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FidosFlowers
Community Manager
Community Manager

Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Hi, everyone!

Thanks for making your way over to the Etsy Success section. We hope you’ve had a chance to review Josh’s Announcement on how we’re making it easier for US shoppers to find items that ship free. We know many of you may have questions and we're here to help!

Today and tomorrow, Madison, Bryan, Perry, Michele, and Nathan from the Etsy team will be hosting a Q&A on offering a free shipping guarantee. What questions do you have about this new guarantee?

Here are the Q&A details:
- Share your questions about this change in this thread from now until Wednesday, July 10. We will close the thread that evening at 9pm ET.
- Etsy staff will answer questions by 5pm ET on Thursday, July 11.
- It is unlikely we will be able to answer all questions, so be sure to read through what others have asked before posting your own. If yours has already been asked, give it a Like! We want to ensure that we answer the questions that matter most to you, so with that in mind, we will prioritize answering questions with the most Likes.

And a few housekeeping notes:
- This Q&A is to address questions about how we’re making it easier for shoppers in the US to find items that ship free. Please remember that all comments should remain on topic and in line with our community policies. Any comments that violate our policies will be removed.
- If you have feedback to share, we encourage you to fill out our seller survey form. We are collecting feedback and suggestions from the community here, and the team is actively reviewing it over the next couple of weeks.

One last note: if you are unable to make this Q&A, the team will be back next week to answer your questions about the new smart pricing tool that is designed to help you offer a free shipping to your US buyers and recover shipping costs. The tool should be available to all US sellers with items $35 and over next week, and all other sellers in August.

Thanks, all. We're looking forward to your questions!

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PodushkaStudio
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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Hi! I'm Michele and I'm based in our London office where I work as part of Etsy's International team. Our team focuses on sellers based outside the US, including attracting new sellers to the marketplace and helping those already on Etsy thrive. I'm always thinking about and advocating for the unique needs of our amazing sellers in all corners of the world, with a special focus on sellers in the UK. When I'm not dreaming up seller growth projects, you can find me curled up with a cosy knitting project, out for a run in the park or on the tube with my nose stuck in a book.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Hey everyone,

My name is Perry and I’ve been a Data Scientist at Etsy for the past 2.5 years. I work on analyzing user behavior across the site in order to help our teams optimize the product experience for our buyers and sellers. When I’m not running numbers, I’m running the basketball court with friends, reading a book at the beach, and buying wall prints off Etsy. Looking forward to answering your questions!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Hello! I'm Nathan. I'm on the research team here at Etsy. I help create understanding of what our Sellers both want and need as part of their experience on Etsy, and help get those wants and needs into action! For the free shipping guarentee, we spoke with over 19,000 sellers using a variety of research methods to understand how we could optimize the experience and product for them. What am I doing while I'm not researching the world of Etsy? You can find me cruising around New York City on my bike, experimenting in the kitchen, noodling on the guitar, and chasing powder days world wide! Looking forward to answering some of your questions this week!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Hi everyone! My name is Madison and I work on Etsy's Marketing team. I work to educate Etsy sellers on the tools and resources they need to help grow their creative businesses, specifically when it comes to shipping best practices. In my spare time, I enjoy being outdoors, cooking (my favorite food to make is pizza!), and my favorite items on Etsy to shop for these days are handmade ceramics :) I'm excited to be here today answering your questions!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Greetings! My name is Bryan and I've worked at Etsy for 3 years. I'm currently a product manager on the team that makes tools to help sellers offer a US free shipping guarantee. In my spare time I like to build guitars out of discarded cigar boxes with my dad.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@VintageFrenchStore wrote:

Hi Etsy Admin,

I am already offering free worlwide shipping on all items in my shop, so will I need to do anything different to qualify for priority placement in US search?

Thanks.


Hi there! Thanks for your question. Great work offering free shipping on your items! You will get all the benefits of priority placement in search if you offer unconditional free shipping on your listings to US buyers. If you already offer free US shipping for your items, you may want to consider setting up a free shipping guarantee with our new tool so any new listings you create automatically offer free shipping to US buyers when they spend $35 USD or more on their order from your shop.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@clevebeat wrote:

I do apologize if this has been asked but I'm on my phone and this platform is not that friendly to mobile. 

How does free shipping affect refunds? It doesn't happen often, but if a buyer returns an item, the seller would have to refund the postage too?  If a customer made an error, I've had to refund either the item cost or the shipping cost, as appropriate and most fair to the buyer. Would there be a way to do this now? 

I'm not opposed to building in my shipping (I do on ebay already), but do worry about refunds. On ebay, I do not accept returns. 

 

 


Hi @clevebeat! Thanks for your question. Not paying for shipping on an item doesn’t necessarily mean that buyers get free returns. If you do offer returns to buyers, consider making sure your shop policies reflect your most up to date stance, so a buyer knows exactly what happens if they’re not 100% satisfied with their order.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@TheOldBarnDoor wrote:

It is all well and good to ask me to consider how much of my business goes to the US when making the free shipping decison for my business, however Etsy removed the Customer data from Stats some time ago.  Would Etsy consider reinstating that info on our stats so we can make a more informed choice?  


Hi @TheOldBarnDoor, many thanks for the question. We're working on ways to make this data more readily available to sellers, so please stay tuned.

In the meantime, the best way to obtain this data is by downloading your transaction history. Go to Shop Manager > Settings > Options > Download data > Download your orders (Pick time frame, i.e. 2019) Then, with the CSV, look for the column labeled “Ship Country” and then calculate which % of total order is to the US.

I hope this helps!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@LindasJewelryShop wrote:

Hello,

I have been in the process of changing my listings over to free shipping, with about 430 done and 80 left to change. Currently I have the free shipping set up under the Sales and Coupon section. Does it matter for placement sakes whethter the free shiping is set up in the Sales and Coupon section or the Delivery Settings? 

Thank you,

Linda


Hi there Linda (and Joe and Bill),

Many thanks for the question! As long as your listings ship free to the US, they'll be eligible for prioritization in US search. So if a listing is a part of an unconditional free shipping sale OR has shipping price set to free in a shipping profile, you're all set.

One exception is "conditional" free shipping sales - i.e. sales that offer free shipping if a buyer purchases a minimum number of items or minimum order value. Listings that are covered ONLY by this sort of sale will not be eligible to receive the prioritization.

If you want to offer free shipping on US orders over $35 USD, keep a close eye on your shop manager. Over the next week, we'll be gradually rolling out a new page under the "Settings" section of the Shop Manager where you can easily turn on a "free shipping guarantee." When you turn this on, your shop will offer free shipping on all US orders $35 and up, and your listings will all be eligible to be prioritized in US search.


Hope this helps!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@TheOrangeCove wrote:

Can we get just a bit of information of how this will help shops who already do free shipping and the items are under $35,

thank you


Hi there @TheOrangeCove - if you're already offering free shipping, keep on doing what you're doing! Items that ship free unconditionally to the US (regardless of the price of the item) will be prioritized in US search the same way as shops that offer free shipping on US orders over $35.

Thanks!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@TheLeatherSmithy wrote:

Thanks for the update! I currently offer Free Shipping to all US buyers for items below $35 as well as above. Will this hurt the items $35 or under being found in search if I offer free shipping for those items? If I am still using the "free ship holiday" coupon code, is my shop set up correctly (I use the free shipping option in my calculated shipping profiles). Thanks!


Hi there! Thanks for your question, and that’s great to hear you’re already offering free shipping for your buyers. Items that already offer free US shipping will get priority placement in US search results as well. One thing to keep in mind: if you set up a conditional free shipping sale (meaning, you offer free shipping with a $X purchase or minimum number of items through our Sales and Coupons tool), those items won’t have priority placement in search.

If you already offer free US shipping for your items, you may want to consider setting up a free shipping guarantee with our new tool so any new listings you create automatically offer free shipping to US buyers when they spend $35 USD or more on their order from your shop.

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PodushkaStudio
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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@aWitchesDen wrote:

Can Etsy please make it possible for non-US sellers to vary price based on customer location?

I sell worldwide and while I don't mind offering free shipping and compensating in the price of an item, if I do this for the US now, my items are far too overpriced for the European and my domestic (Belgian) market. Variations in price are the way to go for us non-US sellers.


Thanks for the question, @aWitchesDen! Sellers like yourself, who are based outside of the US, may want to consider where the majority of your Etsy business is coming from in order to help you understand whether offering a US free shipping guarantee is right for your shops. (You can learn more about how to calculate the percentage of your business going to the US in this article.) We realise that for many of our sellers, as part of your pricing strategy you may need additional tools to offer different prices to customers in different countries. We’re working on creating long-term solutions and will keep you updated as they become available.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@EightMileVintage wrote:

As many sellers of large items have said here, this is completely unworkable for us, especially given the 6/23 switch to dimensional pricing. I have a large stoneware bowl that now costs $26 to ship to a nearby zone and $80 to ship to California. Who do I screw over? Do I add $80 to the price and screw over a buyer who lives close to me? Or do I add $26 to the price and take a $50+ hit on shipping if someone in CA buys the bowl?


Hi there, @EightMileVintage! I appreciate you flagging these concerns — because each item is unique, I understand that it can be challenging to decide if it makes sense to offer free shipping on certain items. As part of our Ultimate Guide to Shipping, we created an article on Strategies for Shipping Challenging Items that shares shipping tips for a variety of products, from oversized furniture to vintage goods and lightweight craft supplies.

Thanks!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@AuntSusansCloset wrote:

Many of my shipable items are $8, and most people buy 1 or 2 at a time.  If I do not offer free shipping on them, will they be penalized in search placement?  Or are the search placement penalties only placed on single items costing $35 or more?


Thanks for your question @AuntSusansCloset! There are no search penalties for not offering free shipping. However, Etsy will reserve the top, most visible search spots on the US search page for 1) items (regardless of price) that ship free and 2) and shops that offer free shipping on orders of $35 and above to US buyers. That means, if you set up a free shipping guarantee for your shop and you have items under $35 USD, those items will still get priority placement in US search results because they are eligible to ship free if bundled in a $35+ USD order from a buyer in the United States.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@arrowsarah wrote:

Is calculated shipping going away? 98% of my items are over the weight limit for USPS first class mail, that means shipping prices of $9 to $25 on EVERY ITEM THAT I SELL. 95% of my items are also $65 and above. So this means that I will be forced to offer free shipping on ONE item and The vast majority of my boxes are $12 to $15 to ship across the US. How am I supposed to add $15 to every item that I have in my shop when customers often buy local (only costs $9 to ship) and they already buy multiples. So if I am offering "free" shipping and I am adding $15 to cover the cost of shipping (for when customers on either coast purchase), my customers are paying MORE to ship than they were before. I do not have the time or the energy to refund "shipping" overages that my customers supposedly are getting for "free" for every item that ships for under the arbitrary number I added in for shipping. My shop does quite well (thank GOD and the universe) but this will kill it dead in the Etsy water.


Hi! We don’t have any plans at this time to remove Calculated Shipping. If you have items under $35 USD, you can still use the feature to set shipping prices for your buyers based on their ship-to location. But if you use Calculated Shipping for items under $35 USD and you also set up a free shipping guarantee, your buyer will automatically get free shipping if they meet the $35 USD order minimum.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@NoHoJO wrote:

I had every expectation that this policy change was going to be made.  Like many Etsy Sellers, I am not happy about it, and not certain how this change will affect my particular business.  

That said, I would appreciate any guidance Etsy can provide regarding “building in shipping costs” for heavy and/or bulky items. Depending on the shipping distance of the buyer, shipping costs can vary greatly.  Also of concern, is the issue as to how Sellers of small, supply type items might effectively compete in this “Free Shipping” environment.  

JO

NoHoJO


Hi there @NoHoJO, thanks for these questions. It’s ultimately up to you to decide how to price items in your shop, but we cover different strategies you can consider for pricing items like craft supplies and heavy items in this article.

