I started my small business, Blush Daddy Co in the spring of 2020, officially opening shop on Etsy.com on the 3rd July 2020. I felt like Etsy was right for my business at the time of opening. Although I was promoting myself via social media I needed that extra exposure which was offered by the Etsy marketplace. I sold my products on Etsy for over two years, it was simple to navigate and felt easy. It was around September/October 2022 I started to feel unhappy with my business and brand. I couldn't really tell what it was but I felt demotivated, I was never happy with what I put out and how little I'd get in return. That's when I decided to take a break from the business. I left it on the back burner. My Etsy shop was open but I wasn't using my social media accounts or doing any sort of promotion. At the start of this year I decided I didn't want my business to be stuck on the back burner anymore so I tackled the problem head on, analysing what about my business I didn't like anymore. That was when I realised it was Etsy. I hated using and selling via Etsy. Here's my five reasons why I dislike Etsy as a seller:
1. No Customisation
My first issue with Etsy, from the very beginning, was the fact that you couldn't really personalise your store front. Of course you're able to add a logo/image and a profile banner. There's space for shop announcements, a small 'about the owner' section and some policies, reviews and other text under your listings. But for the most of it, these were all very basic blocks of text. You couldn't customise the location of these items, the font, colour, size etc.
This means your shop doesn't look much different to anyone else's, making it very easy for customers to generalise every shop as "Etsy". The amount of Tiktoks I see of people reviewing items they've 'Bought on Etsy' with no knowledge of the store name or business they've purchased from. With the basic shop page layout which every shop has, it feels more like your shop work for Etsy rather than you both work together.
As branding is super important for a business. I felt like Etsy was holding me back from showing potential customers what the business is about. Although having my own website is a bit more stressful, it looks beautiful and I'm happy to have my own space to be creative and show off my work.
2. Star Seller
Star seller is a badge that was introduced for sellers in July 2021. At first, it didn't really seem to bother me until Etsy decided to push the star sellers to buyers. For those who aren't familiar with the star seller badge, it is a badge shops can earn by meeting certain requirements within a time frame. This time frame is checked monthly, based off your last three months of sales. For example, March star sellers will have their badge based off their sales / statistics in December, January and February. If you fail to meet the requirements you do not get a badge, you can also get your badge taken off you the following month if you fail to meet the requirements that month.
These requirements are;
1.Reply to a customer message within 24 hours
2.Earn a rating of 4.8 stars or more
3.Dispatch orders with tracking or via Etsy labels
4. Make at least five sales totalling in 300 USD.
This is where I started to see an issue with it, as I would never, ever become star seller on Etsy. I agree with the first requirement and did this regularly. The second requirement also wasn't an issue with me as I had on average five stars, I believe I only ever received one review which wasn't a five star (it was 4). However, dispatching orders with tracking or with Etsy labels was my first issue here. When I used Etsy I was shipping orders via Royal Mail. I wanted to keep postage as cheap as possible so my standard postage was Royal Mail first class. I offered tracking but that was £6+. So it's obvious that my customers would choose my standard postage (I don't think I ever made a sale with tracked postage). I would always collect proof of postage although they would not have tracking numbers. If I only offered tracked postage I'm sure I wouldn't have made as many sales due to the price rise in postage fees. I did not have a label printer at this point so I couldn't ship via Etsy labels. Although I offered the shipping I did to keep prices low, and I was still careful with getting proof of postage, this meant I automatically would never get star seller.
Moving onto the last requirement, 300USD equals around 250GBP. My products range from £6-£10ish on Etsy, so if I use the example of £7 for a pair. I would need to sell 35 pairs of earrings every three months. Although I've had good months where I reach over £200 in sales, those were from times I was not working another job and was before the cost of living crisis. Every pair is handmade by myself and take a minimum of 24 hours to make. It is kind of impossible to generate those sales now as I work full time in hospitality, I need a social life and I also struggle with mental health problems. When you compare my shop with drop shipping shops or even jewellery shops which do not make their own charms. It's very hard to compete.
As mentioned earlier I didn't really care all too much about star seller when it first became a thing. Although as time went on, it seemed that Etsy really favoured those shops who were able to earn a star seller badge. They even allowed buyers to browse searches with only products from star seller shops. As a consumer, I'm sure you would trust a star seller more than a regular shop. I wasn't sure if Etsy would introduce more badges or 'competitions' like this and for me, it isn't something I want to try and fight against as it's something my shop would never earn. Although I have now bought a label printer, it still seems unlikely if I stuck with Etsy I would get a star seller badge. I believe instead of star seller, Etsy should split those four requirements into their own badges such as "great communication" and "five star shop" to allow those who maybe don't sell as much or don't ship with tracking an opportunity to shine.
