What happened to Etsy, My Reaction - I had LOTS to say 

They lost track of investing in value for sellers. Promoted listings used to create high value for sellers, but now their advertising creates more value for Etsy and has priced out lower volume sellers who don't sell mass produced items. I quit using Etsy ads because I can't create three items and give all of the profit from two of them to Etsy. Artists who physically make things just can't do it, and I think that has been Etsy's biggest blind spot. They never have been good at promoting the thing that differentiates them from all other platforms, the creators. They need to put their best foot forward.

I believe there should be a more comprehensive jury process for sellers on Etsy. Additionally, stores that receive complaints should be subject to a thorough review by a human investigator to ensure fairness. This is important because competitors might attempt to sabotage other stores. Human involvement is crucial in making most decisions to maintain the integrity of the process. Moreover, Etsy's rules need to be clearer about what can and cannot be sold. Due to the risk of Etsy issuing refunds for big-ticket items, I am reluctant to sell my high ticket gallery pieces on the platform. This is especially concerning when these items take a significant amount of time to create, as I cannot afford the potential financial loss if a refund is issued unfairly that took a full week just to create.

I have never had any issues with Etsy. My sales have increased (surprisingly) since the beginning of the year. In January-March, it was crickets. Meanwhile, I made some serious changes on titles, descriptions, updated photos, etc. I believe if you put sweat equity into your business, it will pay off. Woke up this morning with having my biggest purchase sale from a customer. You have to be ready for the bumps, bruises & growing pains. It's sad that Etsy's policies & changes have affected some. Hang in there. Meanwhile, see what changes you can make to your shop. It will get better. Try to ignore the negativity surrounding Etsy's news & work on standing out... And no, I don't work for Etsy. I've been listening to Pam, Starla, etc. Learn everything you can & apply what works for your business. As for Etsy's price increases, they have been gradual. Etsy is still one of the best platforms that allows you the ability to open a shop immediately.

I'm about seven years on Etsy and my sales are stabile. The world is changing, not just Etsy. I mean technology will move on, AI is here to stay, the best is there to learn to deal with. Many customers do not read the details of what they buy, have no patience, I cannot change them. I don't need them as my customers either. I would rather continue working part time than work for Etsy I think Etsy should be more open, requiring sellers to post details about their store. I do pod myself and see many shops that do that too but don't mention it, very annoying. Personally, I would like to see Etsy add categories such as pod, AI, homemade clothing, etc. There should be a market for everyone.

As a seller I still love my Etsy shop, thankfully I've had no issues with Etsy. As a buyer though I'm totally put off by the sheer amount of POD that comes up in any search even though often not relevant. The horror stories about scammers and drop shippers etc all puts me off too. If I buy at all it would only be from businesses I know. That I think is one of Etsy's biggest problems. There are some incredibly talented people on Etsy who are now just lost in a sea of meh and living in fear of Etsy bots while all the scammy people are laughing at the top of search.

Great video Pam. I’m seeing more and more of these and one of the things that is not making it into these videos if the piece about the ‘word of mouth’ marketing that so many sellers were doing for Etsy without being paid for that and they have lost that. There used to be many sellers singing Etsy’s praises because they loved the platform, but now it is just a lot of negative press. That free publicity is now gone. The trust is gone and many sellers do not want to promote Etsy at all. THAT is a big loss for Etsy which may be a slow roll, but it will catch up! Thanks for all your work! ❤

Recently I came across an Etsy's pick. I was shocked as the item I saw in Dollar Tree a few months before. So I did some surfing for the same term, and found ANOTHER shop that had the same photo! I sent a message to the original shop, as it stated the item was "printed in the US", asking the seller if I could have a color change. The seller said it couldn't do that. I screenshot both photos, and sent a message to Etsy, confirming that the items were purchased at Dollar Tree and marked up in price; that $1 item was selling for $40! I only wish I would have bought them and saved the receipt. Etsy took down the Etsy's pick, for a few days, and then it was back up again. Why did they listen to the seller and not me? I think it was the number of sales; theirs vs. mine.

Love your content, Pam. I wanted to share that I also sell on Amazon handmade and I'm not sure you're accurate to say they failed at that. It doesn't really matter if it's known by buyers as it's just another category amongst the others on Amazon. Nobody really pays attention to any category and sellers in handmade get perks like not having to pay the monthly fee to sell (it costs NOTHING to list on Amazon Handmade). Amazon actually asked if I would do a zoom call with them so they could answer questions and encourage me to let them fulfill my orders since that boosts sales and rank (it's just the nature of business there for quick prime delivery). I gained a new appreciation for Amazon. Etsy has never asked me to do a one-on-one call. I make 6 figures on Etsy and have been there for 11 years and have felt like just a number quite a bit (yet they finally did start to make me a "pick"). I still love Etsy the most and I'm desperately hoping things turn around for them. POD and changes to the "handmade" definition are slowly killing the dream.

