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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!

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

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I'm staying with separate shipping prices. I'm just not going to worry about being penalized in the search. Only a relative few can fit in the beginning pages of the search anyway. I'm not kidding myself that I would be one of those, free shipping or not. I'll continue to promote my shop/items in other ways off of Etsy, in general and to my target market. I've added a statement to my shop/items. Will see how it goes. I think there are enough buyers who understand "free shipping" is a gimmick and a rip-off for everyone except Etsy.  

 

 

 

 

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

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@midnightcoiler I read your statement in your announcement and just want to say, well done! To me, you are a role model. 

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

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Good on you!
It's funny isn't it - how Etsy have moved the announcement section so far down the page. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? It's almost like... they don't really want people to see it... goodness knows why.............

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

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I currently have all items in my shop priced at over $35.00 listed with free US shipping, and have turned on the "free shipping guarantee" for those items priced under $35.00 to encourage add-on sales.

How can we insure that if we run a sale and the discounted price of an items falls below $35.00 that the shipping will show up as "free shipping guarantee", and not stay as "free US shipping", which is what's happened in my shop today after going to the "free shipping guarantee" mode. I've had to end my sale early because I can't seem to find a way to get the shipping corrected once an item falls below that $35. mark.

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

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Been reading and thinking about the implications of this for a bit.

Given it is illegal to inflate prices to hide shipping charges (at least in countries that have consumer protection laws (EU, UK, AU etc)) then I'm not doing that.

I'm not giving products away ($A15 for my most popular item, that costs $A21 to ship to the US).  So that isn't going to happen. 

If my US searches are so low priority that I get no sales from there, so be it.

Congratulations USA - you have managed to build your wall.

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

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Keep focused.  It's ETSY, not the USA, doing the deed.

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

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I realize this post is so far down on the list of numerous responses that it may be missed altogether. However, I implore the Etsy leadership making these decisions to consider the implications as stated in this excellent business article. Yes, it's from 2016...but still very pertinent, and being discussed in many industry magazines still.   https://www.fastcompany.com/3061686/free-shipping-is-a-lie

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CottonandSpool
Inspiration Seeker

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

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How about no one does it, problem solved. Its time for Etsy to realize they are a landlord, not the owners of each business they rent space too. They can have rules as any reputable landlord would, regarding  proper use of,  and  conduct, on their property. That does not give them licence to impose on your compliant business. Free shipping is totally a personal choice but if no one does it, there's no one to penalize. They are stating outright that they will penalize me for choosing to not do something which is illegal in my country (Canada) Not to mention that they have no problem in trying to dupe Etsy's customers by hiding legitimate costs in selling prices. These customers are the people, friend's and family that we, as sellers, have brought to their domain. In good faith, and with a great amount of dilligence, we have together, made this forum a reputable marketplace for the unusual and unique. It's time to let them know this isn't going to fly. I'm about ready to say July 30, every single store go on vacation for a week, let them explain that to the board with their canned uninformed responses.

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

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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. 

 

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

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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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CookieGrandma60
Conversation Maker

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

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@MyThreeSonsVintage  

This is what it says on my dashboard:

"Starting July 30, 2019 you’ll get priority placement in US searches when you offer free shipping on "individual items" or on orders $35 USD and above to shoppers in the US."

I'm asuming that all items with free shipping will be prioritized in search according to this statement. I have smaller items with free shipping and larger items that I absolutely cannot ship for free or roll the shipping fee into. I'm leaving my shop the way it is.

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

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Hi Admin.  I am in Canada and would love to offer free shipping to the US.  I have had free shipping in Canada for some time now.  With such a diffence in costs in shipping from country to country it would be nice if you can list different pricing.  A price for Canada, a price for US, and then International.   If I raise prices enough to cover free shipping to the US then buyers in Canada are penalized.  For all the shops that majority of their stock is under $35 makes it hard to add $5 or more dollars to cover shipping.  It is sad that many businesses on Etsy will struggle now because they are in a boat that it just is not possible to offer free shipping and if they don't they will not be found (be a the bottom of a pile).

 

Saprina  

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

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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. 

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

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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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FidosFlowers
Community Manager
Community Manager

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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FidosFlowers
Community Manager
Community Manager

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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