ETSY'S NEW FREE SHIPPING POLICY + DROPPING SHOP NAMES IN SEARCH | My Thoughts after 10 Years on Etsy 

I think forcing small shops to offer free shipping for visibility is just wrong. Small shops don't have the huge profit margins that places like Amazon do to offset the "cost" of free shipping. Etsy is losing its integrity and its artisan feel. They're going more commercial and that's just sad.

I don't like that they took down shop names in the search. Not cool

The shipping issue kind of hit me the same way. Don’t tell me what to do, Etsy. I won’t be offering free shipping as I’ve tried that in the past and it never generated more sales. Plus if everyone offers free shipping, then no one really would be prioritized in search. I didn’t realize dropping the store name was a thing until your video. And that’s just wrong. We’re not amazon and buying from individuals was sort of the calling card of the platform. I have a blog so I think I’ll need to look at shifting my items there. Thank you for sharing your thoughts🌺🌺

As a Canadian Seller, when the price to ship within Canada vs the price to ship to the u.s. with tracking (sorry, your postal system tends to loose my packages so i have no choice on that) is so drastically different, this is heartbreaking and honestly, its insulting. My pieces are above 35usd in most cases, and Im already competing with really underpriced items. Basically changing my prices will be causing my Canadian customers to pay way more than is fair to them. As an International seller, its the biggest slap in the face. im also heartbroken on the invisible shop names. Especially as someone to is a repeat customer for handmade shops.

Agree with everything you said. So painful. Etsy differentiates by offering goods from small business, by trying to be another Amazon they lose their edge and I am worried they are going to turn into Alibaba.

One point I would disagree with you on. When you said that selling items over $35 shouldn't be a big deal to sellers....for me it's a huge deal! Most of what I make and sell is way more than $35 and the items are big and heavy which causes shipping to be very expensive. Last week I shipped one item to California and shipping was $98.24. Think about adding that to your item cost and selling price! It's a big deal.

After 11.5 years selling on Etsy, I decide to close my Etsy shop last week. Josh Silverman is a clown.

I agree with you, especially deleting your shop info. If I wanted to shop no-name products, I could. But part of the appeal of Etsy is hand crafted items, small business entrepreneurship, and personal relationship with the owner. I'm sorry this is happening; it's not right.

Oh and also if they're getting rid of shop names I guess it's time to start watermarking thumbnail photos! I already do that because I've had people steal my pictures to sell their hoops.

I miss the way Etsy used to be 😭 It was such a cool marketplace back then for small businesses!

Taking the shop names off makes it feel like the makers are working FOR Etsy, instead of it being their own business on the Etsy platform. And forcing people to offer free shipping is just plain wrong. People should be able to decide how they want to run their ships without being penalized.

Painful Changes ahead.. I’m a seller that moved from EBay for a better user experience - but the benefits of the site are shrinking. I agree with your thoughts..

This explains my confusion last night. Maybe this is why many shops I have shopped from are no longer to be found on Etsy. :(

Etsy is forgetting who helped make them and by taking down the identity of the Makers is proof. So start looking at other avenues to move to. Never settled in 1 because you will be screwed.

As if the free shipping thing was controversial enough, I had NO IDEA until your video that they were dropping shop names from search! WTH! :( That just feels like a total blindside.

This is so sad to me because I have been planning to launch my Etsy shop. I have been following your videos for the past 3-4 years and I've finally taken the jump. Now I suppose I will have to reconsider the platform I use to sell my handmade goods. Lots to think about.

This is the first I heard about the removal of the shop names... I'm extremely upset about this, moreso than the free shipping thing. 😞

I am a new shop but I’ve been making my products forever. I am quickly getting positive reviews. Everyone loves their purchases!! But...even with all five stars, I only have 51 sales. When you take away the name that is going to come blaring out at people! And my entire shop was already on free shipping when they announced that change. But getting rid of the names is so disrespectful!!!!!!!!!! They are going to have a mass exodus!

You are so right Olivia! Etsy removing the shop names is really like them saying that they care more about products than people. I want to know about the maker of the products I buy, I want to know where they're from etc. That's why I prefer Etsy to Amazon. The makers are the best reason to shop on Etsy.

When the price of postage to send parcels keeps going up and up, how does Etsy really have the right to force people to offer "free shipping". Sure it looks great to customers but what about sellers / business owners. It's not fair.

