The Etsy marketplace connects people looking for unique goods with independent sellers around the world. Everything listed for sale on Etsy must either be made, designed, handpicked or sourced by you. All items sold on Etsy must also follow our Prohibited Items Policy.
Etsy provides a marketplace for crafters, artists and collectors to sell their handmade creations, vintage goods (at least 20 years old), and both handmade and non-handmade crafting supplies.
The following types of items are prohibited or restricted on Etsy: Alcohol, Tobacco, Drugs, Drug Paraphernalia, Medical Drugs and Devices, and Items making Medical Claims. Animal Products and Human Body Parts and Fluids. Dangerous Items: Hazardous Materials, Recalled Items, and Weapons.
Etsy's definition of "handmade" includes items that are made or designed by you. This means that you can sell items that you design but are made by a third party or sell printable items like cards or other digital downloads.
Etsy started allowing non-handmade goods / non-vintage goods to the platform. These sellers were reselling goods from other sites, such as Temu, Amazon, and B & M to name a few. This has hurt the truly handmade market, since these resellers offer the goods for much less (nor are they handmade).
Overall fees
The most obvious reason why most of the sellers are deciding to leave Etsy is the number of fees you need to pay in order to sell on the platform.
Hundreds of Etsy sellers are reportedly organizing a boycott after the online marketplace withheld merchants' money.
If you're selling your crafts to the public — either at craft fairs or on websites like Etsy, Facebook or Amazon Handmade — you'll need to officially register your crafting business. It's easy to get caught up in the fun of creating something and finding out people want to pay you for your craft.
Amazon and Etsy offer impressive features and benefits for sellers. Amazon Handmade offers a massive audience, free listing, and resources to support sellers. Etsy, on the other hand, prioritizes cheaper seller fees, a beginner-friendly dashboard, and a niche audience looking for handmade crafts.
Numerous Etsy seller fees
For every listing you publish on Etsy, you have to cover the following costs: Listing fee—0.20 USD per item. Transaction fee—6.5% of your item's price for every sale you make. Payment processing fee—for each transaction processed through Etsy Payments (depends on the gross order amount)
Yes, you may be able to sue a seller on an online marketplace like Etsy if the seller copies your handmade items and sells them. Under copyright law, you have intellectual property rights in original visual works you create, such as a photograph on a t-shirt or a design on a mug.
If you're a sole proprietor, you don't need a license to operate. But if you have a partnership or limited liability company (LLC), you will probably have to register the Etsy business with your state or local government.
Yes, Etsy is generally safe. They use various security measures to help protect sellers and buyers.
A seller of goods on Etsy may need a license or permit from municipal, county, state, or federal agencies regulating businesses. Your Etsy shop is either a business or a hobby. If you have a business, you need a business license. If you are engaging in a hobby, you don't.
If you are formulating your own cosmetics, you must make sure you are only using colors from the approved list. If you are sourcing cosmetics produced by others, you must make sure they are only using approved color additives.
Each and every item on the shop is made from scratch by the seller. Period. Etsy even goes so far as to say that the item doesn't even need to be designed by the seller. As long as the item is made by the seller's own hands – even if from a template designed by another, it is classified as “handmade”.
In order to provide the service, Etsy charges fees for each sale made by the person who lists their items for sale. The site charges a fee to publish a listing to an online store created by the seller and a transaction fee that's based on the cost of the item and shipping.
Your hobby is the thing you engage in after work hours and in your spare time, but you also may exchange the results of those hobbies for cash. In the eyes of the government, that hobby income is real income that you may need to claim. The true difference between a hobby and a business comes down to tax law.
What homemade craft sells the most? Jewelry, candles, and home décor items like macramé wall hangings or customized signs tend to be top sellers. These crafts have broad appeal, are relatively inexpensive to make, and can be customized to fit different styles and trends, making them popular year-round.
Do I Need an LLC? If you are making and selling handmade products yourself, you are a sole proprietor—any profits you make you include on your personal income tax form. However, there is no liability protection as a sole proprietor. If someone is injured and wants to sue, they can go after you personally.
To gain more control and flexibility, many sellers turn to alternatives like Shopify, which offers no listing fees, full control over branding, and customer data ownership. Platforms like Big Cartel and Squarespace also offer customizable websites, without the seller fees that come with Etsy.
A drop in visits to your shop or sales can mean any number of things, such as increased competition, changing trends, a shift in purchasing behavior, and more. There may also be issues with your shop that result in your items appearing lower in Etsy search results, such as: Your listings have quality issues.
Many of the factories manufacturing Etsy's “unique items” are sweatshops. You can yarn bomb it all you want, but the people who produce this merchandise are not crafters.