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I stop drinking coffee for my gut health

I just looked in integrations and alura isn't in there

I have a vintage items shop and very few could be shipped for under $6. I live on the East Coast and the majority of my sales go to the West Coast. I can't stay with Etsy much longer as they continue to find more "DINGS" for sellers! I am already penalized for not offering free shipping - can't do that when each item different going to different destinations. They take all the joy out of being a shop owner.

We will not let Etsy determine our pricing on anything. A sound business will not let Etsy dictate to them how to run their shops. Sellers who are handmade on Etsy cannot afford to listen to Etsy about pricing as they will always take a loss. It is better to market your own shop outside of Etsy to bring buyers in. Which then brings you to the question, why use Etsy? One reason is that some customers are more willing to buy your item on Etsy than on your website if they don't know you. You can also sell on Amazon and EBay. Those who are drop shippers selling on Etsy generally do all three. However, the market is flooded with duplicate drop shippers driving customer prices down as well as profits as items have a max sell price that customers are willing to pay. Print on demand items also are not profitable after all is said and done. Unfortunately, many of those companies copy or duplicate artwork and then set up shops to compete against you in the same market place. Something to be aware of is that with every change that Etsy has made since 2017, sales have dropped 50% with each change. Does that mean the item is no longer selling? No. The items were priced right for the market, and were worth the time and effort. The changes in increased fees and costs, lack of viability on Etsy, i.e., Etsy no longer allowing raw searches because it now controls what buyers see, takes what it wants for ppc rather than allowing shops to chose for themselves all lowering margins of profits has resulted in many once profitable shops closing up business on Etsy. Not to mention that Etsy now charges a new shop entrance fee. Stated by Etsy to help cut down on bad sellers. It doesn't cut down on drop sellers all selling the same items for less than a person can hand make them. Bottom line, wherever you sell you need to calculate your true costs including the time it takes you to make the item you wish to sell, if it is handmade, the competition and if the item will sell in the Etsy market or other market place. Ask yourself is it unique? Are people coming to Etsy or your market place looking for the items you wish to sell? How much competition is there and can you actually compete? There is a saying that goes back decades, always be testing. Test how much time you need to market your item yourself, how do you submit it to Google, Bing and other search engines so that it can be found. Etsy no longer does this, i.e., submits listings for google searches. Some items are window dressing, others may be your sellers. Keep in mind that on Etsy, there are web scrappers that scrap your shops information so others know which items or design are selling on Etsy that may bring you unwanted competition. As to Etsy's calculated shipping fees, there are many issues. Etsy under calculates or over calculates shipping. Testing show that an item of 5 oz small package cost between $5.50 to $7.80 to ship depending on the destination. Etsy is calculating $19.00 thus buyers are seeing inflated shipping fees. In addition, Etsy's calculated shipping was forcing shipping package sizing that is incorrect, registering an error on the listing dropping them in Etsy searches. We ran many test and reported the issue repeatedly to Etsy without any resolution and only a response that Etsy is working on this. In the mean time these issues were causing sales to drop. We changed to fixed shipping to stop the inflated overcharging of shipping through Etsy calculated shipping and sales increased. When we reported the issues to Etsy Etsy's solution to us was to move to fixed shipping. Shortly thereafter we get a message that we will need to have shipping fees of $6.00 or less or our listings will drop views for the upcoming holiday season. Well, the shipping fees must cover the entire costs of shipping, including the fees Etsy charges on top of the USPS or other postal service providers fees, else we work for nothing. So that doesn't work. We either need to increase the prices of the items and reduce the fixed shipping, which mingles fees and costs making it harder to break down and loses transparency, or we ignore Etsy and do the right thing and keep the fees and costs clean and easy to understand, i.e., product fees and costs separated from shipping fees and costs. If selling internationally, we are required to keep it clean and separated. This brings us to the fact that Etsy messages have to be closed on Etsy's end or you are blocked in following up with them on your concerns. Our Etsy message has been frozen since the beginning of July because the Etsy employee didn't close the communication and Etsy has not sent any email updates on the calculated shipping errors and system failures. This brings questions about Etsy actually caring about making Etsy better for the handmade seller. Messages should automatically close within 2 hours if there is no activity. If you are not aware, the shift at Etsy is to focus on gifts. That by all accounts is one of the top reasons people shop on Etsy. So far the statement that Etsy is going to focus more on the handmade isn't happening. Searches show "Etsy's Choice" on drop shipped items, not handmade. We think Etsy is trying to much to be like Amazon rather than forging a unique path in a specialty market, which is where Etsy got its start and reigned supreme. Once again this gets back to always be testing and you need to market your own items and not rely upon Etsy, Amazon or Ebay to make you money. By all means sell on them, but don't rely upon them to bring you customers. Study Marketing 101 and SEO best practices. Decide how much time and effort you are willing to put in to hit your goals. Then live within in what you are willing to do. Please be aware that on Etsy with forced marketing fees, Etsy is taking on average 30% in fees. With testing we were also able to isolate and determine, as of the date of this message, that to be seen on Etsy you need to put your items on sale for a minimum of 20% off. There are few exceptions to this. When you do, Etsy will market your shop on Pinterest and Google, which does increase sales, however, it also reduces your profits through forced marketing sales fees if you have ever sold over $10K in sales in a given year or have signed up for Etsy Marketing. Every sale we made when we tested this had forced marketing fees, even if that item was not on sale for 20% off. That is because Etsy track the views and it doesn't matter what they buy, the fee applies even if it is not the view of the item that brought them to your shop. This appears to also be true if Etsy puts a link at the bottom of another shops item page. If you are signed up for Etsy Marketing rather than force to pay these fees, you may or may not see similar results. Again we did isolated testing multiple times to confirm the results. Oft times it can be exciting to make a sale of $100.00 only to learn that you put in 6 hours of hard work only to receive a return of $10.00 or $1.66 per hour. Sometime the net was a -$150.00 as the post office destroyed the package and now requires the buyer to bring the damages item into the post office and file a claim. If the buyer throws out the package or doesn't take the package in to the post office, which most customers won't do, you can expect to take a loss or require that the customer file the insurance claim with the postal carrier and place a new order, which can make customer's angry and post a bad review. Please be aware that sending images of the damages from customers in for insurance claims so you can send out a replacement order doesn't work anymore. We have redone orders sent to Pennsylvania multiple times due to poor handling by the its postal workers. No other state just them. Not one of the insurance claims was honored by the post office because the customer didn't take the damaged package into them and the post office refused to accept the customer images of the damaged packages. Anyway, there are many things to think about. Do what you love! Look into local arts and crafts seller locations, join with family and friends to share the cost of the booth and make a day of fun as well. Years ago we had swap meets, which we miss as they were every weekend and you could leave things set up. Never put all of your eggs in one basket! Be educated, use wisdom and don't get caught in the snare of chasing the sale for the sake of the sale. Set your limits and live by them.

