Your channel is going to grow really fast. Finally someone who talk sense, knows what he is talking about, and doesn't promess $10000 a day after one week. I subscribe!

Agree, Etsy Ads is criminal and all about Etsy’s pockets and not about helping us.

You never know, these late night videos might well start a wave of discontent which Etsy will have to take notice of. Their ‘ Sellers Handbook’ is basically a brick wall of non-helpfulness and customer service (for sellers), even worse. Bring it on please!

100000000000% AGREEE!! etsy take our money and sales does not increase, even if you put more into your daily budget. Shame on you ETSY!

After watching this channel and having a 1-1 session I got a wake up call regarding Etsy. I’ve decided to scale down investing any more time on Etsy and launching my own web shop and giving Amazon Handmade a go.

Well Etsy ads helped me a lot to increase my visibility. The store i created this year, so as soon I got reviews and 100 purchases. I turned off my ads and now sales are organic

Thank you for this. I constantly lose money on Etsy Ads and I find it interesting that regardless of how much I spend in a day, it all gets used up. It almost seems that there are people out there clicking for clicking's sake.

At last! Sense about Esy adds. Etsy are still raking in money for things they have nothing to do with or when there's no other option, i.e.Postage fees. Subscribed! Can't wait for the next one!

All of your videos that I've watched so far have been helpful. I'm currently making digital products to sell and Etsy is the first platform that comes to mind so I am learning as much as I can before I launch my store. I'm so glad I found your channel.

This is a great idea for a series, and on this topic of ads, this gentleman is 100% correct. Whenever I experimented with paid ads, my ROAS was never more than 3:1, and not justifiable as said in this video. My SEO is good because I see no increase in sales when I use ads, only an increase in the ad fees claimed. I would make a decent living off of Etsy alone if not for their predatory fees, so they're literally the motivation I needed to start my own website so I can wean myself off of their platform. Since my store made "too much" money (lol) WITHOUT Etsy ads when I started, I am now FORCED to be enrolled in their offsite ads program. It's literally a racket. "Since you're making sales without our help, you're now mandatorily enrolled in our ads program so that we can get a piece of your action." Their 30-day window on claiming ad fees from a return shopper is also predatory. I've had customers click on a listing for a 15$ item, and come back WEEKS later and buy unrelated items worth hundreds, and Etsy charges me ad fees based on that large order! And even more if they come back to purchase more items in that timeframe. Speaking of which, if someone clicks on my ad, but then buys a competitor's product instead, I should be credited that CPC. Why should I pay that CPC fee if a different seller is getting the sale? The limited access to ads data is literal proof that they don't want you to see the long term performance of ads... why not? If the long term performance worked so well, they would be more transparent to encourage larger investments into it. But they do the opposite, and limit the access. Why? Because you'd see that it's not worth the money.

You are so right :) Thank you for telling it like it is because it validated something I saw and couldn't figure out what Etsy thought they were doing. A customer comes in on an ad and then with our discussion, I decide that this person would like a new product I have that wasn't listed yet. I put up the listing, sent it and when it was purchased, i was charged ad fees on it. Thank you for explaining the "why" of this. I do not do ads anymore as they ate up my profits real fast. I did the math and read every line.

Bingeing your content! So great to get such detailed insights (& validation that some of my gut instincts were right!)

Nick I real like your thinking and reflexion you are the one who analyze the correct way and understand business, I am soon to start selling on Etsy, before the end of this month, congrats on your videos, and thank's for all that help. Real N.

Keep-em coming! My new #1 YT Etsy Channel!

Totally agree, 30 days is greed

Totally agree with you! Etsy ads is bloodsucker! It didn't bring any sales. Looking for your next episode! Thank you!=)

Wil be watching all episodes, love your content and trust you with the info you providing, you care about the sellers and help sellers 😊

So fascinating! Thank you for sharing this with us!

Thank you for exposing Etsy Ads, it's criminal counting it as an ad sale after 3 days.

The problem is the asshattery of what their so-called advanced algorithm decides to do, like guessing which random parts of your title and keywords to advertise your product on. On what planet does "mug" perform well on its own (for a niche mug design). Mug? What kind of mug? Wasting your dollars unless you go in every day to uncheck the bizarre useless keywords their machine chooses...