I hope this helps!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@post50modern wrote:

How do you suggest offering free shipping on heavier items or items that require large boxes where shipping is based on dimensional weight? For example: an item that is listed for $100, weighs 6 pounds and requires a 14" x 14" x 14" box:

Cost to ship to Florida: $19.15 + $3-5 for packing materials and supplies. ($21.15 - $24.15 TOTAL)

Cost to ship to California: $62.10 + $3-5 for packing materials and supplies. (63.10 - $67.10 TOTAL)

Cost to ship to Chicago : $41.00 + $3-5 for packing materials and supplies. ($44.00 - $46 TOTAL)

Should I price my $100 item at $167.10 to recoup shipping fees "just in case" someone from California purchases my item?

 

 


Hi Pete - Thank you for sharing this example. I know there are other sellers out there thinking through similar questions!

Some of the options you laid out are considered in detail in this article.

Ultimately it's up to you to determine the way to price your items - it's a personal choice for each seller that will depend on their individual business goals, margins, and customer base, among other things.

One thing to note - the task of making any pricing adjustments to recover shipping costs is about to get easier. Over the next few days, we'll be gradually rolling out a tool that will help sellers fold the price of shipping into the price of their calculated shipping listings $35 and up to recover shipping costs.

At the end of the day, keep in mind that we've heard loud and clear that Etsy buyers expect free shipping. Through our research and through observing shopping behavior on Etsy, we know that buyers are more likely to purchase items that offer free shipping, even when accounting for the total price of an item.

I hope this helps!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@PoshBabyBlooms wrote:

I have a question about being found in search once this change happens. I currently do not offer free shipping but only charge what it cost me ( I only use priority shipping due to its dependability and time)  I also spend a ton of money on promoted listings so that my items will be found in search. If I don't offer free shipping is it going to be a waste of money to do promoted listings? Will "free shipping" trump "promoted listings"? And if everyone offers free shipping then how do you prioritize one over the other? Next question,If free ground shipping is offered with an up charge for priority is that still considered "free shipping" in Etsy eyes? 


Hi there @PoshBabyBlooms,

Many thanks for your questions. I know these are on the minds of other sellers as well!

Not offering a free shipping guarantee to US buyers won’t impact your spend and placement in Promoted Listing ads in search. However, something to keep in mind when keeping your shop competitive is that US buyers will soon see an increase of items that offer a free shipping guarantee in US search results.

As for mail class - we look for whether a listing offers free standard shipping on orders over $35. You can still charge a shipping upgrade fee on a listing and have it be eligible for a prioritization in US search.

Hope this helps!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@KEERATIKA wrote:

Hello 

 

I wonder if minimum order 35 usd or more including shop who using sales tool?, Example i using sales tool offer freestandard shipping for order 150usd or more. Is this included too? 


Hello @KEERATIKA! Thanks for your question. Using our existing sales tool to offer free shipping with a minimum order will not make listings eligible for prioritization in search. Sit tight - over the next few days, we'll be gradually rolling out a new tool under "Settings" in your Shop Manager where you can easily turn on a free shipping guarantee (i.e. free shipping on orders to the US $35 and up).

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@deMarieandMarie wrote:

We currently offer free US shipping if a customer orders at least 2 items, regardless of total order price. Will this structure fit the priority placement criteria?

Thanks, Helene


Hi Helene,

Great question - offering a conditional free shipping sale with an order of 2 items will not fit the criteria for prioritization in search. Sit tight - over the next few days, we'll be gradually rolling out a new tool under "Settings" in your Shop Manager where you can easily turn on a free shipping guarantee on orders $35 and up to US buyers. Any items in your shop that ship for free unconditionally to US buyers will also get priority placement in US search.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@OriginalsbyLaurenToo wrote:

Is there a tool to raise prices easily. If I gave a section that is all the same price and I need to up the price $5, I have to do it manually?


Hi @OriginalsbyLaurenToo, over the next week, we'll be gradually rolling out an optional tool that will let sellers adjust their item prices for listings $35 USD and up to recover shipping costs when they turn on the guarantee. Stay tuned!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@dlightfuldesigns wrote:

So Tags, Title and SEO will no longer be as important within etsy search? FREE shipping on orders over $35.00 will be.

How will paying for Promoted listing ads work anymore if our item doesn't have free shipping? Will we be pushed to the back as well even though we pay to show up ahead of others who do not pay? 

I'm still just shaking my head here!


Hi! Thanks for your question. Etsy considers a lot of factors when ranking items in search. Plus, different buyers will see different sets of search results based on their search history. The best ways to optimize your listings for Etsy search will still be the core principles from our Ultimate Guide to Search, but now with a new priority for items that meet buyer expectations when it comes to shipping price.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@BuffaloDogBoutique wrote:

Hi! I offer free shipping on orders over $20. Will this be good? Or do I have to have it set to $35 for free shipping to beneift?


Hi @BuffaloDogBoutique!

Thanks for your question. If you want to get priority placement in US search, you’ll need to either offer unconditional free shipping on your items or offer a free shipping guarantee to US buyers on orders $35 or more from your shop. You can continue to offer free shipping through a conditional sale, but your shop will not get priority placement in US search. There will be a tool available over the next few days that will enable you to turn on free shipping on all orders over $35.

Thanks!

Nathan

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@PillowDetails wrote:

Shipping UPGRADES?  Will we be able to offer free shipping, but also upgrades to faster services, that the Buyer pays for?


Hi @PillowDetails!

Yes, you will still be able to offer upgrades for expedited shipping paid for by the buyer. Thanks!

Nathan

 

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@GriffithGardens wrote:

How about supply sellers that have very low price points? Does the $35 order price mean multiple items or just one $35 item? I can't add $3 to $4 shipping to a $2 item and expect to remain competitive.


Hi @GriffithGardens!

Thanks for your question. This threshold means a $35 order, not just a single item and excludes applicable taxes. If you have items below the $35 threshold, this article may be helpful in helping you to decide if offering a free shipping guarantee is right for your shop.

Thanks!

Nathan

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@EarthEgress wrote:

Unfortunately for most lower volume Canadian sellers who do not live near a shipping alternative (i.e. Chit Chats) this is detremental to our sales.  I have read and re-read guides, crunched numbers, extensively researched sellers from the US who offer similar items and based on this there is NO way I could participate in this without literally giving my products away.

The solution I am being offered is to up the price of my items from $28 Canadian to almost $50 to recoop any shipping fees.  However ALL of the similar sellers in the USA are selling (and quite well) at the $25 US price point.  How is this a solution?

I hate to be negative but for many sellers this $35 price point just is not feasible.  Especially when it is so darn expensive to ship anythign from Canada to anywhere :/



Hi @EarthEgress!

Thanks for your question. In this case, you may want to consider where the majority of your Etsy business is coming from in order to help you understand whether offering a US free shipping guarantee is right for your shop (you can learn more about how to calculate the percentage of your business going to the US in this article). While it’s up to each seller to decide what’s best for their business, here are some help articles catered for sellers outside of the US that you may find helpful:

I hope this helps!

Thanks again,

Nathan

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@JillMakes wrote:

Hello,

If we offer free shipping will customers be informed that it is free FIRST CLASS shipping and not Priority? Also, will the estamated ship dates be fixed soon? They are not acurate. Thank you.


Hi @JillMakes

Thanks for your questions.

Buyers will be informed that they can purchase shipping add-ons such as expedited shipping. As for your second question, can you share more on the issues are you having with estimated ship dates? Feel free to reply here or send a note to our support team!

Thanks, Jill!

Nathan

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PodushkaStudio
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@StencilsGaloreCanada wrote:

I am Canadian and have offered free shipping in my main shop since 2017 - I would love to offer in my secondary as well, however they are smaller, lower priced items. The cost to ship these items within Canada makes it difficult to offer free domestic shipping at the $35 mark, but the price to ship to US, I can definitely take advantage of this opportunity. 

How do I go about charging shipping for domestic orders, but offering US shoppers the option for free shipping over $35 (I'm also assuming it's $35USD)? The shipping profile doesn't allow me to set a minimum and when creating a sale, it automatically includes domestic or gives you the option of "domestic only". 

Please help!!! TIA


Hi @StencilsGaloreCanada! So glad to hear that you are already making customers happy by offering free shipping in your main shop! If you decide to offer a free shipping guarantee to US shoppers it will make all your listings eligible to ship free to the US when a shopper spends $35 or more in your shop (excluding applicable taxes). Canadian buyers will still see shipping prices based on your existing shipping profile for a given listing, so if in setting up a free shipping guarantee to US shoppers you decided to edit item prices to recover the cost of shipping to the US, you might consider reviewing your shipping prices for non-US buyers to make sure the total price they're charged reflects your actual costs. We’ve put together some education on how you might adjust your item prices to recover shipping costs, but how you determine and set prices for your shop is your decision, and should be part of your overall business strategy. Learn more here

Thanks!

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@PartyTopShop wrote:

This will be devasting to seller outside the US. I pay a minimum of $8 to ship to the US for a $21 item. I CANNOT charge nearly $30 per item and have that not drastically affect my sales compared to a US seller who can ship the same item for $2 therefore they only increase their item $2. My sales are already cut in half from last year trying to compete with US sellers. This letter comes as horrible news. 

 

My question:

Im located in Canada. Can I still offer shipping in addition to the item in Canada and offer free shipping to the US (likely US buyers will not purchase because the hidden shipping cost is going to be way to high)?

 

or...

 

I often sell more than one item. Can I offer free shipping on multiple items but still apply standard shipping if they are only purchasing one item?

 


Hi @PartyTopShop! Great question on how offering a free shipping guarantee to US buyers will impact your buyers in Canada, as I know lots of sellers based outside of the US will also be asking that same question.

If you decide to offer a free shipping guarantee to US shoppers it will make all your listings eligible to ship free to the US when a shopper spends $35 USD or more in your shop (excluding applicable taxes). Canadian buyers will still see shipping prices based on your existing shipping profile for a given listing, so if in setting up a free shipping guarantee to US shoppers you decided to edit item prices to recover the cost of shipping to the US, you might consider reviewing your shipping prices for non-US buyers to make sure the total price they're charged reflects your actual costs. We’ve put together some education on how you might adjust your item prices to recover shipping costs, but how you determine and set prices for your shop is your decision, and should be part of your overall business strategy. Click here to learn more.

You also asked about limiting your free shipping to times when a buyer purchases more than one item, so I’ll address that, too. Because the free shipping guarantee is based on a customer spending $35 USD or more in your shop, it will depend on your item prices whether this requires that a shopper bundle more than one item in their order to reach your free shipping threshold. The way the guarantee is structured, a buyer would only get free shipping when they purchased just one item if they pay $35 USD or more for that item. If you offer a free shipping guarantee and a US buyer purchases just one item from your shop that costs $10 USD, they would pay for shipping based on your current shipping profile for that listing.

Thank you!

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@RustyCurios wrote:

If we're already offering free shipping (which we will now have to do to show up in the search), why does it matter if orders over $35 ship for free when everything is already shipping for free? People aren't stupid - they know that the item is higher priced because of the hidden shipping charge. I have 100s of $4 orders...now the item costs $7 and people are supposed to think they are getting a bargain? I have over 300 listings....regardless of the tools it is going to be a pain in the neck to offer free shipping for everything and change each price to reflect the hidden shipping. I am frustrated by this change and don't see how it will work for my shop. As others have said - how do I incorporate postage when it varies depending on the zone?

 

 


Hi @RustyCurios. As part of the free shipping guarantee, a listing will qualify for priority placement in US search results if it has unconditional free shipping, or if your shop offers a free shipping guarantee on orders $35 or more. Our smart pricing tools will make it as easy as possible to account for variances in ship costs across the US, by providing personalized options driven by your purchase history, but remember that how you determine and set prices for your shop is your decision, and should be part of your overall business strategy. We hope that our tools and educational content make offering a free shipping guarantee straightforward, no matter how you choose to do so.

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@KarinLorenc wrote:

One of my more popular items costs between $13.74 and $51.94 to ship within the US depending on the location. How can I reasonably adjust my prices for this? 


Hi @KarinLorenc! Thanks for your question. We understand that shipping costs can vary considerably across the US, and know that choosing the appropriate strategy for your items can be difficult. As part of our smart pricing tool launching over the next few days, we provide personalized insight to help you make an informed decision on ways to reprice your items to recover your shipping costs. While ultimately you have to decide what pricing strategy works for you, we hope you find these tools and education useful and help make the uncertainty of wide variances in shipping costs easier to navigate. Learn more here.

