firmly believe you got their attention. That is saying a lot!
I'm trying so hard! I just wish they'd answer my questions. Etsy's head of customer support will answer my emails but not the actual hard questions I'm asking him.
Thank you for this. I am in process of refreshing and redoing my shop. This report from you is so gratefully appreciated.
hope good things come from some of these changes! I've definitely seen a shift in buyers' attitudes towards Etsy on Threads alone.
Great video! I’ve been an Etsy seller of vintage goods since 2020. I wish more care was done to address and promote the many hard working vintage sellers bringing wonderful goods to the platform. While all the proposed changes sound great, customers are more & more NOT thinking of Etsy as a space for vintage. I look forward to exploring your channel more!
Yes! I'm a vintage seller too and we are an important part of the etsy community! We offer an important and unique service by selling curated, rare and one of a kind items. The handmade, unique and vintage items are what most people love about etsy. It has become a mess of drop shoppers and theives. I won't sell knockoff items.. but so many people do. I have even had some of my pictures stolen. I wish we had more support. When people find out I sell on etsy.. they say what do you make.. and I always feel silly explaining I sell vintage. I should be proud. Not everyone has the eye or the patience. I love it. I would take a risk and buy more to sell if I had more confidence and support from etsy. Although we may not have multiples of the same item.. we definitely have people who continue to come back to us. If you start a group for the Vintage Sellers of Etsy.. please count me in.
Yeah, vintage sellers are at a huge disadvantage right now because not even Etsy is following their own vintage policies. Anything vintage that is attached to a major name brand (vintage Pyrex, for example) is still subject to the same copyright take-downs, even then those items follow Etsy's vintage policies. So for those selling brand-specific vintage items to collectors, it's nearly impossible to use keywords that won't get you flagged if the brand still exists.
No wonder none of my Pyrex is not selling! There’s no vintage button or category on Etsy’s home page so this stinks! I would love to hear an explanation from the company. Do they ever mention what percentage of sales on the platform are from vintage? none of my customers come from etsy search. Nearly all of them come from google or direct traffic. We put in a lot of work making a single listing for each unique item and it’s a bummer that they don’t focus on it more since buying vintage has so many benefits.
You know what sucks, I’ve had other sellers steal my photos and post them as their listing. Imagine Etsy deactivating my shop because someone stole my entire image, how would that be fair? 😢
Definitely report these sellers REPEATEDLY. Have friends and family do the same.
@@StarlaMoore on Etsy yes I’ve done that but sometimes I don’t always spot them as I can’t search all my listings daily 😢 also some have been stolen and listed on Aliexpress and I’ve even tried their customer service and it was completely useless. This is what I fear a lot.
Can they not program the AI to not look at the overall image of the mock-up and look instead for a 100% match? That way it could detect different designs as opposed to the mock-up alone?
help me understand a little as I feel like my wheels are turning left and right. I am very confused on the "handmade" policy. For example... There are designs I for sure designed in my shop. However, I buy mockups and Only press them when they sell. I have my own machines at home to press, pack and ship all from my house. Can we do this? or are they telling us that we no longer can use mockups ? asking because then that means I will have to invest in printing a shirt, making my own photos and the design may never sell. If thats what you mentioned then thats that. but, am I understanding this wrong? Same applies to other designs I have... I buy from etsy, people who design a png and I purchase and follow their rules on their shop. I support a shop and in return I follow the same protocol.. I create a mockup. It sells? I print the file, press, pack and ship. So my other question is, are we not allowed to do this at all? although, we still handmade the final product? hope this makes sense. Anyone have insight on this??
With late shipping does changing the dates matter? We custom make and sometimes clients take a while so dates change or people disappear.
From what I can tell, changing the shipping date is fine and has no impact. Obviously you'll just need to make sure you're letting customers know so that they don't open a case due to the order not shipping when it was originally expected to.
If we’re supposed to be using the listing images from a print production company, they only have so many images of mock-ups they have for their products. The robot or whatever they use is going to flag everything
I'm going to assume that Etsy is able to tell (somehow) that the images are from the print partner to ensure those don't get deactivated. Possibly something in the syncing process, though this is just my speculation.
@@StarlaMoore Thanks for the reply Starla! I appreciate it. I'm really hoping they can provide some clarification. Specially with this handmade, print provider, and made to order rules that state different things for listing photos. Hopefully we all dont get burned in the process. Thanks for all your efforts to help guide us on this moving forward!
