No Sales on Etsy? You're Not Alone!

Are you having issues selling on Etsy? Have your sales and views drastically dropped since around November 2015? Or perhaps your issues started in April 2016 when the new format was introduced? Today, we're going to be discussing why so many sellers (established and new) are having this extremely disturbing and upsetting problem.

First, I want to greet all my readers again since I've taken a very long hiatus from blogging. My last post was in September of 2014, just a few months after my mother passed away. I typically do a lot of promotions for Etsy shops that I find fun or interesting, but I would like to focus more on discussions like this, jewelry tutorials, and more for my future posts. This long break has given me a lot to discuss, especially regarding the big E - Etsy.

So, what has happened?

If you've been selling on Etsy for any reasonable length of time, you'll often find threads in the forums titled "No Sales?", "No views!", and "What happened to the sales??".

This is pretty common year round, as there are always slow downs for particular shops, and often times these shops have few items listed (usually 50 or under), have poor SEO and/or poor item photography. But lately this, has not been the case.

Starting around November 2015 (but more commonly, right after the format change in April 2016), shops have experienced dramatic view and sale loss. Let me make this clear, this is NOT your typical retail "ebb and flow" issue, this is a HUGE, DRASTIC fall in revenue and views in Etsy search, specifically.

In the past, Etsy has admitted to placing sellers into various "buckets", which you can read here in this fireside chat with Alex. If you have any confusion on this reference, I'd highly recommend you click the link and read the interview through before continuing here.

There is a heavy debate regarding this phrase among sellers. There are going to be some Etsy sellers who will vehemently defend Etsy regardless of what they say or do. That's just the way the world works - some people cannot fathom the thought that a selling platform would purposefully mess with their livelihood without a care in the world. Personally, I am not that positive or trusting.

Although I have no proof from Etsy personally (which I doubt anyone will be able to get their hands on legally), my gut tells me that OF COURSE Etsy has us grouped like this for search, without a doubt. There are so many examples of shops that never experience a lowering in organic Etsy search, and thus they never experience a lack in sales. 

A lot of shops also have the benefit of getting a lot of their views from social media (which is a very smart move on their part, but takes a seller a long time to achieve, and is never guaranteed).

A Change in Etsy Algorithm?

Other than buckets, there is a huge suspicion that Etsy has made very drastic changes to their search algorithm without informing sellers what those changes are, and how to improve their position in this new, changed search algorithm. 

Obviously, Etsy has neither denied nor confirmed this, but there are dozens of shops on the forums alone who have given their detailed sales and view loss numbers. As far as view and sale loss, it tends to hover somewhere between a 50 - 75 percent loss for the majority of these sellers coming to the forums for answers.

For me personally, I concur with these findings. I used to received somewhere around 20,000+ search hits a month, the majority of those coming from Etsy search directly. During November and December, these numbers would grow even higher. Since my shop opening in 2013 and until April 2016, this was completely consistent for me. The more items I added and the more I improved SEO, my views climbed until I hit a 20,000+ monthly view plateau. By this time, I had around 1,000 items in my shop.

Yes, there is always an ebb and flow to retail, but generally, Etsy was a reliable platform, and gave positive results. My business grew so great that I was able to go part time at my regular job when my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. 

Sales and views were consistent for almost three years (even as a newbie I had pretty good views starting out), and then I noticed an abnormally low drop in views and sales around November  2015, which is unusual for the Christmas rush. 

It was a slight hit to our business, but at the time I brushed it off as the "flow and ebb" of retail. But then, April 2016 came and the format of the site changed. It's suspected that the search algorithm was altered dramatically as well, as this is when shops began to see a tragic drop in their revenues and sales. 

Personally, I went from 20,000+ views to 10,000 views or less, depending on the month.

The Downfall of Business

Soon after the April 2016 changes, sellers flooded the forums with desperate pleas regarding their loss in business. 

Many were greeted with stern remarks from sellers who had yet to experience any issues, because obviously, if 100% of sellers aren't having problems, there's obviously not an issue, right?

As of July 2016, these search issues have yet to be resolved. Many sellers have come to the Etsy forums, either announcing that they are closing their shops down, or that they have had to abandon Etsy as a full time endeavor, and get a regular full time job (which is difficult enough in the U.S.). 

A lot of sellers who have successfully sold on Etsy for years are now not making enough revenue to even pay their bills, much less have enough money to pour back into maintaining their business.

A Resolution?

At this point, Etsy is firm on not admitting that any changes have been made to search, and whatever "drop in views" that people are experiencing can be attributed to poor SEO, bad photography, the weather, the election, etc. The excuses are endless, and are weak at best.

There is no telling if Etsy will remedy this. If they won't even admit that there is an issue, it's very unlikely that anything will change or improve for sellers.

If you want a super detailed breakdown of the search algorithm issue, I highly recommend reading this article from Sparrow Salvage.

So what can you do?

My personal suggestion is to sell your wares elsewhere. You can keep your Etsy site maintained (this is my current method), but apply for other venues.

Sell on Amazon Handmade if possible. The format is not nearly as user friendly as Etsy, but the possible traffic is worth the headache in my opinion.

Open your own website. There are many ways to do this, but you can work with Shopify, Wix, Weebly, or GoDaddy. These are just a few of the possible options.

Get on Social Media and find what works best for you. There are many social media tutorials that you can google, which will suggest and instruct the best way to interact with your customer base through social media. 

NOTE: When working with social media, be sure to NOT to advertise your Etsy shop. I would personally set up your own website, then work on directing traffic to that standalone site. Until Etsy can manage to fix whatever they have done, directing traffic to Etsy only benefits them and does nothing for you.

Sell at local craft fairs and festivals. A lot of Etsy sellers do outside selling on a regular basis. Before committing to a table fee/seller's fee, make sure that your location is within the realm of your target customer, otherwise you may not make the sales you desire.

Hope this article resonates with many of the struggling Etsy sellers. Remember, control is in your hands. Take your business and create a security blanket by selling on multiple platforms. Don't make the same mistake I did by relying on Etsy alone, even IF you are making amazing sales. 

Because when those sales stop, for whatever arbitrary reason, so does your income.

Be self reliant and stay positive!