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@MariaHelenaPhoto wrote:

Hi,

 

I would love to see the statistics supporting this change, please can you share it? If 20% make a decision to buy if shipping is free, then does that mean 80% don’t mind paying for shipping fees? 

Is the actual problem that people put items in their cart but then don’t take the next step and actually purchase? 

Thanks!


Hi @MariaHelenaPhoto! Thanks for your question. For this stat, we investigated buyers in the US who made it to the cart, which is when many of them will see their cart’s shipping total for the first time. We found that, at that point in their journey, buyers were 20% more likely to complete their purchase when shipping was free than when it wasn’t. This reflects that, overall, any given buyer on Etsy is positively impacted by free shipping, not just 20% of them! As a result, we believe that a significant percentage of buyers will be positively impacted by receiving free shipping on Etsy.

Thanks!

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@Schoolosity wrote:

Will you ever consider having a 'Sort By: Lowest Price + Shipping' option, that will help a lot of sellers and buyers! 

When I shop on Ebay I LOVE that search filter, I ALWAYS use it.

I really hope you consider implementing this feature!!!


Thank you for joining the Q&A! At this time, we don’t have plans to implement a Sort By feature to show lowest price + shipping but we appreciate your feedback and will take it into consideration for the future.

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@arrowsarah wrote:

If you are going to force us to do this, why not make it so the free shipping minimum makes sense for our own INDIVIDUAL shop. I think you got the $35 number because most items on Etsy are supplies or lightweight jewelry items priced under that amount. However we are NOT ALL THE SAME (isn't this supposed to be the beauty of Etsy?!) What makes sense for one shop will not make sense to another. For instance, the majority of my items are $65 and up. Why would I offer free shipping with a minimum $35 purchase? That is just plain stupid and not encouraging shoppers to buy more from MY shop. Why can't I (and others like me who sell higher priced/heavier items) do free shipping for a minimum of $95 or $100. That would make sense for me. Why force me into shipping for free over $35 - that isn't going to get people to buy more from my shop... it's just an arbitrary number that you made up.


Hi arrowsarah!

Thanks for your question. We understand that not all shops are made up of the same items, have comparable margins, or deal with an identical customer base, and we did take into account all of these factors in determining the threshold for the free shipping guarantee. We put a lot of thought through both research and analytics to determine the $35 threshold, and spoke to buyers and sellers. These statistics are inclusive of heavy and expensive items:

  • Based on a survey from April this year, nearly two thirds (62%) of buyers surveyed said that a free shipping guarantee would encourage them to shop for things they might not otherwise buy
  • Buyers showed strong satisfaction with a free shipping guarantee in a promotion that we ran in May

We don’t only take buyers into account! We also used feedback from sellers like the following:

  • Nearly half of the sellers we asked said they were likely to offer a free shipping guarantee at the $35 threshold.

Thanks!

Nathan

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@ApronsandMore wrote:

I have been a seller here on Etsy for over 10 years. The average ticket price in my shop is about $20 so $35 for me is a little pricey for my customers. Will we be able to offer $25 instead of $35? I recently have started offering free shipping (again) on every item but would be interested in restructuring if this would growing sales especially with the upcoming holiday season. 


Hi @ApronsandMore! Thanks for being part of our community for so long! If you set up a free US shipping guarantee with the tool we created, your items will get priority placement in US search results. Items that already offer free US shipping will get priority placement in US search results as well. One thing to keep in mind: if you set up a conditional free shipping sale (meaning, you offer free shipping with a $X purchase or minimum number of items through our Sales and Coupons tool), those items won’t have priority placement in search. To get priority placement in US search results, you can use our new tool— check your Shop Manager dashboard throughout the week to see if it’s available!

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@1337ShadyStudios wrote:

Can we vary prices based on customer location? Can we gate customers by location or zip code? Are we required to offer free shipping to the non-continental US? Are we penalized for cancelling orders that are not possible to ship cost effectively? Can we see more of the data that led to this decision? Can we see data on shipping heavy items?


Hey, @1337ShadyStudios!

Thanks for your questions. I can speak to the data point. Below we have some of the stats and figures we used as part of our decision making. While these statistics are general, they are inclusive of heavy items:

  • Based on a survey from April this year, nearly two thirds (62%) of buyers said that a free shipping guarantee would encourage them to shop for things they might not otherwise buy
  • We learned from a promotion that we ran in May that buyers in the cart are 20% more likely to purchase when their shipping costs are free than when they’re not, holding total price equal.

I hope this is helpful in understanding how we came to our decision.

Thanks!

Nathan

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@MadeByLTshop wrote:

Are you able to build a feature where we can list an item price which includes an absorbed postage cost purely for US clientele but have a separate option for domestic (in my case Australia) and other countries?  Postage costs for most of my items are $45.00 to the US and around $18.00 for domestic within Australia. Big difference that I can’t afford to simply absorb by having a ‘one size fits all’ costing which includes free postage.


Hi @MadeByLTshop

We’re working on creating long-term solutions and will keep you updated as they become available. In the meantime, you may want to consider where the majority of your Etsy business is coming from in order to help you understand whether offering a US free shipping guarantee is right for your shop. You can learn more about how to calculate the percentage of your business going to the US in this article.

You can more about how to calculate the percentage of your business going to the US in this article.

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@1337ShadyStudios wrote:

Can we vary prices based on customer location? Can we gate customers by location or zip code? Are we required to offer free shipping to the non-continental US? Are we penalized for cancelling orders that are not possible to ship cost effectively? Can we see more of the data that led to this decision? Can we see data on shipping heavy items?


Hi @1337ShadyStudios! Thanks for all the questions! I’ll try to cover most of them and then Nathan from our research team will jump into cover your questions around data. It is not currently possible to set prices based on customer location or to gate customers based on zip code.
Setting up a free shipping guarantee for your shop is not required, but if you do decide to offer one it means that all of your listings will be eligible to ship for free to or within the US when a US shopper spends $35 USD or more in your shop (excluding applicable taxes). Alternatively, if you’d like, you can also select individual listings in your shop to ship free (without the $35 USD minimum) and they will also have priority placement in US search results.

This doesn't change Etsy’s policy on cancelling orders. You can learn more about our policy here.

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@CrossbowPlannerCo wrote:

Hi there,

Thanks for letting us know about the changes. I see the wisdom in offering free shipping, and currently do this for domestic orders (my shop is UK based).

I wonder if you can give some advice as to how UK and international shops will still be able to compete with US shops after these changes are made? Rougly 60% of my orders currently go the US, so I worry that after these changes are made, our international shops will lose the US market. Personally, this would massively impact my business. I'd love to be able to offer free shipping internationally, but my shipping costs to the US vary so much from £5 up to £15 that I wouldn't be able to factor this into my prices, without it making my items too expensive for domestic and European orders. 

Thank you,

Jordan


Hi Jordan! Thanks for the question, it’s not an easy one and I think it’s one that many sellers based outside of the US are grappling with, especially if they have a relatively even split of orders from US and non-US buyers. Even some US-based sellers experience a lot of variation in delivery costs depending on where in the US their buyers are based.

I encourage you to take some time to decide what pricing approach best aligns with your overall business strategy, and work your way through the education we shared in the Seller Handbook Ultimate Guide to Delivery, which includes some examples of how other sellers have approached free delivery (I particularly recommend Chapters 3 & 4). Some other things to consider:

Our customer base outside of the US continues to grow. And did you know that UK buyers typically prefer to purchase from UK sellers? They do, and we are increasing our marketing investments in the UK to bring even more UK shoppers to Etsy.

Offering free delivery to US buyers is just another tool in your seller toolkit - it’s up to you if you decide to use it, but it’s also something you can test. If you try offering a US free delivery guarantee, you can see if it increases your average order value from US customers and whether it impacts your conversion rate from buyers in the UK and Europe. You may be pleasantly surprised with the results, or you may determine that this just isn’t the right option for your shop. And keep in mind that items that ship for free to the US will receive priority placement in search, even if you don’t offer a shop-level guarantee. So you could decide to offer free delivery to the US on items that are most popular with your US customers, for example. Ultimately, though, how you set your prices and delivery fees is up to you.

We also understand that sellers like you need additional tools to offer different prices for your international and domestic customers. We’re working on creating long-term solutions and will keep you updated as they become available.

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@ASweetSweetBoutique wrote:

What about all the people who wait till the last minute and don't read make times and will now assume all forms of shipping (priority/express/UPS/Fed Ex) are free?  How does it work with search if only first class is free?  Obviously you can't be expecting us to be factoring in expedited shipping in the "adding it to your price" model right!!?? 


Hi there @ASweetSweetBoutique,

In order for listings to qualify for prioritization in search, you would only have to offer free standard shipping - you're still able to charge a price for shipping upgrades. Hope this helps! 

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@TimeTravelFashions wrote:

My question is how sophisticated will this tool be? For example if the base price of my item is $35 and it costs $20 to mail to CA and $10 to mail to NY will a customer in LA see the listing as costing $55 and a customer in NY see it as $45? And would an international customer see it as $35 since they will still be paying for the cost of shipping? That would play into the supposed buyer psychology of free shipping while allowing the seller to not lose money and the buyer to not be penalized based on where they are located. 



Greetings,


Many thanks for your interest in the tooling. We've got some info that may be helpful with your question here. Additionally, this sort of thing is probably easiest to explain via demo, and that's why we'll be hosting a demo on Facebook Live on July 16 - I'll be talking through all this in more detail then! Hope this helps.

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@GRITSGirlz wrote:

Dear Etsy-

I use Calculated Shipping so it's fair shipping prices for all and charge a minimal $0.50 handling fee.  Please explain how I would price breakables (usually glass) that ship in a 12x12x12 cube mailing box at the 5lb rate.

Currently my items in this class would ship (including my minimal $0.50 handling fee):
+ $9.62 Chicago
+ $16.17 Denver
+ $20.90 Los Angeles
+ $10.83 New York

My largest markets THIS YEAR have been TX, CA, NY in this order.  I ship from the southern east coast.

I'm saddened to see that Etsy has resorted to such punitive measures.  Free shipping works for items that easily ship First Class Package and weigh in ounces.

So do I incorporate the shipping price for CA of $21 and reap the extra $ if someone closer to me purchases?  Doesn't seem very fair does it.  On the other hand, I don't sell on Etsy to finance the buyer's shipping, so I don't plan on taking a loss should someone in CA purchase and that happens frequently even on my largest shipments.

With Etsy's vast shipping knowledge, please advise how the above should be handled.  This is easily 90% of my items.

 


Hi Kathi, many thanks for your question. Ultimately, it's up to each individual seller to determine how to price their items. We  cover shipping strategies that you can consider for things like heavy items here: https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/strategies-for-shipping-challenging/541425680646 

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@DecofanatiqueVintageMadisonStreet wrote:

I have no idea how to price a vintage item that ships to Chicago for $7.71 but to Los Angeles for $17.61 and offer free shipping. Do all the customers East of the Rockies pay for the extra shipping costs to customers West of the Rockies or do I pay the extra ten dollars and make nearly nothing off the item when purchased by someone on the West coast?


Hey there Jennifer - We cover shipping strategies that you can consider for things like heavy items here: https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/strategies-for-shipping-challenging/541425680646

Just keep in mind that it's ultimately up to you to decide how to price your items in a way that works for your shop.

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@PatriciaWelchDesigns wrote:

I offer both digital downloads and physical items. Will free shipping on orders of $35.00 or more be effective in orders where physical items and downloads are combined? Because shipping costs are not generally factored into instant downloads.


Hi Patricia, thank you for the question! Yes, the cost of a digital item would contribute to a buyer reaching the $35 threshold to unlock free shipping. I hope this helps!

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@bostonbaglady wrote:

Curious about this as well. Which will rank more: free ship or PLs


Thanks for participating in our Q&A, @bostonbaglady! At this time there are no plans to change the placement of Promoted Listings ads in search. Regarding free shipping and ranking, Bryan from my team answered a similar question here. You can also review our Ultimate Guide to Search for more information on how our search works.

Thanks again!