Thank you for this information!!! As a customer I now know why it has been so difficult to find quite a few Instagram makers Etsy shops!!!🤠

I also don’t like them telling me how to run my business. I have a tiny niche (doll arts) and a I Ike to ship some item with USPS priority to get the insurance included and fast shipping to my US customers. Rolling shipping costs into my prices inflate the costs, and well, my system works for me. It’s none of Etsy’s business why or how I price or ship my products.

As a Canadian seller, this irks me to no end. Shipping within my own country is insanely expensive. It costs me min. $14 just to ship via Canada Post within my own city for a small packet of any weight that is more than 2cm in thickness. I cannot afford to offer free shipping. Most of my customers are in the US which equals international shipping for me....again, just cannot afford to do this.

Totally agree! I was so angry when I saw the email saying that they are prioritizing free shipping. It's BS! We are not regular businesses, we are artisans! Craftsmen! No faceless businesses! Also, we are individuals and they're trying to turn Etsy into Amazon and that's not the point of Etsy. The point is the handmade seller community!! This makes me so angry! I can't really afford to create and maintain an outside Etsy selling platform because I don't have that many sales so Etsy is my only option right now and I'm not happy about the drop of our individualness from the platform. 😣

I'm with you. Been selling on Etsy about 9 years now, and I think "free shipping" hurts customers who want to purchase multiple items, because we have to build in postage to the asking price, so there's no good way to refund any excess postage costs. Buyers take one look at the total cost for their items and panic and dump their carts. I get frustrated, too, because my shop isn't a shop with basically uniformly sized items for sale like earrings or bars of homemade soap; I sell vintage stuff, and every package varies. Plus, I live on the west coast, so every time I set a shipping price (posting the maximum--I always refund excess postage) I get this snooty little announcement that I'm pricing my shipping too high. Well, darn it, I have to figure most if not all my buyers are east of the Mississippi and it's a zone 8 or 9 cost from my location. Yesterday I got one of those little scolding messages saying, "Your shipping for this item is too high. Most buyers are looking for shipping costs of $3.50 or less." Well, phooey on that! This was for a package that weighed over 2 pounds! Get real, Etsy. I'm determined to phase out of Etsy selling. It's been fun, but... I've got a small percentage of my items listed as "free shipping" but I don't see that they're selling any faster than the items with shipping not included.

Thank God I left Etsy long time ago and opened my own shop on a domain. Zero regrets.

I totally agree! I have had my Etsy Shop for just over a year and couldn't figure out why my sales had dropped. I was getting orders once a week or more. Now I haven't had a sales in over a month - except for return customers. I hadn't heard about the 'free shipping' thing until a post I read on Instagram. So I did a test - out of 250 posts my shop used to come up on the 3rd to 6th page - Now it's not until about 130 pages back. This is really unfair. My items are all under $35 but no one can find me!

I know a few others who have Etsy shops and knowing that Etsy has changed so much since they’ve started only reason I even still have Etsy app on my phone is because of them all makers is what made Etsy what it is today without everyone they wouldn’t have nothing

No shop names? It's time to get my own platform. Did you know A. C. Moore is starting a handmade marketplace? I think their deal is they charge $5 a month flat fee. They don't take a % of your sales. I don't think I'll switch yet, but I will keep an eye on it.

I was getting ready to start an Etsy shop. Now I am rethinking my plan... Thank you for the information!

Great Video Olivia! I’ve been trying to find out others thoughts on Etsy changes. I laughed at the latest video by them. I’m not an idiot! WE, the makers, are not idiots. They’ll never be able to compete with Amazons, etc. Whether we raise our prices, it still doesn’t help. I do purchase from other shops and have never had an issue paying shipping. I do not like the new format on Etsy. I do like knowing the shops identity. So much more to say.... ugh!!!

