An Ultimate Guide To Selling On The Etsy Store In 2021
Before getting started, An ultimate guide to selling on the Esty store in 2021 is not for the faint of heart. I want to make it clear in your mind that selling on Etsy is not a “Small” business idea, and this article is only for those who are passionate enough to change their lives by working on this amazing platform. So stick around if you can think big!
With 54 million members and 35.8 million buyers, Etsy is an online marketplace second to none. The interesting part is there are only 2 million sellers on Etsy while the number of buyers has exceeded 36 million.
So if you know how to sell on Etsy, it can change your life.
In 2020 and 2021, while people are facing a lot of financial hurdles and unemployment, learning to sell on Etsy seems mandatory for the people who want to do online business.
So let’s get started and see how to sell on the Etsy Store in 2021.
What Is Etsy?
With the central headquarters in Brooklyn, it is a common e-commerce platform but it has various stunning features that set it apart from other traditional marketplaces. Although it involves the buying and selling of the goods, the nature of these goods is quite different from those available on the other e-commerce platforms.
3 Major Types of Goods on Etsy
Here you can find three major types of goods including handcrafted products, artistic goods, custom-made printed toys, vintage items, and other crafted items that are quite different from the traditional mass-produced items.
So if you are also an artistic-minded person and want to showcase and earn from your crafting skills, look no further. With Etsy, you can start your own small business and it serves as an outlet for small business owners. It gives you an amazing chance to expose your products to art lovers and a wide audience that is always ready to buy these crafts and pay you a handsome amount of money for them.
Doesn’t it seem like an art fair? Well, it does.
Even if you are among those who love hand-made crafts, Etsy is the right place for you to browse through fantastic masterpieces of hand-printed clothing, made-to-order works of art, and other hand-made products.
And yes, you can also find vintage items on Etsy but here it is worth mentioning that if you want to sell on Etsy as a vintage, you should be at least 20 years old.
What is the most unique part of this online marketplace?
Obviously, it is not a traditional e-commerce marketplace where you rarely find hand-made products, so its unique niche is the most distinguishing feature that makes it the number platforms for arts and crafts. With the stunning options to list the products for FREE, sellers always have something enticing that can boost up their sales in no time.
Important Note: Etsy does not manufacture any of the products that are sold on it. Instead, it only serves as the connection between the buyers and sellers and provides an outlet to small business owners where they can showcase their talent and earn from their artistic skills.
However, it provides the crafting class to the passionate artists and newbies where they can polish their artistic skills and get chances to learn and excel on Etsy as small business owners.
Should I Pay To Start Selling On Etsy?
If you want to start your shop and are determined to start selling on Etsy, here is the good news for you. Etsy will charge you only $0.20 for signing up and listing your product on it, and it seems almost FREE. The best part is this listing continues for 4 months and most of the time, your item gets sold within this period.
Upon selling the item, you will have to pay 5% of the selling price. Here I would like to mention that if your item does not get sold within a month or two, you should remain hopeful and do not pack your shop as you will have to keep running the expenses based on your listings.
So before jumping into this business, you should think about long-term plans and should not be packing up your shop after a month or two.
How Much It Cost To Setup A Store On Etsy?
As discussed earlier, it will only cost you $0.20 to list the product on Etsy. But what if you have many products that you want to list? Here comes the role of the Etsy store into the picture.
So the answer to this question is quite simple. If you have many products that need a listing, you can pay for the single listing and then upload all of these products under the same listing.
You might still be confused about this product. Do you think that products and listings are the same things? Well, it is, but not for Etsy. In the case of Etsy, you can add various products under the same listing.
Let’s understand this concept with an example.
If you have various hand-made bags to sell, you can create the listing of hand-bags and then keep all the different-colored handbags under the same listing.
The same thing you can repeat for other things such as hats and other crafts.
This gives an edge to the buyers because they can easily choose from the same objects of different colors.
The interesting thing is even if you have more than 100 hand-made handbags of the same colors, you can keep them under the single listing and will have to pay only $0.2 per listing. It is something that keeps you on the safe side even if you do not have enough funds initially.
After four months, you will have to renew the listing and either manually or automatically. You can choose the automatic listing of the products if you are new on Etsy and all not well aware of manual settings. I hope it makes sense.
Should I Renew The Listing Or 4 Months Are Enough?
Whether you are a new seller or an experienced one, you need to be very careful about the renewal of the listing. So if you are not getting enough sales for the particular listing, you should think again before you go with its renewal.
Without the handsome number of sales, the cost of listing will soon add up and become a burden. For example, for 100 listings, you should get ready for $20 after every four months and this is something that can put you at a great loss if you do not get sales for a year.
The addition of $$$ to your expense sheet can turn out to be a desperate thing because the costs may include the expenses that you make to keep your listing on the first page.
So the right solution is to keep your listing renewal settings manual and only renew the particular listing if it is getting sales.
Is There Any Etsy Transaction Fee?
All of us know that every eCommerce site charges a fee for selling it. It includes only the small percentage of the sales price that is necessary to keep running the business on eCommerce sites such as Amazon and eBay.
The same is the case with Etsy, it does charge a 5% transaction fee that sellers pay from the sales price at the time someone buys a certain product.
Are There Any Etsy Shipping Costs?
To pay for the shipping fees is the responsibility of the buyer and the amount of this fee varies depending upon the location of the buyer. You will not find any online marketplace that pays the shipping charges and Etsy is no exception.
However, it is the responsibility of the seller to find out what are the exact shipping charges to sell products at the location of the buyer. In case, the seller does not pay heed to the calculation of shipping charges, he will have to pay for it from the sales price.
I know what you are thinking right now!