I knew something changed, I just couldn't figure it out. I've had a shop since 2015, and the last 2 years have been SO disappointing regarding ads. What gets me is that I have no data to look at - sure, they give me cute little graphs with seemingly correct data but I want the ACTUAL data of where my money from ad spend is going. They have refused this information to me numerous times.

I recently tried Etsy Ads as a newer store and little information. After thousands of views, I had 27 clicks and no sales as a result of the ads. It didn't take me long to see that Etsy just found another way to take money out of my pocket. Thanks for this video. It is spot on in my opinion and I am no longer using ads, but instead working to streeamline SEO and social marketing.

I love your videos ! Thanks for the great info!

I realized a month in that I was making more percentage on my own than with Etsy ads. I said , "Why am I spending money to pay them when my percentage from my own work and time is better." I have lost a little over $300, and for what, they didn't make me any profit. So, I will continue to work hard networking, fixing my titles, tags, and anything that needs fixing to make a profit. Interesting video.

Thank you! I knew it! This numbers 6.5% bla bla is also bul**** I believe. Here are some realtime numbers: When I closed my shop, the numbers was like this: I've made 632€ in total. 330€ spent for Etsy Ads + Etsy Offsite Ads and all that other sh**. 302€ left for me. 250€ I spent for material. The final number is 52€. I wont even say how much time I spent on working hours... Thank you for your videos, Much love, Aian

I am an absolute beginner in all this but an amateur photographer. So I now have opened a store selling (attempting to sell) digital downloads. Just been open a month with 20 listings and have got 27 views (or is it visits, not sure, still learning). Planning to add a new listing a day from one of your reccomendations and also following your SEO guide from recent video. It's more a retirement interest here to learn the etsy process (as i plan to open my own photography website in near future), and find your videos very helpful.

I loved it how he intros the third point 😆 'the first two was really bad but this one is unacceptable 😆😆. According to my experience if I used Etsy ad, I don't make anything. Looks like the sales number is high but after all the cost and marketing, feels like I am working for Etsy for nothing. I am stayin for customer reviews, and using the platform to level up my listing skills. My shop started in 2017, I have joined many local business community, watched many KZfaqrs Etsy tips, only subscribed this channel because Nik knows what he talking about. Very good tips! Thanks

Hey, this is just a reminder that the more critics you get the more success is on your way :). That's how it is here on KZfaq. I love learning from you, but keep that in mind, you see a critic think to yourself, "oh I must be doing great" haha. It's the tall poppy syndrome and all that. All the best! Enjoying the content!

I completely agree with you.I was using Etsy ads and my revenue was always in negative .But when I stopped using Etsy ads now I make good money.

Thank you. New people will never know about this. Ads usually help you make sales not waste money. No sales with ads so far. 🤷🏽‍♀️😊

Hi Nicholas just checked mine my ROAS 2.5. Was quite shocked by this as it was much higher a couple of years ago

Etsy ads are a disgrace I don't and won't use them and compulsory off site ads are insane.

My coworker and I sell similar items on Etsy. I’ve never done ads and she does ads. She makes more money but she spends more money so in the end we make about the same amount each month.

I think many sellers mistake Etsy Ads as a more or less permanent solution for steady traffic and profit, but I look at it as a powerful tool for NEW sellers/stores to obtain large amounts of data (which listings are working or not) in a short amount of time as opposed to waiting it out via organic traffic. The "organic" route is sound if you're willing to wait years for growth, but if a seller wants to grow faster and outpace competitors in a competitive market, running Etsy Ads will still be a powerful option. Etsy Ads, as with all other marketing tools should be treated as an investment for the main purpose of providing more exposure for your business. And it's also probably important to note that any type of ad that you run should ONLY be applied to OPTIMIZED listings, listings that you have spent considerable time researching and improving (e.g. listing photos, SEO, items that have actually sold) or else you would just definitely be wasting money.

I did 3 days 1.00 a day. No clicks from them but my SEO performed. I found that very honest. I like it a lot so far but I won't use the ad system because it seems useless. Also, I thinknit is good to start building a brand. The plan shoukd be to build out your own store elsewhere imho.

The 30 day window would only be acceptable in my opinion, if they could somehow track that their ad generated the sale. I was enroled (without consent) in the offsite ads scheme & I often wonder how legit that extra commission is! You're right, just because something is 'industry standard', doesn't mean it's ethical....just look at the animal agriculture industry!!

