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? 😢

I haven't RTFT so apologies if anyone else has mentioned this, but I deleted Etsy when I discovered they permit sales of "Kill TERFs" paraphernalia.
Another business committing self immolation at the altar of trans worship 🙄

I’m desperate to know what OP sells! 😂

Hi OP. I'm in the same boat, I sell artificial flowers and homeware, and my sales have been dire since Christmas. (I don't buy temu tat, only quality products from uk sellers).
I only started up a year ago. I sell through my own website alongside etsy but both have been really slow.

It's been really interesting reading this thread and I need to decide which other platforms to try next before I call it a day. I hope things turn around for you!

I think it really depends what you sell. Trends come and go so fast, you can be the must have thing 1 month, and then something else takes your place. I reckon Tik Tok is responsible for a lot of this, creating trends, styles and viral products that are gone after a month or so.

You too! Loads of really good advice on here. I have had a bit of luck running a sale and been quite busy again for a day or two (it used to be like that every day) 😅 but long term think I need to go with the website route then add on all these other places to sell and do some in person

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/5016229-would-you-consider-an-etsyhandmadeselling-section?reply=133341205

I started a thread in site stuff inspired by this thread in case anyone's interested Mumsnet have said they'll see if there's any interest and if so, perhaps consider it.

I swear it’s not that exciting 😂

Are you only advertising through Etsy and social media.

Do you have a newsletter to engage people, do you email out what is available, do you have new stock to keep people interested? Run a competition to get people through your shop.
You have to keep up with other platforms and sellers. Don't just wait for people to come to you.

Lots of people seem to buy from artists on TikTok now days (I don’t mean TikTok shop crap) or even just the older more established Facebook page but one big TikTok video and it really hits. It’s hard as so many people are on TikTok but it’s where people go. Everyone feels jaded with Etsy. Saying that I do still buy from Etsy but I feel I’m in the minority, it does annoy me how much time I have to spend scrolling through mass produced stuff to find the nicer sellers!

Just to clarify i don’t see people buying TikTok shop but using TikTok to promote their art and items. I associate TikTok shop with crap but maybe there’s nice stuff, I’ve never looked. Good luck, I hope it goes back to a thriving business

OP I don't sell a physical product, but I am self employed and provide a service. Forgive me if some of this is not transferable, but I think a lot of it could be.

I accept that I'm responsible for finding my clients/generating my income so I need to invest some time and money every week into making sure clients find me.

You could have the most amazing product in the world and if only the same few people know about it you aren't going to get anywhere. There are plenty of people in my profession who don't make it work as their main source of income and it's not because they're crap, it's because they are intimidated by/don't bother with marketing

I have tried a whole host of things, leaflet drops, trade directories, social media, my own website etc. I see it all as a big experiment. If one avenue isn't very productive I don't do it again. You just want to make your product as visible as possible.

For me my own website has probably been the most successful, but it was a bit of an investment and i worked hard on my SEO so that if you type "Xxx in my area" my website comes up first.

I'm also listed on Google business and bing businesses.

If you type your product into a search engine what comes up first? Are you anywhere there/on those sites? Can you get there?

Any way you can get your product more visible is helpful. Every 6 months or so I pay for a business coach to cast their eye over things. It costs less than £50 but they suggest tweaks and it can make a real difference.

It sounds like being handmade, a UK business etc is potentially a bit of a USP for you if you're up against the likes of shein etc so I would lean really heavily into this when talking about your product. As pp said maybe put a little union jack on your listing pics. Make sure you mention "handmade" "bespoke" "small UK business" "crafted with care in the UK" etc lots.

Why should people buy yoir product over the alternatives? Tell them.

TripleChins can I ask what SEO tools you use?

@speakout my website designer collected my SEO keywords for me and revisits it every few months. I make sure have them in all the right places.
It's also helpful if you have your business in as many places as possible with links back to your website as Google will rank you higher if you have lots of people clicking through from other sources, eg social media, Google business etc.

Etsy was meant to be craft goods, hand made etc

What on earth is this doing on etsy? (Also way more expensive than elsewhere)

I think it had to be quite a long time though. Like 12 months.

Yes this, I don't bother with etsy now as it's lost its USP of handmade, arty stuff and is just tat

I'm very loathe to buy off Etsy now having had 2 orders in mid November for Xmas presents that arrived21st December

Suspect drop shipping and not great quality either.

It arrived before Christmas though 🤷‍♀️

Yep but only because I hassled and on the site it said delivery within 14 days.

Yes I had a similar experience, for a birthday, & it was obviously hand made but very disappointing & nothing like the photos that had been posted on Etsy. I do the same craft as just a hobby & could have made much better myself. It was my first Etsy order & will be my last.

Just had a look at the new site that a pp had mentioned for crafters to sell on.
To be honest if these are the type of things being offered at these prices then I’m not surprised sales are falling, amazed they’re selling at all.

Some of the things my daughter has bought off Etsy and has been happy with:

1. hand-made hobby horses 🐎
2. hand-painted horse name plate for her pony;
3. soy wax candles.

In fairness, delivery was fairly quick on all of them. Maybe we were just lucky.

Its quiet with businesses in general getting busier after March. The recession talk has not helped at all.

I wonder if I could jump on and ask if there are any sellers on here who made the move from Etsy to Amazon or Ebay? If so, did you see an improvement in sales?

Perhaps whatever it is has just had it's day? Or there is too much competition from sellers with similar items?

My parents had the same problem with Ebay back in the day. In the space of about 3 years, they made an absolute killing on re-selling very niche books on very niche topics. Mostly selling to Americans, randomly.
Then as quick as they made the money, it dried up.

They don't begrudge it though. It paid for us as a family to have 2 absolute amazing holidays, that we'd have neve been able to afford otherwise! They probably made about £20K all in. And to a single-income family in the early 00s, that was a fortune!