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 tried amazon handmade and it really wasn't great. The problem is I think far too many people think amazon = cheap and fast.

Ebay I used to sell on years ago but it turned into a scammers paradise with bugger all protection for sellers.

Pretty much how etsys going now.

I'm setting up a shop on mademe atm and am going to look at the other one nu something

I used to love buying from Etsy, but it’s been inundated by cheap chinese tat, so it’s so much harder to find the wonderful proper handmade items.

Absolutely this! I used to use Etsy loads. Would buy lots of birthday and Xmas gifts from there. But it's basically just like EBay now. Now I only use it to buy for the odd pdf cross-stitch pattern for myself.

I bought this on Etsy and I absolutely love it!

@Mollyplop999 that is so pretty!!

OldSpeclkledHen thankyou!

Bought a linen shower curtain from Etsy after trying and failing to find one elsewhere for a reasonable price.
Chatted with the seller before buying and she has a British flag on her profile.

Just got a dhl notification to say a parcel from Turkey!!

I love it. Can you please pm the name of the shop?

No way! 🙈

Ikr! Also saw the other curtains that I got on etsy on Temu for a quarter of the price I paid. 😳

@Treesandsheepeverywhere this is the problem on there, people keep saying shein and temu stuff and the prices are getting lower and lower on everything so it’s impossible to compete. Also probably unsafe stuff half the time that isn’t fire safety checked for example

How are sales a couple of months later OP?

In fairness, literally anything can be sold on Etsy and no one checks whether it's safe or not 🤷‍♀️

Did you buy both both to compare? The Temu one might have been a copy, which really aren't the same. They take a photo of something nice for the website, then "recreate" it, but in really nasty, cheap fabric. I made that mistake once! The dress went straight in the bin - wasn't even fit to donate to charity of reuse the fabric for something 😟

I only went on Temu after receiving the first curtains and realising they came from there as seller name and location were different to whom I'd paid on etsy.
Found it there and it's the one.

I think there are bad and good on most of these sites. Like how you can get bad stuff on amazon yet the next person has only positive experiences from them.

I've bought once from Shein before and the clothes I got were ok to be honest.

Saw a BBC piece on how those websites undercut small businesses, so decided not to continue buying from them.

Only to buy from etsy, and get sent stuff from them 🤷‍♀️.

@Treesandsheepeverywhere Fair enough! That does sound frustrating then!

@Darklane Bit mean to slate a genuine illustrator/artist selling on Etsy. (Unless you are the illustrator and are trying to drive traffic)
Which has actually worked because I was struggling for an idea for a birthday gift for a relation who has everything (including a dog) so I'm off to place an order, thanks!

I have (had going by the last few months🤣) a very successful LED lighting business. The last 3 months have been absolutely awful. I think interest rate rises are hitting more and more.Also unemployment is rising.
Not sure everyone is feeling it - spoke with a kitchen manufacturer friend and he says orders reduced but steady. Another LED seller says very variable.
We're certainly feeling it, and it is the last three months.
Could get worse before it gets better.

Still similar to be honest. I’m doing quite a few things about it though. I’ve run a few sales and been busier during those. I’m starting to offer other products too but haven’t got them on yet to compare sales