Let’s talk about Etsy. A Facebook fan asked me, “Why are you so anti-Etsy?”
The better question is, “What role should Etsy actually play in your overall business strategy?” I’m not anti-Etsy, I’m anti-putting-all-of-your-eggs-into-any-ONE-basket, especially if it’s Etsy.
My answer is really: It’s never just Etsy … it should be “Etsy and… YOUR OWN WEBSITE.”
Let me explain …
There are a lot of drawbacks to going all in on Etsy
- Etsy has fees. I know anywhere you sell online is going to have fees, but Etsy has a lot of fees – listing fees, transaction fees, and payment processing fees. An article from Business Insider from March 2018 says Etsy broke 1billion in sales in the fourth quarter 2017. Do the math!! Etsy just announced its raising its commission rates from 3.5% to 5% off all sales, starting July 16.
- Etsy has rules. Anytime we’re on any form of social media or any platform that we don’t own, we have rules that we have to follow. If your entire business is on Etsy and you accidentally or intentionally break a rule on Etsy, and your account gets frozen or shut down that is going to be a huge impact on your business, your income and family.
- Make sure you’re selling somewhere else. When you have your own website, you’re able to sell what you’re making and you’re the boss of you. Plus you have other ways of making an income, like sponsored posts or affiliate links. So if you’re putting all of your eggs into Etsy’s basket or anyone else’s it’s going to seriously limit your ability to make more money.
- There are so many things listed for sale on Etsy. It’s crazy competition with the latest stats at somewhere above 30 million items listed for sale right now on Etsy. With that much competition, it is hard to find your items and be well priced.
- The think really long and hard about where are your customers. Are your customers actually on Etsy? If I’m looking for something, I’m going to probably look at other places, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. It wouldn’t even occur to me to go look at Etsy.
There is no better place on the internet to put all of your focus then to building your own business on your own website with your own rules, with your own content, with your own design, with your own everything so that you have full control over what happens in your business.
Perks of having your own Website
- You own it. You keep your pie. No rules. You keep your own commission
- You could be making ad revenue off you website
- You start putting eggs in your own future’s basket
If you have time to watch this, I’ll explain!
More of My Blogs that will help you:
- How to Start a Blog + Website Basics
- How to get your First 1,000 Facebook Fans
- Six Ways to make Money as a Creative Person
Until next time, start implementing!!
Blessings, Jen
PS – Get on the waitlist for the Inner Circle here – start growing and scaling your business no matter what stage you’re at.
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I agree 100%. I had a shop on Etsy for around two years. I grew the shop to monthly sales of $10,000+ and one day, Etsy decided to close my 5-star rated (with over 10,000 sales) shop. To be honest, it took me about five months to even gather myself up off the floor. But, I’m better because of it. It’s made me learn Amazon (which I knew would be a much bigger/better platform for me) and Cyber Monday 2017, I took my chances and added my most popular item with a Christmas twist–following month was over $11K in sales. Now I’m working on building my own site and growing my own list–I’d hate to be in a similar situation again. Thanks for the consistent reminder to not put all of our eggs in one basket!