Etsy Update July 2024
Etsy just released an update on July 9, 2024 that goes over how the company will treat listings. There has always been some confusion about how listings work, but in the Etsy video from Josh Silverman, the Etsy update discusses some clarity on how things work. I will start off by saying that they have not changed anything that is allowed or removed anything from their list. You can check out the update here: Etsy Update July 2024
Let me start by saying that Etsy is a pretty big website to shop or sell. As sellers, we often times struggle to get in front of customers. My shop, Snappy Baby, has been struggling to get seen for years. I offer around 3,000 flannel fabric designs for sale that I have lovingly tracked down to help other crafters. The biggest problem is that the Etsy AI has been picking and choosing what people want to see. I have customers that constantly come to me and say they have been searching for the exact design they just purchased for years. The sad part is that I have had that design listed for years! I don’t remove old designs at all, so it’s the Etsy algorithm that shows customers what they are seeing. It shouldn’t take them years to find the exact design they finally found in my shop!
Overview of Etsy Update July 2024
Basically, they Etsy update covers how they will classify products, to help people better understand where they are coming from. That sounds confusing, but they will basically label a product as “Made by”, “Designed by”, “Handpicked”, or “Sourced By” the shop name. My flannel fabric products are now labeled “Sourced by SnappyBaby” while my digital items are labeled “Designed by CraftyCrisiDigital“.
I am not sure how my specific items are going to be affected by this change, but there have been a few times that my flannel fabric has been though of my a customer as my own manufactured item. Trust me when I say that I wish every day that I could produce my own flannel fabric! It would be great to be able to produce small batches of various flannel designs. It’s just not a digital process type of product, or I would be all over that!
The update about how the products will be “labeled” was the biggest part of the Etsy Update July 2024 message. The second biggest part was their investment into sellers. Josh Silverman stated that there will be marketing targeted at sellers on Etsy. Physical billboards that show real sellers on Etsy. I really don’t know how they can accomplish that, but I’ve always felt the marketing for Etsy was lacking tremendously. Why should a handful of specific shops be showcased but thousands of others struggle to get seen?
There has always been a resource for learning about Etsy, but Josh Silverman made sure to mention the new resources for sellers, too. Etsy Up was started a while back to give sellers more information about selling on Etsy. This has not been used recently, but it is being started again starting September 10.
What Do Sellers Need to Do Now?
I don’t think sellers really have to do anything at all at this point. As long as all of your listings are legitimate on Etsy, then their system should automatically label them. However, if you think your listings are not correctly labeled, then go in and change them!
With any new implementation on Etsy, be prepared for a slowdown for at least a day or two. Every single time there is something new on Etsy, buying becomes hard. Things will not work in some way, so many shops end up having a slowdown. My shop is no exception. I take the time during a slowdown to evaluate where I can “catch up”. For instance, I had over 100 new designs of flannel fabric arrive in the past month that I have not had time to finish going over. So, I can try to catch up on some of that for now! You can also take the opportunity to change up your listings, add new photos, or research new keywords for your listings.
Just Getting Started on Etsy?
Don’t worry if you’re just getting started on Etsy! The announcement is designed to give hope to Etsy sellers. Remember that if you do not currently have a shop on Etsy, you can get 40 Free Listings to try selling! Etsy is still a strong place to sell. We just have to figure out a way to get people to see our listings! I still meet people that have never heard of Etsy before, so there is a lot of room for marketing growth.