Etsy sales down 70% -- Can Anyone Help??? Please!

[#1]

If anyone out there can help, we would very much appreciate it.  We've been selling on Etsy since 2012 and have loved it -- until now.  Our sales are down 70% year over year and we have no idea why.  If you search for items, you can't find our products.  It's like we've been shadow banned.  I've tried calling Etsy and the person I spoke to told us that we're doing everything right.  Has anyone experienced something similar and figured out what to do about it?  We're willing to try whatever is needed. 

Desperate in PA

[MrsDsHandKnits]

and I shall say it again...Sellers always want to blame the site for everything that goes awry, yet successful selling is about the product,its uniqueness,quality, price points, target market, supply and demand,etc...You are selling seeds and seeds have their limits, and with changing regulations on seeds, their market is limited...changing trends, the world economic situation et al, nothing lasts forever....Trends come, trends go, buyer habits change...These days I would think more folks are spending their monies on "Needs" more so than "Wants"....

so when you are all done blaming Etsy, maybe throw some blame at whose power hungry methods are creating chaos within the country as well as worldwide...

[SakuraGlass]

Despite my shop getting Star Seller, my sales and views are also down over 50% too. For the last 3 months or so, I've never know such a long drop for so long.

There is definitely something else going on. Even after following all the usual advice from Etsy and tricks that usually stimulate orders for me, it's still awful!

I sell painted glass and the only big changes I have observed are a massive increase in factory made/mass produced items that are usual plastic, and heavily discounted all the time! These shops are usually brand new and quite clearly selling the same items from multiple shops. These make up a large proportion of 1st page results when I search my products, and mine are often barely visible.

There are of course economic and political factors all the time, but I feel there is a big issue with Etsy promotinf the crappy products, with genuine handmade items getting pushed to the side and Etsy has complete control over this.

Dont know what the answer is really but it's tough at the moment. Made worse for me by actually finally acheiving star sellar status with no visible benefits whatsoever so far.

[RishStudio]

They will never admit it, my views and visit suddenly down from 430 views a day to 80 views! I understand it could be economy or something else but that definitely can't affect overnight! I contacted them many times, but no help! And I was really surprised to see that on the first few pages, only my listing and one other didn’t have any discounts. Almost all the other listings are showing discounts between 40% to 75%!

From what I can tell, these are often inflated original prices, and the sellers are applying heavy discounts to make the price look like a bargain. Is this a new trend on Etsy? Does this strategy actually work?

I’ve always believed that kind of pricing tactic is misleading—possibly even against Etsy’s policies. Personally, I only offer discounts when I genuinely need to clear stock, and even then, I can only afford a maximum of 15%.

[SakuraGlass]

I am finding exactly the same for my shop sadly. I've replied to TreeSeedMan above with some ideas on what's happening, but no idea for solutions yet!

I definitely have noticed the heavily and constantly discounted items as you mentioned. I also notice the mass produced items being promoted when they are being sold by multiple shops and really just rubbish.

Do you think its temporary or is Etsy just becoming less and less handmade?

[MindfulPapers]

That exactly reflects my experience. Some days I wonder why the sales don't happen and then I immediately check whether my “sale” has expired. And lo and behold - as soon as I have a “sale” active again, orders start coming in again. It looks as if Etsy prioritizes stores or listings that offer a discount.

[MiLaViKnits]

I gave up on Etsy. I let all of my items expired and not renew them or post any new designs.  It's  been so quite since the beginning of this year. I promoted on the different social media platforms and here on E. It looks like the politics effects the sales and views and here is no support from E to keep the business open.  I don't have no views or sales for the past few month and I'm here since 2011. It's never been that quite even during the covid. 

[SakuraGlass]

I'm sorry to hear that. I have been struggling too after many years of steady orders and Im trying to figure out what I can do to change it. It seems a little hopeless for my handmade stuff to be honest, I cant help feeling I need to look for another job too.

[TheCalamityHouse]

I also do not understand what is going on.  The past two years have grown worse and worse.  The first 3 mo of this year is like the site died.... the sales where almost nil.  Then May came along and it was like 4-5 years ago.  I had a sale or two almost every day!  Yeah.... finally I thought things were going back the way they were and I even read in the Search that Etsy was throwing its weight behind sellers who had good descriptions, good reviews, excellent and sought after merchandise.  YEAH!!!! and I thought my sales were showing it.  I had almost 2K in sales once again for the month of May.  I used to get that and more per month, but that was a long time ago.  So this month, June, so far 1 sale.  That's it.... a complete let down.  What in the H is going on here?????

[BibsBobsNoveltyGifts]

I have been quiet most of the year but over the past month it started to pick up again , then last week there was that "Site Outage" and now I am back to square one , hardly any views and hardly any sales. Coincidence .... Hmmmmm.