I love to hear your commentary on Etsy and I agree with just about everything you said. I too was on Etsy back around 2011 or so, and I was making crochet hats. I never used advertising at all, and would always sell out of every hat I made. No social media push, no keywords, no paying for ads... nothing. I had more sales than I could keep up with. I've been back on Etsy now for about a year and have only sold 7 items. In order to be seen I am paying for advertising, which is taking my profits, and then some. But I feel it's the only way I will be seen on the platform. I've made zero profit since coming back, but I know that times do change and I'm hanging in there as I don't depend on Etsy for my bills or anything. I have faith that maybe it takes more time now to get some momentum, since there are so many more sellers than back when Etsy first began. What you said about the search pages being the same items from the same shops, over and over is one of the biggest concerns I have about the marketplace now. I figured out that Etsy has to be promoting the people who make the fast sales and many of them. I cannot hand create that fast, it's not possible. It would be nice to be seen without overpaying for advertising but social medial isn't enough to get the traffic in for me. Thanks for your thoughts, it's not ranting to me but just stating your outlook which many Etsy sellers do share. ☺

Thanks Pam. It was a very interesting video. Although it doesn't tell us anything we (the sellers) didn't know, I think why people were so excited about it was because it put the issues out into the wider world. CNBC has different people who watch it including investors. If Etsy has seen this video and are aware that they can't hide their dirty little secrets any more then they might be more inclined to change things quickly. Goodness knows, they have heard what sellers are saying and are ignoring us. If their bottom line is under threat then they might be quicker to try and pivot back to a useful platform. I'd like to say I'm hopeful but I'm too cynical about the platform now. I'll just wait and see.

Thanks Pam for a great video. Etsy has been going down for quite sometime now. More and more mass produced junk being sold there, leaving the poor crafters etc hard to compete. Ko-fi is the way to go for Artists. It doesn't have the huge traffic as Etsy does but it has a great community, if your on discord.

Pam, you always offer such well balanced and informed opinions. I appreciate that so much! There very well could be some higher ups at Etsy with good intentions. But I fear that the Etsy train has left the tracks 😒 It's really too bad, as I love what Etsy was supposed to be.

I keep seeing videos on Etsy, also their stock is super worrying (Which I have some :( ), but I can't really think of a good platforms that has pretty good organic engagement and in-house ads that are helpful sometimes. I hope they'll get back on their feet.

Amazon handmade & GoImagine have far more strict guidelines for the term "handmade" and Etsy needs to do the same. Let POD & suppliers have their own categories so they do not take away from those who actually "handmake" their products, personalizing pre-made products should get their own category as well.

I agree with everything you said Pam. Unfortunately, the companies that are more seller friendly are not available here in Canada.

I hate that Etsy's transaction fees also include the shipping because seller loses out on the seller still has to pay shipping and there is no profit on the shipping. Etsy's transaction fees are much higher percentage of the sellers profit because it includes the shipping cost. So when I did the math on how much fees I paid on a smaller item with international shipping of $18 plus they also charged me a marketing fee, I barely made any money. So I no longer ship internationally because the shipping is higher than the cost of the item and there isn't much profit and Etsy takes a higher percentage because it includes fees on the shipping cost. An example would be if I sold an item for $12 and shipping is $18. I'm paying fees of $40 not the $12 which is gross profit before the cost of the goods plus my labor. I don't think it's fair that they charge fees on the shipping because the seller has to pay that. I understand why they do it because I remember before some people were charging a penny for the item and then charging high prices for the shipping so they don't fees. So now they do the opposite which is cheating everyone charging on shipping. I think if we are using Etsy's label, they should not charge any fees on the shipping price. When you do the math the transaction fee is a lot higher than you think and Etsy takes a much higher cut.

Thanks Pam xx

I know we're in the summer slump. But idk about everyone else's shops, but after this video aired, my shop views tanked AND I'm running ads. Before the video I'd get at least 5-10 views, and some clicks. (three months after returning to my shop) And then not joking, after this CNBC video aired my stats have been at 0 all week, with ads running. It's like my shop just flatlined out of nowhere.

Also the thing about AI is whether or not the company you use is scraping theirl images from other artist or not. There are law suits going on from artist and soon it may not be as easy to create art with AI ( that is in the style of modern living artist, at least)

In order to succeed one needs to pick a niche but these days one needs a niche within a niche to differentiate you from the crowd.

