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After switching from POD to handmade (& a few supplies/digital) I’ve drastically increased sales & my conversion rate!

Etsy should have a separate site for just digital products. Amazon has Amazon Handmade why not have Etsy Digital? I don’t like the whole pushing gift campaign. Most people drop real money on themselves. They should have a “Treat Yourself” campaign. Social media influencers push minimalism. There is nothing on Etsy you really need. And usually a celebrity is kinda dangerous. They like to run their mouths and upset half the country and then people don’t want anything to do with whatever is associated with them. What I thought was great is how the CEO said we have a fairly good functioning economy. What?! It’s scary that this is the man that I’m supposed to trust my livelihood with.

I agree with a lot of what you said. Sellers numbers growing much more and faster than customers and sales is absolutely scary!!! And also those promoting getting rich fast through Etsy on KZfaq are aggravating the situation. 😡

I'd like to see Etsy Digital, Etsy Handmade and Etsy Merch as seoarate entities. What do you think Nik?

I couldn't agree more with every word. I'm sorry to the POD folks out there, but Etsy was meant to be hand crafted/packed items. Sellers who put their hands directly on their product (or, at least the majority of the offerings of a shop). The further Etsy gets from this concept, the worse they do; the more sellers struggle; the closer to every other retailer it becomes. They've got to turn it around. And hanging their sellers out to dry is going to be a nail in their coffin. Seller support HAS to improve.

Yeah, I agree with all your point, especially limit the shop and pluck out inactive, unimprove quality products or less effort, and lastly Etsy might be can separate between handmade and digital shop.

Not just POD but Digital too. It's easy, Digital sellers don't even need a physical product! Definitely easier than POD.

Also when you look into your niche or products that you do or sell... some have 4-5 stores under different names... ex. I saw a candle company which has 4 active Etsy shops... let's give everyone a chance as well.

I've just commented on one of your other videos. I did consider myself to be a high quality store but Etsy didn't like that. My store was very active, I was logged in practically 24 hours a day with dozens of orders a day. My store was very polished, professional, every section was filled in, all orders were dispatched same day or within 24 hours and I was a Star Seller Store. They shut me down because my photos could be found elsewhere on the internet but as I explained in my other comment which I hope you can help me with, I pay alot of money for professional photos because my products are highly reflective so obviously I use my photos on my own website, socials and other platforms that I sell on. Etsy is becoming like the Gestapo. They might not have a shortage of sellers but they'll end up pushing all their serious and professional sellers off the platform if they keep this up.

wow. so much vim for POD sellers when some people are just trying to make some money. POD is not easy. plus it’s now $15 to open a shop on etsy. i wish etsy has an overhaul but genuine people like me have put in work to see success and see none. NONE. when i opened my shop, i remember not sleeping for 3 nights just trying to get things right. i have paused my main work, trying to create a design that i will like first before listing it. just one. that’s why i have fewer listings than most. because i take so much time to design whatever i want on a shirt or mug. Etsy wants as much money as the sellers too. and i don’t think POD should be the bane of whatever problem they are having. thank you for your honesty.

I recently purchased a 'handmade' item, and it took a while to arrive because it was shipped from China. It turns out it is also available on Amazon and many other online stores. That's not what buyers used to expect from Etsy. Is there an alternative site where buyers can find true handmade items, and possibly even from makers who live in specific countries?

Yes, just finally realized why they terminated my shop last week and why they've been terminating smaller shops lately: they are literally reducing the size of the sellers on the platform lol. This liberates me, because I know I haven't broken any of their precious rules. Oh well, I know they are going down, these are drastic measures they are taking but I doubt etsy will last long.. AND absolutely YES, all they need to do is tell us why our shops were suspended. That's the main outrage people have towards etsy. But since the main reason they are deactivating POD shops is reducing the number of sellers then they can't really tell us the reason is they don't want POD shops anymore, so they are being deliberately vague about the answer :)

In reference to number 5: I make my Jewellery using Preciosa crystals so you'd think I would be allowed to mention that in my listings since its literally used in the making of my products, its a great selling point and I have an account with Preciosa directly where they supply me with their products but nope, they will pull your listing down and potentially close you down for that. They really need to do something about the blanket approach they take on all of their rules because decent, honest sellers are losing their businesses over errors on Etsy's part and its not fair, the stress of it potentially happening or happening is awful. Etsy have the worst customer service for their sellers that I have ever known whenever something goes wrong.

de acuerdo, deberian limitarse solo a productos hechos a mano y no pod, por que esta de moda que pagas 15 dólares e inmediatamente te suspenden la cuenta .