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@BeeHavenHome wrote:

This is what was at the top of my page this morning, "Soon, items that are eligible to ship free to US shoppers will get priority placement in US search."  I thought I already was!  We were told last year that if we went to free shipping, we would be given better placement in search.  Now you are saying that "soon" we will be getting priority placement?  Which is it?

If Etsy wants the playing field to be level, just show TOTAL COST of items rather than breaking it down to item cost + shipping cost.  My items are almost all free shipping and I don't look competitve in search results.  There is the little free shipping banner but shoppers would have to go to my competition to add the shipping cost for comparison. Very cumbersome!

Finally, with the changes to USOS Parcel Post costs, my shipping of larger items has caused me to remove items from my shop.  Esty needs to make the FedEx option easier to use.  I cannot estimate FedEx rates when listing an item, only USPS.   Finally, better rates with FedEx.  Your competitors have much better FedEx rates!


Hi there @BeeHavenHome — thanks for your question. I’m happy to clarify!

You are correct that last year, we announced a free shipping boost for items that have free shipping, and that is not going away. However, starting on July 30, items offering free shipping will receive priority placement in US search. That being said, like always, there are still going to be a variety of factors that contribute to an item’s placement in Etsy Search. You can review our Ultimate Guide to Search for the most up-to-date information on how our search works.

Thanks again for your question. We also appreciate the thoughtful feedback you provided and will share it with the appropriate teams here!

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@SilverandEarth wrote:

To Etsy admin: I'd like a response as to how you are going to handle search.  How will Etsy determine the placement in search? You already manipulate search now and show the shops you want to show. Especially in the jewelry category ---- you show shops that make and sell the same item over and over and over again. While those of us that sell mostly "one of a kind" items are buried. So even if we all decided to offer free shipping --- is there any guarantee that our items would receive a good placement in search.


Thanks for your question! Etsy search considers a lot of factors when ranking items. And different buyers may see different sets of search results. It’s also worth noting that search results can vary across devices.

We did announce a free shipping boost for items that have free shipping last year, and that is not going away. However, starting on July 30, the most visible spots in United States search results are reserved for listings that ship for free or shops that offer a US free shipping guarantee to shoppers in the US. I recently answered a similar question, you can check it out here. And you can review our Ultimate Guide to Search for the most up-to-date information on how our search works.

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@LittleBitSigns wrote:

RETURNS - I did not see this mentioned yet so sorry if it's a repeat. How are returned going to be handled if we are forced to offer free shipping. Most shops, as far as I can tell, offer returns but the buyer does not get their original shipping back. When you have free shipping how do you handle that? The price that is included for shipping has already been spent to pay for the original shipping.

so...

$40 item (free shipping) gets returned $10 of that $40 was to pay for the original shipping costs. Without free shipping the cusotmer would have received a $30 refund. With free shipping the customer will receive a $40 refund and the seller just ate the cost of the original shipping.

 

Am I looking at this completely wrong? Maybe I am missing something. Yes, you can charge a 25% restocking fee but how many customers actually read our policies and will understand that they are not getting a full refund?


Hi there! There’s no requirement to offer free shipping, but if you do decide to offer it, Perry from my team recently answered a similar question about how you can consider handling returns here. Thanks for participating in our Q&A!

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@CatClayShop wrote:

Please address how this new policy will affect items that are too heavy to ship via first class mail.  With USPS Priority Mail, the shipping cost depends on distance.  Will heavier objects - like all of my mugs - be penalized in the search algorithm, because they don't offer free shipping?  And please don't suggest flat rate priority boxes.  USPS doesn't offer flat rate boxes that are the appropriate size for mugs.


Hi @CatClayShop, thank you for your question! Any item type can get the benefit of the US search priority placement, regardless of category or size. We recently published an article on Strategies for Shipping Challenging Items in our Ultimate Guide to Shipping. You can find tips here for estimating shipping costs and some options to consider around handling returns.

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@Gallery1910 wrote:

What do I put on my customs forms? When I sell something from the UK I have to declare its value on a customs label and this can lead to import duties.  Since I have sold the item for more than its true value, do I have to reflect this in the customs declaration.  This is insane and is going to lead to alot of difficulties for both buyers and sellers.  I'm afraid it looks like Goodbye Etsy for me. The good times are really over.


Hi @Gallery1910! I’m based in Etsy’s London office where I work closely with our sellers in the UK - and I’m sorry to hear that you feel like the good times are over. I realise it may take some time for you to determine whether it’s right for your business to offer a US free shipping guarantee, and that’s okay! In the meantime, I hope you’ll take a look at this Help Centre article on Customs Forms when sending goods to the US. While I can’t advise you about how to fill out your Custom Forms, you’ll see that the form does require the purchase price for a given item. And remember, delivery is part of the value you’re giving to buyers! It’s hard to use a vintage mug, for example, if it’s still with the seller!

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@ArgentAqua wrote:

Dear Etsy,

In principle I have no objection to offering free US shipping. However, to make it work for me, I would need to be able to charge a different price to US clients than I do domestic ones, as there is a significant difference in the postal costs.


Do Etsy have plans to offer the relevant tools to achieve this?

 

Regards,
Adrian (United Kingdom)


Hi Adrian! Thanks for the question. We know that a lot of sellers need tools to serve their buyers based on where they’re located. We’re working on creating long-term solutions here and will keep you updated as they become available.

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@transmigration wrote:

I agree.  I, too, am a vintage shop...and each item has a completely different weight.  When taking into consideration cost of packaging to make sure my vintage clothing items are packaged pleasingly, and the thought of going through 500 items now to change the prices of each one to absorb the shipping costs, it's a little daunting.  Also, if I'm paying for Promoted Listings now, is this money just being wasted?  What about the coupon promotions I signed up for with favorited items/items in carts?  It's just all adding up, and Etsy has strayed far, far away from what it was when I first joined the community of artists and vintage curators.  It feels more like a flea market now, where the vintage sellers' tables have been placed right outside the shed selling all the bagged tube socks at 3/$5.  It feels a bit cheapened now, and I am not clear how the free shipping impacts the visibility for the promoted listings, cart and favorite coupons, etc.  We can't do it ALL and still make a profit.  If we absorb all of those costs into our item prices, no one will want to buy anything.  I'm just not feeling very clear on all of this at the moment.


Hi there @transmigration - wanted to follow up on your comment about Promoted Listings. When you offer a free shipping guarantee, the priority placement you get only applies to organic search results—it does not apply to Promoted Listings. So if you choose not to offer a free shipping guarantee, your Promoted Listings spend would not be wasted—listings will still compete in the same way for ad impressions and clicks as before.

As for Targeted Offers - these will also continue to work as before. If you're offering free shipping on US orders over $35, a targeted offer with free domestic shipping can be an even more enticing offer to get shoppers to make a purchase. Ultimately though, it's up to you to determine what works best, based on your business goals, inventory, and profit margins.

 

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@VintageCreated wrote:

I absolutely cannot offer free shipping on my items, I would go out of business & I'm certainly NOT jacking up my prices by $10-$30 +. Are you offering any advice to those of us who sell reasonably priced but heavy items? 


Hi @VintageCreated!

Thanks for the question. How you price your items is your decision, but we do cover some shipping strategies that you can consider for things like heavy items here.

Thanks!

Nathan

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@EpicStitching wrote:

How does Etsy expect to handle instances in countries where it is ILLEGAL (according to federal law) to inflate the cost of one product in order to offer something with it for free?!?

In Canada is it illegal to do the following (quoted from Competition Guide, Canada) 

Other price-related representations — Subsection 52(1) or paragraph 74.01(1) (a) 

Price-related representations, other than those relating to false or misleading ordinary selling price representations [74.01(2) and 74.01(3)], bait and switch selling [74.04], sale above advertised price [74.05] and double ticketing [54] fall within the scope of subsection 52(1) or paragraph 74.01(1)(a).”

From section 3.6 regarding “free” 

Nor is it "free" in a "two-for-one" situation where the price of the first article is inflated to cover the cost of the second.”

Competiton Act falls under Canadian jurisdiction definition of “The Competition Act provides criminal and civil regimes to address false or misleading representations.”

HOW DOES ETSY BELIEVE THEY ARE COMPLYING WITH CANADIAN LAW BY  TELLING SELLERS TO INFLATE SHIPPING PRICES IN ORDER TO ADVERTISE “FREE” SHIPPING? 

The law is essentially that you can’t offer anything for free if you inflated the cost of something else (ie: buy 2 get one 1 free) in order to make the offer. 

If I inflate item sold prices to give free shipping then I am misrepresenting the true cost and hiding the real pricing structure? For example someone could ask for pick-up with no shipping; they would need to know how much shipping is. It’s illegal to hide costs that are not inherent to the product itself (ie: materials, cost to produce, cost to advertise, etc). Shipping is not mandatory in all instances so I cannot roll that cost up in my item cost and be compliant with Canadian law. 


Hi there @EpicStitching

Our goal with this initiative is to empower sellers to offer free shipping to meet buyer expectations if they choose to do so. As always, you need to make decisions for your business that make sense for you.

Just like the cost of your materials and other business expenses, shipping is a cost you need to consider when setting the price of your item. Our data shows that Etsy buyers will buy and spend more to have their order shipped free. So, offering a free shipping guarantee could mean you’ll make more per sale, helping to offset your shipping costs without making any adjustments to your item prices.

Ultimately, deciding if offering free shipping is right for your shop is your decision. And of course, if you do decide to offer free shipping, it doesn’t mean you have to recover your shipping costs within your item price. For example, you could see if offering free shipping with a $35 spend minimum increases your average order value from US customers and whether free shipping impacts your conversion rate from buyers in your local market and outside of the US. You may be pleasantly surprised with the results, or you may determine that it just isn’t the right option for your shop.

We’ve put together some education to help you come to a decision and some tools that may be useful to you, but it’s ultimately up to you to decide what is feasible for your shop.

As a business selling online, you’re responsible for complying with laws that apply to you. We can’t provide you with legal advice, but if recovering shipping costs within your item price when you offer free shipping is not compliant with local laws in your market, you should consider other ways to make free shipping work for your shop, if it’s something you want to offer.

Thanks for sharing your questions.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Hi, everyone!

Thank you all for the thoughtful questions. We really appreciate everyone taking the time to write in. We’re closing this thread to questions now, but will continue to add responses here tomorrow.

As a reminder, if you have feedback to share, we encourage you to fill out our seller survey form.

Thank you!

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@MinxouriVintage wrote:

Why are you misrepresenting the situation to investors in addition to sellers?

You ran a test here where you did truly free shipping (not raising prices to include shipping) and sales went up 20%. 

Behind the scenes though, you’re telling sellers to do hidden cost free shipping (and raise prices to include shipping) as  if people are going to buy things that are obviously more expensive at the same rate. 

You’re doing this even though the test for shipping included was so bad that you were forced to stop it almost Immediately. 

 


Hi @MinxouriVintage,

Thanks for your question. To clarify, this figure comes from our analysis of on site behavior and was not from a simulation test. As part of our analysis for the free shipping guarantee, we investigated buyers who make it to the cart. We found that, at that stage in their journey, buyers were 20% more likely to complete the purchase when shipping costs were free than when they weren’t, even after accounting for total price differences. Along with other research studies and data analysis, we were convinced that enabling sellers to offer a free shipping guarantee would be positive for both our buyers and sellers.

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@MicheleMade wrote:

I'm wondering about this also. Is $35 the magic number that will benefit us the most in search? I currently offer domestic free shipping for orders of $50 or more, so will lowering that to $35 give me a big advantage?


Hi @MicheleMade!

Thanks for your questions!

In order to get priority placement in US search, you’ll need to either offer unconditional free shipping on your items or offer a free shipping guarantee to US buyers on orders $35 or more from your shop. You can continue to offer free shipping through a conditional sale, but your shop will not get priority placement in US search. There will be a tool available over the next few days that will enable you to turn on free shipping on all orders over $35.

I hope that is helpful and good luck with your shop.

Thanks!

Nathan

 

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@Instaokviri wrote:

Dear PodushkaStudio,

 

How this will affect digital items in US search results?

Will anything change for them? If yes what?

 

Does it mean physical items with free shipping will have more priority on US search results than digital items?