No one can sell on Etsy unless you submit to all their threats. Pathetic

If they make this kind of change to Canadian Sellers. I'm gone.

What person with a half a brain doesn't know that "free shipping" means the base price includes the shipping fee? Do we really believe that retailers can afford to absorb that cost, or would? Apparently some of us do 🙄

Thank you Ms Jen! This really is a mind opener, not just for me, and also for those unaware what caffeine can cause to our health. More power!

It’s horrible. It costs me $12-$15 for every item I have listed so far. So they expect me to eat that cost? Nope. I’ll have to move that cost over to the base price. I’ll probably include it all there and and have free shipping.

❤❤

Same here, don't like it either.

Thanks for going over all this. It seems like every time I think I'll finally open my shop, everything changes! 😮‍💨 I'm so on the fence about it.

No coffee 4 days, i feel reborn. I am so much calmer, before it was like i was stressed all the time, over nothing. It brings overthinking, adhd, anxiety, and on top of that bad sleep, going to the bathroom, waking up groggy. Also i dont have acid reflux anymore, feeling very shaky after drinking coffee on empty stomach , and very jittrery after the second. I wish ive done this long time ago. I would suggest to anyone to try 7 days without it and see how you feel. Sleep alone is worth it.

My business doesn't support us, and I have a ways to go before making enough for a trip, which is a main goal, BUT I had a death in my family and then my husband fell and broke his leg in three places...I definitely had to step back and out my business in hold BUT didn't have to ask permission!! Building a business is a challenge but I answer to myself!

Having such great results after only 6 days, I’m quitting all caffeine. Chocolate (will only have White from now on) Decaf contains caffeine. Gives me headaches. I feel like my life is about to begin ! I’m 63 !

Do you quit on drinking green tea too?

I honestly feel like there should be support groups for caffeine addicts.

I quit caffeine for a solid 3 weeks once and had amazing sleep. I would also feel naturally tired much earlier in the evening. I am on day 2 of trying to not drink coffee. Peppermint tea is my go to for caffeine free tea

This is a fabulous interview! So many good quotes and interesting stories. I love craft fairs and will be selling my handmade jewelry at a week-long agricultural fair in October. I am scrambling to make a decent amount of inventory and can’t imagine creating for a craft show with 20,000 people. The week-long fair is definitely my “choose your hard.”

Sending this to my VA ❤

Oh wow I had so many ahhhh moments in this video. Thank you so much, choose your hard, that just exploded in my brain. I am in a job where it is so hard for me to go to 3 days a week but I have been choosing that hard instead of choosing my business, my new hard is my business. ❤

Thank you so much for having me on your podcast, Jess! Chatting with other small business owners is always encouraging, with an instant understanding. Thank you for letting me ramble, clearly I’m very passionate about small businesses! 😂❤

Really enjoyed this interview. Found myself nodding and relating to much of what was talked about. I should have taken notes because there were so many great quoteables too! Guess i'll have to watch again! Thank you for sharing.

Enjoyed the interview! Hearing other peoples stories is so helpful.

Loved the interview. Great watching

Thanks for this video Jess! I agree that it's a tougher time right now, but it seems like that is just retail across the board! The world and people's buying habits are also changing rapidly so it's been interesting figuring out what works now and what does not. Parts of my business are down compared to my highest years, but others are growing!

