What Is Etsy?
Oct 09, 2024
What products can you sell on Etsy? And is Etsy Worth it?
You May have heard of Etsy, this online marketplace where you can find unique items, but still, you are not sure how it works, or you may even have purchased something on Etsy, maybe Christmas presents or a personalized birthday gift for a special someone, but you are wondering if Etsy is the right place to sell your products, in this post I'll be answering those questions for you.
So what is Etsy?
Etsy started in 2005 as a handcrafted-only marketplace. For many years it has been known to be the place where you can shop unique handmade items. With time, the exclusivity in products that people found on the site, the high-touch handmade and vintage items, and the personalized and customization features that the Etsy platform offered made this marketplace grow faster, attracting new sellers and buyers worldwide. Until today, Etsy has evolved to become the 4th largest e-commerce site by monthly visits in the U.S.
You may be thinking of Etsy as other marketplaces like Amazon and eBay; but the main factor that differentiates Etsy from these other established marketplaces is that Etsy does not allow dropshipping and is meant for creative entrepreneurs only, meaning that all items on Etsy must be either designed, created, or curated by the sellers.
So now that we defined what is Etsy let's cover
What products can you sell on Etsy?
Even though Etsy started as a marketplace for handcrafted items only, they slowly started allowing to sell other different types of products. Besides handmade and vintage items, you can now sell on Etsy printables (digital files) and products made with production assistance, what they called production partners, which is anyone who helps you physically make your products.
This expansion of product offerings allows many artists, designers, and creative entrepreneurs the opportunity to sell their products on Etsy because you no longer need to create them physically. So if you fall in any of these categories and have an idea of a product that you design, create, or curate, Etsy will be a great platform to sell your products online.
Is Etsy worth it?
The answer is Yes. Etsy has 90.5+ Million active buyers (as of July 2021). That's 90.5 Million people looking for things to buy, so there's a huge potential to sell your products if your products fall in the categories mentioned before.
Selling on Etsy is also incredibly cheap. The listings fee is just $0.20; once you make a sale, Etsy charges an additional transaction fee that is lower than other marketplaces. There are no membership fees, which means you can open your shop for free and pay only for the products (listings) that you add.
I will be covering Etsy fees in-depth in another blog post, but the biggest takeaway is that the opportunity is there to get started with your online business in an ever-growing marketplace that now allows you to start selling products that you design, handmade, or use some help to create!
If you are considering selling on Etsy, I invite you to download the Free Etsy starter Kit that I have created for you with the first steps to get your Etsy shop up and running in no time. I included everything from branding essentials, a listing checklist, and even a brainstorm section to help you define your niche and product offerings! You can download your copy here.
Are we friends on Instagram yet? Follow @bossandfree for daily tips and content to further help you start and grow your Etsy shop!
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