 

Best regards,

Antonija


Hi there @Instaokviri! Great question. Because digital download items do not have associated shipping costs, they’ll have the same type of eligibility for priority placement as physical items that ship free and shops that guarantee free US shipping on orders of $35+ USD. Please keep in mind that Etsy search is always changing. You can review our Ultimate Guide to Search for the most up-to-date information on how search works.

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Hi Podushka,

Do you know If Ill be able to set my product prices seperately for US buyers? If I inflate my prices to include shipping to the US this will make my prices very uncompetative for UK buyers. If I dont Ill lose sales in the US. Not a great situation as a seller.

Jamie


Hi @NorrisGreenDesign!

Thanks for your question. We know you need additional tools to offer different prices for customers outside of your domestic market. We’re working on creating long-term solutions and will keep you updated as they become available. Remember, deciding whether and how to offer free shipping is your decision. If you think it’s helpful, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Shipping here.

Good luck with your shop!

Thanks!

Nathan

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@arrowsarah wrote:

If you are going to force us to do this, why not make it so the free shipping minimum makes sense for our own INDIVIDUAL shop. I thinkI would like to know #1 - how many sellers were surveyed (I was not one of them) #2 - out of those sellers, how many sell items other than lightweight things like jewelry, greeting cards, art prints and supplies and #3 - out of those sellers how many of those sell items that DO NOT QUALIFY for first class mail? I would have absolutely no problem shipping my items for free if they were under 16 oz - but for the type of product that I sell (all wood items) that would be a really crappy product if they weighed less than a pound.


Hi arrowsarah!

Thanks for your interest in the details of the survey!  While we can’t share the exact details of our sample size or make-up, we can share that 30% of the sellers we surveyed were in the Home and Living category and 10% were in the Art and Collectables category both of which contain some of our largest items on site.  I hope this is helpful.

Reach out with any other questions.

Thanks!

Nathan

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@SharonMfortheHome wrote:

I want to know what "unconditional free shipping" and "free shipping garantee" actually mean.


Hi Sharon! Thanks for your question, and sorry about the confusion with some of the terminology we’ve been using. 

When we say “unconditional free shipping” we refer to items that ship for free, whether through a free shipping profile or a free shipping sale, with no requirement for the shopper to spend a certain amount in your shop, or order a specific amount of items to qualify to have their order shipped free. A free shipping guarantee is a shop-wide setting that tells US buyers that their order will ship free if they spend at least $35 or more in your shop. Both of these will get your items priority placement in US search.

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@EpiclesisConsulting wrote:

My apologies if this has already been asked, but there are already 50 pages on this thread, and that's a bit more than I can face reading at the moment!

At this time, digital downloads do NOT appear when the "Free Shipping" filter is checked, so I would assume they also do not receive the free shipping "boost" in search placement. This is absolutely unacceptable. I'm sorry, but it is. "Shipping" is "delivery," and instant downloads are delivered without any additional charge to the customer. A shopper who does not want to mess with adding the shipping charge to find out how much they will actually be paying gets this benefit when they choose a digital version of the item they are seeking. There is no logical reason why downloads should be filtered out and pushed down in results. 

Does Etsy have any plans of changing this policy in the foreseeable future? It is not unreasonable to expect an answer to that question. It's not the first time I've asked about it, and I've only gotten vague responses that my suggestion has been passed along. If you have decided that digital downloads absolutely, positively are not what you are trying to promote with your free shipping initiative, then just have the integrity to say so straight out. There is a big difference between having been forgotten about so far (and possibly remembered eventually) and having been intentionally excluded for reasons of Etsy's own. It just would be nice to know which it is.

Trish O'Connor
Owner, Epiclesis Consulting LLC

 


Thanks for joining our Q&A! Your question about digital download items is a great one. While we don’t have plans at this time to include digital download items in the Free Shipping search filter, they will still have the same type of eligibility for priority placement in US search results as physical items that ship free and shops that guarantee free US shipping on orders of $35+ USD. Please keep in mind that Etsy search is always changing. You can review our Ultimate Guide to Search for the most up-to-date information on how search works.

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@SubversiveFemme wrote:

A few questions -

1. as a buyer on Etsy, if I set my  search filters to ‘most recent’ will I still see the most recent items listed on Etsy - or will your algorithm override the filter and show things with free shipping first?

2. How does this impact Digital Download sellers (postage is already free)

3. I am based in Australia - will US local seller listings with free postage display ahead of mine? I can’t offer free postage on my items as I would have to increase the item price 50-100%.

A comment as a buyer - I never minded paying postage seperate to the item price. Etsy is not eBay and I don’t expect bespoke and unique sellers to wear the cost.

Please don’t make us eBay.

 


Hi! Thanks for your questions. If you sort your search results by ‘Most Recent’, you will surface the most recently listed items to the top of search. The free shipping guarantee priority placement will not override this feature. 

In terms of how digital download items are affected, because these items do not have associated shipping costs, they’ll have the same type of eligibility for priority placement as physical items that ship free and shops that guarantee free US shipping on orders of $35+ USD. Please keep in mind that Etsy search is always changing. You can review our Ultimate Guide to Search for the most up-to-date information on how search works.

Priority placement in US search results will apply to listings with free shipping to the US and shops that guarantee free US shipping on orders of $35+ USD, regardless of the shop’s country.

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@ClassicalCara wrote:

I have two questions.  1.  Does it make a difference if you run free shipping from the promotion section as opposed to if you make it free shipping in the shipping settings?  2.  Will free shipping under $35 get the same boost in the search results as free shipping for $35 and over?  

I also have a comment...  A seller can't tack $20 on an item that goes into a Priority Mail large box while also have competitive pricing.  For instance, my Blenko glass cocktail pitcher is priced at fair market value.  It fits in the Priority large box.  If I add $20 on it to absorb the shipping cost, it will be priced above what everyone else on the internet has the same thing for.  And then no one will buy it.  What is etsy going to do about large items?  You are going to end up losing sales and get a reputation that etsy is too expensive.  Does etsy have any deals in the works with the Post Office for discounted shipping like Amazon does?  You have to take large items into consideration with this new idea you are implementing.  

I also have another comment.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Get a decent affiliate program like all the other big companies have.  You will have affiliates all over the world advertising etsy.  Millions of affiliates all over the world are on there.  It's cheaper for you than tv advertising and it will get you more visibility.  Every company started out on this site and it is the #1 affiliate program out there.  https://rakutenmarketing.com/channels/affiliate


Thanks for joining our Q&A! If you set up a free US shipping guarantee with the tool we created, your items will get priority placement in US search results. Items that already offer free US shipping will get priority placement in US search results as well. One thing to keep in mind: if you set up a conditional free shipping sale (meaning, you offer free shipping with a $X purchase or minimum number of items through our Sales and Coupons tool), those items won’t have priority placement in search. To set up a US free shipping guarantee and get priority placement in US search results, you can use our new tool—we’ll be releasing it to sellers throughout the week. Make sure to check your Shop Manager!

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@RowlandParkVintage wrote:

A question for Etsy. We all seem to agree that FREE shipping isn't really free and that we're essentially lying to our customers. So given that we're willing to do that, how do you propose that we  account for the fact that shipping isn't a flat cost but varies depending on the location of the customer. Also, when you've forced us all to offer "Free" shipping how will you then decide on item ranking. Just wondering.


Hi there— thank you for your question! We’ve put together some education on ways you can  consider repricing your items to recover shipping costs if it’s right for your shop. Sellers in the United States can find them here and sellers outside the US can look here.

In terms of how search will rank items going forward, starting July 30th the top, most visible rows of search will show items that ship free and shops that guarantee free US shipping on orders of $35+ USD. That being said, Etsy search also considers a lot of other factors when ranking items. And different buyers may see different sets of results based on their search history. The best ways to optimize your listings for Etsy search are the core principles from our Ultimate Guide to Search.

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@arrowsarah wrote:

I have a very important question. If we decide to turn on this free shipping guarantee, with the tools you provide, to test out for a bit, can we turn it OFF if it is not working for us?


Hi there! Thanks for your question. Yes, you can turn off the free shipping guarantee for your shop at any time by going to Shop Manager > Settings > Shipping Settings.

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@rabbitandrain wrote:

Hi! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to ask questions. I recently integrated my shop with Square and have been doing regular in-person sales and shows. One of the perks of this integration was that my inventory (including prices) was synced. Now, with buyers in my area typically unwilling to spend as much as others may be, I'm finding that the new "free shipping" price (price + shipping included), isn't going to work for my in-person sales, and I'm going to have to go through and manually remove the shipping costs from 150+ items in my Square integration. I've tweaked Etsy-linked prices in my Square before, and have found they've often randomly reset to the Etsy price mid-show. Is there an easy way to help us automate the process of in-person sales to not include the shipping price?


Hi there! In this case, consider contacting Square support directly. They may be able to offer guidance around using their tools when selling in-person.

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@designtalentedone wrote:

I would like to know how are we going to work our taxes with shipping built into the item and not as an expense.  How am I going to do my taxes this way.  Will Etsy provide the shipping amount on each monthly statement like they do now?


Hello! 

Sellers are responsible for keeping a record of their own expenses. You may consider including what you spend on shipping as part of your bookkeeping process. However, we can’t give specific accounting or tax advice—consult with your tax advisor about whether you can claim those shipping costs as expenses. Etsy is unable to provide the shipping costs separately in the CSV file if they are included in your listing price. This is something you should keep in mind when pricing your items.

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@CatsBeadKitsandMore wrote:

I have free shipping on some of my items. I won't put free shipping on everything because ir won't work. So will I get a boost in search for those items that have free shipping or does it have to be the whole shop?


Thanks for the question. 

If you set up a free shipping guarantee for your shop, all items in your shop will get priority placement in US search because they’re eligible to ship for free when purchased as part of an order of $35 or more from your shop. If you don’t set up a free shipping guarantee, but you offer free shipping to the US on items in your shop, those items will also get priority placement in US search.

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@CatchPennyShop wrote:

How will this impact sellers that also sell in brick and mortar? Through your integration with square, I can sell everything via Etsy as a inventory mgmt tool, but now my in person prices are going to seem outrageous and expensive if I HAVE to include shipping in the list price in order to rank in your search engines. This will kill my business. 


Hi, thanks for joining our Q&A! Consider contacting Square support directly. They might be able to offer guidance around using their tools when selling in-person.

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@ScentsiblySimple wrote:

Exactly what I was wondering. I offer free shipping with an order of $25 and above. Will I still benefit?


Hi there. No, if you set up a conditional free shipping sale (meaning, you offer free shipping with a $X purchase or minimum number of items through our Sales and Coupons tool), those items won’t have priority placement in search. We answered a question just like this one earlier, you can find Perry’s response here.  

Thanks!

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@SoulRole wrote:

Aloha ,

I have so many questions but too busy to read through everything at the moment. I think many of us knew this was inevitable as much as I hate it. The lightest things that I can reasonably offer free shipping on are generally under $35.00.It's one thing for me if I suck up a flat rate enevelope cost for a long sleeve top but if a customer orders multiple items and I have to ship in a flat rate box that is harder to swallow... anyway...  

One question I have not seen after scanning answers is whether our participation in offering free shipping will also affect how we rank in a google search.Thanks!


Hi there! Offering a free shipping guarantee will not directly impact your ranking in Google searches. That said, offering free shipping can help you stay competitive.

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@FunCoolWallClocks wrote:

Does "guranteed free shipping to the US" mean the continental US? Or are Hawaii and Alaska included? I was already offering free shipping on some of my items and have a disclaimer in those listings that free shipping applies to the continental US only. My items are heavy and expensive to ship. I've figured out how to work in the cost for the continental US for the remainder of my listings, but shipping one of my larger creations to Alaska or Hawaii would cost (literally) hundreds of dollars. 

 


Hey there! Thanks for your question. Should you choose to set up a free shipping guarantee, you will be offering free shipping to all US buyers, including those from Hawaii and Alaska, when they spend $35 or more in your shop. It’s up to you to decide how to price your items, but take a peek at our educational materials on how you can consider accounting for wide variances in ship costs for your items.

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@KitchenDresser wrote:

What happens to Etsy promoted listings if they don't have free shipping to USA? Do those promted listings also get sent to tthe bottom of the US search?