I was searching to open a store and now i will be reconsidering ... Etsy store owners need to band together and fight back

I noticed the shop name removal today and was heartbroken. I am a tiny shop, trying to diversify and such. I have reduced my listings to just a few as I work through my changes. This Etsy change with free shipping and shop name hurts. Being in Canada whipping to US is EXPENSIVE and to pad prices to allow for this is going to hurt my little shop. On a side note, my father was involved as a parts/service manager and always laughed at “free” gifts. Every company “adds” or “pads” their prices to cover these “free”things. With Etsy, I order items that are unique, have good value and because or the artisan/handmade feel, shipping was not necessarily the deciding factor. As a ETsy shopper, I will continue to look for small shops that offer quality, uniqueness a value. Free shipping be damned. AS for the shop name, I’m now rethinking my game plan... as I have a website too but wanted to use my Etsy small customer base to build momentum through. I’ll have to stew on this and see what surfaces.

I haven't started my Etsy shop because I'm still working on the details of my product. I have been following you for a while now to glean what you have learned and so appreciate your point of view especially with 10 years under your belt. (I don't like to be told what to do either, their should be options regardless). I appreciate this information and also the fact that you have your own E-commerce store, something to think about especially since they're wiping out the business owners. Sounds like someone is too big for their britches and is biting the hand that fed them to what they are. Shame. This information will make me rethink my direction, I have an advantage since I'm not there yet. BTW, your video on the wholesale company is something that still peaks my interest. Thanks again.

This reminds me of Instagram. With all these changes to their algorithms artist and entrepreneurs are having a hard time getting their names out there. It feels like there's a big box store bully pulling all the strings. These selling and advertising platforms are destroying any potential for true success. Love the information you just provided. I agree with you.

You really made some good points! I think you hit the nail on the head talking about branding! So important and a great reminder! Thanks, Olivia!

As someone who has been trying to decide whether to open an Etsy shop or not this video gives me two items to put under the "cons" column. Thanks for the info!!

I'm really upset with them. Their marketplace unfortunately continues to be one poor decision after another. Here's my short list of rants: moving the description that was supposed to be important to a small right hand side box that you have to click, burying shop announcements below everything, hiding shop updates that they claimed were so important, removing sharing listings from Promos in the forums, removing Treasuries, removing all share buttons off the desktop site, no home page to speak of, no follower feed... Its no longer the social site it started out as. The latter two especially seem insignificant, but it really gave us sellers with unique items a chance to be seen! My big rant is we all know by know this shop cycling they do, and favoring newer shops in search. They finally got to my 2012 shop. It used to have regular sales now has 0 sales for July. ??? All my workarounds have gone silent. I don't know how to gain traction anymore. As you've said, their search is really f'ed up. I don't appreciate the way they treat their sellers. They give us a load of BS, then expect us to be all unicorns and rainbows about everything. I'm sorry. Your poop smells, no matter how long you roll in it. On that note, end of my rant! Unfortunately since I'm having a tough time gaining traction on social media to get sales on my own site, I may be done. I don't know how to cope with a "real" job anymore, but this Etsy h*ll is so stressful.

So now those of us outside the USA get to pay double shipping - when shipping inside the US is rolled into the price we get to pay a higher item cost to cover your local shipping AND overseas shipping fees.

Not using the shop name in what shows is crazy. I've gone to stores just because I like their name! If I can't have my store name show then the customer's experience is going to be nameless faceless amazon. Somebody NEW to Etsy Headquarters thought this up. Guaranteed. No understanding of the platform or its customers. Likely an executive recruit from another platform. Also, telling people to offer free shipping? No, I have a store, I decide how the store is run. I was just about to list more than 1,000 items in the next six months on Etsy. I feel like I have to start all over again deciding which platform to put my energy into. No name? Cripes, Etsy is the platform that tells everybody they have to HAVE a name. Ridiculous. Great hire, Etsy. Ever heard of New Coke? Don't fix what ain't broke. Really glad you did this video, Olivia. : )

Amazon does not have free shipping, they charge every year. Also you should notice that they do add an up charge to many items they “ship for free” , which means you constantly have to keep your eye on prices since they will add a couple of dollars to each item.

I think I'm gonna get rid of my Etsy shop now, to be honest.

I was with Etsy when they first began (Rob Kalin era) and barely survived the Chad Dickerson era (former Ebay board member who took the company public) and since Chad, Etsy has never cared about sellers. They fired him but his "let's be corporate and compete with Amazon" philosophy still lives on. Chinese sellers became 75% of the marketplace in a so called handmade site. Amazon took advantage of the thousands of sellers leaving by offering their homemade dept during that period. SO MANY sellers that literally "made Etsy" what it was are gone now, some even sued. This is reality. It isn't going to change.

