Are you looking for a platform that can help you set up a shop but at the same time, is a great place to buy handmade or vintage items? There are a lot of buyers and sellers who are looking for the best opportunities online to buy or sell handmade or vintage products. There is no denial of the fact that it is somehow not possible to have access to buy or sell handmade products at great prices. But there is one platform that is meant for both buyers and sellers.

Etsy is the platform that has been winning the hearts of many buyers and sellers for a long time. It is known to be the oldest and most well-established site to sell and buy art, and crafts, as well as hand-made items and various other things. It is also known to be a marketing machine with a great working process of turning single-time buyers into repetitive customers. This is the reason that Etsy has become the leading eCommerce site to sell and buy handmade or vintage products.

About Etsy 

Etsy is known to be an American e-commerce company that mainly focuses on handmade or vintage items as well as craft supplies. The company was founded on June 18, 2005, by Robert Kalin, Chris Maguire, HaimSchooppik, and Jared Tarbell. It is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. It’s been 17 years since Etsy has satisfied buyers and sellers. The platform is meant for both buyers and sellers. It is known to offer various range of categories for everyone, like jewelry, bags, clothing, furniture, toys, craft supplies, and a lot more. Also, the platform follows the tradition of open craft fairs, which allow sellers to have a personal storefront where they can have their products listed for US $0.20 for each item.

As of the year 2021, the platform is known to have more than 120 million items in its marketplace, as well as an online marketplace for handmade as well as vintage products. It has connected nearly 7.5 sellers with 96.3 million buyers. On the other hand, at the end of the year 2021, the platform had around 2402 employees, and it generated revenue of US $2.3 billion and a registered income of US $493.5 million.

The platform is known to generate its main income from leading three streams which is its marketplace revenue, Etsy sellers, and fees collected from 3rd party payments.

Overall, this is a great online marketplace for artists as well as crafters to list their best handmade physical products as well as digital items for sale. Many sellers opt for this huge platform to get great exposure to the massive audience and to avoid getting involved in maintaining an online store.

Etsy: How Does It Function? 

This global marketplace is known to be a vibrant community of real people that connect over great products or goods. The platform is a great source to empower every seller to do business in their own way by doing what they love, and it also helps buyers find a place to find and buy products that they can buy easily. Therefore, Etsy is a place that is meant for both buyers and sellers. It connects the buyers and sellers on one platform. 

Sell extraordinarily 

With a low fee, amazing tools, as well as great support and guidance, the platform offers every entrepreneur a chance to enter the world of business. You can easily manage and scale your business with Etsy by selling on this platform. To create a shop on this platform, it is important to post some products. However, there is a fee of $0.20 USD to start your shop or business on Etsy. The shop’s page is going to stay on the platform for around four months or until a buyer buys the products. The prices of every product is dedicated by the owner, and the company or the platform is known to claim around 6.5% of the final sale price along with 5% postal fee. Every shop owner is known to get a bill at the end of the month, which details the fee charged by the platform.

Buy extraordinarily

Etsy is also a marketplace for buyers, which makes it possible to buy extraordinarily. The buyers can buy handcrafted or custom-made products from the platform. The search tools of the platform help the buyers to explore the items which they are looking for. Also, the platform has a journal or editor picks for the buyers, which has exciting trends as well as ideas to buy or look for. The potential buyers can also type ‘product description’ into the search bar. The platform offers various buying options, like art, home and living, jewelry, women, men, kids, weddings, craft supplies, gift ideas, mobile accessories, and a lot more.

Moreover, when the buyer is viewing a product, he can also check the positive percentage feedback to know the reliability of the shop. If the buyer doesn’t have an account on the platform, then he can get it to register with Google Account or Facebook.

Etsy: PROS 

• Quick and easy
• Cost-effective
• Great platform for buyers and sellers
• It has an established audience
• Great testing ground
• Large marketplace

Etsy: CONS 

• Competition
• Lack of originality for buyers
• Lack of customer loyalty for sellers
• Lack of branding
• Various fee
• Unsatisfactory customer service

Things that Buyers Can Buy on Etsy 

Etsy is not only a platform for sellers but also for buyers, which can help them to get the desired product at a reasonable price. This makes it easy for buyers to get access to various products which they cannot find anywhere else. There are a lot of things that can be bought on Etsy by buyers, and the categories are mentioned below:

• Personalized Gifts

Under this category, you can get items like personalized family frames, custom neon signs, personalized leather keychains, notebooks, travel jewelry cases, handmade pizza slicers, and a lot more.

• Home Décor Items

The buyers can also get access to various beautiful home décor items on the platform, like geo rock shape mirrors, pillow covers, black splash dinner candles, paintings, rugs, metal art, and a lot more.

• Clothing

Etsy offers clothing options for buyers as well. The clothing options are available for both men and women by various brands, which you might be able to get from a regular offline store.

• Jewelry

Who doesn’t like buying jewelry? There are a lot of amazing jewelry options available for men and women. You can buy earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc., at the Etsy store without fretting about anything.