Agree with everything you said. I’ve been an Etsy seller for almost 15 years, and have a very unique shop. All of my ephemera is sourced solely by me traveling the Dallas/Fort Worth Texas metroplex to estate sales, auctions, and antique and thrift shops. Here’s the kicker: in the last two years it seems I’m almost bullied by Etsy, and the latest incident was a 19 cent balance I hadn’t seen. I had put my shop on vacation with an auto-reply that we had suffered a catastrophic loss in our family and to please be patient as I am away and will catch up ASAP. Etsy recommends this. But two customers requested help and they immediately intervened and issued refunds. I get it. My shipping is slow; but that is also in my announcement, sub-title, and some listings. So I’m suspended. Can’t see my listings, can’t get a quick response, can’t update vacation mode, can’t buy postage labels, can’t purchase from another shop. Ghosted. I’m getting really tired of sharing the money from my hard work for awful customer service. (Feed the Birdies)

100% AGREE!!!

ETSY should hire you

I think suspending inactive stores would help tremendously. Most of the “passive income” people have opened stores and left them open with a handful of products hoping that they will magically one day generate the coveted $10,000 a month income. It should be easy for Etsy to locate these inactive stores and suspend them until the seller uploads more merchandise. That would narrow the playing field tremendously. They wouldn’t have to eliminate them completely. Just have a mandatory “vacation mode” after a reasonable period of time.

The "Keep Commerce Human" slogan Etsy has is laughable, honestly. If only Etsy would uphold the same customer service they expect their Sellers to give to Buyers. Timely, personal, helpful ... HUMAN. Etsy needs to bring the bulk of their customer service back in house--- provide humans, a phone number, an actual email address or chat-- people who provide consistent, helpful support to the Sellers who pay fees to this platform. 100% of cases need to be handled by actual human reviewers, not shut down by AI bots in the middle of the night without Sellers having any input. Sellers, rightfully so, do NOT TRUST the very platform they sell on. This HAS to change.

This is something little, but I wish Etsy listings would have a section for internal notes. Wholesale supplier I work for uses a program where you can have notes that only you can see. Would be nice since I sell supplies I could add stuff like this product has backstock.

They absolutely need to tell sellers what they’re doing wrong! Dating apps don’t do this either. They ban you and tell you you’re never getting your dating profile back and won’t tell you why. When you email them asking them to check your profile they claim to and then claim your profile has been banned for going against rules even when you know you haven’t uploaded fake pics or solicited people or sent people rude messages. It’s just a huge issue like it is on Etsy. Banning people for no reason and not telling people why

1:44 because all these POD KZfaq creators and their “get rich quick selling a mug” videos. I started an Etsy POD shop 🛍️ in Jan 24. Hoping to have a second income. I’ve done a lot of research on Etsy and there’s a lot of people chatting garbage and I now realise that I have to read between the lines and sift through the lies. I enjoy creating designs and researching buyer trends. But I’m not holding my breath on making £250k in a month (or even a year). 😊 At the rate I’m going I’ll be lucky to make £100 a month. And this is actually more realistic!

Limit stores?! What about the influx that will come in when they open the door to Chinese sellers as seems likely. It’s going to be a race to the bottom.

Seriously!! Their so many

Are those numbers individual sellers or individual stores. Some sellers have 3-4 stores, maybe they could limit that too?

I don't just slap a CF design on an item/product. I follow the license & modify it in some way, then upload it.

Hi, when you said that with pod shirts store you gonna have 1 winner from 40 designs,this is the algorithm of etsy? But if you have really good designs its can be more?

I have a question, I’ve seen item descriptions leading customers to purchase through their website? Is this against the rules? Are we allowed to offer customers the choice?

So it's not allowed to use any creative fabrica designs? Or you can use them but modifying it? What about the patterns, you can't modify them?

hello, 60 ıtems one sale... what am I doing wrong?

Etsy hides PAID listings, in my experience, and probably in others experiences too.

If only Etsy would listen, but it doesn't seem like they are listening to the sellers at all.

Etsy expects perfect customer service from its sellers but has the nerve to have the worst customer service to sellers. I’ve been on the platform since 2016 and it’s really different now. They advertise to the public that they are a unique handmade platform when they are not. They tried having a separate platform for supplies but that didn’t work so they had to scrap it. I don’t think you can say that some people can’t have a shop but they could limit the amount of sellers in each category. This gift mode thing is stupid. I don’t think they know who their customers are. You can’t be unique and handmade when you’re overloaded with POD and now AI crap art. Josh needs to be fired. Etsy doesn’t have the money/man power to get rid of copyright because it’s gone too far. Copyright has to be requested to be removed by the copyright holder. And lastly they typically don’t make money this quarter. Summer months are always really slow.

As If Etsy is going to do anything about any of this. Either there needs to be a whole new Etsy competitor or we hav to wait until AI becomes far more discerning and has learnt enough. Etsy will do Nothing to interfere with Any source of income to themselves. I predict either AI gets good enough to do all you say or Etsy will just go belly up anyway

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