3. Fees
The fees!! Many might say you're aware of the fees before you start selling, and that is true but I don't think as a seller you realise how much those fees add up.
To give you an honest example. One of my good months I made £206 in sales. £29 of that went straight to fees. It doesn't seem a lot but that's around 14%. You then take into consideration costs of making the products, packaging costs etc. Of course fees and the other costs would be considered when pricing an item but in the end, I didn't see it worth having higher prices to cover these fees when I was bringing in more viewers than the marketplace. I understand there's techniques and steps to take to make your listing higher in searches, but I honestly felt like I had tried every tip and trick I'd seen online but nothing seemed to show me that boost on the search pages I was looking for.
It was scary to make that jump to a platform which doesn't have a marketplace, I'm now responsible for every single website viewer, but it's also exciting. I know every viewer had found me via my own marketing and were genuinely interested in my shop. I would much rather go through that and be able to lower my prices than pay the fees Etsy have.
I'm making a little detour here but this is also something I had an issue with which this section reminded me of. Speaking of getting higher in the searches, if your product was viewed, but that person did not make the purchase, Etsy would see this as your product did not match the search. Even if someone searched for "Resin earrings" and were just browsing. If they clicked one of my earrings and then returned to the search, Etsy would then mark me lower in the searches... like.. What? How does that even make sense? And I love to browse Etsy, just to see items, favourite items I want to treat myself to on payday etc, so I can imagine many others also do the same. This just does not seem fair to me.
4. Their customer service
This is not their overall customer service but it is their customer service between them and sellers. Most buyers probably won't know about this stuff which happens to sellers, and I'm lucky it has never happened to me although I'm in many Facebook groups for Etsy sellers which share these horror stories.
Etsy want to keep their buyers happy, at the end of the day those are the people who are bringing them money. However not every single buyer is honest. I've seen so many stories in which a customer will demand a refund for a stupid reason and without even contacting the seller to resolve the issue, Etsy will offer refunds, straight from the buyers bank. A few reasons I've seen are the following:
- Item never arrived - although tracking will show it as delivered
-item is too small / too large - even though the sizing was listed and/or there were photos showing the size
I've also seen them refund non-refundable items such as jewellery and personalised items, something the seller cannot re-sell even if it gets returned. On top of this, I've seen buyers have their shops shut for no reason whatsoever (of course there's the exception of those who sell copyrighted goods).
As mentioned, this has never happened to me, although I didn't want it to happen at all and I couldn't risk it. The majority of my items are nonrefundable due to hygienic reasons or if they're personalised. This was a stress that followed me even though it had not actually happening to me yet. It shows us sellers where Etsy stands with us, and it's not something I agree with.
5. markets are full of drop shippers
Etsy seemed perfect for my business at the start because it is for handmade and vintage items. All my products are handmade so it just made sense to use Etsy. Although over the last few years with the rise of drop-shippers and that 'hustle' lifestyle. Drop shippers have taken over Etsy despite the fact their items are not handmade or vintage. As they're drop shippers, their prices tend to be a lot lower than handmade items so it's difficult to compete with them. Alongside their cheap price, many drop shippers will have hundreds of listings, making them more visible in the search. This is one problem in it's own, although another issue with the mass amount of drop shippers is the fact that consumers are starting to notice this, they expect everything to be handmade or vintage as that is how Etsy advertise themselves and their sellers, so when buyers see drop shippers, it has started to put people off shopping on Etsy as they're not sure which buyers to trust, and which buyers are drop shippers. It's just not worth trying to compete in such a competitive market, when half the sellers shouldn't even be on the market!
So those are five reasons why I left Etsy. Although I should probably say, if you're thinking of selling on Etsy or currently do. That's ok! Etsy is absolutely amazing for some businesses, it just wasn't for mine. Etsy is still great, but I think it all depends on what you want out of your business, sales and the platform you use to sell on.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post, if you like cool jewellery and accessories please check out my business and support me https://beacons.ai/blushdaddyco
Even a follow, liking, sharing and commenting on posts is supportive and means the world to me! Here's to the future of Blush Daddy Co.
I hope you all have an amazing week, lots of love.
Becca
Comentários