• Furniture

The platform has various furniture options which you can buy, such as a giant bean bag, ottoman, wavy plant stand, king-size bed, Moroccan rug, tabletop, floating nightstand, vintage furniture, handmade cabinet, and a lot more.

• On Sale Items

Under this category, you can find different items at discounted rates. There are different items that are available at different discounted prices. This allows you, as a buyer, to shop while saving some money. There are some items that are also available at an exciting 75% off, along with free delivery.

• Shop by Selections

The platform also has a separate shop-by-selection option where you can shop categories like Valentine’s Day gifts, everyday inspiration, the festive shop, fashion finds for your home, and the wedding shop.

Amazing Deals for Buyers 

The platform offers deals of the day for the buyers, which is exciting as the buyers can explore amazing offers on greatly-crafted treasures from the sellers. Currently, the platform is offering up to 40% off on various items by the participating shops only. Also, the terms of the sale can vary depending on the availability as well as the changes made by the sellers. Here are some of the categories you can shop under the deals of the day:

• Women’s Ethnic Clothing
• Women’s Western Clothing
• Men’s Clothing
• Fashion Jewelry
• Winter Clothing
• Wedding Clothing
• Wedding Jewelry
• Wedding Invitations
• Home Décor
• Wall Décor
• Digital Prints
• Kitchen and Dining

Etsy Pattern: A Website Builder 

Etsy offers Pattern which is a tool that can be used by the sellers to build their separate online stores. With this tool, the sellers can easily sell the same products listed on Etsy to your branded site. The information related to the products is synced automatically between the pattern site as well as the Etsy shop. There is an option to try the pattern website free of cost for 30 days.

However, the cost of the pattern website builder is around $15 per month, which includes features like:

• A safe website
• Simple-to-use design tools
• Syncing between the pattern website as well as Etsy shop

There are some additional charges for the Pattern site, which include:

• WHOIS domain privacy is $3 per year
• Currency conversion fee, which involves around 2.5% charges

Etsy: Integrations and add-ons 

The platform offers 23 built-in integrations that can be beneficial in connecting the Etsy shop to various email marketing tools, bookkeeping software, and a lot more. Some of the notable integrations offered by the platform are:

• TaxJar
• AWeber
• QuickBooks

It is also easy to connect directly to various social media platforms, like Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Etsy: Features Available for Sellers To Sell Effectively

The platform is highly renowned for simplifying the task of selling products, and the features of the platform are known to be basic, especially when it comes to comparing Etsy to other eCommerce software. However, here are some of the available features for sellers offered by the platform:

Etsy Themes 

The Etsy Pattern site builder is known to have ten themes. People with regular Etsy storefronts are known to have limited customization options, which include custom logo inserts as well as storefront banners.

Payment Options offered by Etsy 

Etsy payments is a necessary payment processor for a lot of Etsy sellers where you can accept credit, debit, PayPal, Etsy credit, and various other transactions. As a seller, there is also an option to accept various bank transfer services and digital wallet payment options like Apple Pay or Google Pay.

International Selling 

With this platform, there is an option to purchase as well as print global postal shipping labels from the shop manager. The platform is known to generate the custom forum automatically for various international shipping and also helps to translate the shop to the preferred language of the customer. Plus, it also shows the pricing to the preferred currency of the customer.

Marketing Features 

The platform also offers various social media as well as paid advertising tools as its marketing features:

Social Media Marketing 

You can easily post your shop updates on social media platforms like Pinterest, Twitter, etc., by creating as well as pushing updates to the platforms from the seller dashboard of Etsy. This allows you to sell the items on such platforms.

Paid Advertising 

The platform offers Etsy Ads as well as Etsy offsite ads as its paid advertising options. Etsy Ads are known to be paid promotions that can be seen on the Etsy marketplace. The offsite ads by the platform are the ads that come in Google and other search engines. This is optional for sellers that make around $10,000 in annual sales, and it is important for sellers who make more than that. There is a separate fee for offsite ads, and it can be 12% to 15%, depending on the sales.

Selling on Various Sales Channels 

There is an option to sell on this platform as well as the Pattern site, which means you can easily list your Etsy products on other social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. In case you are able to integrate your Etsy site with Square POS, then there is a possibility to sell various items in person.

Product Limits 

There is no limit on selling digital or physical products but it is important to pay a fee. Also, you need to pay a fee to renew any products if they are not completely sold in the time span of four months.

Inventory Management 

It is simple to add SKU numbers on every product. The product stock levels will be visible on the platform along with other platforms that you are selling on. However, it is not possible to add or edit any products, but there is a possibility to create a listing and then copy it.

Shipping Tools 

There are many shipping tools available for sellers:

• You can create as well as display shipping policy on the storefront.
• You can calculate USPS or Canada Post shipping rates.
• You can give buyers various shipping discounts.
• There is also a possibility of offering various shipping choices
• You can set custom shipping rates
• You can offer free shipping
• Shipping profiles can be set for various destinations.

