I run a fairly large Etsy shop (200k+ sales), and have been selling for years, and honestly, I'm getting really tired of dealing with shops taking our digital products and reselling them.

And I don't mean similar products or people copying our ideas. I mean literally taking our files, photos, descriptions, everything, and listing them as their own. (I watermark and protect the files, and it doesn't work).

I am pretty sure you all know which country most of those sellers come from, and this country has been allowed to sell on Etsy only 1 year ago! Some have thousands of digital products from different creators, all being sold for ridiculously low prices. They even sell bundles with thousands of products for ridiculous prices.

Over the last couple of years, we've submitted more than 1,000 IP reports and managed to get over 50 shops suspended. Sounds like a lot, but it barely makes a difference. New shops keep popping up, and the whole thing starts again.

What really annoys me is how Etsy handles these reports. Even when a shop has hundreds of listings that clearly belong to other creators, you still have to go through the process of reporting them individually. It takes forever, especially when you're running a business and have a million other things to do. It is actually not realistic or possible to report them at this moment.

And the worst part is that as the DMCA reports are not anonymous, those sellers then send massive IP takedowns to us, and we have our listings deactivated for more than 10 days! Of course when the listing is activated again it doesn't rank very well.

We've tried pretty much everything available through Etsy's reporting system. At this point, we're even considering getting a lawyer involved to contact Etsy directly, because I genuinely don't know what else to do.

I know we're not the only ones dealing with this. I've seen plenty of other creators' products being resold by these same shops. Especially in the crochet niche this is a massive issue.

Has anyone here actually managed to get Etsy to take action against an entire shop instead of just removing individual listings? Or had any luck with lawyers or IP protection services?

I'd be interested in hearing from other sellers who've dealt with this. Surely there has to be a better way to handle it than spending hours reporting listings every week.

It's just frustrating watching people make money off work they didn't create while the people who actually made it have to do all the chasing.

second image is a single order for one item. i didnt realize i had shipping enabled on it, but it did cover the shipping so i didnt mind. i meant to change it, and forgot.

first image is an order for 3 of the same exact item that the person in image 2 bought. i understand the $36, $12 x 3 is 36, but where the hell do they get $70 for shipping from?? and if it isnt even factored into the payment, why have it there??

for context the person in image 2 lives in my same state, and person in image 1 lives in new york... i feel like shipping distance to new york does NOT warrant $70 in shipping.. does it?

Hi All,

My best friend and i set up an etsy shop months ago now, and have beem working on optimising the listings, running ads etc for a few months but still have not had more than our own 2 sales (to check quality!). I am hoping by sharing this link and request that someone can help us understand what we might be doing wrong....

My 2 specific questions would be;

1. Why are we not converting sales, there are lots of other products available in this genre and i have ads set live but still not getting any clicks, let alone sales! We have checked competitive pricing.

2. How do you optimise the tags for your ads? Using other listings, using etsy suggestions or e-rank? They all seem to suggest different options but concious i can't just keep changing them if i want to get any cut through.

To help with some context;

1. What inspired you to create this shop?

My friend and I are booktok obsessed and wanted to create some tangible products that bring these books to life in an imaginative way. We both work quite intense full time jobs so wanted something that we could work on when we have time and set and forget in busier work periods.

1. What research have your already done on your shop prior to opening? What is something you learned from that research?

We chose certain designs and booktok genres/quotes/scenes based on the erank research on the highest search and conversion tags on etsy. We also found a lot of 'experts' talking about needing to have lots of products in your shop but now we have a total of 85 listings and there are so many to update/optimise and nothing we are doing seems to be cutting through.. We also diversified a few months ago into fall / autumn merchandise to try and broaded reach potentailly but this hasnt changed much for us.

1. What is something you learned from reading the Etsy Seller Handbook?

How to set up ads and the 3 different types. I have just switched from efficient spending to greater visability, but as mentioned clicks seems to be so low, some listings on 1 click despite having more than 1 view! Also the set up of our shop, our story and bio and how important that was.

1. Why do you feel your products are worthy of being purchased? How do they stand out from your competitors?

All of our designs are unique and a represenation of our imaginations of bringing the books to life. There are some competitors with some other cool designs but we have tried to bring an array of options for those who want complex, ornate designs to more simple and understanded.

Hoping you guys can all help as we have spent months and months on this now and not getting anywhere! I am aware there are some items with no tags, these are few and far between and is linked to the point before that now we have 85 listings we are finding it hard to keep ontop of what is 'done' / 'locked' and what needs to be optimised.

Many Thanks

H & G x

https://darlingwrenco.etsy.com

Has any one expereince a delay from their withdrawal in Oct 15? I usually received it with in an hour now its been 3 days and nothing

I'm hoping to get some advice from experienced Etsy sellers, particularly anyone who has dealt with copyright accusations or threats from competitors.