Hi Pam, I used to sell on Amazon Handmade about 5-6 years ago, quite good sales, but of course they change rules and stuff between countries and made it harder (I am in Sweden and it was not a Amazon country at the time) so I stopped. However, I was surprised how good the sales were:)

Here is a question for ya??? Hand crafted /handmade items, vs. Graphic designers (SVGS) / prints & posters, home decor or anything that can be mass produced. Art vs Design. Should they be on the same platform? or Should they be separated? what do you think? Artstation is going though a simular thing. Artstation is for 3D art, game art. but Ai artists is taking over.

Josh wants to weed out the "low skill low will" sellers so Etsy doesn't look like a cheap junky Amazon knock-off. Um.... besides dropshipping, people slapping text, clipart, or AI onto a POD item is the epitome of "low skill low will". Why on EARTH is it allowed? To me, handmade means that the person played a critical role in the creation of a thing. If they didn't create the artwork that appears on the tshirt, then it would just be a blank tshirt; the artist therefore played a critical role. Now, chuck some clipart or AI onto that shirt, YOU DIDN'T PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE. You didn't create the art. Heck, with AI, you don't even hold the copyright. If any ol' person can use clipart or ai to get a shirt printed on demand from anywhere, how are you playing a critical role in that product's creation? You're not, you're just a means of slightly expediting a process, and that doesn't seem very "handmade". If Josh wants to clean Etsy of junk, it HAS to ditch dropshipping, AI, and clipart/generic text. It is those things that are attracting low skill "get rich quick" people who list 10 new products a day. I don't care if SOME people are taking time to alter AI art or clipart in an attempt to "make it their own", allowing these things on the platform is throwing the door open to people who just wanna throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. I don't think getting rid of POD is necessary at all, just get rid of the ability for people to spit out hundreds of new "designs" each month (which automatically happens when you get the person to actually draw the darn thing). Unless Etsy removes these things entirely, or gives truly handmade sellers a massive advantage in the search results, Etsy is going down the toilet.

As a seller I never look to buy on Etsy. I tried again recently, the seller never sent the item after a 3 week wait & I had to put a claim in. I won't bother again.

AI should either be a separate category or be marked AI with a button on the search page.

I always keep a very low or $0 budget for Etsy ads because I’m such a little shop. Sometimes between that and fees it still eats up almost all the profits though. I’m nearing the end of my time there I fear.

Great video as usual, Pam! 👍 Amazon sellers on the other hand are stealing Etsy artist's work! My products and product photos are all over Amazon, and they are selling 100+/month from my hard work!! Amazon won't do anything about it unless I take the sellers to court!! Amazon looks like a cheap version of Etsy, so many stolen Etsy products on there!

I generate with AI cause I can't draw worth a shit, it helps me get my designs out of my head and onto a product. I take the time to go into the vector designs I make and manipulate them with my own ideas. so hate me if you want but it is good for me and getting my designs out there.

I love that rainbow bricks behind you! =D =D

Etsy started forcing sellers to jump through all the hoops or not being shown if we dont'. First it was forcing us to use ads or not be shown. Then it was not showing us if we dont' offer free shipping and then 25% off sales. Because of all the hoops, I have been forced to raise my price by probably 40% to cover all the fees. When I sell an item, Etsy fees, discounts, shipping and taxes is costing me 20% of my total sales price.

The spammers were and still are creating Shops even with the $15 set up fee. Any new shops should pay more. We need VERIFIED Buyers on the platform to prevent Spammers from harassing Sellers.

If Etsy were to shut down, where would 90% of the sellers go? Their own website? Hahaha! Probably not. Most Etsy sellersa are even lazier than i am.

by the way why your window is so small?

Tortured Poets Department is a Taylor Swift thing.

It's ET- see not EET-see. It's AM -a -zon, not aum a zun

All a photographer has to do is point and click. Even children and people who are illiterate can use a camera. Obviously photographers can't be considered artists by your criteria. If someone uses AI to generate a crappy picture it is no different than someone using paint to create a crappy picture. Just because something is handmade doesn't make it good. Some people who handmake products have no taste or talent, just manual dexterity. You have no idea how AI works. You know nothing about inpainting. You know nothing about setting up the composition and using panning to alter it. You know nothing about blending images or using character and style references. You know nothing about how the different versions impact the image. You know nothing about the various settings used to make different parts of a prompt have greater or lessor value. You have no idea what techniques are used in graphic editors to manipulate AI generated images. It takes skill and creativity to product good artwork with AI just as it does with any other tool. Having the manual dexterity to knit or crochet or paint does not mean they are creating something of value.

The idea that AI Artist aren’t Artist is so off to me due to most of world is built and shared with AI - Yes I do agree there should be categories yet stop with the divide of Artist. If you craft or create with you mind your an artist point blank period. Certain items shouldn’t allowed regardless of how it made.

Click bait

Very nice and informative compilation and comments,, thank you Pam 🤍🤍💛💛🌸🌸