My 7-Figure Etsy Launch Strategy Revealed (Episode 6) 

The break even price you’ve suggested listing at doesn’t include the Etsy payment fee, the Etsy ads fees or the HelloCustom fees though. In fact, if you’re paying $25 a day in ads, you’re going to be losing money really hard for the first month or two until you start making sales. If the strategy is to invest $750 a month in ads to build up traffic for sales down the line that’s cool but I think you should emphasise that a little more in your break even calcs…

I have been doing POD since January and while I've done well for my first 6 months, I wish this challenge would have been when I first started. I have now been inspired to go through and revamp everything. I first saw you on Cassiy Johnson when I first started and increased my Etsy ads because of your advice and I don't think my shop would have done as well without the advice so thank you! I have been sharing this challenge with others who are contemplating starting in this business. You make everything make so much more sense. I truly love that you don't just show what to do but go through the thought process.

I am attempting the challenge it probably the most authentic and truthful thing that I have seen in reference to POD and Etsy

I'M FOLLOWING VERY CLOSE ! I'm watching videos 1-6 over and over to learn because this is very important to me and my family. Thank you, Stephen!! My late husband's name was Stephen .

When calculating the break even price, you need to include not only the 6.5% in Etsy fees and the 20 cent listing price, but also the 25 cent plus 3% for credit card processing fees. It's *not* 6.5%, it's 9.5% plus 45 cents. That doesn't even include the advertising fees that Etsy charges you for off-site ads (15%!). Of course, most sales won't have that 15% fee, but if 10% of your sales come from off-site ads, you're going to have to tack on an extra 1.5% for those fees. So altogether, that's 11% plus 45 cents. I also disagree about the "if you charge less, it will sell more, that's the way it always works everywhere" statement. That might be true for things like t shirts, where one is pretty much the same as another. But for more bespoke stuff or handmade items, undercharging can affect the perceived value of your item. If most people are charging $40 for an item, and you're only charging $15, customers will just assume there must be something wrong with your item or that it is cheaply made. They will skip it and buy a $40 item instead. Now, if the normal price is $40, and you've priced yours at $35, that will be perceived as "a good deal". But if you go too low, it will be perceived as low quality. I had a friend who was listing a particular handmade item for $25 on Etsy and it was not selling. Then she raised the price to $40 and it sold out immediately. It's important to understand your customer. People don't come to Etsy to find the cheapest bargain. They come to Etsy to find something that's high quality, special, unique, etc., and to support craftspeople and small businesses. When people just want the cheapest price, they go to Amazon or Walmart.

Absolute straightforward and logical steps, seems like it's easy as a pie. On the other hand I guess this is where the "tricky" part of the process begins for a lot of people, when they see 25 dollars clicking away every day for 3-4 weeks with each of their listings, definitely one has to carry some psychological baggage especially when not fat in cash, and not absolute sure of the outcome...

great content really, is there an episode 7 to this ?

Far out, man. Groovy concept. I dig all of your videos so far, man. Right on!

Brooo incredible information. Wow I learned so much in 11 minutes it blew my mind. You are really giving value here. Can’t wait for your next video.

I'm following along. To be honest I'm not a young "whipper-snapper" and what is easy for you takes far more time for me to absorb and actually do. It's Nov 9th. I'm almost ready to list some listings but I still have some work to do. Not sure I'm going to make any money this Q4 - which could be very disappointing after working this much on this project. thanks for your videos! Learning a lot!

Thank you for creating this challenge. I have created my Etsy shop, signed up for HelloCustom, and did all my research for each product niche. Also, thanks for doing the math; I struggled with pricing the products to reflect costs and advertising to break even and then eventually make a profit.

I believe the fee from Etsy is calculated on the sale price, not on the cost price, the calculation made is based on the 9.33 cost, but that's is not what the customer will pay, the shipping price has to be added as well, because Etsy will charge based on the total amount the customer pays, sale price, not cost one plus shipping, then you calculate 6.5+3+0.25 and of course you have to leave room for the tax.

Fantastic videos! Just wanted to say Etsy fees are a nightmare. There is also a processing fee, along with the transaction fee, and even a shipping fee. When I charge $6.99 the shipping fee is around $.50 I believe. All of that adds up, transaction fee, shipping fee, processing fee, listing renewal fee. All of this cut so much into my profit, not to mention I think Printify raised their prices recently. I really wasn't making the profit I thought I was until I looked deeper to see what was happening. And even after all of that and taking money out for my ad spend the Etsy funds that are sent to me are way less somehow. Even though I'm making consistent daily sales I'm not making the profit that I should so at this point I'm not sure what to do except maybe add higher profit margin products.