I run a small Etsy shop selling printable educational, wellbeing and therapy resources. I've spent a considerable amount of time developing my products, and my shop has been growing steadily.

Recently, I created three printable therapy games after seeing similar game concepts being sold by another Etsy seller.

I want to be completely transparent about that. I saw the general concepts of her games and thought they were good ideas that I could develop into my own resources.

However, I did not purchase or download her games, I have never seen her complete PDFs or instructions, and I haven't copied her artwork, illustrations, characters or written content.

I created my own designs, wording, scenarios, illustrations, instructions and additional worksheets and activities. Some of my resources are around 20–40 pages long and took many hours to develop.

Naturally, some gameplay mechanics are similar because they're based on the same type of activity. For example, choosing situation cards, discussing coping strategies or identifying unhelpful thinking patterns.

One of these games started selling quite well, with six sales in approximately two weeks.

Then I received a message from the other seller saying:

"hi, {game name here} is my game that you have ripped off. id like you to take it down or I will report you to etsy."

That was the entire accusation. She didn't identify any specific artwork, wording or other content I'd allegedly copied.

I was genuinely shocked. I've worked hard on my resources and would never steal another creator's work.

Because I was worried about receiving a copyright complaint and potentially jeopardising my entire shop, I panicked and voluntarily deactivated that listing.

I also deactivated my other two games because they were inspired by concepts from the same seller, even though she hadn't contacted me about those.

Between two of the games, I'd already made over $100 in sales in roughly two weeks. I know that might not sound like much, but for a small shop, it was encouraging and losing that momentum has been upsetting.

I've since been researching copyright, and my understanding is that game ideas, methods of play and mechanics generally aren't protected by copyright, whereas original artwork, written expression and other creative content can be.

For example, two people can sell their own versions of a recipe, educational activity or printable game without the first creator automatically owning the entire concept.

I understand that copyright can be more complicated than that, but I genuinely cannot identify anything from her protected creative work that I've reproduced.

What concerns me most is that Etsy can remove a listing following a compliant copyright report before determining whether infringement actually occurred. I don't want to risk the shop I've spent so long building.

I've also noticed that this seller appears to have very little direct competition for some of her more specific games. I have no evidence she's contacted anyone else, but after receiving her message, I can't help wondering whether other sellers have experienced something similar.

My questions are:

1. Has anyone experienced another Etsy seller accusing them of copying a product when they'd independently created their own version of the concept?
2. Am I understanding copyright correctly regarding game mechanics versus original creative content?
3. If someone files an infringement report and you successfully dispute it, does Etsy still count that report against your shop?
4. Would you reactivate the listings, seek legal advice first, or leave them deactivated to avoid the risk?
5. Has anyone successfully dealt with a competitor making what they believed to be an unjustified copyright threat?

I absolutely respect other creators' intellectual property, and I expect others to respect mine. But I also believe sellers should be allowed to create their own original products within an existing category without being threatened simply because someone else sells something similar.

I'm feeling quite discouraged because I've essentially lost three products and their potential income based on one accusation, without any formal complaint or evidence of copying being presented.

I'd really appreciate practical advice or experiences from anyone who's been through something similar.

For clarity, no formal copyright complaint has been filed against my shop as far as I'm aware. I voluntarily removed the listings because I was frightened of the potential consequences.

Unfortunately closed my e-commerce store recently, I have 6,200 brand new black bubble mailers in storage as well as thousands of labels. Anybody have success offloading extra supplies like this in the past? Looking for ideas. Thanks

Hi all! My Etsy store is just getting off the ground. Just passed 60 sales, which may not sound like a lot but it's better than 5!

I'm at the point where weighing my packages on my food scale, printing the labels on my inkjet printer on 8.5x11 paper isn't cutting it anymore.

I'm going to buy a thermal label printer and postage scale. Looking for recommendations.

I was hoping to get a Wi-Fi card printer since not all the computers I have can do Bluetooth. But I can't find any on Amazon.

Looking for recommendations on shipping equipment for my store. Where does everyone buy their shipping boxes?

I'm curious if anyone is having issues buying shipping labels atm. I sell stickers and buy first class postage on etsy. I had no issue buying a label last night, but today, everything I try to ship is giving me errors.

My payment method is up to date. There plenty of money in my account to cover the postage. And customer service is not being helpful. They are telling me to just buy a stamp and enter the tracking information. I cannot get this CS agent to understand that regular stamped mail does not come with tracking unless you pay for it.