My ads are the equivalent of every sale they generate being 50% off...so I did a test and ran a 50% off sale for one day, two months in a row. Offering 50% to the customer for one day generated the same $ amount in my pocket as a month of ads. When I drop Etsy ads they stop putting my listings on the app, which is where most of my sales come from... That 30 day window too...I spent hours and hours with a repeat customer creating a custom item. Their first purchase was not an ad purchase, and I put the custom reserved link in our messages...Etsy marked it as an ad sale which skewed my numbers by 190.00. I'm sure that's done often, so the ad revenue stats who knows, it might all be fabricated. I used to spend 3.00 daily on promoted listings, now 10.00 brings in less sales than 3.00 used to. I just want to work on SEO and your lego theory...because it seems like Etsy has a hole in the bottom of the cash drawer these days. My 2023 goals are revamping all my photos, and SEO.

I love your content 👍it help me a lot because I decide to have my Etsy shop

I use Etsy odds 2 years ago and 4 years ago and every year it's so difficult to understand how it works so I think you are right they are money with no reason to spend them on odds but if you're competitors use it you can you can say oh my God it's not for me

Thanks! The Offsite Ads have been just removed.. As for Etsy Ads, I'm waiting if my tags improved yesterday will bring some sales.

Could you tell us more about the offside ads, I can't opt out but I can't see any way of tracing the sale back to Google other than asking customers. Great videos, thank you.

I have the feeling that Etsy manipulates the ads system badly. When we turn on ads our sales drop because our conversion rate drops dramatically because of the watch not buy traffic. When we turn them off it shoots back up we tried this many times and its consistent. Last year we spend 100k on ads and the return was x6-10 so pretty decend. This year they are robbing me of my money its completely worthless.

Did $1,200 in sales last month actually "pocketed" around $540ish, fees, shipping, cost of product....but MOSTLY etsy FEES its actually kinda out of control to be honest. Charging us $3 and $4 on a single item that may only cost $17.99 is WILD. That's on top of all the other fees lol. I think we may be better off learning Google ADs and running the traffic to our own websites at this point.

I have two very profitable listings that are being juiced with Etsy Ads, but I have nearly 200 listings that are unprofitable when tested with Etsy Ads. Love the service for those two listings though!

Yes, 30 days is crazy. I knew nothing about anything a couple of years ago when I started investigating online marketing and saw how affiliate marketing worked- in a similar way- and I thought that was nuts to have such a long term.

My shop is 4 months old today. I used Etsy Ads for 3.5 months. Had 30 sales.....but definitely did not turn a profit. I turned off Ads maybe 4, 5 days ago. My views went way down from around 35-43 a day to maybe 5 per day. The last two days though my views up higher than they ever were when I was paying. However, no sales or favorited items. This whole Etsy thing is such a fine art. I'm curently working on building up my shops inventory...as I'm digital.....I'm doing all of your suggestions....but still crickets for the last week. I'm happy my views are up...but I did get 4 sales in one day on much less views. So nothing is really making sense lol But I'll keep going!

Yup! Those extra sales really suck when a customer purchases again on ads or the offset ads. Etsy is all about the money. It's crazy.

I think it’s crazy what Etsy is getting away with. I’ve also heard if you get a sale from a click and that customer comes back 3 month a year you still have to pay the click fee or a fee? is that correct? Thanks so much. New Sub.

I agree about the ludicrous 30 day "waiting period"!,Also, I have taken off my advertising for now! I've had 6 sales which I gather etsy will take their advertising fee?

Thank you for this.

My issue is whether the cost per click can be manipulated. I'm not sure by whom or from where my ads are being clicked on. For example if my ads are being clicked on by somewhere in Canada, but most of my sales are in the western US, then I can understand that the ads aren't helping me. However, Etsy doesn't provide info as to where and whether the same person is clicking my ads until my budget is used up.

I started my shop just before xmas turned on etsy ads found lost money and now account on 75% money hold. Now restarting without ads and scrapped xmas products New start and wiser. Looked at SEO tools but seemed not right so dragged my feet thanks for advise seem to say what I thought but found know where else. Steep learning curve

ROAS of 0.72. Etsy loves to have me on their platform 😂. My best one is 1.27

I've turned off all my ads. I'm spending money with no sales.

AND AND! They attribute even repeat sales to that first ad click. I have had repeat buyers come back and purchase again and directly and etsy still links it to their ad.

We do not have a single profitable listing from ads. Absolutely hate the way they're structured.