Great work, this video was so helpful in interpreting that report!
I would be so curious to ask Etsy how many people they have employed in Customer Service. I never see job openings for it in many years.
They actually just fired 250 employees right before the holidays. I know this because we hired 2 of them over at eRank. Google says Etsy had 2,420 in 2023 so this was likely before they laid off the 250 people. Definitely not enough to handle 9 million sellers.
I follow a creator katnipp and a few years ago she had her most popular pin stolen and put up for sale on Ali express and it was taken down for n ESTY and she had to jump through hoops to prove the original design and pin was hers. Which is a bit ironic considering the pin was on ESTY way before it showed up on Ali express.
I have to agree tell people what rule they broke to have a listing pulled or shop shut down, and make their appeal process more specific. Also make a similar or detailed process for people who unfortunately did have a design or item stolen and reproduced. ESTY needs a positive se
Wondering what his means for mockup shops whose lively hoods depend on their sales for POD. There are some very very large mockup shops on Etsy how is this going to affect them in the long run? Will Etsy shut them down also seeing that their mockups may also be stolen and placed on the sites they are looking at…. I’ve seen digital items being resold from the original seller so jow for mock shops it seems to me that there will be a great potential for issues
Love Gift mode idea !! HATE when I opened up their categories what they showed was so lacking-- NOTHING like the old days when the first page of Etsy was CURATED by a talented eye
Great video! Thank you, guys!
Great takes you two!!
Love you, Jay!!!
I'm so frustrated with the amount of dropshippers on etsy... I hope to see this reduction soon. People stealing everything from creative people including their photos on etsy. I sell mostly vintage items and I have even found my own photos used. It feels like etsy doesn't care unless you are making them a ton of money. This frustrates and hurts me as a seller, but as a buyer too. Many people are on a tighter budget and looking for deals right now. I've hesitated purchasing something because there are so many shops with knockoffs, fake or super cheap items, and stolen photos. It's getting harder to see what is real and worth it. I'm glad Etsy seems to be starting to listen.
Love It thank you very informative and fair 💖
I never undersood why Etsy didn't include the reason someone is suspended. That seems like a basic thing that should be included in the message. I haven't dealt with this myself, but I see lots of posts in Etsy related groups that I'm in where someone says they were suspended and have no idea why. I feel like you should always know which rule you broke (or at least a general idea what it was related to) if you end up getting kicked off of the platform.
36:20 I hope we see that same sort of positive result for sticker sellers. So many people buy images to sell as stickers, whereas I'm out here illustrating and/or designing all my own designs, trying to make something that's NOT all over Etsy already, but I get stuck beneath all these "same old same old" sellers and it's so frustrating.
I get what you are saying about not altering the image and using the same stock photos. How would this affect us selling embroidery items since most of us cannot digitize designs? All the embroidery desings purchaed are from Etsy. They may be the same desing but maybe done in different thread colors. Would this affect my shop?
Does it break ETSY rules if a person posts products in one shop and then removes them later to post in another shop that they've created? For example by someone who has a general store who wants to also have a product or niche specific store?
I'm asking for rules reasons not SEO.
That’s what I was wondering. I had a shop where I sold some jewelry and other items, but I don’t really list anything on there anymore and I had some bead kits for sale. Now, I opened a different shop to sell supplies and I want to sell the bead kits on there. Hopefully it’s OK since they’re not listed in my other shop anymore.
Can you expand on the “of their own design”. I have a laser engraving business and sometimes purchase (on Etsy) digital files to make a physical product. Of course I make sure it is licensed by the creator for use in this manner, does this violate the rules?
Do you guys think its okay to have duplicates of a listing with the main image changed to the same product but in another color?
You can absolutely have duplicate listings within a single shop. We recommend doing this when A/B split testing things like thumbnails, titles, etc. You just can't have the same item in more than one shop.
You got it….. a lot of POD sellers clog up the first 4 or 5 pages with the same mockups, same models, same designs and by the time the seller gets to that 6th page, they are fatigued. I design everything in my shop including my POD graphic designs but customers struggle to see them because of the reasons you both mentioned.
Another thing clogging up search results is all the people who do not follow the rules and are using IP art or using trademarked words in their tags and titles. Those of us following Etsy rules get our listing buried on back pages, while all the trademark infringers are on the first and second page.
