Food for Thought - Free Shipping

[AtMemoryLane]

No, I did not put this in the wrong spot.  This is meant for pattern users.

As some of you may or may not be aware, the CEO and CFO, had made statements to the fact that they are working towards making etsy 100% free shipping.  Of course, they mean the marketplace - thank goodness!!!

I wonder if any of you pattern users are thinking of putting more of your items (a higher percentage) as pattern only listings.  Currently, I have about a 55/100 (55% both to 100% just pattern) - which I will be temporarily changing during the Christmas holiday season.  But I had a goal of decreasing my split to about 40/100 by April 2020.

Of course, we really do not know when they will be actually implementing this strategy of theirs.  I, personally, think it may backfire on them entirely....

Is anyone else thinking ahead and decreasing your etsy percentage in anticipation of this change?  I have been slowly decreasing my percentage on etsy anyway, but this just makes it a bit more urgent for me...

Any insight?  What do you think?  What are your thoughts?  I really would like to know how other pattern users feel about this.

MaryAnn

[CorgiHillTreasures]

I pretty much only use Pattern.  I also offer free shipping but I've been doing that for 11 years.  If you think of Etsy as nothing more than a selling platform, like shopify, and spend your time driving your own traffic, well... Etsy's search engine really doesn't matter does it.  

With all the algorithm changes Etsy has done over the years to the search engine it just isn't worth my time to keep up.  For one thing, my items are mostly one of a kind so I can't get any kind of boost from an item that sells over and over again.  Secondly, I don't want to list every day.  I want to do a batch update once a week, that means no daily boost.  Frankly, tags drive me insane.  I've tried searching via tags myself and it's a crapshoot.

I put my time into creating, fun Instagram posts and some facebook (I need to up my game there).  By working more on connecting with customers and less on trying to psychically figure out Etsy's bizarre search engine, well... I'm happier. 

Of course, your mileage may vary, but this is what works for me.

AnnaMarie

[RobertWGilmore]

I'm not feeling optimistic or at ease about the future of Pattern, so I'm not making any major changes for the time being.  I have my own domain name linked to the Pattern site; I share that domain name more frequently on social media and include it on customer invoices. I offer free shipping over $35.00 on both Etsy and on Pattern, and I have seen a slight uptick in new orders that exceed $35.00.

In late July, Etsy announced plans to acquire Reverb - an online marketplace for new, used, and vintage musical instruments - for $275 million in cash. Reverb also offers Reverb Sites, free customizable e-commerce websites for Reverb Shops: https://reverb.com/page/reverb-sites .

Although Reverb will operate as a stand-alone business, perhaps, somehow, input from Reverb will result in a defined structure for Pattern.  There's also the possibility that Etsy Premium is going to influence the future of pattern.

For me, at the present time, Shopify looks like the best alternative to Pattern.  I've been waiting for Etsy to speak about the future of Pattern - if it doesn't happen soon, though, I'm going to continue to sell on Etsy but I'll move away from Pattern altogether.

[AtMemoryLane]

Thank you, @CorgiHillTreasures and @RobertWGilmore, for your replies.  Interesting perspectives.  I am always fascinated with all the different ways that pattern people use and perceive pattern.  It definitely is not one size fits all.

Thanx again.

[AveryBlake]

I'm only keeping my best sellers on Etsy ....most of my items will only be on Pattern going forward.   All of my own marketing is going to my Pattern site.  I might relook at Shopify, but I've done that once and got no traffic.  My traffic with my Pattern site has been much better than my one year with Shopify.  My items are higher priced, so it was easy to incorporate free shipping...or shipping included.

[funkydreamsmosaics]

I do have a few items on Pattern that aren't on Etsy, but since I still am getting a majority of sales and views on Etsy, I'm leaving items there.

I do promote my Pattern site with its own domain, so my feeling is that, unless Pattern improves, there will come a day where I will need a better stand alone option.  I really used Pattern as a stop-gap because having all of my inventory in one place and having the same back-end are really great time-savers.  But I'm really starting to believe (and hope and pray) that one day soon my business will need to do better than Pattern.

So rather than taking items off Etsy to put on Pattern, I'm considering taking things off Pattern and moving to a different host.  That won't happen tomorrow, but I do currently see it as a future goal.  

They have ignored Pattern for so long, I don't hold out much hope for improvements, sadly.   But as @RobertWGilmore pointed out, maybe the purchase of Reverb will actually make for some changes.  We'll see.