My Etsy shop is sooo quiet now

[WeRD]

I opened my Etsy shop a few years ago and was blown away by the success of it. I managed to leave my 9-5 and live off of it alone. It was great, so flexible and I was making enough money not to need anything else, I couldn’t believe it. Fast forward a few years and the sales have all but dried up. I don’t know if it’s mainly that people just don’t have the extra cash anymore to spend on ‘nice things’. I’ve had to put my prices up a bit due to my increasing costs or it’s hardly worthwhile selling my items. I don’t know what to do 😞 I have a fairly decent social media following but it doesn’t seem to convert to sales anymore. I pay for ads sometimes but it’s not worth it for the number of orders I get in return. Do I need to shut up shop and go back to a ‘proper job’? How else could I save it now? 😢

OP search 'mayfli' they're a UK selling site which wants brands to thrive. Not sure what you sell but you could get yourself on there? The lady who heads it all is big on making sure small UK businesses aren't just surviving.

Can’t thank all of you lovely people enough for your feedback! Genuinely blown away by all of your help and I think it’s the one time on MN where I haven’t read a single snidey comment. Every comment was helpful, even those saying how much people no longer like Etsy!

The takeaways seem to be:

• Etsy is full of cheap crap now (thanks Temu)
• Etsy is so hard to wade through and difficult to tell if people are selling handmade or not
• People like to see who they’re buying from
• Shopify sounds like a great option for the traffic I’m bringing from social media (and less fees)
• I can add my listings to loads of other handmade websites too
• I need to try some pop-up shop events/fayres

Today I’ve started setting up my Shopify and TikTok shop. I’ve planned a Mother’s Day giveaway and will use a reel to promote it. I’ve put a discount on for the weekend and the best news of all.. I’ve made 5 sales since this morning 🥰 It might be a bit of a graft but I will get there! Thank you!

Maybe if it really takes off I’ll come back and tell you who I am 😂

Keep going with shopify, as a buyer I buy so much more stuff if’s it’s shopify as it’s like one click on my Apple Watch and it’s all done, no
addresses, no payment details, then tracking is automatic. As a lazy buyer, the ease of the buying process is worth about a tenner

Without being a blatant advert, you could give us a leading clue to your business....

Yes I’ve never really looked before at what kind of websites people have but have noticed recently the Shopify ones seem really straightforward! The easier it is to complete payment the better. I’ve had so many things in my basket before and not completed if I’ve not had my card handy etc

Not really related to the OP but I keep getting Instagram ads for this perfume called Ffern. The ad's beautiful (so much so that I kept rewatching) ... but..
They release 4 perfumes every year, 'small batch' only, sent to people on their 'membership ledger'. Add your number and you get 'texted when a space becomes available'.
Well, I got a text a day after adding my number and whaddya know, they wanted me to pay £89 for a perfume to be delivered 3 months later. Luckily a quick MN search put me off as people said they weren't worth the money.

I bet a lot of people pay just because of the hype (they've been featured in Vogue etc), or drop out once away from the influence of the dreamy ad.

I don't move in high enough circles to be concerned about 'unique' perfumes 😄but I doubt that the batch is as small as claimed. Or that things are actually 'sold out'. It's just that people have committed to pay well in advance of actually receiving any perfume.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4911211-ffern

Looking at this thread they also keep erm 'archive bottles' so... can't really have sold out, can they?

Marketing is key!

I see loads of beautiful things on the Facebook group
Paper Panda & Friends Emporium.
A lot of those sellers seem to be on Etsy and they do weekends where there are deals that are cheaper than Etsy.
Some people make one off things and the first person who messages once it goes live gets it, and others will show multiple items that they can make to order.
Don't ask me how to join, I am a buyer not a seller, but might be worth looking at.

Tiktok shop?

Hi can you tell us what you sell? We could be potential buyers. Whats your shopify shops name

Which means you probably used a drop shipper who was buying temu crap and reselling it at a vast mark up.

Etsy in the old days would not have tolerated a shop like that on their site.

There's no "handmade marketplace" of any worth left on etsy.

Re bringing customers yourself, this is key but it's hard! One thing I do to show people I actually make my stuff is video it and upload it to YouTube and link it on my website, my Etsy shop and my FB and when I've finished doing my mademe shop there too. I need to start an Instagram account too.

Marketing is a full time job in itself! If you don't already then I suggest you plan your work week eg Monday this time to that time is making items, then at such and such a time it's social media, etc.

I'd be much more productive if I could follow my own advice tbh 😂

I never buy from Etsy. I find it all mass produced, drop shipped or just unoriginal. Too much to trawl through to find genuine handmade, original designs. Most of what I see can be bought cheaper from Amazon or similar.