@@KC-ed1dj 💯 %
I am confused. He said print on demand is within the policy to sell then said sellers are being removed for violating a handmade policy. This is very confusing. Is the issue that sellers were listing items as handmade that were actually print on demand or drop shipping that caused them to be removed please clarify? Thanks
This was just poor wording on Josh's part. POD items are technically classified under Etsy's handmade policies, because Etsy is assuming that you made the design itself by hand, then utilize a print partner. So technically, all POD items fall into the handmade category. Which I actually didn't know up until a few months ago.
So what do we as sellers need to do in order to benefit from the gift mode? Adding tags like “gift for dad , gift for mom “ etc? Can we do an episode on this? Thank you.
I have a 7 month old shop. Half my sales are five stars, I ship on time, but some people have bought individual listings separately to use more of my shop discounts and I've had to refund shipping. Do you think Etsy will ding me for these shipping refunding vs refunds for quality/satisfaction? Should I refuse to refund for shipping when someone buys listings separately? I've noticed that since I've refunded for shipping, my sales dropped off (I sell vintage).
No, this is different than having an item returned by the buyer. I've always refunded for shipping overages.
@@StarlaMoore Thank you.
As always, thanks for your vid and information. Wall St isn't buying Silverman's plans. Stock price analyst outlook is grim - it sure didn't pop with his plans.
I was planning to set up a new Etsy shop this week (selling digital downloads): is it no longer worth it to setup a shop ?
Seems like there are only problems these days with Etsy.
I've heard that their terms of service are cryptic; how does one then know if the terms have been violated ?
It's either worth it or it isn't and sadly, there's no way to tell what will happen. Plenty of sellers still find success on Etsy, but as of right now, it seems that new sellers aren't really needed or given much wiggle room when it comes to small mistakes. So if you start a new shop, just make sure you're filling out everything VERY carefully.
This is great, thank you! I make templates for social media and now I’m wondering if I should be taking those down since they have some social platforms in the SEO and logos in my mock-ups. I know it’s ok for google sheets to use the logo but I probably should research IG, Pinterest, etc.
I would check with each social media platform, since they all likely have restrictions on how their names and logos can be used. I know Canva, for example, does not allow you to use their logo.
37:32 I know you said you can't really comment on this, but this confuses me. Because if the robot is looking at the images and seeing identical images, won't using mockups only from the POD provider cause MORE problems? I use Printful for POD, and they only offer a limited number of mockups with the same models in the same basic poses. If every seller who uses Printful uses these same mockups, wouldn't the robot read those as identical images and therefore identical products? It seems like that would cause MORE issues for sellers.
Additionally, what does this mean for someone like me who uses the same basic image for all my primary images. Meaning, I use the same flat lay for my t-shirts or the same display for my stickers? I did it to give my shop a clean, consistent look, but am I shooting myself in the foot?
Q: can you list an item more than once in a shop if the item falls under more than one category? I couldn't find anything in the sellers handbook.
Thank you.
You can! You just can't list the same item in multiple shops. 🙂
I'm a little confused about how they are going to be able to tell whether listings/ designs are different or the same if everyone is using the same mockups from their print provider. If it's already determined that designs are the same from finding the same mockups, then wouldn't the same thing happen with print provider mockups?
I'm going to assume that there is a way Etsy can tell the difference. I don't know how but it could be connected to the actual shop syncing portion. I wish I had answers. 😕
So I have several points. Many of customers in my shop mark the sale as a gift.
#2 As I'm shopping as a Customer, If something is in my Cart, I can barely shop without
Its Popups, are so Invasive to check out. I end up removing the item or save to later. It is super maddening.
Do you know why the support charts are being automatically closed? I can’t reach with any questions
All I can say is that Etsy support sucks right now. They do not have enough employees to help the 9 million sellers on the platform, and because of this, they are not offering the level of support they should be. I recommend reaching out to their Instagram and LinkedIn pages. Their social media team seems to be a little more helpful and may be able to help you open or reopen a ticket.
Hello I’m new to Etsy and am trying to learn all I can from various UA-cam channels. I find yours to be very frank and honest. My question is this, do you think putting our photos on all the social media platforms could lead to them being stolen more ( or being easier to steal) than if they are only on Etsy? Thanks
Eh, possibly. But I wouldn't use that as a reason not to market on social media. For as long as humans of roamed the earth, there have been thieves. And no matter how much you try, you'll never prevent a determined thief from stealing. Especially as your business grows. In my experience, it's best to deal with these situations as they occur.