Thanks for participating in our Q&A! There are currently no planned changes to the placement of Promoted Listings ads in search. Regarding ranking, Bryan from my team recently answered a similar question here. You can also review our Ultimate Guide to Search for more information on how our search works.

Thanks, @KitchenDresser!

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@Untwistedsister wrote:

You've used the terms "unconditional" free shipping and also "guaranteed" free shipping.  Can you define exactly what each of those terms means for a seller?  If we offer free first class shipping to USA and charge for upgrades, will we still get prioritized?  


Hi there! Great question, we do understand how some of this terminology can get confusing. When we say “unconditional free shipping” we’re referring to items that ship for free, whether through a free shipping profile or a free shipping sale, with no requirement for the shopper to spend a certain amount or order a specific amount of items to receive free shipping. Should you choose to set up a free shipping guarantee, you’ll be turning on  a shop-wide setting that provides US buyers free shipping if they spend $35 or more in your shop. Either of these options will get your items priority placement in US search.

If you offer unconditional free shipping or a free shipping guarantee and offer shipping upgrades on those items, your items will still  get priority placement in US search.

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@moonlovers wrote:

Can Etsy consider a "restocking fee" option that can be specified by sellers maybe in a uniform way like the stanardized return policy format?  I already offer free shipping.  But, when a buyer wants to return something "just because" they changed their mind, free shipping that is hidden in the item price can confuse buyers into thinking they deserve 100% of their purchase price back which is not fair to the seller. I'd really love to see a place to specify either a "return restocking fee" or a "returns are item price minus $x shipping" designation in the return policy for items with free shipping. Since many of us are small micro-businesses, we can't afford to lose shipping paid and in all other marketplaces that charge shipping it's widely understood original shipping paid is not refunded. Thanks for taking my question!!


Hi moonlovers! Thanks so much for your feedback. We’ve compiled some education on ways you can consider handling returns if you offer free shipping here.

Thank you!

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@OrWaDesigns wrote:

I am worried that furniture sales will be hurt if we have to offer free shipping. I tested free shipping and my sales dropped. Furniture is something people would never expect to ship free. When I add to the price to include free shipping, people see the hefty price tag and they do not know what portion of that is actual shipping. We also cannot accept returns if we do free shipping because that would put us out of business refunding shipping. 

Etsy is a special place to shop, we should not have to look like amazon. Amazon sells mass produced made in china products. People come to etsy for special handmade items made by 1 person and shoppers expect to pay more and they know these individual sellers do not have the means to produce enough to get giant discounts like amazon does with shipping carriers. Amazon makes billions of $$ and I make just enough here to pay my mortgage.

what do I do if my sales drop after raising my prices to offer free shipping? How do I still offer returns without refunding shipping? I feel that etsy stands out more when it doesnt try to blend into the rest of the ecommerce world.


Thanks for joining our Q&A and I appreciate you flagging your concern. We’ve put together some education on how you can consider handling returns if you offer free shipping here.

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@PotahtoHome wrote:

I have 2 questions and a suggestion.

- If I turn on the free shipping guarantee, would that give ALL my listings in the shop priority in search even if certain individual listings have pricing charges on them? Is that assumption correct? I currently have some listings with free shipping set up and some listings that I would prefer that they pay a shipping charge for. I don't mind setting up the unconditional $35 free shipping guarantee. I want to know if listings with no free shipping will also get priority in search in this case. Please confirm.

- If I have a sale going on, is the $35 before the discount or after the discounted amount?

- Lastly, would Etsy consider flexible item pricing in the future for different countries? I find that a much better solution than tinkering with the shipping charge in the back. I am US-based. After upping my item prices to include my shipping cost for my US customers, I'd rather have the option to keep the price the same as before for my overseas customers. That would be a truer reflection. 

TIA.


Hi there, thanks for your questions. 

Regarding your first question, that’s correct, all of your listings will have priority placement in US search if you set up a free shipping guarantee (even if they’re under $35). 

For your second question (great question, by the way), regarding sales and coupons, the $35 spend threshold is calculated pre-tax and post-discount. 

Finally, regarding flexible item pricing per location, we’ve heard from other sellers that this would be helpful and we’re working on creating a long term solution. 

I hope this helps. Thanks!

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@VintageCreated wrote:

I pay quite a bit for promoted listings because they seem to work for me & I will not be able to join in on the "free shipping" due to the weight of my items. Are we wasting our money on promoted listings now? Should we all end them until things are fair again? 


Hey, @VintageCreated. There are currently no planned changes to Promoted Listing ads in search. However, something to keep in mind when keeping your shop competitive is that US buyers will soon see an increase of items that offer a free shipping guarantee in US search results.

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@Untwistedsister wrote:

I purchased 2 items from a seller today rather than just one because I wanted to save on the shipping.  Had the seller offered the shipping price bundled into the price, both items would have cost me more and I probably would have only purchased 1.  So, this hurts both buyers (who no longer can bundle and truly save on shipping) and sellers (who offer combined shipping now which is an incentive to buyers to purchase more now).   Plus buyers from states that collect tax on the item price only will now pay even more tax.   I predict it will lead to less sales, not more.  

I do still have a question....... (if anyone has the answer please tell me - I don't have time to read all 100+ pages):  If I only offer free shipping for some items, will those rank higher and if it draws a buyer to my shop will they see all my items and not just the ones that are 'free' shipping?

I would be MUCH happier about this whole idea if etsy didn't call it 'free' shipping but rather 'shipping included in the price" which is not deceitful. 


Hi @Untwistedsister! Thanks for participating in our Q&A! Any items that offer free shipping to the US will get priority placement in US search results. Also, if a buyer comes to your shop, they’ll still be able to see all of your items, not just the ones that offer free shipping.

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@CeramicsbyAngie wrote:

Is there some sort of work around to remove this built in shipping when selling items in person? If I am at a craft show, I will have to constantly create discounts on square to get my cost down to the "in-person" price. This will also show on my customer's reciept. I will at some point get questions as to why one person got xxx discount and another got xxx discount, if they are shopping together. Also, for others that will probably have to do this as well, what do you do if a customer goes onto your website, after they see you in person, and note that your prices are $5-$20 higher online-- this opens me up to losing repeat customers, so any suggestions would be helpful. The only option that I can think of is listing on my shop information that shipping fees are built into the cost, but then I can see that being a turn off for customers reading that. I already lost money when etsy started to charge their fee on shipping costs, not just the purchase price, and now I am being charged a listing fee if I sell an item through square, regardless if I listed it on the website or not, and I'm possibly losing advertising as well as having to put in another few hours on the backend to do my books and adjust all my prices, because I can't compete with others that can easily make this change, so I'm open to suggestions. 


Hi @CeramicsbyAngie - thanks for your question! Square’s support team might be able to shed some light around using their tools when selling in-person, so you could consider reaching out to their team about this.

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@TomaCraftPlace wrote:

Just one question:     is there a way to remove the purple bar appearing constantly on my page, and now, as well as the purple bar, i have a huge blue bar on my dashboard?   I've already decided on the shipping issue, no need to be continually reminded, there should be an option to remove the message. Thank you.


Hello and thanks for reaching out! At this time, the banner in your Shop Manager dashboard is not dismissable, though it is temporary.

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@Vintageartshome wrote:

I don't understand how everything can be prioritized for everyone who does this??  If we all do this then who will be on the top and who won't.  I've changed a bunch of items in my vintage shop but won't change the shipping on the larger, heavier items.  This will be my own test to see how this works.  My items are mostly one of a kind so it will be interesting.  Also, I have a 2nd shop with items under 35.00.  Do I even have to do anything there?

Also,  I have to say that every time Etsy changes something I shake in my shoes.  I've been here for 10 years and I'm not so young anymore.  Please Etsy, stop changing things that were fine to begn with.


Hi @VintageartshomeStarting July 30th, the top, most visible rows of search, will show items that ship free and shops that guarantee free US shipping on orders of $35+ USD. That being said, Etsy search also considers a lot of other factors when ranking items. Plus, different buyers may see different sets of results based on their search history. The best ways to optimize your listings for Etsy search are the core principles from our Ultimate Guide to Search.

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@MatthewAndMae wrote:

I offer a variety of items/pricing in my shop. I would like to do free shipping over $35 for the smaller priced items only (they cost less to ship so this wouldn't hurt me too much). But some of my different/heavier/more expensive items I am hoping to leave shipping prices on them. Would this still qualify my smaller items (free shipping eligble) to be visible at the top of the search, OR do I have to make EVERY item in my shop availble for the $35+ free shipping?


Hi @MatthewAndMae!

Thanks for your question.  If you turn on a free shipping guarantee, all items in your shop will be eligible to ship for free if they’re purchased as part of an order of $35 or more and will all get priority placement in US search. If you don’t offer a free shipping guarantee, but offer free shipping to the US on certain items in your shop, the items that ship for free to the US will get priority placement in US search. We understand the heavy items may present unique challenges for offering free shipping - you can check out some options that might work for you in  our Seller handbook here.

Thanks and good luck with your shop!

Nathan

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@AshleyLaneJewels wrote:

So I find this very confusing.  Very few of my items are over $35.  So here are my questions:

*If I set up my shop with the guaranteed free shipping on orders of $35 or more, will my lower priced listings (under $35) get priority visibility even though they have a shipping cost?  With my pricing, two items would most likely total $35 and could ship for free. 

* Incorporating the shipping costs in the selling price of my lowest priced items with take them from $10 to $13...that's 30% higher than the item price is currently. 

** Will there be FREE SHIPPING banners on our free shipping listings so that the customer understands that the price they see is their total cost?

* Can we offer PAID UPGRADED shipping options to our customers and still have priority visibility since the item could ship free with first class shipping?

* Sadly, as a buyer of jewelry components on Etsy, this new free shipping option could seriously hurt my profitability in my handmade jewelry shop.  If my suppliers increase the cost of all their items to cover the cost of postage, I will be paying significantly more when I buy more than one item from a seller since postage costs will be built into every single item - in essence, It will be like placing individual orders for 3 or 4 items from the same seller and paying shipping on each. 

**  As a seller, adding the cost of postage to each item would increase my profitability when selling more than one item, but my customers will pay several dollars more for each additional item that they buy... If they purchase 4-5 items, their total will be roughly $11-$14 more than it would be if they bought those same items  today...  To me it sounds like we're assuming the customer is not smart enough to realize that.

* And PLEASE DO NOT do what you did in one of your tests - DO NOT show the item prices that include shipping costs (from sellers that charge for shipping)!  It was impossible for me to shop and price compare new components - I typically buy enough from one seller to get free shipping, so adding the shipping cost in distorts the per piece price that I would actually pay for an item.


Hi SummerfieldTreasures!

Thanks for your questions. It’s always great to hear from sellers who support the Etsy marketplace by purchasing their supplies on Etsy. Yes, there will still be free shipping badges on your listings.  Second, you can still offer free paid upgrades such as expedited shipping to your customers.  

Good luck with your shop.

Thanks!

Nathan

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@EDCCollective wrote:

My question was along these lines too. The announcement said we would have a tool within the next week to help with this but I have had free shipping with a minimum order (higher than announced minimum for search placement) set up in my other shop since late last year. If I were to adjust that threshold to meet the $35 or less will my other shop be set to qualify or do I have to use whatever the new tool will be?


Hi @EDCCollective,

Thanks for your question. If you want to get priority placement in US search or other benefits of the free shipping strategy, you’ll need to either offer unconditional free shipping on your items or offer a free shipping guarantee to US buyers on orders $35 or more from your shop. You can continue to offer free shipping through a separate conditional sale, but your shop will not get priority placement in US search.  We expect the tool that will enable you to turn on free shipping on all orders over $35 to be available to all shops by the end of the week.

Thanks! 

Nathan

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@SaltyPalmDesigns wrote:

I have a question about how this will effect shops that sell low priced items, for instance, we sell decals, cheap item roughly $7 an order it costs me $2.76 an order to ship it and then 30 cents for a poly mailer so we charge $3 flat rate shipping, I don't think that shoppers would go for buying a $10 decal because I now have to add in shipping to cover those changes Etsy wants to make. My shop runs mainly off decal purchases. Would $15 or $25 be suffiecent enough for a free shipping sale?  


Hi @SaltyPalmDesigns!