Yes that’s a really good idea. I get so caught up in just getting my products sent out sometimes that I forget to allocate time to anything else then just try to cram it all in at night when it needs done 🙄

Have lost trust in Etsy. Used to get well made stuff but now seems to be a lot of low quality products.
I've had to return a couple of items as the quality wasn't up to scratch.
Bought a pair of curtains from a UK seller, but turns out she then orders them from Hong Kong which it doesn't state on the page.
Took a month to arrive when I expected it in the first week.
Looking at reviews, no one mentioned this, which seems unlikely so made me suspicious on who the reviews were from.

Also means I won't buy from them again or recommend them.

A different seller I tried to get curtains from said they couldn't adjust the length.... surely if you're hand making them, you'd be able to do so!

I currently have a few items in my basket from different sellers but just can't bring myself to press order as am wary of disappointment.

It's going how Amazon used to be like with a lot of stuff not as advertised.
Ordering a beautiful gown only for a doll's size to turn up.
I know it still happens but Amazon are cracking up on it and Etsy needs to too.

I see a lot of items on fb, on a page called Not On Amazon, which are small sellers, with handmade items. Most of those are promoting individual items, so seem to sell quickly.

I have a physical shop and an online shop. My online shop used to do really well but since December the sales have completely vanished. I’ve also had to make the difficult decision to close my physical shop this week. No idea what I’m going to do. But people definitely aren’t spending like they used to. It’s really sad.

I think perhaps a few things going on here, time of year, people cutting back, also i refuse now to buy ANYTHING from Etsy ever again after a few problems i had, seller wouldn't sort and no one to contact over it.
Maybe you need to look for other venues.
Where i live, people that want 'hand made' go to farmers markets held monthly, and court yard venues, garden centres ect. Good luck .

The best option we have locally for good products is the annual arts trail. Love going to that, and there are others locally too. I’ve bought jewellery, pottery, art and woven scarves. People share a venue - often a studio or a nice house - and take turns staffing it over a couple of weekends. Worth trying OP?

The reviews on Etsy also feel a little off- all 4 1/2 or 5 stars. Statistically I just don’t think that’s likely.

No, I think they’re genuine.

Ive seen crafters absolutely distraught at getting a bad rating because it drops their average.

It probably depends on what you’re looking at though. Lots of crafters take real care with what they produce - and they also go the extra mile to put things right if there’s a problem. I’ve seen people giving 5-star reviews because the crafter was so accommodating in resolving an issue.

I guess this is the point about handcrafted items though - the quality and customer service is SUPPOSED to be higher. The idea is that the customer isn’t treated like just another number in the line, and that there’s a bit of love in making things (however twee that sounds lol!)

So I wouldn’t be surprised to see consistently good ratings at popular stores. I’ve just bought a handmade bed from Etsy - the quality was outstanding and the service just unbelievable. The carpenter drove about 100 miles to deliver it himself and he carried it all into my house! Absolutely would give him 100 stars if I could 😂

In a totally, totally different world but I'm self employed and it's a nightmare out there at the memento

*moment!!!

Aww no 😔 sorry to hear this. There is loads of good advice on here. Hopefully there’s something you can do to save it or bring it back, even part time. It’s so hard right now

I hope you don't give up with Etsy, it's my go to for a lot of things now! I've had a completely different experience to a lot of people here - I use it for homewares like ornaments, dried flowers, paintings, cross stitch kits and gaming merchandise and most of what I buy, because of what it is, is unique or handmade. I've never had to return anything, found sellers really make an effort to communicate and the delivery estimates are spot on.

On the flip side, I find Not on the High Street has massively gone downhill and has the same rinse and repeat, boring items for personalisation.

So I guess the difference is in the sort of things people are looking to buy? Or maybe I've just been lucky!

I would also never buy anything via an Instagram advert because they all seem to be cons or dubious 'beauty' products. However, I do follow hundreds of artists who post videos and pictures of themselves creating their products and, as a result, have now bookmarked their various websites/shops (same for Youtube). I also bought a painting on etsy, found out that a video was available on Instagram showing how it was made, and followed the artist that way. I guess this is a bit more work for the seller but, as a buyer, I love seeing the process and this does make me more inclined to buy something. So I echo what others have said about diverse marketing and really highlighting your handmade selling point.

The internet is also fantastic for guides on things like photography, so if you think your pictures might be letting you down something like youtube is great for improving your staging, skills etc rather than paying someone to do it.

Good luck, I hope it picks up!

You really should post a link to your shop! Who cares if this generates "pity" sales?! Still sales.

Someone who I follow on Instagram "Millie's ceramics" and who sells on Etsy makes these gorgeous little vases and she has IMO a clever strategy where she does limited edition ones for say valentines or Easter.

So these sell out quickly and she also has her regular stock vases and other items which I'm sure people purchase as a fallback.

She also is quite active on Instagram and lures her customers in with teasers a few weeks before the drop. As well as just regular look what I'm making posts. It's clever and fair play to her!