I do Google ads and seo for off-etsy businesses and I turned off this stuff in my Etsy store for these reasons. You will still show up on Google organically !! Turn it off because if you do everything else right (SEO, good listing) then you won't need it.

Helloooo, your video just pop up in my KZfaq feed. Are you in Paphos, Cyprus? I live in Larnaca. 😁

This is a chewy subject, I have turned ads off twice now, both times for 4 months and I pushed my social etc. The truth is I just don’t get the traffic without Etsy ads, so i feel no need them on. So it’s no orders or regular with ads and lose money!

I used Etsy adds at first. But I never got much money back and sometimes everything I earned was take. Now, I have put my store on vacation because they they won’t let me verify my bank account. And they say if I sell something they are not going to give it to me. I am totally discussed with Etsy.

Thank you again!! Going to look at my Etsy ads carefully, do you or anyone you know look at someone's shop and give advise?

As an Etsy Seller, I totally agree with you. I don't use etsy ads.

You are very right with everything you say. and yet I want to contradict you in one respect. IT IS NOT NORMAL not even a 3-4 day window related to Etsy advertising. It is normal that ONLY when Etsy promotes you and a buyer clicked and bought through advertising directly, you will be charged.Otherwise, you are doing nothing but donating your money to Etsy, hoping for a miracle, which will never come.

Intriguing subject -- Etsy ads. For all those who had the Option to Opt-Out, the etsy algorythm screens out those who aren't willing to do the adds. My business decreased by more than 60%. Also, according to Etsy, IF I chose to opt-in, my Gross after ad cost would be about 50% --- and from That amount, the other various fees and charges would come. After then addressing my COGS (materials & labor), I'd end up operating in the red. Such greed, even in the business world, is untenable.

The 30 days window is also used on offsite adds. You sell something and then you try to get your customer to purchase again from you and Etsy will rob you again each time that customers purchases from your store for the next 30 days. 😤

this story breaks my heart. Thanks for sharing

I just did an excel spreadsheet & the #’s are horrible. I’m so discouraged.

I ran ads for one month at 1 dollar a day. Got a few listings favourited but no sales. Switched them off after costing me 30 dollars for nothing. The 4 sales I have had must have come from seo as I don't do social media.

Are you sitting on the floor....? Btw Love Your Videos, so natural, so clear, so good.....

I just opened my Etsy store so I am a beginner learning how everything works, I run $1 a day ads and also try to run daily sales, I also run social media ads. Thanks for this info!❤

I had to figure this out the hard way and the free shipping thing only screwed me as well.

What annoys me the most about their ads is that they add "related tags" which have absolutely NOTHING at all to do with my product. I have paid for ads for about a week now only because a friend insisted I try it and gave me the money for it. Well after a few days when I checked the stats, I could see hundreds of "related tags" that I could turn off, but before I knew about these, how many times did etsy place my product in front of someone looking for a hamster tunnel, when my product is a cashmere hood? I make these products myself, they are not POD and I have done OK since I began my shop as a side hustle. Same thing goes for when I am searching for a specific item: literally thousands of things pop up that have nothing whatsoever to do with my specific search terms and I have to search through pages of junk to find what I was looking for. This tells me that ads are a total waste of money. Thanks again for being honest. I refuse to watch any more videos by con men and women who have appointed themselves as etsy experts.

Thank you for speaking the truth! I hope to never have to use Etsy ads. Quite a number of sellers on KZfaq used Etsy ads and said that it’s ok that they are not making any money through the ads, they just want to drive organic traffic to their store. Does that really work..?

My roas on a product I was selling a lot of I thought I was making money on. It’s ROAS was like .52. I killed that thing. Still making organic sells from it

I get a lot more traffic from Facebook per $, but not sales. Etsy ads are brining more $, but the return of sales vs investment is not good. I am helping my daughter try to start up an Etsy shop, and after a Christmas season of Etsy ads, I considered doing a video about how the best way to make money on Etsy is to buy their stock instead of trying to sell. The Ads system knows how to vacuum out the corners of the shop to clean out those $$.

the big question is if an Etsy Ads Sale counts into your quality score. Do you have an explanation for that? I sell on Amazon too and if a sale is generated through an ad it has the same ranking boost than an organic sale. If this is the case, Etsy ads might be a useful launch tool.

Super Video ! The thing is that you are obliged to use those ads . Can we refuse to use them?