To make a handmade business profitable will be very very tough for all the reasons you mentioned but I don't see it getting better anytime soon or if ever. Money will continue to be tight for the majority and the 20 percent of people making more than enough and can spend on whatever will have literally millions to choose from. It's a numbers game that handmade shops will lose. Sorry I'd love to be more optimistic.😥

Crazy because Etsy became what it is because of handmade

Herb tea is naturaly caffine free... ( the second i typed this u said herb tea ☠️)

thank you for this video ❤ I will be cutting caffeine.

Hi I don't know if you're aware, absolutely no one is talking about it but some people are reporting that the initial fee for Etsy is now $29 to set up shop. This shocked me.

Hello it is August 22, 2024 8:37 PM California time I have questions about reselling I see a lot of people on Etsy selling perfume body oils to be exact designer perfume Oils saying that they are made by them I tried selling my perfume body oils on Etsy and my listing was taking down I’m not sure what I did wrong because it’s a lot of people on there selling the same product and I’m not sure what I did wrong and Etsy wasn’t clear enough to me what I did wrong Is there anyway that I can talk to you personally maybe through email to get to the bottom of this because I’m really confused thank you

THANK YOU JESS AND NICK, YOU FINANCE PLAN IS VERY STRATEGIC, WELL THOUGHT OUT. GOD BLESS YOU BOTH FRIENDS FROM USA :)

To all of the anti-AI people commenting here: If AI art isn't 'real' art, then any piece of art made by a human with the use of a computer is not real either. Photoshop does a LOT of heavy lifting for artists, that includes adding elements that the artist didn't create themselves. There probably isn't a single piece of artwork in the modern era that hasn't been edited heavily using a computer. AI art is here to stay, there's too much money to be made. Stop gatekeeping creativity.

I don’t have that, but I’ll save this video just in case I ever feel like I’m a fraud or my life is meaningless

I get barometric migraines and when I drink caffeine regularly I don’t get them as much but I do crave quitting - ugh

Temu and Shein steal from handmade businesses too sadly. And yet people continue to support them like crazy.

Hello Jess! I’m stuck on the “verify your identity” step so that I can open my new shop! This is my first time on Etsy and I don’t have a business email that Persona asks for. How would you suggest I move forward? Get a domain? Get a business email? I can’t figure it out and the Etsy help team hasn’t been helpful in my emails with them so far. I will so appreciate any advice! Thank you!

I've been on Etsy since 2014. Last year started the decline in sales rather than growth, and this is my worst year in business ever. I agree with all the points you made. I also think that many of the people who started businesses during the pandemic (in hopes to make a quick buck like many people claim you can do on Etsy) will not stick with it. So I'm hoping some of the saturated market starts to decline as people close up shop. I'm fortunate to be able to stick with it during the slow sales since it is not my family's only source of income. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I've thought of closing up too because it's harder and harder to make a sale. I just love what I do, so I'm sticking with it for now.

Thank you Jess x

I'm about to start beading handmade jewelry on Etsy, and I'm excited 😊!! Thank you for your positive post !! 🙏👍😘

So helpful

I have been making Handmade goods since the 70's. My items have changed. I am an ADHD crafter person. I have lived through ups and downs. It will shift back.

Hello, I would like to ask is it normal if I charge USD4 for my country (Malaysia) but USD20 for international? Is not about the free shipping though.

Thank you so much for this video. I was thinking to talk about it in my channel. That what happening today with handmaid businesses. We cannot compete with China sellers pricewise. Yes, we can compete with quality, but many people tend to buy cheap staff from China. Also, once your design getting popular, you can see it in Temu or AliExpress in a week or two exactly same product, and they don't care about plagiarism. I think Etsy should stop letting China manufactures sell on Etsy. It was made as a handmaid platform, but now It's a platform for anyone, but local sellers. Thanks again.

Wow Jess - you summed it up perfectly- it’s my worst year ever, and I am also left wondering what the best move is. Online sales have tanked and in person as well. It’s really a tough time for so many people and Handmade businesses will continue to suffer. It’s a question of how long we can go before there is a lift in the economy.

Handmade jewellers should leave Etsy and set up specific sites where they work together in a collectives so they don’t have to compete with all the tat. What we need is a site wheee we can connect with other ppl to create local collectives and regions based websites.

I'm just getting started and intend to watch your videos on establishing an etsy shop, as mine never sells anything. One person who came to my home to buy mushroom impregnated logs looked at my wire/resin jewelry i just started making and declared it "totally sellable" ... ???

I’ve been on Etsy since 2012. Sales were always good. 2020 and 2021 were my most profitable years. It’s been downhill from there and it’s frustrating. No idea what to do right now.

I have just closed my knitting shop after 12 years on the high street. Completely due to lack of sales this year. Last year was slow - but still growing and busy - this year has just nosedived month after month. It was not the rent or the rates - or expenses - it was solely lack of footfall on the street - no one making for re-selling - no one sticking with one thing.