SEO Tools 

The platform has released various new search engines, XWalk, which can help users to get products easily. The sellers who are into Pattern site can also get automatically generated XML sitemap, which can be helpful in Google finding and understanding the web pages.

Developer Tools 

The platform offers an open API for developers so that they can build the apps and integration them.

In-person Tools for Selling 

The platform integrates with Square, which can help you sell Etsy storefront items in-person at any event, etc. However, you need to have a Square credit card reader to sell any product in person.

Discounts and Coupons 

You can also get various features related to discounts and coupons on Etsy, which can help your buyers have an amazing shopping experience.

Etsy Blog 

The platform also has a blog where you can find various blogs related to shopping guides, style, home, and living. This can allow the buyers to explore ideas as well as get inspired for a creative living. The blogs are the latest and allow buyers to shop in the right way without getting confused or carried away. Also, every blog is created to inspire buyers and make useful purchases and get enlightened about the latest trends related to fashion, home, styling, gifts, and a lot more. This is the best place to gain knowledge and then buy products from Etsy.

Etsy: Customer Service 

Sellers can easily get in touch with the Etsy support team through various methods, such as:

Live Chat 

It offers seller support through live chat, where they ask you about your email to contact you later.

Help Center 

This includes articles for the buyers as well as sellers. This allows you to have your hands on clear instructions, the latest updates, etc.

Community Forum 

The platform hosts various active community forums. The seasoned seller of the platform can allow you to get the answers to your asked questions. Also, there are teams on the platform who share an interest. Every team on Etsy has a closed forum.

Guides 

You can get access to its seller handbook, where you can find guides on various things. Also, you can get access to the shipping help page, where you can get guides about shipping methods.

Videos 

The platform has its own YouTube page where you can entertain yourself as a buyer but it is not worthy for the sellers.

Blog 

The blog of the platform is known as Etsy Journal, which is meant for buyers instead of sellers.

Social Media 

Etsy is known to have active social media accounts on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, as well as Twitter.

Etsy: Pricing and Plans 

The platform is known to have various pricing plans for sellers, which is based on transaction fee, but there are some monthly plans as well, which you can easily subscribe to. Here are the monthly plans of Etsy mentioned below:

Standard Plan 

The cost of this plan is $0 per month, which includes printing and purchasing postage, discounts on postage rates, sales and coupon creation, as well as Etsy App.

Plus Plan 

The cost of this plan is around $10 per month and offers everything of the standard plan plus other features like:

• Advanced customization options
• Banner options
• 15 listing credits monthly
• store domain
• Discounts on various web addresses
• Discounts on various custom packaging as well as promotional materials
• New layouts
• Restock requests, etc.

There are various other costs and fees by Etsy which are considered for sellers like:

• $0.20 per item listing fee
• 5% transaction fee
• 5% shipping costs
• 3% plus a $0.25 payment processing fee

Etsy: Alternatives 

There are some of the alternatives or tough competition of Etsy mentioned below:

Amazon 

This platform decided to try its hands on the handmade good and give tough competition to Etsy. They are known to be a global company and have great traffic from all around the globe but especially from the US.

Artfire 

This platform came into existence in after Etsy but didn’t have much traffic as Etsy. But surely, in the coming years, Artfire is going to give a tough challenge to Etsy. It makes it easier for the buyers to shop as well as sellers as they can easily set up a shop.

Aftcra 

This is another platform that is known to buy and sell handmade goods which are made in the USA. Aftcra is a great platform that makes it easy for buyers and sellers to get things done in their own way, as compared to Etsy.

Final Thought 

For sellers, the platform is a great solution. The shop manager is simple to use, and other technical elements are great as well. The sellers can have a great time on this platform producing great goods, offering customer services, and letting Etsy handle other things. However, the additional fees by the platform can be problematic for some people and can give them a tough time to sellers competing in a tough marketplace.

Also, the sellers don’t have much control over their shops. The platform can easily raise fees, implement new things, and can change the working of the shops. Also, the platform can close the account of the seller, and nothing much can be done about it. Overall, it is a great space for buyers as they can get to enjoy various discounts, and almost everything is available under one roof.

FAQs 

• Is it legit and safe?

Yes, it is legit and safe for buyers and sellers.

• Can I test my products on this platform?

Etsy is a great platform to test your products and market before investing your money on your own site. Everything is handled by Etsy, and there is nothing much that you need to fret about.

• Does Etsy have a mobile app?

Yes, it has a mobile app that can easily be downloaded from AppStore and PlayStore

• Is it profitable to sell on this platform?

Yes, but only if you are selling with high-profit margins.

• Is it possible to avoid additional costs by Etsy?

No, you need to pay the additional costs charged by Etsy.

• How to get the delivery status or tracking details?

Just sign in to Etsy.com or visit the mobile app and go to the Purchases section to get the order details. Once you click on Track Package, you will get tracking details as well.

• What payment methods does Etsy accept?

Etsy accepts payments via Etsy credit and gift cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, digital wallets, etc.