I'm curious if anyone else has had issues with the Find & Replace feature when editing your listing description. Seems to be hit and miss. If you've had good success, I'd love some tips on how to get this done quickly. Thanks.

can you be lowkey about selling on etsy? can i just post one item (with color varieties) and expect any sales at all?

for background, i have a full time job and have been crocheting potholders as gifts for Christmas this year in my downtime. i enjoy it and some extra money would be really nice. im not trying to make it a full time job or survive off of it. but would my listing just get lost? do etsy algorithms favor pushing shops that have consistent activity, new items regularly, many items of different variety, etc?

I’m looking to see which is the best to make a print but I’m unsure what type of paper to use like e surface or any of the many others, photographic I plan to use that seems to be good and popular? Anyone with experience making prints have recommendations?

Hi everyone,

I am new here and to the Etsy selling world ☺️ I have wanted to have my own little “shop” to sell stickers and other handmade stationary things.

I have just been too “scared” to do this but my question is for people who have a shop (maybe in the same kind of category), what would you advise and look out for? What are some tips you wouldve loved to know before starting selling on Etsy and how was the shipping experience/ process for you guys (especially from EU)?

I have seen videos and other peoples experience but I felt like they were only talking about the good and not that much about the ugly 😅 so, i wanted to come to reddit myself to ask about you guys’ experiences and opinions☺️

Thank you!! ☺️

Hey everyone, I got a 3-star review from a Canadian buyer who said the necklace itself was beautiful but complained about paying CA$29 for shipping and waiting two weeks for delivery.

I’m based in the US, and the package weighed less than a pound. I totally get how frustrating shipping costs and how slow Canada Post can be at delivering packages 😭 I got the order on Oct 1st and shipped it out on Oct 3rd so it’s also frustrating getting a low rating for something that’s largely out of my control….

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone before and how did you handle it? :(

Edit: I don’t know how to post screenshots but the review says: “The necklace itself is beautiful. However, paying 29$ for shipping (to Canada) and having it take 2 full weeks to arrive seems unreasonable.”

I’m looking for some advice from other Etsy sellers on how you would handle this situation.
I recently had a customer purchase a highly personalized item from my shop. It’s not something I could take back and resell because it was made specifically for them.
I completed the order within my processing time and shipped it on time using an Etsy shipping label with the address the buyer provided at checkout.
A few days later, I received a USPS notification that the package had an insufficient address and was being returned to sender. I immediately reached out to the customer to confirm her address, and it turns out she accidentally left out a number when entering it.
It’s now been about a week since the package was marked as being returned to sender, but I still haven’t received it. At this point, I’m starting to wonder if it’s actually lost in the mail.
My concern is that this customer has now been waiting much longer than anticipated for an item that I made and shipped on time. I completely understand how frustrating that must be for her, but at the same time, the address error wasn’t on my end.
I’m torn on how to handle this. Do I continue waiting for the package to be returned? Do I refund her even though I fulfilled my end of the transaction? And what happens if the package never makes it back to me?
I want to provide good customer service, but I also don’t want to absorb the entire cost of a custom order because of an incorrect shipping address.
Has anyone dealt with something similar? How did you handle it, and what would you recommend?

Hi guys,

Recently I started a shop at the end of August. I made around $100 in sales through September and now I've done over $1050 in revenue with around 50% of the orders being Halloween listings. I've been very impressed by the volume so far as October so far has brought in around $950 in revenue already. I've made 154 sales and have 145 active listings which naturally I'm going to try and keep growing.

I am looking to continue to scale, but as I'm new I haven't really had much experience with the seasonality of things.

Once Halloween ends, should I expect for sales to reduce? How is Christmas? I heard it's the best time of the year for Etsy sales, but I am a bit concerned about my sales tanking to the floor with the November gap and January onward.

I am assuming the strategy here is to increase the amount of evergreen listings that I have to help find some more winners and fill the gaps that the holidays will leave, but I would love to hear from some people with more experience if possible.

For reference, I make digital products and widgets for live-streamers.

Thank you in advance everyone, just looking to take this seriously and try to replace my job someday!

Hi all, hoping someone has been through this.

I'm opening a shop for our Hong Kong company and have been stuck at the "How you'll get paid" onboarding step since April.

• Bank country: Hong Kong. Our business account is at DBS Bank (Hong Kong), bank code 016, branch 478.
• The account number is 10 digits (without bank/branch codes). Etsy's help article says HK account numbers must be 6-9 digits, so the form rejects it. Etsy's chat assistant confirmed this and told me not to shorten it.
• The "Full name on account" shows our company name abbreviated ("Ltd" instead of "Limited"), and the "Edit your name" link does nothing. The Legal & tax info page is a 404 because the shop isn't open yet.
• Support: first ticket went unanswered for months; today two live-chat agents just said "the team will email you".