Thanks for your question!  By way of clarification, if you set up a free US shipping guarantee with the tool we created (so that orders $35 or more ship for free to US buyers), your items will get priority placement in US search results. Items that already offer free US shipping will get priority placement in US search results as well. If you set up a conditional free shipping sale (meaning, you offer free shipping with a $X purchase or minimum number of items through our Sales and Coupons tool), those items won’t have priority placement in search. We answered a question just like this one earlier, you can find Perry’s response here.

Thanks!

Nathan

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@PrettyDieCuts wrote:

Has Etsy considered how this effects shops like mine with lower price points?  And has Etsy considered the postal prices in the UK compared to the USA?  Are you actually aware how much it will cost shops who are not in the US?  After all,  the test you used to gain this new data, your recent promotion where you paid for the shipping was only within the US.  Perhaps you would like to cover costs for the exact same promotion with sellers from the UK and the rest of the world to US customers and compare the difference... 

However you look at this, international sellers are being punished for not living in the US :( 

Edited to add that I've just re-read the announcement and see that questions with the most likes will be answered.  If my question is one of those chosen I would be grateful if it coud be answered fully and not answered like a politician - as in, using words but not actually answering a thing :) 


Hi @PrettyDieCuts!

Thanks for your questions!  Knowing that sellers who have lower price points might have a unique set of issues, we completed primary research with sellers with items below the $35 threshold to understand more. From this we learned what help these sellers might want and need to help them decide if offering free shipping is right for their shop, and you can read more about that here.

As for sellers shipping from the UK (or other international markets), we know you need additional tools to offer different prices for your international and domestic customers. We're working on creating long-term solutions and will keep you updated as they become available. In the meantime these two help articles may be of interest to you:

I hope this is helpful and good luck with your shop!

Thanks!

Nathan

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@craftschmooze wrote:

I apologise for this huge post in advance! But I need some questions answered :/

"Shoppers come to Etsy because they want something special, something they can’t find at a big-box retailer—and that’s all because of you."

Great! Shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that all the shops on Etsy are unique? All the items are UNIQUE and all the sellers are UNIQUE. Yet you are enforcing the rules of a "big-box retailer" on smaller shops, who cannot compete with the shipping discounts which get applied to the big retailers. 

"But these days, online shoppers expect free shipping everywhere they go. Etsy is no exception. I believe our job is to make sure you have the tools you need to compete and succeed in this fast-changing world."

Could you please cite the sources you have and publish the results of your own survey that states "online shoppers expect free shipping everywhere they go". This is quite a sweeping generalisation. I am based in the UK and I know that if I buy something from the US I expect to pay to ship. 

"Time and again buyers tell us that having to pay an additional shipping cost is what keeps them from shopping on Etsy more often. It’s become commonplace for online sellers to include shipping costs in the item price, so we’re launching tools to make it easy for you to do just that. This way your shoppers will never be surprised at checkout and they’re more likely to complete the transaction. In fact, we know that shoppers on Etsy are 20% more likely to complete their purchase when the item is marked as shipping for free.

"20% more likely" isn't a great statistic. 80% more likely, then maybe I would consider incorporating it. Are these tools going to aid us in pricing by location? By including the costs of shipping internationally I will massively price myself out of an already competitive market. Again it would be useful to see these statistics. You have also taken away quite a useful tool to discover where our orders are coming from by removing the "customer" tab in the statistics.

"We're also making changes to the shopping experience to make it easier for buyers in the US to find items that ship free. When we meet buyer expectations, shopping on Etsy becomes more competitive with the rest of e-commerce—and that could mean more sales for you."

Again, contradicting your self. You say you want to celebrate the "something special" yet you want to have the same policies as "the rest of e-commerce". Again, sweeping generalisation. Big emphasis on the words "and that could mean more sales for you." Could? If I'm putting my prices up by £15 I can predict that my sales would surely drop! Oops, maybe this generalisation thing is catching.....

"Starting on July 30, 2019, we’ll give priority placement in US search results to items that ship free and to shops that guarantee free shipping to US buyers on orders of $35 or more. This means that shoppers in the US will primarily see items that ship free and shops that guarantee free shipping on orders of $35 or more in the top and most visible rows of search. We’ll also begin to prioritize these items wherever Etsy advertises in the US—in email marketing, social media, and television ads."

This needs to be clarified.

  • Where does that leave those of us that pay for promoted listings?
  • Those that include shipping and those that have shipping separate should pay the same fee percentage so why should one get priority over another in the search results.
  • Do we even need to bother with SEO if we can't afford to offer "free" international shipping?
  • When will the marketing cover the UK? Once we have priced ourselves out of the international market by including shipping, sales could drop due to not having enough UK buyers.

 

"Offering free shipping doesn’t mean you have to pay for it yourself. No delivery service will ship a package for free, but, just like the cost of your materials and other business expenses, it’s a cost you need to consider when setting the price of your item. Our data also shows that Etsy buyers will spend more to have their order shipped free. So, offering a free shipping guarantee could mean you’ll make more per sale, helping to offset your shipping costs."

How does this actually work for international sales? I offer free shipping in the UK with 10% off when you buy 3 items or more. Which balances out any excess postage charged. If I put my prices up to cover international shipping as well. I will be overcharging my UK customers between £4.99 and £12.99 PER ITEM. 

"To simplify the process for you, we created a tool that lets you guarantee free shipping to US buyers when they spend $35 USD or more in your shop. The tool will be available in the next week."

I can think of more useful tools. Such as more categories in the shop, more listing variations, correct shipping estimates, more visible turnaround times. Perhaps a tool that shows you where your customers are coming from, what your bounce rate is, do your customers abandon their cart once the shipping is calculated then you can make an informed judgement about your shipping costs. 

"We know that for some sellers outside of the US, US buyers are not your primary business. There won’t be any changes to how free shipping affects search placement when buyers outside the US search on Etsy. You may want to consider how much of your business comes from the US when deciding if a free shipping guarantee for US shoppers is right for you. Check out “Developing an International Shipping Strategy” in the Seller Handbook for tips on how to calculate how many of your orders ship to the US."

Here you make it sound like we have a choice, yet above you state that sellers offering free shipping will get all the bells and whistles and sellers that don't offer this service will be penalised by not ranking higher.

"We’re excited about the strong international growth we’re seeing by making it easier for buyers and sellers to connect in their own countries. We’ll continue to invest in your success by increasing our digital marketing efforts aimed at bringing more buyers from your country to Etsy."

I don't understand this last line "We want to help you sell more to your own country but YAY international growth!" Oh! You mean your growth, not ours.

If you look after your sellers, they will look after their customers and keep the revenue coming in for you. At the moment there are so many hoops to jump through its proving impossible to get any making done and you are taking the joy out of handmade! 

 

 

 


Hi @craftschmooze! In terms of how Promoted Listings are affected, there are currently no planned changes to their treatment in search.

Also, while the most visible rows of search will show items that ship free and shops that guarantee free US shipping on orders of $35+ USD, Etsy search still considers a lot of other factors when ranking items. Plus, different buyers may see different sets of results based on their search history. The best ways to optimize your listings for Etsy search are the core principles from our Ultimate Guide to Search.

We also know that investments to drive buyers to Etsy in your country are important. We’re excited about the strong growth we’re seeing in the UK, by making it easier for buyers and sellers to connect locally. We’re continuing to invest in the success of our UK sellers by increasing our digital marketing efforts aimed at bringing more UK buyers to Etsy.

Thank you for your thoughtful questions!

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@Dreamzzzzz wrote:

And 1 more qustion - will there be any tool I can change prices for all variations? I have about 1000 active listings and all have about 8 to 20 size variations with different prices each. Is there a possibility to have something like shipping settings, so I can change all by groups in bulk?


Hi there. I took a look at your shop (love your fabrics!) and it looks like you successfully set up a free shipping guarantee— nice work!

Also, our new optional smart pricing tool, available to US sellers this week and non-US sellers in August, will let you easily bulk edit listings $35+ USD so you can adjust your item prices to recover your shipping costs if you decide to do so. If you decide to use the tool to bulk-edit your listing prices, the price of your variations will also change by the same amount that your base listing price changes. For example: If you increase the price of an item by $5 to recover costs and have a variation of that item, the price of the variation will also increase $5.You can learn more about how to use the tool here.

We’ll also be hosting another Q&A next week where we answer questions about how the smart pricing tool works— stay tuned!

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@RomanticRefashion wrote:

Hi - if a buyer searches for an item and then sorts by lowest price rather than relevancy, will my items come up higher in a search if my item is priced higher but I offer free shipping guarantee as opposed to a seller that has an item priced lower and has an additional shipping cost?


Hi @RomanticRefashion - thanks for the question. The act of setting a free shipping guarantee alone won't have effect how items are sorted in search if a shopper chooses to sort the results by item price. Those results will continue to display in ascending or descending order by item price. I hope this helps!

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@1117Trading wrote:

I'm a little confused. Has anyone seen Etsy clarify the following? 

At present I have free shipping already on some items in my vintage store...but that gives me the freedom to mail packages at the cheaper rate of Ground shipping if that's an option. IF the priority price ends up being not much difference in price I will usually mail priority instead for speedy shipping and a happy customer. But many times I have chosen ground, espeically for heavier or larger items.

BUT if I opt into the new free shipping guarauntee will customers be able to select priority mailing so that I might be bound to send it at the higher priority mail price?

Thanks! 


Hey @1117Trading - great question! Yes, if you set up a free shipping guarantee, customers will be able to select Priority Mail and other upgrades. Buyers would be charged for the upgraded shipping service according to the upgrade prices in your shipping profile in that case.

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@SuburbanBlues wrote:

I'm very curious to see how much "priority" placement we will get when/if everyone does it. There are over 2 million (MILLION) sellers on Etsy. Those of us replying here are a grain of sand in comparison. If even 75% of the 2 million sellers agree to this "conceal the real shipping cost" scheme, that means Etsy is promising "priority placement" to approximately 1.5 million sellers. How is that going to work? It's going to end up being a lottery, and the little guys are not going to win. 


Hi @SuburbanBlues. Thanks for this question.

The best ways to optimize your listings for Etsy search will still be the core principles from our Ultimate Guide to Search, but now with a new priority for items that meet buyer expectations when it comes to free shipping.

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@LABELSTONE wrote:

Will Etsy be charging the sellers anything to implement this "Free shipping for orders $35 and above?


Hi there - thanks for your question! The tool is free to use for all sellers.

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@QuiltSewPieceful wrote:

Twelve pages already, and I'm not going to read them all.  Not saying whether I am a fan or not, but

Question:  Is there somewhere that tells me EXACTLY, step by step, how to set this up correctly?


Hi there! I took a look at your shop and it looks like you successfully set up a free shipping guarantee— that’s great!

And should anyone else need it, here’s a direct link to our education how to set up a free shipping guarantee for your shop.

Thanks!

 

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@HappyCatPrintsCo wrote:

What effect will this have on instant download items? Will instant download listings will be prioritized as well? Or will the physical free shipping listings be placed on top of the instant download items?


Hi Caroline!

Digital listings will have the same type of eligibility for priority placement as physical items that ship free and shops that guarantee free US shipping on orders of $35+ USD. Just keep in mind that Etsy search is always evolving.

Thanks for the question.

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@MarylandGirlPetCo wrote:

As a new Etsy seller, I'm loving this promotion. How will Etsy use this to help new sellers not just promote established sellers?


Hi Barbara and Jordan - thanks for chiming in. Just to be clear, sellers offering a free shipping guarantee will be eligible for search prioritization regardless of how long they've been selling on Etsy. We'll also prioritize listings that offer a free shipping guarantee in our marketing. So, by offering a free shipping guarantee, you'll be taking a step to set your shop up for success from the start. I hope this helps!

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@ModernIronworks wrote:

Once we turn on the free shipping guarantee is everything in our shop instantly free shipping? I see there is a bulk edit tool, but it appears to be available only after turning on the free shipping guarantee. So, until everthing is edited a customer could order a furniture piece that previously had a $150 shipping charge in the US and they would get free shipping until we edit our prices. Is that right?