Hi Nick. New subscriber and glad I have. Etsy ads seem to be underperforming for me. I opened the shop in Sept 2022 and ran ads to increase my profile on the site with limited success; a few sales but nothing to write home about. In total since 31/8 I've got Views 131.3K Clicks 575 Orders 6 Revenue US$68.40 Spend US$103.81 My keywords look to be performing, but you have to look at those results and see a losing bet.. Please keep upnthe good work and thanks.

industry standard in my experience is the old way, when I get ads on facebook, google, and amazon i can set a dollar spend. so theyre just lying if they are saying its industry standard.

Hey! thanks to your videos Ive managed to make my first 4 sells in this week!! wohoo One question, my banks currency is ILS and my shop currency is USD, so I'm paying 2.5% fee for every deposit, the question is, is it will be smart to change the shop currency to my banks currency to save those 2.5% - and will it demage or effect my buyers (I guess they will see this wierd currency and might think twice) , would love to have your opinion :)

When we turn off the promoted listing, the Etsy platform then lowering the exposure of our listings and the traffic will drop dramatically

Thanks for this. I’ve very recently opened an Etsy store and apparently I’m running ‘off site ads’. Is it worth sticking with this.?

I have seen many good big episodes with bad photography and sale and they use it odds if $100 a day $25 a day but they are strong big enough shops with many sales per day big small size but every day they have 50 orders and then their ads are better

Sounds like I just wasted a week setting up an Etsy store and populating it with physical products, still I had a lot more to list yet so I haven't wasted what I might have done had I not watched this video

None of this or Etsy's attitude are surprising when you understand these people have a 2000 year history of being like that. "Because it's industry standard." Who controls the industry?

Hi, this an old video on Etsy ads but does anyone know if it's changed now or still the same issue?

I have a question about Etsy Ads. For eg. I had 4 clicks for an item yesterday that resulted in a $1.50 spent. However when I click "Searches that led to this ad" I see several "Buyers search for" but 1 had a click. Any idea where are my other 3 clicks?

Between all Etsy fees and Ads, the cost of merchandise, the cost of shipping, etc... I've lost money. The other thing about Etsy Ads is that other Etsy sellers are clicking on your Ads for whatever reason they're doing it and think that's okay, which it is definitely not. Also, the reason that you are not getting more than two years of data is because it's going to make them spend more money to provide us with that data. That's less money in their pockets. That' just ties in with their complete change over to Etsy Ads. When you're on a marketplace, you're balls are in their hands. Bottom line.

Hi! I have a question, I have listed my Etsy store but I listed too quickly: I have started to list now at 1 or 2 per day. Do you have any recommendations to fix it? Or should I just start again?

I have a question about ads for digital products, given that there is effectively no marginal cost for a digital product (the cost is all sunk cost, in the product design). Would you still not recommend ads for digital products? I am noticing in my product research (following your process) that the same ads keep appearing in search results pages on Etsy, which means those products are getting multiple times the number of views versus a single listing with no ads. Is that not worth the cost? I guess the unknown quantity is the lost profit, which is then a question of experimentation...

Heres a comparison of this year to last year same period… about the same advertising and traffic but sales are way way down Last year jan-july 287.2K Clicks 2,554 Orders 51 Revenue $3,160.04 Spend $804.51 This year the numbers are discouraging :views 281.3K Clicks 2,413 Orders 29 Revenue $1,820.10 Spend $753.03

Etsy charges are very high. I am very unhappy with them

I have “heard” some of Etsy recently doing more to help sellers in regard to ads and emailing. Is this something I should pay attention to?

I hate how Etsy has changed their ads program!

Are Etsy adds and offsite adds different from each other? I just opened my shop and I’m still trying to learn it all.

Do you think it's worth running ads on a product just starting out (even if it's breaking even after ads) to help build quality score and momentum on the listing?

are we all slaving for Etsy. everthing that goes up must come down. awful

Hi Nick...a short while ago you made a video "How Many Listings Do You Need" I left a reply because you said "tell me your store and I will have a look" and check it out or some thing similar. you never got back to me to saying what I'm doing wrong. my store has been open for about 2 months now with 144 items for sale. had about 50 visitors and NO Sales. would you Please tell me what I have done wrong...many thanks...

Hey! is it ok to use Etsy Ads when starting with a new shop to try and get some sales or exposure and turn it off once you got a few sales?

have you ever thought of creating a discord chat for Etsy sellers? thanks.