When it comes to having a production partner.... how far does this go? We have invested in expensive equiptment to help us print our designs onto all sorts of products. So we buy in "blanks" to print into. So for example, we buy in large numbers of blank books where we then create a design and print it onto the book (personalised etc) Do we have to declare that we are buying in blanks and as we are not making them from scratch completely? In ur head they are just "materials" to use to make different products.
Great breakdown guys. Let's hope that Etsy does go back to its roots and Keep Commerce Human again...
Agree. Etsy please let us know what rule we broke.
I want to see how gift mode will go later in the year. As a supply store, I don’t know if my sales are lower because the time of the year or because of the gift mode.
I'm going to assume that MOST buyers aren't using gift mode because they likely already come to Etsy with a general idea of what they want to buy. I mean, have you used gift mode yet? It sucks right now. And if we think it sucks, I'm sure buyers do too.
This mockup dilemma put me in lots of stress, I have 1200 tshirt listing on etsy and I upload daily, after this news I stop uploading and now m very much confused 😕
The mock-up dilemma I believe came from so many stores using a comfort colors shirt mock up but the actual item they were selling was a Bella canvas. If you’re selling Bella canvas 3001 your mock up needs to be of that exact shirt.
Concerning customer convenience, it might help if customers could download digital purchases through their app.
What about the Etsy shops that purchase items on Aibaba, etc... and personalized the products. Do they risk having those listings taken down from Bots?
Just had a new shop with listings get suspended and then the appeal denied. No info why just an email that I was denied.
The first quarter earnings went down in 22, 23, 24. Do you have any info on Etsy taking the fee to start a shop, suspending immediately, the shop not getting reinstated, but Etsy keeping the fee? How often is this happening?
I have no way to know how often it's happening but I can confirm that LOTS of sellers have reached out to me stating that it's happened to them.
Great video and information. I believe you mentioned problems with mockups purchased on Etsy causing the computer suspending stores due to too many sellers using the same mockups. With a number of POD UA-camrs telling their audience to buy mockups on Etsy, how do we mitigate this problem without buying a lot of blank products like a T-shirts and such?
Be very careful who you listen to on UA-cam. Many dish out so bad advice. They don’t care because they make their money on UA-cam.
Yes, absolutely be careful. This whole "get rich quick with POD" had an expiration date and now we're seeing the results of UA-camrs pushing marketplace saturation. It puts the entire POD community at risk. Etsy's policies state that mock-ups must be from your print provider OR they must be photos you've taken yourself. Outside of these exact policies, there is very little room for speculation. We can currently only interpret Etsy's policies as they are written while also continuing to request further clarification from Etsy.
That's exactly what I'm starting to work on doing. Instead of blank products though, I'm going to order the product with registration marks on it (basically plus signs all over and some color swatches for placement and color correction matching) that I can use to create my own mockups more easily, and take photos of those. It's going to take time and money though that I could have spent on creating new paintings and designs instead and I'm worried about getting flagged for using the POD provider's mockups in the meantime.
If someone who opens their first POD shop on Etsy and does not have substantial financial possibilities to pay a photographer / buy t-shirt samples to create original models and mockups. And let's say we can't use designs purchased from Etsy or Placeit and we can't use designs from the t-shirt supplier because they're a bunch of identical designs and possibly Ai bot will remove the listed item or close the store. What do we do with new POD sellers? No Placeit, no Etsy purchased mockups, no partner vendor mockups, unless a product sample is ordered and the photos were taken by a licensed photographer (taking a few photos at home will not result in a perfect mockup) and that sounds like a disappointment. I have read their policy model but it is not clear and it is confusing.
i use canva to create my own designs and publish to etsy through printfy am i considered a drop shipper ?
Not with the original design IMO
No, POD and drop shipping are not the same. POD on Etsy is allowed but when using Canva, you cannot just use a single element on an item. You have to combine multiple elements to create a unique design. This is Canva's policies, as well as Etsy's policy.
i wanted to start on etsy with digital product items, as ebay does not have this feature. but i'm not paying $15 and also a fee per listing, just to see if my items will sell sometime eventually...like ebay, they are showing small sellers the door...
I pride myself on my photos and often get etsy pick badges. I wonder if those badges will come to mean something with the gift mode?
Etsy Pick badges mean that a HUMAN at Etsy noticed your item. So this could definitely increase the odds of being included in other currated areas of Etsy. Especially if your photos are awesome, which it sounds like they are! 🙂