Advantages and disadvantages of starting a business on Etsy

Etsy is the largest and most well-known platform for selling handmade products, but recently they have expanded the options to also sell homemade and only partially made products. Etsy is my opinion the best choice, regarding where to start your small business, even though it is not absolutely perfect. So I've made a little list of pros and cons of selling on Etsy.

Advantages of Etsy 👍

• Search bar

  Thanks to search bar is an Etsy shop more efficient to start running than Ko-fi or your own website. If you don't already have an audience and fans interested in your products, Etsy can take care of that a bit. There's a good chance people will find your shop and check out your store, if you put relevant, clear and brief words in the title of your products, as well as keyword of games, movies, etc. the product is inspired by. If they save your store to their favorites, they will get notifications each time you add a new product, give discounts, or if something is almost sold out. 

  
  

• Customer reviews

  If buyers love your products, they'll definitely let you know through reviews. This can significantly influence future customers as well, because positive reviews will add to your credibility and also let possible buyers know that your products are great. If you'd like to help increase the likelihood of a customer rating your product, it's definitely a good idea to add a thank you card to each order with a request of leaving a review on your Etsy.

  
  

• System

  Etsy has a clear system of orders, messages and payments. There is no need to deal with payment gateways, unlike if you had your own website. Thanks to Etsy the customer will order in a well arranged way. They will also know the estimated delivery time and the system will show you the due date when the shipment needs to be sent. You don't need to text your customers via emails, Etsy has its own chat, where you can also handle custom orders or answer customer questions. 

  
  

• Etsy is a helper

  There are many ways Etsy helps sellers to make their life a bit easier. If you need paid advertising, Etsy offers sellers many ways to pay for visibility on their platform to get more sales. If you have a problem with customers due to lost shipments, order refunds, etc. you will at all times have the Etsy support system available to help you resolve such situations. 

Disadvantages of Etsy 👎

• Fees

  Etsy, like every platform, charges fees for selling your products there, however, the amount of fees can put many aspiring creators off. Etsy takes fees for every new listing, every payment, currency conversion and so on. The percentages are small, but when added up you can sometimes get up to 20% of the price of your product. Therefore you need to set your product prices really well to make profit at all times. 

  
  

From my point of view: I by myself have had my shop on Etsy for almost 2 years now and despite having a functional website, I don't plan on leaving Etsy only cause of the fees. Yes, it's annoying to lose some of the profit, but I know Etsy can still get me new customers.

• Suspension

  If you for example don't ship orders on time, Etsy may withhold your money for up to 90 days. This can really cause a lot of damage if you for instance need the money for material and such. However, as long as you manage to send all orders within the time of shipment you set yourself, there shouldn't be any problem. 

  
  

• Etsy is very strict

  Etsy is very strict on beginner sellers, mainly because they want to protect buyers from theft and scams. For this reason in the beginning, you will only get your money from sales 14 days after the payment. The more sales you have, and are a non-problematic seller, the more number of days decreases - Up until getting money 1 day after the payment.