Yes these changes will make me continue to try to purchase from a makers direct website if they have one.

I agree with everything you said....seems like every couple of months there is something new with them. I was not aware of the name drop...as an etsy seller that infuriates me.

I agree with everything you say, BUT selling off Etsy isn’t practical for a lot of people, especially starting out. Social media followings take a long time to build and off Etsy sites take a lot of time and work to drive traffic to. I have an instagram with almost 1500 followers and spend a lot of time promoting there, but almost all my sales are from people browsing around Etsy.

Totally agree. And, removing the shop name from the search results makes my blood boil too!! Also, did you get a “seller survey” email from them today too? I did - and it was some BS about how as a seller you’d react to this email they plan to send when a shop has a lot of issues/negative feedback. SO RANDOM!! My feedback on the survey was - why the heck are you surveying us about some dumb email and not asking for our input on your free shipping decisions?! Or the search result changes!?! Infuriating.

I read that they may consider allowing customer returns next. If so then I’m done.

Every freakin day there is some new change there that gives me a stomach ache . They are literally making me sick.

I completely agree that a purchaser could come to the conclusion that "Etsy" has made these shop's items. It appears that Etsy has created a "partnership" with your business (and others) by not listing each company with the product, and by forcefully requiring each shop owner to not charge shipping. It's misleading to the general public, and simply wrong on so many levels. I'm shocked that Etsy attorneys are allowing it. For example, if someone receives a product from "Etsy" or from someone they think is Etsy (or a partner with Etsy), and maybe it burns their skin. Who is legally liable? The purchaser thinks they are purchasing from Etsy... It's too fine of a line.

Keep your spirit up, Olivia! Thank you for sharing your honest opinion and frustration with us.

girlll, YAS. Okay, everything you said was spot on. I'm so glad that you have other sources of income for your shop because at the end of the day Etsy is it's own platform and entity if it decides to close down tomorow...that's it. There goes your 30k sales, your income, your hard work building that base. So, I think what you're doing is very smart and I think that it's completely illogical for Etsy to follow the amazon structure. Firstly - Etsy sellers are individuals making things - it's not people drop shipping from china (for the most part) so it's not fair that you basically have two choices in order to comply with their algorithm - raise your prices to compensate for the free shipping (and possibly lose sales because of it) or take it at a loss. It's not so much about being told what to do as much as they are penalizing their entire seller base and forcing them to take a deeper cut in order to make sales, which may actually end up in sales loss. It's not free to ship things, it costs money, why they are trying to convince people it is, is crazy to me. People who go to Etsy know what it is and what to expect and for the most part, are happy to pay a seller what they have dictated as their price for their items.

I agree with you, this is not a fair policy to coerce artisans into. The vast majority of buyers shop Etsy for the uniqueness of our products and appreciate the quality, work and artistry that is invested into each piece. It is not surprising at all that many indicated on their survey they would buy more with free shipping - any survey is going to indicate that, but I wonder what kind of bent did the survey have exactly? I suspect it did not have any emphasis on the uniqueness and value of handcrafted products or ask questions like, "Would you agree that product prices on Etsy refect the personal investment of time, level of talent and quality of material put into each item?" Or, "Do you agree that free shipping is not free, but just added to the product price?" Or how about, "Are you aware that "free shipping", in fact, forces you to pay exponentially more for shipping when 2+ items you purchase are packaged in the same box, since shipping is already embedded in the product price?" Their argument that shipping should be factored into the price of our products just like labor and materials sounds reasonable at first, but consider this... The cost of materials and time are CONTROLABLE expenses. Therefore the price we determine reflects the VALUE we place on our time, talent and the quality of the materials WE CHOOSE. If we don't want to use expensive materials for instance, we can opt to use cheaper ones, but with the understanding that it can lessen the quality of our end product. But this is OUR choice and at OUR risk. In the end, it is the buyer who ultimately determines the quality of our product and fairness of our pricing by rating it (this of course includes our service, which we control as well). The ratings and feedback we receive are indicative of whether we have INVESTED in the RIGHT materials at the right price, and INVESTED enough TIME into creating a product worth its PRICE. By coercing us to include shipping in our price to get priority search placement is also deceptive. Firstly, the "priority" they promise will result in a flooded search queue and most won't even see any difference of what page their listing shows up on. But even more, shipping is not an investment or even a contolable expense in many cases. Embedding it into the product price simply CONTAMINATES the whole pricing methodology, which again reflects our time, talent and materials we have CHOSEN. It will only inflate the product price and deceive the customer into thinking they are getting "Free Shipping". A local buyer will now pay the SAME price as a buyer on the other side of the country (or even in a different country for that matter). It is simply not a fair or honest practice. The end result willl be that it's going to hurt a lot of artisans (especially those who are located in places, like rural areas where it costs more to ship). I'm losing a great deal of respect in their platform policies and will now be giving more focus and energy to my personal website. It seems to now be the last frontier where my customers can understand and appreciate my prices are a reflection of my talent, time and quality materials I've invested in.