Ok @HelloCustom , challenge accepted! Can't wait to see where I am in my Etsy POD adventure this time next year! I did very well as a handmade seller 2015-2019 (old shop still ranked in top 1%) but was already burned out working 24/7 when 2020 hit. Now I'm ready to give POD and digital a go. Question - Are you listing the product at the breakeven price or listing it at full price with a sale? ex: list it at $12 or list at $24.95 with a 50% sale then drop the sale when listing ranks to page 1. Pretty sure it's just list at breakeven price, right?

Are we going to get more videos?

I was following this as it was looking promising but..... and then? what happened to the next episodes to show your results???

Hey there Stephen, thanks for the fantastic insights. There is one thing I just haven't been able to find so far from the few top 1% Etsy sellers I've been following. The step-by-step process from where you decide what product to sell (which is profitable, in high demand and low competition), to keyword research, etc. Nobody either told me whether to use Everbee first, then eRank, etc. and what tools in eRank to use in what sequence.

Thank You Stephen, for your honesty, transparency, and all of the knowledge and value that you are providing. I was scared away from personalization once opening my shop this year because I have a full time job as well and worried about all the extra time personalization products would take, your new software is gonna be a game changer!! Side note: I paid well over 1,000 dollars for an Etsy course last year (I won’t say which one) that had so many upsells built in that it really just pissed me off, and it was very misleading and contradictory in its modules compared to their sales pitch. So, for you and the others in this video series that have their own POD RU-vid channels dedicated to bringing as much value and free content to motivate and encourage others to just take action and get started, it’s greatly appreciated!! I wish I had seen all of this content from you and the others prior to losing over a 1,000 dollars for the same information, and then some. Congrats on all your success and I’m excited to bring Personalization into the fold, just in time for Q4!

Can't wait to see this!

Is the challenge still planned to happen? Hoping to see episode 7 😊

Thanks again Stephen , I've set up a second Etsy Shop called Pazazzdesign following along learning more with each of your videos. Almost at the point to begin designing . First I have master the Google Sheets and converting into folders.

I binge-watched all 6 episodes.

hi Sir can you share continue episode for this prgm

Wow! Thank you AGAIN! I am following super close and keep repeating all episodes. You are proof that this strategy works - I've just got to get out of my own way on the Etsy ads. Thank you for the confidence booster!

This is such great content. When are you posting your first month results?

Will hello custom bolt on to Gelato eventually? Just read this "Gelato offers a product personalization tool that allows shoppers on all platforms to personalize their designs. They also have automation options that can help to automate the customization process" Could you explain above? Ive just started pod for my business. I like the concept of international delivery from each country saving customer delivery time. Im going to use printify mainly for specific custom products in my niche.

Thank you for the video. One question. You mentioned that you put the maximum amount for Etsy ads ( $ 20) for one product. How many products do you recommend to advertise with that budget?

Love this series! Thank you for making this! Will there be a 7th Episode? I'd love to hear more on Etsy Ads. I'm new to Etsy so lots to learn. Question , if I put a $25 limit would that mean I will be charged $25/day or will I only be charged for per click up to $25 and is that budget per listing or for the entire shop ?

Suuuuuper exciting day! Hello Custom is LIVE!! I am following each step closely. AND rewatching the videos to make sure it all becomes engrained in my brain. Thanks so much Stephen💝

😂 love the jumping jacks! Great series. Yours is the best paid ads affect on organic sales explanation I’ve heard. Thanks!

I have an important question… do you stop ads completely after 3 weeks or are they ongoing? Especially after I raise the price

Hi Stephen, I was wondering how you offset the $25 a day ad budget by increasing your shipping cost by $2. It would seem you would be losing money each and every day if your goal is to just break even on your launch item. Can you please explain.

hey i am new to this channel and i am gonna join this challenge and do my upper best to see any results when this challenge is done. I am also thinking of doing 3D prints instead of POD only so i am looking forward to this journey! Best of luck to everyone who is attempting this challenge too!

Thank you so much for providing us with this extremely valuable information! I followed your pricing strategy and my sales have more than doubled since the following month! And the month is not over!!! :) I also had been running ads, I watched Hannah Gardner say to run the max last week, which then I upped mine from $100 to 1K last week.🙊 That was scary to turn on but It's not using the full amount, most I have spent is about $98, but have been doing double to triple in revenue on that since. I am an elementary teacher and just finished summer school. I have 3 weeks before the school year to pour into this! I am looking forward to integrating and implementing Hello Custom, it'll be life changing, as the school year is so busy. Thank you again for helping all of us! I look foward to your monthly updates.

I just started my Etsy POD store last month & this is priceless information! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I can't wait to see your results!😀

really thanks , we all really appreciate what you are doing , all the support for you 👏👏👏👏

Thank you for dropping these gems. My question is, what if I have a product that launched 2 weeks ago, could I still lower the product price to rank or did the time frame pass for etsy to push new products?

What a gem!! Thank you so much Mr. HelloCustom!!!!