If no e-commerce site pays the delivery charges, then why do we hear a lot of offers with “Free Home Delivery” options? Well, the answer is sellers provide these offers on their own responsibility and add the shipping charges to the sales price.
It is just a way to market the business online and grab the attention of the buyers.
As a seller, if you are careless about adding the shipping charges appropriately, you may have to pay a lot of money for shipping costs. So doing some research on this matter is not a bad idea and can turn out to be financially beneficial for you. Remember this is an Ultimate Guide To Selling On The Etsy Store In 2021,
Does It Cost To Promote On Etsy?
If you have browsed through Etsy, you may have seen the promoted listings and featured products. If you are a new seller and want to test your site’s market viability, you should focus on the promotion of your product and see how it goes.
It will make it easy for you to estimate whether your product is in demand or not. The algorithm of Etsy supports the Cost Per Click and gives you access to the dashboard where you can check out and judge the detailed analytics.
But the question remains there:
What is the cost of promoting on Etsy?
For the newbie, it is $1/day and works on the CPC model.
Now let’s get to the next point.
Have you ever heard of the paid and non-paid listing while searching about the costs of promotion on Etsy?
You can find the answer by browsing through Etsy where you will see the word “ad” written with various paid listings, so it is to give you an idea to the buyers about the promoted listings.
New sellers often feel confused when they see a lot of competition, but this is a common thing. competition is everywhere in all the online e-commerce marketplaces, but still, some new sellers easily make their mark and know how to stand out from the competitors.
One of the ways to enhance the exposure of your products and bring them in front of a massive audience is to look for advertising options. Investing in ads is something that every new seller on Etsy must consider and pay full attention to, because when the potential buyers do not see your products, how will they buy them?
According to my experience, it would be enough for the newbies to start from $0.10-$0.50 per click and start analyzing the results.
Are There Any Etsy Payment Processing Fees?
Like all other online marketplaces, Etsy does charge the payment processing fees whenever the buyer opts for a payment processing system. The amount of the fees depends on various factors such as the nature of the platform, location of the seller, taxes, etc.
In the case of Etsy, if the buyer directly searches Etsy, he will be charged 3% plus $0.25 per transaction. But this is not the hard-and-fast fee and the charges may vary if the seller has listed the items in currency other than US Dollars.
What Do I Need To Create A Shop On Etsy?
Creating a shop on Etsy is quite easy and simple. You can learn it in a few steps that we are just going to discuss below. Let’s get started.
- Log-in to the Etsy account. If you do not have one, you can sign up/register for the new one by providing the basic details.
- Choose the audience for your shop and set up the location.
- Select the currency in which you want to list your products.
- Think about the shop name and insert it in the bar where it is required.
- Create the listing and add all the relevant details regarding your products. Keep in mind that you can add the crafts up to 20 years old and not older than that.
- Check out the options that will guide you on how you want to be paid. These payment options depend on the gateways that are available in your country.
- Now the last step is to set a billing method through which you will pay the Etsy Fees.
Is It Necessary To Have A Debit Or Credit Card To Create An Etsy Store?
Unlike other marketplaces, Etsy focuses on creating the maximum ease for the sellers. You can easily open an Etsy shop even if you do not have a Debit or Credit card.
But remember that,
You can definitely proceed with the debit card or credit card if you have. However, to verify your identity and other transactions, Etsy will need you to proceed with the PayPal account if you do not have the cards.
How Do I Get Paid As A Seller On Etsy?
Paypal is the widely accepted method and you can get the payment directly to the PayPal account once you attach it to your store. However, it is very important to have your own PayPal business account instead of the personal one because there are two major flaws of the personal PayPal accounts that make them unfavorable for the online businesses.
- The first drawback is that a personal PayPal account has monthly limits and you cannot proceed with the payment if the limit is reached.
- The second flaw is that the personal account does not accept the payments funded by credit cards.
The latter one is the most problematic as most buyers pay via credit cards and you can miss a lot if you start with a personal account.
Some Pro Tips For Selling On Etsy
In this ultimate guide to selling on Etsy in 2021, you will need to drive sales. If you want to drive sales as a new seller, you should pay special heed to make your products attractive and eye-catching.
- People love the visuals and if your product is not visually enticing, people will not consider it, no matter how good the stuff is. If you can afford it, you can take the help of a professional photographer to get the beautiful shots that will hit the viewers right off the bat.
- One of the most cost-effective ways to enhance the exposure of your store is to use the professional layout and organize your products in a way that makes everything clear to the buyers.
- Learn the basic Etsy SEO techniques and use the right keywords in the titles and product description. When the search intent of the users will match with the keywords, the potential buyers will definitely see your products while browsing through Etsy.
Before The Final Verdict
Before we end this article of An Ultimate Guide To Selling On The Etsy Store In 2021, and make the final verdict, how do you feel about making money online? If you are not crafty but still enjoy making money here are a couple of online business ideas. These passive income models will knock your socks off! Or better, will allow you to keep your slippers on all day as you make bank from home.
- Learn Amazon Affiliate Marketing
- Kevin David Affiliate Marketing
- Stay At Home Mom Work From Home Ideas
- Start A Business With Literally No Money
Final Verdict
Do you know 79% of the businesses on Etsy are the individual ones? So it is best for the people who want to start small and grow with time.
To motivate you further, let me add that 97% of the Etsy sellers are running their stores from home and have observed bulk sales even in the COVID-19.
When you have millions of potential buyers who are actively looking for new and innovative hand0-made products on Etsy, what is stopping you from converting your small hobby into a multi-faced line of original creations?
Undoubtedly, you should get started today!
Here is a Video on the Ultimate Guide To Selling On The Etsy Store In 2021
https://youtu.be/ySpqmY5cp6Y
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