When I first heard about the free shipping thing it felt a bit discriminatory to me. We all pay the same fees so how is it fair to not show what might be a best match for a search just because it might not be free shipping?

Wow I didn’t realize they removed the brand’s name - my question for Etsy is why??? I agree with you, it’s about the makers. Period.

I haven’t been putting much effort into Etsy and now I don’t feel so bad. Amazon Handmade has been really profitable while I work on building my website and social media presence.

When they started having TV commercials it made me nervous.

Yes, that stinks! I hope someone comes up with another way to do things! Especially for us older customers who know Etsy and aren’t as savvy about the Instagram and other ways to buy things! I really do feel for you! It’s sort of like having small shops overrun by a new Walmart. I especially dislike that mass produced products are allowed! Good luck to you!💕

I really appreciate your videos Olivia! I am just starting out with my own online jewelry business and I followed your advice in regards to having my own personal website as well as an Etsy platform... good advice! I agree with your opinion on Etsy practically forcing shops to offer free shipping. Etsy is so saturated already, it is easy to get buried in all the clutter, so the fear is real that if you don't offer free shipping, you will be even further buried! As for the shop names being wiped from searches, that totally goes against the promotion of each shop's creative brand and makes searches appear to the untrained eye as every product offered belonging to Etsy. Ridiculous! Thank you for your posts. I wish you all the best!

Wow...I’ve been seriously contemplating an Etsy shop. I so appreciate you sharing this info! So much that we don’t think about.

As a brand new maker I was so inspired by your lovely channel to have my creations on Etsy. But I haven't been so impressed by them and this change is one where I am skeptical about the platform. We put so much love and time in what we make that if a buyer wants that why should it matter to pay £2 for postage? Thank you for discussing this and making me aware of the name changes in search.

oh shoot! my blood boils for you Olivia. i've been on Etsy as a shopper since almost the beginning. time and time again they do something stupid that only seems to help 'them'. honestly for as altruistic and down home as it started, it's now just a big old mush......there's no reason for me to ever favorite a shop now i guess. the management over there needs their heads examined....i'm terribly glad you have other outlets and shows. i can't even imagine how hard it is for the ones who only built their brand over there. i hope you vendors raise holy hell in the forums. this is good for exactly no one.........[hugs]

Honestly this made my heart sink. I've been wanting to open a shop and now I feel like I have to figure something else out. Thank you so much for sharing so much of your process on you channel.

So this means etsy makes more money on each sale with the free shipping included !?So if shipping is say 80 dollars and the item is 100 dollors etsy makes will take a percentage of 180 instead of 100!

There are several other platforms to move to. I will be doing that now.

They could have just added a 'Sort' option to sort the search result by 'Cheapest Price + Shipping' like most other platforms do instead of forcing everyone to conform to their preference.

I appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts. I actually started as an Etsy customer, and the shop names disappearing isn’t the end of the world to me. I struggle a lot with shopping on Etsy because when you search for items, there is SO much info, I find it overwhelming. I’m really visual, so it could just be that I prefer to have less “stuff” thrown at me for each listing. What I don’t know is if my shop name not being present will be an issue- my shop is still too new to decide. As for free shipping, what I do find interesting is that Etsy is encouraging shop owners to increase their pricing to account for offering free shipping. As a customer, I absolutely do look at my cart total to qualify- and I rarely consider that I’m paying more, buying more, items are priced more, etc. To get that “free shipping”. I’m more annoyed by the fact that they are encouraging shops to raise prices to account for the free shipping than anything else. My products are digital, so again- doesn’t really apply to me- but I’m also a Canadian maker/customer, and was thinking about offering hard goods. It’s going to be a lot harder to calculate those free US shipping costs if I go that route, and I don’t feel like they are accounting for anyone but their American customers currently. (Understandably because this is their largest market- and maybe it’ll happen in the future for other countries- but still.) I agree that railroading shop owners into accepting this free shipping mandate is really aggressive - and it feels like they have decided they want to make more money. So the way to do that is to push makers to raise their prices, and generate more sales. It is disheartening.

