I have been selling on Etsy for around ten years now, and boy have I seen it change since I first started. I’m not planning on closing my Etsy shop, because I do still get sales there and it is a channel that has served me well.
But I am moving away from Etsy as the main place I send people to buy my work. My Etsy link used to be the first link on my socials where I'd direct people to browse my work. The psycology of this was mainly when I first started out, and I wasn't as established, it was a trusted website for people.
In, what I like to call the “Etsy before times", it was known as a place for handmade work and vintage items. The general feeling was that you were buying from a real person. A maker. Someone working from their kitchen table, spare room, or garage, trying to make something by hand and get it out into the world. And that, in essence, was a huge part of the appeal.
Etsy still talks a lot about handmade work, and there are still many genuine makers on the platform. But the marketplace itself has become enormous... saturated even. It's much harder now for small handmade sellers to be found among the huge number of listings, larger shops, resellers, print-on-demand products and items that aren't even handmade at all.
There are still great shops on Etsy; amazing small businesses making high quality handmade products. However, it's not the same platform it used to be; supporting the indivual maker, it's morphed into something I don't recognise anymore.
And the fees! Boy are there fees! Once you add up listing fees, transaction fees, payment processing fees and other charges that can apply, it takes a decent chunk out of the sale. Of course, running my own website is not free either. I still pay for the website subscription and payment processing, but it's actually significantly less than what I am paying on Etsy.
So I would rather put all my energy into my own webshop.
My website is my own space. And when someone buys something from my website, I get more of the cut which goes directly back into my art practice, materials, studio costs and the time it takes to keep making new work.
I’m not abandoning Etsy completely. I’m just not putting my energy into it anymore.
From now on, my webshop will be the best place to find my work, especially new prints and small releases. Etsy may still be there in the background, but my own website is where I’d much rather people visit, browse and buy.
It feels more personal, more sustainable, and much more in line with the kind of small handmade business that I cherish.
Love,
Negin Maddock
@negindesigns
