etsy?

[robgul]

Does anyone here sell stuff on etsy?

I'm a newbie there and have just sold an item for £145 + £20 postage (it's big!) . . . .  yet there seem to be fees, charged on fees that reduce my net to just £116.   Seems excessive - the terms etc aren't very clear (at least no to me).

If the figures are correct that's the last time I'll use etsy

[rafletcher]

I think Finch sells on there.

[nikki]

I sold a badge for £1.96 and seem to have received £1.32

I'm not jumping to re-list (and get charged for) expired listings just yet...

[BrianI]

Apparently NFT's are the big money making scheme nowadays...   

[quixoticgeek]

The fees page suggests:

€0.17 * Listing fee
Listings are active for four months, or until they sell.

5 % Transaction fee, 4% + €0.30 payment processing fee
When you sell an item, there's a small commission and standard payment processing fee.

15% Offsite Ads Fee*
Etsy pays to advertise your items across the web through Offsite Ads. You only pay a fee when you make a sale from one of those ads. Learn more about advertising fees

So your 146 should have been:

7.3 to sell
6.14 for the transaction processing fee.

it looks like the "15% Offsite Ads Fee" is what's killed you, that's 21.9.

So that's 146-7.3-6.14-29.9

102.66

So at a guess they apply fees over the whole lot too.

"Etsy currently syndicates listings to a variety of channels. Under the Offsite Ads programme, Etsy pays all of the upfront costs of advertising on these providers. If such advertising includes your listing, a buyer clicks on it, and then orders from your shop within 30 days of that click, you will be charged an advertising fee on these orders."

Looks like you got advertised...

I wonder if there is a way to opt out of that bit?

Ultimately the question is, if not etsy, what would you use instead?

I sold a badge for £1.96 and seem to have received £1.32

I'm not jumping to re-list (and get charged for) expired listings just yet...

The 4% + 0.30 for transaction fees really favours against such small sales. The processing fees never favour small transactions.

J

[FifeingEejit]

Apparently NFT's are the big money making scheme nowadays...   

I've got this picture of a monkey I scribbled, you can have the reciept for 5 grand.



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[robgul]

OK so a bit more searching through the myriad "help" crap and I finally found the terms and pricing . . it seems that it's a real nickel & dime set-up with:

A listing fee of USD$0.20
A Transaction fee of 5% of the sale price
A Regulatory Operating fee 0.25% of the sale price
A Processing fee of 4% + 20p of the sale price
A Delivery charge fee of 5% of my delivery charge
A Marketing fee of 15% of the sale price   This is the one that is really sly as it's optional BUT, of course, is the defualt setting and it's vague about opting out.  Whether the "marketing" which seems to be just etsy putting stuff in Google ads affected my sale is unknown.
. . . then 20% VAT added on all the charges.

I shall not be using etsy again - as soon as my funds are available (in 2 days I think) I'll draw them down and close the account.

The only upside is that the item (a piece of furniture) hadn't sold on Facebook Marketplace where it was listed for just £65.    So, I'm better off, and have got rid of the item - with a net result of about £100 after paying shipping costs - so not all bad, but a bitter after-taste.  And, YES I should have checked more carefully, but I reckoned it couldn't be more than ebay charges.

... perhaps this was a rant!

[mrcharly-YHT]

MrsC was selling on etsy. Stopped because the fees were so high.

[robgul]

MrsC was selling on etsy. Stopped because the fees were so high.

I can understand that.  The item I sold was a one-off piece of furniture from our own house - I had intended to try and up the sales of stuff I make from recycled timber but the prices I can achieve less the etsy fees and cost of shipping make it unviable. 

[pcolbeck]

I don't think Etsy is really designed to be an alternative to eBay etc for you average person to sell random second hand goods on. Its target market is really small businesses that don't want the hassle of setting up their own web sites and payment infrastructure.