Thanks for your question, @ModernIronworks! Once you set up a free shipping guarantee for your shop, any listings that are $35 USD or more will be set to always have free US shipping. For any listing below $35 USD, your existing shipping prices will still apply. However, they will be considered eligible to ship free and if your US buyer spends $35 USD or more on an order from your shop, their order will automatically have free shipping applied when they check out.

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FidosFlowers
Community Manager
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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Hi folks,

That’s a wrap for this Q&A. Thanks again for sharing your thoughtful questions here this week.

Reminder that we’ll be hosting another Q&A next week, to address questions about Etsy's new smart pricing tool. The tool enables you to start offering a free shipping guarantee to your US buyers. It also allows you to recover shipping costs if you decide to do so.

The Q&A will kickoff on Tuesday afternoon and conclude on Thursday evening. See you then!

Thanks!

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TheOldBarnDoor
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It is all well and good to ask me to consider how much of my business goes to the US when making the free shipping decison for my business, however Etsy removed the Customer data from Stats some time ago.  Would Etsy consider reinstating that info on our stats so we can make a more informed choice?  

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Being the US market the biggest as the statistics shows...  sellers outside the US will have to increase prices, a lot, to "hide" shipping costs. How are you going to deal with Non US sellers paying the same fees but being in a worst position than US sellers? Please don't repeat that international market is growing.. it is, since the world is very big.. but statistics speak loud and clear..

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transmigration
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I agree.  I, too, am a vintage shop...and each item has a completely different weight.  When taking into consideration cost of packaging to make sure my vintage clothing items are packaged pleasingly, and the thought of going through 500 items now to change the prices of each one to absorb the shipping costs, it's a little daunting.  Also, if I'm paying for Promoted Listings now, is this money just being wasted?  What about the coupon promotions I signed up for with favorited items/items in carts?  It's just all adding up, and Etsy has strayed far, far away from what it was when I first joined the community of artists and vintage curators.  It feels more like a flea market now, where the vintage sellers' tables have been placed right outside the shed selling all the bagged tube socks at 3/$5.  It feels a bit cheapened now, and I am not clear how the free shipping impacts the visibility for the promoted listings, cart and favorite coupons, etc.  We can't do it ALL and still make a profit.  If we absorb all of those costs into our item prices, no one will want to buy anything.  I'm just not feeling very clear on all of this at the moment.

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louiseblack
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Right? Everyone I've polled feels like this is blackmail.  They are basically trying to force us to offer free shipping or else our items will be buried at the bottom of the heap of people with free shipping.  Is it fair to my US customers that I have to add $25-$35 to the cost of an item to cover international shipping costs (because I sell equally as much outside the US as I do inside)?  I think this is finally the push I needed to build my own website.   

~a loayal seller for 12 years

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This is just awful. Like many others, I sell a variety of items, some of which are extremely heavy and bulky. I see absolutely no way that I can offer free shipping to the US (which sometimes comes to more than $80) and just absorb it into my costs. Effectively it puts me out of business. I have always liked Etsy as a selling platform and really value the customers that I have had.  But I'm afraid this is probably the end of the line for me. I just have to find alternative platforms and work with that.  To me, this is an extraordinary, unbelievable and discriminatory decision.  It's all very well for the CEO to tell us that his research reveals that people want free shipping but can he advise me how I can possibly offer that and still remain competetive.  

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Great question! The Etsy customer data info was helpful to sellers. Will that feature be brought back to help make a more informed choice?

"We hope you’ve had a chance to review Josh’s Announcement on how we’re making it easier for US shoppers to find items that ship free."

Based on the above quote... It sounds as if this thread and/or letter is purely about "making it easier for US shoppers to find items that ship free", but wouldn't the "free shipping" filter that Etsy already has in place suffice??

 As sellers, we are at a loss as to why "free shipping" participants would have a higher ranking? Collectively, it seems as if numerous small businesses are being impacted...the Vintage community, Heavy object community, Bulky/Large object community, non-US community,  those that can not adequately add proper shipping charges to their items due to vast shipping differentials based on regions, etc, etc, etc. And obviously customer returns will impact everyone if free shipping is fully adopted. 

**What happens to those sellers who pay for Etsy ads (like I do)? Are we impacted as well? If we choose to continue with shipping fees, will our ads not be featured at the top? Will this impact the ranking of our ads? Is it pointless to do ads?

**Can Etsy work out more favorable shipping rates with USPS, FedEx, UPS to assist with the move towards free shipping so that everyone has a chance of being successful & winning?

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@TheOldBarnDoor wrote:

It is all well and good to ask me to consider how much of my business goes to the US when making the free shipping decison for my business, however Etsy removed the Customer data from Stats some time ago.  Would Etsy consider reinstating that info on our stats so we can make a more informed choice?  


Hi @TheOldBarnDoor, many thanks for the question. We're working on ways to make this data more readily available to sellers, so please stay tuned.

In the meantime, the best way to obtain this data is by downloading your transaction history. Go to Shop Manager > Settings > Options > Download data > Download your orders (Pick time frame, i.e. 2019) Then, with the CSV, look for the column labeled “Ship Country” and then calculate which % of total order is to the US.

I hope this helps!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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I also feel this is a wrong move on Etsys part. I may be at the top of the list but I can no longer be competative... my price will be almost double.

I see another danger here, most European items will have 0 margin for the seller, arguments that the customs duty had to be paid etc. etc. 

Furthermore, I believe you are opening the door to sellers of fake items because only they will be able to compete. 

Wrong move Etsy, if it was going to work eBay and Amazon would have forced all their sellers to change years ago.You will loose sellers I fear  and the very essence of being an Etsy seller... my products, my prices.. gone in some rediculous boardroom talk without asking the people who you live from.. the sellers.!

I choose not to sell to the U.S, where do I have to click so my items are only shown in Europe, Canada and the rest of the world?

 

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Customers aren't stupid. They know "free" shipping isn't FREE. I sell books and though I endeavour to pack them in a manner that is secure but lightweight, books are typically heavy and therefore often costly to ship.

I can't absorb shipping costs or pass off my books as free shipping and add the shipping costs into the price of my items.

Sorry, but I think Etsy is being unrealistic and unfair to its shop owners.

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MariaAragon
Inspiration Seeker

Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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I sell artworks and their sizes vary, so that has a huge impact on what the shipping will cost. I usually swallow some of the cost anyway, but this no shipping cost promotional maneuver is assinine. It penalizes artists like myself, who have size and weight issues to consider that is hard to calculate anyway, unless the works are pre-packed (which is impossible).

This CEO's decision is wrong headed.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Is anyone from admin going to address the very real and very pressing concerns from international sellers who will be forced off the site by this new policy?

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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@transmigration wrote:

I agree.  I, too, am a vintage shop...and each item has a completely different weight.  When taking into consideration cost of packaging to make sure my vintage clothing items are packaged pleasingly, and the thought of going through 500 items now to change the prices of each one to absorb the shipping costs, it's a little daunting.  Also, if I'm paying for Promoted Listings now, is this money just being wasted?  What about the coupon promotions I signed up for with favorited items/items in carts?  It's just all adding up, and Etsy has strayed far, far away from what it was when I first joined the community of artists and vintage curators.  It feels more like a flea market now, where the vintage sellers' tables have been placed right outside the shed selling all the bagged tube socks at 3/$5.  It feels a bit cheapened now, and I am not clear how the free shipping impacts the visibility for the promoted listings, cart and favorite coupons, etc.  We can't do it ALL and still make a profit.  If we absorb all of those costs into our item prices, no one will want to buy anything.  I'm just not feeling very clear on all of this at the moment.


Hi there @transmigration - wanted to follow up on your comment about Promoted Listings. When you offer a free shipping guarantee, the priority placement you get only applies to organic search results—it does not apply to Promoted Listings. So if you choose not to offer a free shipping guarantee, your Promoted Listings spend would not be wasted—listings will still compete in the same way for ad impressions and clicks as before.

As for Targeted Offers - these will also continue to work as before. If you're offering free shipping on US orders over $35, a targeted offer with free domestic shipping can be an even more enticing offer to get shoppers to make a purchase. Ultimately though, it's up to you to determine what works best, based on your business goals, inventory, and profit margins.

 

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Good afternoon. My shop focuses on materials for crafters which i purchase wholesale from a distributor. I sell mostly scrapbooking paper. No these items are not heavy and postage runs anywhere from $3.88 to $10.00 for normal size purchases. No big deal right? Wrong. The items I sell have a max value. I cannot simply add the cost of shipping onto an item. Everyone who purchases these papers and items know how much they are worth. Right now the market is saturated and to compensate for that I run sales weekly and provide very competitive shipping. By that I mean I package well but cheaply and my items ship the very next day. I am now being put into a posisition where I do infact have to eat these shipping charges. Now there will be no running sales to compete with market saturation. I understand that big box companies offer free shipping. But our Etsy stores are not big box stores. I understand Amazon is taking over the world and dont want them to win either, but Amazon has their own shipping trucks and now planes that help them ship for close to nothing. Etsy does not have that. So why is this even an option? 1st you taxed us for charging shipping and now you're saying our listings will be impossible to find in search engine if we do not comply? I really did not want to move my store to another platform. I really enjoy Etsy. But I want to turn this into my full time job and if im shoveling all my megar profits into free shipping how is that supposed to work?

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Hi Etsy Admin,

I am already offering free worlwide shipping on all items in my shop, so will I need to do anything different to qualify for priority placement in US search?

Thanks.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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My question as well.  Thanks for asking it!!

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Not sure why I am inable to edit my above reply..........I see that answers will be posted on 7/11.  So my comment is mis-informed, to say the least.  Mea culpa.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Same here! I offer free shipping for $25 or more. Do I need to increase to $35 or more to be tagged in this promo?

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@VintageFrenchStore wrote:

Hi Etsy Admin,

I am already offering free worlwide shipping on all items in my shop, so will I need to do anything different to qualify for priority placement in US search?

Thanks.


Hi there! Thanks for your question. Great work offering free shipping on your items! You will get all the benefits of priority placement in search if you offer unconditional free shipping on your listings to US buyers. If you already offer free US shipping for your items, you may want to consider setting up a free shipping guarantee with our new tool so any new listings you create automatically offer free shipping to US buyers when they spend $35 USD or more on their order from your shop.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Hello

I also offer free worldwide shipping from the time I open my shop.

Please let us know if we have to add something more, for priority placement in the US,as it is until now our biggest clients.

Thank you.

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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My question as well I am already offering Free USA Shipping on Jewelry items with NO price limit. Just how is this going to help my shop? Is there anything I need to do differently? 

Would love to offer Free shipping to my International customers but there is just no way my shop could absorb the cost. 

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Same here as well. I offer free shipping in the US.  No minimum purchase.  Will I need to change this?

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Dear Etsy,

You know very well how NEGATIVELY this is going to affect Vintage and other shops that sell HEAVY/BULKY items.  You even surveyed me, and I told you just how this would negatively effect my business.  But since Vintage has never really mattered to you, how can I absorb a $155 shipping charge from France to the U.S. on an Antique Spice Cabinet with 12 Heavy Porcelain Drawers.  Just stick the $150 on to my price?  No one will buy from me, since U.S. sellers are at a complete advantage here.  My main market is the U.S. so I feel that I may be dead on Etsy now.  I have been a nice little money maker for you for 7 years, is there no way you can work shops like mine into your equation?  Sounds like this deal is already set in stone.  This is not the same place I joined almost 7 years ago.  Sad, angry, frustrated are the only words that come to mind right now.  I will have to find a work-around or go to greener pastures.  Thanks Etsy.

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LOFTOWN
Crafty Poster

Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Absolutely agree! It really seems that vintage shops are never considered implementing these changes in shipping policies. I also would like to add that vintage is such a particular market since every piece is one of a kind buyers are READY to pay shipping costs to obtain unique piece that can’t be made or remade by anyone else and that it has its own history. I don’t say that sometimes buyers ask for lower shipping cost, but after a clear explanation they almost always proceed to purchase if there are interested. Buyers are not robots and most of them understand the fact that everything has its price  and also a shipping cost! I would rather give a fair price to a pair of jeans that costs 30$ + 25$ shipping (for US) than make it 55$ for any buyer! That makes no sense...

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Re: Q&A with Etsy admin: Offering a free shipping guarantee

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Totally 💯 agree with all your points & so unfair on European market

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