[TreeSeedMan]

I am desperate for help and that you will not even respond to my chat messages or emails and they won’t call me back for phone calls. I’m desperate for help all the work that I’ve done since the seller metrics came out. I’ve been improving by listing over the past nine months I would guess and I’ve doubled my revenue each and every day however something happened And I believe it was from connecting with E rank and analytics being messed up where it feels all my data has been lost and reverted back to that time. My sales numbers are now less than what they were before I fixed everything listings that I change titles on pictures Materials all work gone tag {work} Ted back to the single word junk that I used to use and I don’t know if I should continue working on this and fixing it all over again or if someone from Etsy would just contact me and please help with this. Finally I don’t know why no one will help me. I don’t know what happened. I got several one star bogus reviews connected with E rank and something else and things are not right now there’s also the fact that my things were not looking the same as my worker she saw things on my account. I wasn’t seeing. I really need someone to help me here. I am desperate I’m literally earning half the amount of money I was before every day we’re talking $1000 a week. I need help please I’m begging please help me something happened and everywhere I look for help is telling me a context, Support and that’s the whole issue. They’re not even recognizing I need help 

[TreeSeedMan]

Spoiler

Spoiler

I am desperate. Support please contact me ASAP before more damage is done

[MrsDsHandKnits]

and to continue to blame Etsy for all your woes is pointless, just as it is pointless to blame Etsy for whatever changes you made within your Etsy shop...

Etsy provides a platform for which sellers can list & sell their wares and thereafter it is up to the seller to utilize the site with what is provided by the site. Etsy is not required to hold your hand and/or fix your mistakes...Using E rank was a choice you made>but E-rank is not necessary nor needed for listing & selling on Etsy...Some sellers do believe in whatever E-rank suggests...but some of us have never used E-rank...

and as to the so-called "bogus" one star reviews...where's the proof that they are "bogus"? Those reviews could very well be legit>As someone who has horticultural experience I do know that NOT all seeds will have 100% germination 100% of the time...and how do you know that a buyer did not receive their order? 

Trends come, trends go, buyer habits change and it is up to the seller to make changes when things go stagnant but there is only so much that a seller can do ....selling is about the product>its uniqueness, quality, price points,supply & demand,target market,etc.... Sellers can be selling same products for years and then sales dry up, but that isn't unique to Etsy...happens elsewhere too...other selling sites see sellers experiencing decreases in sales...Sellers have to make whatever changes are necessary whilst having to consider the economic times we are in....

BTW the introduction to your shop announcement> the sob story- isn't exactly a professional approach and may turn away potential buyers...and putting that same sob story into the introduction of the listing descriptions is also very unprofessional. This does not transmit any goodness to a business and could be a deterrent to potential buyers...

Perhaps it is time to step away from Etsy for a bit, put the shop on vacation while you get your personal well-being in order. 

[sarahsmemory]

Sign of the times, perhaps?   Just a thought...

[BohoStyleSupplies]

I would recommend offering some (much) lower priced items in your shop ie: under $100. Your prices are very high for Etsy. Most of your items are over $1000 and I see one item that is $9500. Wow! I wouldn't recommend that anyone sell anything over $250 on Etsy. 

[SoulStarChakras]

I gaven't trawled through too many of the other suggestions in here, but itt may well be due to your images. Has anyone already mentioned them? Etsy don't want dark backgrounds. From what I can see, all your images have a black background. Sure, the actual products pop well on the black background. But this is all to do with what Etsy want, and they want bright, pale backgrounds. Not pure white like Amazon though. Do a test for a few weeks and on a decent cross-section of your product listings. Keep an eye on view stats. Do an A/B test. Same item, 2 listings but different main image. Keep the dark image on listing A and create a new natural diffused light with the B listing. I'm quite sure the views will increase on listing B, over A, and likewise so will your sales.

[MrsDsHandKnits]

" But this is all to do with what Etsy want" ...well not exactly true...

Etsy can suggest till the cows come home but that don't make it right>it's not mandatory. Sellers can photo with whatever backgrounds work well for the presentation of the product. Etsy doesn't always have the seller's best interests at heart because Etsy is promoting the site, not the products ...and Etsy does not have a staff of experts in all fields that can be trusted for advising or suggesting what is best for any seller or any product.

[VinylCreationsAU]

I think alot of long time Etsy sellers are experiencing the same, the last 6 months is the worse for sales that i have had in the last 6yrs on Etsy, i went from a full time income from etsy( 20 plus orders a day, every day ), to days between orders, and when i do get orders they are not very many in the week, it sucks

[KarlasCrafts]

Same here. It is frustrating

[SNdsigns]

Oh my gosh, I am also from 2012 and have been stressing my head off with the EXACT same issue, live chat tells me nothing and I have been crying here in the forums.  Also many sales a day to literally ZERO, when searching can hardly find my products whilst competition that copied my store is thriving so its nothing to do with Etsys stocks or tariffs.  Are the older sellers being pushed out??

[SNdsigns]

Yes after the site outage things did get worse....  I wonder if Etsy is aware of the issues many of us are having.  How to we alert them?

[catsinthecradlesoap]

Sales and views have been incredibly low on my site as well.   Have not even had any activity at all in three days!  Not sure what's going on as I have handmade soaps and vintage/antique items, good selection and prices so am at a loss as to why things are so slow.

[AntiquesAtlanta]

I’ve definitely had dead periods over the years with low sales, no sales. I had to adjust and work on my tags, lighting for my pictures, titles, renew items, and just give my shop a fresh look. Hang in there. Stay positive. Things will improve.

[1jewelryjunky]

Honestly i have been on here selling with two shops for about 13 years, this year sales have dramatically dropped. I am assuming the economy is hitting us all hard, thus people are not spending %$$ like before. Amazon Prime does not help as shipping goes through the roof for us with Prime it's very hard to compete.

[CainandCoStationery]

We are experiencing the same devastating issues in our shop. Sales are down significantly and we are not sure why. We continue to pay for ads and be a star seller however this does not seem to help us in the search any further. Please let us know if you are able to find out anything from Etsy, we are crumbling over here in what is usually our busiest time of year.