Love the way you keep checking yourself before you speak. Shows thoughtfulness.

I agree with you on everything you said!!! I’m just so over it all! It takes me days to make each one of my pieces...there is no way to add free shipping into my pieces as it would raise my prices by 5-9 dollars....that’s dishonest anyway....I already only sell to repeat customers as I’m so far behind in the search no one can find me 😕.....but the real kicker......is taking away my name ....so freaking sad😿 thanks for letting me rant....I’m gonna go cry now.....😊

When I do a search on Etsy on my computer, I still see the shop names. On the home page it doesn't show the name, but for the moment the search still has the names. So it may be something they are testing or that they are rolling out slowly. Either way, they should be letting people know that they are doing this sort of thing even if it's just testing.

I sell a lot of heavy vintage glass, so rolling shipping into the price does indeed cut into my margins. If I have a heavy item and have to add shipping, that extra shipping cost might be $25-45 more depending on the item. Nothing is FREE. Etsy isn't offering free anything. Adding "free" shipping would cause many of our customers to pay more than they should. Shipping is charged by all carriers based on zone, so if someone in New York purchases an item the shipping will be a substantially different cost than someone in California. We do not believe that all customers should be forced to pay the cost of shipping to the furthest zone if they live in a closer zone. That is how free shipping works--- the furthest zone's shipping cost is added to the item.

I love your channel and appreciate all the seller videos you make 😁 I just opened my Etsy shop (as a second sells channel - I have Shopify site too) and decided to brand all of listings with my off-site url. Just the first photo people see in the search results. It’s my workaround for the shop names being removed.

It appears that if you tag your shop name in the product then you can still find your shop in Etsy's search. I'm not keen on them dropping the name of the shop from the product on a search page but there are ways around it.

I agree 💯 Etsy is changing too much and they did not give any warning about the name wipe thing. I am starting a new off Etsy website soon that's enough for me

Thank you so much for this video. I have been thinking about opening an Etsy shop but am constantly weighing up the pro's and con's. Your video has helped me finally make the decision not to and to open one on Shopify instead. Etsy does seem to becoming more commercial and these new changes reinforce my thoughts on this. Love your channel and all the advice you give plus your passion for what you do.

I saw someone explain it on instagram the other day like this: If you make your items eligible for free shipping but then bump up your item prices to cover it, you are giving etsy more money. The percentage they take from each sale is staying the same, but the higher your item is priced, the more that percentage pays out TO ETSY in the end. But yeah it's all about staying up with the times and making it better for the shopper... *eye roll*

I don't sell much (yet) but this is disappointing. Even as a shopper, I pay attention to shop names in search so this is going to really affect user experience in a negative way. I can also see this adding to the confusion of how etsy works with those who are not familiar with the "marketplace" aspect.

I totally agree! That is why I just closed my shop a few months back and will rather open my own soon.. they are totally not thinking of handmade/ small brands anymore but only on how much they can get.. sad really.

Thank you so much for this video Olivia. The information you share regarding Etsy, as a long time Etsy seller, has been invaluable. I had a shop, closed it and have been thinking of re-opening. So much has changed since I closed my shop only a few years ago. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the time and effort you give to inform other artisans/sellers and buyers. Not sure what I'll do yet, there is a lot to think about.

Thank you for talking about this!!! I opened my new shop about 2 months ago and these changes are so difficult for me to keep up with. Really appreciated hearing your thoughts on this.

After I get this order out on Monday I’m closing my shop and finding a new site to sell my artwork on. Any ideas?

Artists in general don't like being controlled. Feels like having a boss. Shame on etsy!

Shop names are important to buyers. I often go back to shops I already bought from - because i know i can trust them in terms of quality and shipping times.

Do I have to make free shipping with orders over 35 available worldwide or in the US is okay to still be relevant in search?