[ian]

I don't think Etsy is really designed to be an alternative to eBay etc for you average person to sell random second hand goods on. Its target market is really small businesses that don't want the hassle of setting up their own web sites and payment infrastructure.

My understanding was that it was a marketplace for people wanting to sell their hobbyist stuff – I've knitted a pile of woollen bunny rabbits or invented some innovative sex toys from used car parts, maybe I should offload some for spare cash.

[pcolbeck]

I don't think Etsy is really designed to be an alternative to eBay etc for you average person to sell random second hand goods on. Its target market is really small businesses that don't want the hassle of setting up their own web sites and payment infrastructure.

My understanding was that it was a marketplace for people wanting to sell their hobbyist stuff – I've knitted a pile of woollen bunny rabbits or invented some innovative sex toys from used car parts, maybe I should offload some for spare cash.

It definitely has a leaning to the hand made.

[L CC]

MrsC was selling on etsy. Stopped because the fees were so high.

Where is she selling now?

[nikki]

There's Folksy as a possible UK alternative for handmade/craft stuff.

Except, looking at the fees page, no, not really:
https://folksy.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/58077-how-much-does-it-cost-to-sell-on-folksy

[Wowbagger]

My only experience of Etsy was to try to buy a rather nice wooden work-"basket" to send to my Aussie daughter, who took up cross-stitch during the pandemic and produced some rather good pieces. It was £70 to buy, but the shipping costs to Melbourne were nearly double that.

The whole thing stopped and the seller refunded all my cash when he looked the CITES regs and found that the wood it was made of wouldn't have got through customs.

[robgul]

I don't think Etsy is really designed to be an alternative to eBay etc for you average person to sell random second hand goods on. Its target market is really small businesses that don't want the hassle of setting up their own web sites and payment infrastructure.

To some extent I'd agree but there are a lot of higher-value interesting/vintage/antique items listed.

Setting up your own shop is not that difficult with loads of options (e.g. Shopify) that host the shop, manage the products and payments for just the software fee - the only thing that I can see etsy adding is visibility/promotion ... that has a value but their rates seem excessive.   I do run an online shop for some other stuff - pretty simple.

[mrcharly-YHT]

MrsC was selling on etsy. Stopped because the fees were so high.

Where is she selling now?

Not online.

Via 5 shops on the islands and at craft fairs.

Some direct sales as well (e.g. buttons to a local weaver, various bits to people who call in). We don't have a proper shop set up yet, just a barn.

[perpetual dan]

I’ve bought a few things on Etsy, including a scourge cc bar bag and a made to order wooden monitor stand. As a buyer the experience is good, and it becomes an easy place to search for crafty / vintage things. Making the search easy is probably a lot of work for the average crafter if the thing being sold has lots of mass market alternatives. It does sound like a single charge would be easier though.

[Paul H]

the only thing that I can see etsy adding is visibility/promotion ... that has a value but their rates seem excessive.   

I used to do the bookkeeping for two small businesses that sell through etsy, lampshades and pewter jewelry.  Both went through a learning curve to work out what level of promotion worked for them.  Unlike the other platforms, it's very tuneable, both for your business and item by item.  If you think the customer is going to find your item by searching etsy, don't have any promotion and the fees are lower than ebay.  Or you can choose different levels of having it promoted on and off site, though the rules and fees change depending on turnover. 

A Marketing fee of 15% of the sale price   This is the one that is really sly as it's optional BUT, of course, is the defualt setting and it's vague about opting out.  Whether the "marketing" which seems to be just etsy putting stuff in Google ads affected my sale is unknown.

That is known, you only get charged that 15% if the buyer clicked through from that advert. The successful adverts are effectively subsidising the failed ones. Of the two samples I have, the jeweller has no option due to turnover, everything gets advertised off site and about half of it sells that way. The lampshades are rarely advertised off site, only in a year end sale if they're not selling, the cheaper ones get no advertising and the dearer ones are advertised on site with budget set at 10% of the sale price.