So if launch 3 products at the low price to gain rank and 2 of them end up ranking to page one would I raise the price for the 2 and leave the one that hasn’t ranked at the low price?

great content

Thanks for the great info? I am following what you did last March and it does not match up to todays prices/costs that the sellers have now. The tumbler was at 50.00, now at 18.00, the ornament also cheaper at 9.99, not 20.00 which reduces the profit, if any. Is anyone else finding this? I may be checking it incorrectly but I would not make a profit as shown now in July even when reducing the costs as you recommended. Any new thoughts on this?

Thank you Stephen for another great one! I've always had my ads on since I started nearly 2 months ago and now I'm hovering over the manage my budget and I'm so scared to set it to €100 the highest😨is it just me? I'm thinking what if I just rack up €700 in ad fees at the end of the week 😂 with no sales!

I’m learning so much from You!!!!! Thank you. So excited to follow your same path and making the challenge as well ❤

Just did two days of Market research to get my Attributes and now rewatchinf this video. Launching on 02/04/2024 cuz I'm funny like that! But super thankful for your videos’

I’m following along, Stephen! Thank You!!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🙌🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

I am always filled with gratitude, Stephen., for valuable information you are providing. Your incredible work will undoubtedly be rewarded by the universe tenfold. My question to you is, how can I calculate the cost of ads for individual listings? Could you provide further details on establishing ad budgets? Additionally, is it advisable to run ads for every listing when we are starting?

Thank you for the excellent info! I would love to see a video explaining how to use the data from ads, once received, to optimize your listing and marketing. 🙏

I am a brand new etsy seller and have not listed an item yet. I'm learning, and I am doing my research now. Thank you so much for your valuable videos!

I'm following along. Thanks for the free education! Quick question, do you turn off ads once a product is ranking on page 1, or is that only where you up the price?

Awesome. Putting this into practice immediately!

Loved the series. Can't wait to see this in practice!

I am just getting started but have been reviewing RU-vid videos for Print on Demand for a few months now. I have created my master list for tshirts and have been working on my lists for the tumblers ,ornaments, and phone cases. I also added mugs to the products list to that I could practice your process. Looking forward to following along with your challenge

Question: Do you lower the price on the XS/S size only as click bait, or do you lower the price on all the sizes?

I have been checking in on your Etsy shop to see how you do your first listing. So far, your shop is still empty. Do you or anyone else know when to expect to see your first listing? I want to follow along to make sure I am listing correctly.

Please talk about return amd exchange policy and how to handle that. And also hot configure the basic settings on etsy and printfy when we are starting up with you.

This is so awesome! With Mug shipping costs being $8.39 would you still use $6.99 price and make your item a couple of dollars more or would you set a price at $8.99 and keep the front end price low?

Appreciate you taking the time to show us this. I have all shops in place and signed up for Hello Custom as well. Ready to list and launch! ❤❤❤

Thanks for making this series! Truly been inspiring... I've been contemplating trying out doing a POD business for a while now, but didn't feel like I had my mind wrapped around the strategy. This series has been super helpful and I'm looking forward to the rest of it - please keep it going!

ohhh where episode 7 ..... leave us all hanging . lol

Hello, and thank you for this challenge. I am following you throughout this challenge. I do have a question though. In the apparel and mugs, tumblers categories. How many listings do you suggest for a beginner, first timer to list in my store?

Can’t wait to use the software!!!

loving it!!! Watch every episode

thank you soo much i really loved ti.

Excited to sign up. Cant wait for HelloCustom integration with Printful.

Where are the monthly videos with the results???

You have to remember these people and any other so call guru of Etsy, made their money during the Pandemic. And now there is more money in doing Videos...Most of the people that come here for information, are totally clueless and these people feed off them.. You are the product.

This is incredible content, and the timing couldn’t be better for me as I’ve been working on launching my POD Etsy shop. Question: from your experience, when you set a daily $25 max spend limit for an Etsy ad, what does that generally average out to in daily costs for the first 3 weeks? I’m guess that it’s rare to have so many clicks on your ad that you actually use up $25 a day? I am asking to help with my advertising budgeting. Thanks!

READY!!!🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊

great video, yes I'm following, Just opened a Esty store to implement all of your methods. Thank you

High quality content.

Hi, is there an alternative to using Etsy ads to start? $25. USD a day = $775 USD x 1.95 = $1511.25. Thank you for all your advice so far but I think I will wait for the tutorial for the people who are just starting and have limited funds to make this work. Try This, It's 4 years ago and you have maybe 200 dollars at the end of the month to spare. How would you get started then? How would you get some sales momentum going so you can maybe get to the 25 dollars a day Etsy ads? Thank you.

Thank you so much!!!

