Etsy Insights: Get your holiday shipping plan ready 📦
Hi sellers! My name is Katy, and I work on the Community Team at Etsy, with a focus on developing seller education resources like the Seller Handbook.
The holidays are here, and we all know shipping is a critical part of a successful gifting season for your shop! Having a clear strategy is essential to ensure the best experience possible for both you and your buyers.
Today I’ll share three of our top shipping tips to help you get prepared, inspired by our Holiday Shipping Checklist on the Seller Handbook.
Tip #1: Make sure your processing profiles and order processing schedule are up to date.
Accurate delivery dates are an important factor for shoppers deciding whether to make a purchase.
Check your Order processing schedule to reflect the days of the week you process on, so your ship-by and estimated delivery dates are accurate.
Set your Processing profiles to reflect how much time you need to prep your order.
Confirm both in your settings →
Tip #2: Ship your orders on time and with tracking
Buyers love knowing when to expect their order, so update your ship-by dates to reflect when you plan to hand off packages to your carrier.
Mark your orders as complete accurately: It’s key to great customer service and ensures you’re following our Shipping Policy.
Include valid tracking to give yourself and your customers peace of mind. It also helps your orders qualify for Etsy Purchase Protection, which we’ve doubled coverage for during the holiday season to support sellers.
Tip #3: Keep your buyers in the know
If an order is running behind, be transparent with your buyers by giving them a heads up. Download the Etsy Seller app to make it easy to message your buyers on the go, and set up quick replies for a library of responses you can use to answer FAQs from buyers without having to retype them.
To view the complete checklist, visit the Seller Handbook.
What’s at the top of your shipping prep checklist? Let us know in the comments!
Admin
SpiritualSHIMAYA
·10 months agoFor my holiday prep, the top priority is double-checking delivery timeframes for international orders -- especially the U.S. I update my processing profiles, verify carrier cut-off dates, and add a short note in my listings so buyers clearly understand when an order will arrive. Transparency always saves a lot of stress for both sides. 📦
I also keep a browser tab open every day with tracking pages for all active shipments. This way I notice carrier issues long before a parcel is considered “lost.” If a package hasn’t moved for 7 + 1 days, that’s my signal to open an investigation immediately -- it’s always better to make noise early than regret lost time later.
TheClayPitStudio
·10 months agoI have registered to be a part of the Holiday Shopping event, November 24-December 2. 2025. I selected the items to be 25% off. I also set up the items in Start a Sale. Is that correct? I haven't received any notification from ETSY that I did register to be part of this years sale.