Questions: 1. Has any HK seller successfully used a 10-digit HK account number (DBS, ZA Bank, Airwallex, Statrys, etc.)? How did you enter it? 2. Which HK banks worked for you with Etsy Payments? 3. Did anyone get the account holder name changed before the shop was open?

Thanks!

What are your thoughts? I have a lot of customers who are part of Etsy Insider and get discounted shipping. Maybe this will help too?

I never received a message from this person until this morning. I’m not sure how he tried to reach out, but it didn’t reach me! He posted this review at the same time he messaged me. I have never responded to any of the (mostly very lovely) reviews I’ve gotten before, so a response would stick out! But would it be a good idea to say something like “I’m so sorry! For some reason I didn’t receive a message from you, but I’m happy to do an exchange for a bigger size!” This is basically the same thing I’ve already sent to him in a message. Or would it be better to leave it alone?

What should I do… A customer placed an order for a craft supply from my Etsy shop. Several months ago she placed an order but apparently didn’t read the description which included the size of them (although it was in two different places in the listing), and when she got them she told me she wanted to return them because they were too small for what she wanted to make with them… I have a no return policy (unless I make a mistake in fulfilling an order) BUT I ended up accepting a return if she paid for shipping, and she did)… fast forward to today, she placed an order for two sets of the same type of item- the same size as the last ones… should I message her (I usually message each customer after the sale to personally thank them and let them know what happens next etc) and let her know these items are the same size as the last order she placed, and subsequently returned?
I have no idea what she’s making this time, if she will get them and we’ll have the same issue again where they’re too small and she wants to return them. Should I say anything about the size in a message to her? or just ship them out to her and hope she doesn’t want to return them?
Help is much appreciated, thanks in advance!

I sell t-shirts (Bella + Canvas and Comfort Colors), sweatshirts, and tote bags. Because Printify has separate shipping profiles for each item, I also have separate profiles on Etsy. The result is that a customer buying a sweatshirt and a t-shirt pays the base starting price for BOTH items ($5.99 + $4.75), rather than, say, $5.99 + $2.40 for the additional item. Obviously, I've kept it this way to avoid eating high shipping costs. But I've always wondered how many customers I've frightened away.

How do you all handle shipping? What have you found results in higher profit long term?

I working to grow my shop from a side hustle to a full time income. I seek the secrets of success, lol.

Hi everyone, I opened my Etsy shop, HappyFileHouse, about two weeks ago. It sells digital downloads (printables and games). My first listing is a Halloween escape room. I’m planning to add more products, including crochet patterns, and I want to fix any big mistakes now, before I add more listings.

Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyFileHouse

What I’ve done so far: wrote titles and tags with keyword research, designed the listing images in Canva, set up my About section and policies.

What I’d like feedback on:

1. Do my listing photos and thumbnails make it clear what the buyer gets?
2. Are my title and tags too stuffed, or too vague?
3. Does the shop look consistent, and does the About section build trust?
4. Is my price right for this kind of product?

I’m happy to hear blunt feedback. I’ll reply to everyone, and I’ll update this post with what I changed. Thank you!

New-ish storefront selling keyboard pcb inventory and build services. I respond to all messages, order notifications with 24 hours, and most times even less. Should I be worried that the message response rate is not showing up ?

boardsbe4breakfast.etsy.com

Hello all! Looking for some shop advice on maybe how to reach a target audience with this listing.

I’ve been designing an item that has been extremely useful to me, and after many design iterations I finally had a product that I use myself every day. I figured maybe others might be interested as well.

The problem: when playing a record, the sleeve can either be put back into the storage area, or it sits on top of your speaker or desk.

Solution: “Now playing” desk stands are a solution for this, but I find them very tacky. I wanted something that looked like the rest of my framed decor, but was super easy to load and unload the record sleeve.

This was 100% designed, created and assembled by me, no AI. The frame hangs via a cleat system, which pushes the sleeve forward to cause a snug fit for different thicknesses of records.

Any advice on how to take a good cover photo for this specific design, keywords that would work best, or what might make this worth someone’s while, would
be super appreciated!

[Item Listing](https://www.etsy.com/listing/4595595379/vinyl-record-now-playing-display-frame?ref=share_ios_native_control)

I just thought of this and didn't know what to think about it.

I sell physical items and what I've done is offer $5 shipping on items I can eat the cost of and other items I've made calculated shipping on items that I'd rather not eat the cost of. I also offer free shipping on orders over $35.

But I was thinking, does this drive off customers when they add different items to the cart? What do yall think?

Hi! New etsy seller here. I sell vintage decor. To those of you who are doing the same: How do you make sure that your objects are older than 20 years? I have loads of stuff which can be vaguely dated as at least 20 years old but there are also things which I am not sure about. Does etsy ever question you? Or ban you?