Pure gold! Makes so much sense, thanks for this Stephen!! Burning QUESTION: Etsy does not allow the use of ads on new shops for 15 days. Should I wait until I can use Etsy ads to capitalize on the "halo" period? Or should I be putting my optimized listings up to build my shop and then turn on Etsy ads when they become available to me? For example, I have 42 listings published in my shop, but still have 3 days before I can use ads, should I wait to add more for when I can use them? Thanks for the value!

Hey, I find your videos very helpful! Could you please answer a question for me? Regarding returns, in one of your videos, you showed a 100% satisfaction guarantee that supposedly allows returns. Does that mean you accept returns for every product, or only for non-personalized ones, for example, without a name? Or is it about excluding returns completely with personalized items, and your example didn't refer to your actual stores?

Amazing video series thus far. I sort of wish it would cover Digital product sales, but I would assume this is the same strategy.

❤ your content is pure gold

Thank you for the videos! I have questions about how you raise your prices after you have ranked to page 1. Do you raise $1 per week? $2.50 per week? Can you raise it up to $5 over time and still stay near the top and make money with a decent commission built in?

I'm so excited, just signed up! 🥳 Also want to thank you for producing such high-quality content. I love how your videos contain this unique blend of interviews and tutorials in such a smooth way. I was just recently impacted by a layoff and have had this strange and urgent internal push to pursue POD and I've been just giving 98% of my attention on this. Although it's nerve-wracking, your videos (along with others you've interviewed) have been so inspiring to start and keep going. Thank you!

Any results yet ? Can you update us ?

Question-I just opened my Etsy shop yesterday and I have signed up for Hello Custom. I connected it to my new Etsy store and my Printify account. If Etsy suspends my store because it is new, what happens to my Hello Custom account? Does it disconnect with my Etsy shop or does it automatically get restored along with my Etsy shop when they restore that?

Great video! I’m trying to keep up just finished my 3rd promotional product and analytics research. Super hard trying to work a 9 to 5 job and come home trying to get this target goal met! Thanks again for sharing this valuable information! So far this is super fun and very educational! Thanks again for everything your sharing with us. You Rock Man! 🙂

I think I missed the part where you tell how many listings you recommend for this challenge.

Great video series. Looking forward to trying your app. Question: once your product is ranked on page one do you turn ads off for that listing?

Do you keep running ads at max budget afterwards? Is this for every listing you create?

I am trying this right away!

Hey Stephen, thanks for putting together this series, it’s been immensely helpful in getting my own shop up and running. I’m currently working on creating product images i.e. mockups, sizing/color chart, product testimonial/features, etc. Do you have any personal recommendations on where to find solid product mocks? Printify provides some by default, but they’re not as attention grabbing as I would like. I know services such as Placeit exist, but I was curious what your recommendation would be for this aspect.

How do you know if your listing is on Page 1? I don't think an Incognito window is truly accurate, is it? Thanks!

Great info on ads! Thanks so much!

Great vid, do you turn off ads once your product is on page one or do you always keep running ads?

When are you going to do the tutorial on how you are using Etsy ads?

Subscribed and following your series from day 1. Question: Will there be a video on discovering a profitable niche or target audience?

I don’t really get it , $25/day for one listing, but if I do 100’s of listings! Not clear on this point anyone can explain Thx

I signed up with HelloCustom today and was very excited when I posted the first personalized item on Etsy using HelloCustom and Printify. But it does not work for me. I took the white coffee mug from Printify and added a logo where you can change the name and uploaded it all. I then used my second Etsy account to try buying this item or customize the name, so I tried to change the name on the mug from a customer's point of view. Only, that does not work at all, there is no field for it at all, what I see is only the quantity I can buy, but no change option for the name. I assumed that the customer can do this himself. I think some more clarification is needed here from HelloCustom, I at least can't get my head around it. It would be nice if you could make some more info youtube videos about this. Thank you.

Also what if we set up for a customer to send in a picture how do we set this up? Do you have a FAQ or more videos to explain in detail how to you just one picture and a name? Thanks :)

This is the best advise I have ever seen when starting an Etsy shop!! Thanks for keeping it simple and offering such a logical process for me as a newbie! I’ll let you know how mine turns out. Also….where do you create your designs? Once you find something that’s selling well do you create something similar yourself so it’s your design, using Canva or purchase a design that’s similar with POD rights? Or maybe both?? I appreciate the help!!

Just wondering are you applying a discount on the listing to reach your break even point or just adjusting the price.

Been following along. When is the next episode coming? Also after reading some of the comments below...why don't you include the other Etsy fees so we get a realistic idea of what we should be charging? Is 1.065 reality?

i went in to change the shipping amount but it gives me like a hundred options from USPS to DHL to Abcdefg im just more confused now how do i raise my shipping price or is it just easier to leave it at the default provider amount

Are the ads for one item or the whole shop? Thanks for all of the wonderful information.

When do you think you will be launching this software? it would be fantastic.. looking forward to the launch