One more thing Olivia. The vendors are the ones who actually made Etsy a brand. It was and is a terrible and vague name. Etsy vendors got the word out, even putting Etsy on their business cards etc....

I knew I could count on you to call it out ^_______^

hi Olivia, thanks for sharing this valuable info ! I'm just getting started with my buddies to sell on Etsy, how would you suggest me to do, in order to mitigate this change and minimise the impact ?

I’m so glad I saw this today!! I’m trying to decide whether to open a shop on Etsy. This is a huge thing that will tip the scales.

My personal thoughts??? Etsy has lost it's soul....

I was an etsy seller a looong time ago when etsy was just starting out. I had great success on there until it got swamped with Chinese sellers that were under cutting a lot of products. The amount of messages I received saying my products were "too expensive compared to xyz" were unreal and turned me off of the site. I sell laser-cut products as well as my digital designs sold on t shirts, mugs, bags, etc. I have my own website and have just started listed on etsy again. I use etsy as a marketing tool to reach those people who use etsy to search for products. I have always had free shipping for my products (my prices reflect this and it has taken a lot of trial and error and even loosing money to get my prices right.) To ship a mug costs a lot more then shipping a tshirt or a pin. Not to mention if you have someone purchase 4 mugs, a print and a pin and to have to absorb the shipping fees for that. For me this new rule is great, more people will be able to find my shop. But I really feel for others who do not offer free shipping. Like I said it's a LOT of work to figure out how to price your products to absorb the shipping price. It pisses me off that etsy just seems to think that the sellers can just set their products to free shipping and that's that. I HATE that Etsy has removed shop names from the search engine. It's becoming more like amazon (they don't list the seller name in the search either I don't think.) The thing that made Etsy great was being able to shop from small businesses and know that you are purchasing from a small brand. Now it's becoming more of an integrated site where you are just searching and purchasing a product. Like it's one giant store, which it is if you are making a purchase of numerous items from different stores that all offer free shipping. You'll go to your cart, checkout with one subtotal for items from numerous stores and wont blink an eye.

I remember when ESTY first came out. They won't charge people for posting items to sell. It was mostly homemade crafts and people would share to how make things. There was a nice community. Then they sold the company and it became about profit.

Hi Olivia, thanks for sharing. I just launched my shop exactly 2 months ago on Etsy and I got at least 3 emails from them saying they have policies changed again. I sell handmade jewellery. I did a lot of research before deciding my launch on Etsy, watching your video was part of it, so thank you so much. And I have been very frustrated with Etsy in the last 2 months, honestly, all my sales are solely from my social media which I have no problem with that. I offered free shipping before which I still do when people buy more than 2 items but this does not help in terms of sales nor the SEO thing. I only just realized that they have dropped the shop name which is not cool. My fans buy earrings from me because they know who I am and love my aesthetics. I chose Etsy even though I saw so many dropshipping products from Alibaba because I thought they still support small handmade businesses. On so many levels, dropping the name is just wrong, I worked really hard on my personal branding. I will start looking for a domain and completely move my store to my own domain soon. I really hate when I am being told what to do when this platform does so little to help my brand grow anyway.

To those saying just change your prices on Etsy...it doesn't really work that way. It's better to have prices set the same throughout all platforms you sell on. You'd need to change the pricing on ALL your platforms which can take forever.

the screen shot you shared of the name drop looks like a listing of wish . com inventory. :(

I actually googled to see who else was having issues with this, and your video popped up! The repricing is a nightmare and is making my vintage and antique items look overpriced. I'm still gonna get screwed if some of the larger, low value items sell under the "free shipping guise".. ie people purchase 3 totaling $35 small items and one normally costs me $15 to ship. What a mess they have made for us as sellers and how unfair to buyers as well. The removal of the shop names was just the icing on the cake for me.

Thank you for this video!

Why does vintage continue to never be mentioned when people talk about ETSY! EVEN ETSY! THERE are ALSO vintage shop owners on Etsy - can you imagine offering free shipping for hundreds of totally unique items? Handmade often has the same product in different forms and shipping is at least similar for all products.

Grrr. Closing my shop, Nana Sadie Rose. I was close and this is the last nail in the coffin.

Hey Olivia! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the subject! 🌲✌️❤️

Great video and good points. This makes me rethink for 2020