Bye Bye Etsy.......I am truly sad to leave.
It's heartbreaking but obviously clear that Etsy has lost it's way.
I've had a small shop on Etsy for a few years - with few sales. I'll accept responsibility for the sales part, as my focus had always been on creating unique handcrafted products.
Build It and They Will Come..........I don't think so!
I was completely oblivious to what was happening around me on the Etsy platform.
So then I took a stroll and it's not pretty!
I got caught up with the POD frenzy on Etsy - it was a mind blowing experience! I didn't even realize this was a "thing" on Etsy. I thought the platform was still supporting handcrafted sellers and the vintage market. Just goes to show that I wasn't paying attention to changes on the platform.
Aggressive competition is an understatement.
Every single seller is trying to one-up the next seller.
On price. On design. On mock-ups. On SEO.
#1 The million dollar accounts have it all sewn up. There is absolutely no way to compete unless you take a loss on every single item you sell. They have premium accounts with the POD suppliers who then provide discounted wholesale prices and then these sellers can offer the lowest prices on their products.
#2 Then these million dollar accounts sell their designs as a digital download and along comes a new seller who buys the design........and the next thing you know, there are 1000 people selling the same design. Meanwhile the original seller is raking in the bucks on the digital download!
#3 Then the million dollar accounts create a youtube account and get affiliate commissions on all the programs they use to design, get mock-ups, traffic, trends............etc.!
#4 Then the million dollar accounts create "their plan" of how they built their etsy store at an astronomical price of $3,500 today only!
I watched every youtube video I could find on how to jump into this mess.
I need to create an income working from home, so I have no choice but to put the work in. Don't get me wrong, most of the million dollar sellers do provide tidbits here and there to continuously string you along. So you will buy their product, so you will click on their affiliate links. The truth is that I did indeed learn quite a bit from the tid-bits and I'm thankful.
The day I became totally disgusted!
I was following a few youtube accounts, watching old vids and new, learning everything I could. One of the sellers that I genuinely felt was sincere BLEW it! She was actually doing a comparison of products she received from Printify and Printful. She did reveal that she exclusively used printify and be sure to click on the link below the video for your discount!
She went through the differences between these POD companies and of course Printify was always her preferred choice. But then she compared the actual printed image on a sweatshirt- the same image was used on both samples.
Printful was CLEARLY the better product! This seller even said so........but still she said that overall she would go with Printify.......what? mic drop.........
Wearing my customer hat, this really rubbed me the wrong way. I want a quality product!
and what I think is truly funny........
Printify is NOT a printing company. They are a middle man for several printing companies!
Printful is a printer! When you create a design that has colorful graphics, Printful actually prints a layer of white and then the colored image over the white - you bet this makes a huge difference in the quality and vibrancy of color and the life of the product.
All the while I was going through this learning experience I was purchasing from a few sellers on etsy to see the quality for myself. I was also very curious about the "comfort color" product; the soft, vintage type material.
So..........what I learned is that you must really, really read between the lines on these listings! Holy Moly....one seller I ordered from MADE it look like they were a US seller. So I thought, until I got notice of a DHL from China............ok, what?
Another seller didn't really say how they "made their shirts". They used the lingo of all the other sellers that were clearly drop shipping from either Printify or Printful, so I assumed they were too! To be honest I never realized how picky I was when it came to t-shirts. I must have viewed a 1000 shirts! I liked the message on the one I purchased and it was the comfort color material.
Wasn't I surprised when I received this item and realized it was a "heat press" made from home! I did go back and read their info and they clearly do not reveal this info - they just don't say one way or another. I have seen this done on many listings. I was very happy with the material and the graphic was good too, but I simply don't see this shirt lasting a long time.
By the way it took 2 weeks to receive these two shirts. That was pretty disappointing.
On to new adventures..........
To Clarify.......
Million Dollar Etsy sellers are the wayshowers. They worked their butts off to get where they are. They created the path that newbies now walk. They were on the cutting edge of POD when it kicked off on Etsy. I don't deny their achievements in any way.
But after delving deep into this process, it's clear that it's close to impossible for a newbie to compete. It's the same with KDP and low content books, newbies just can't compete in a saturated market. Unless of course you have millions to spend on ads, then I'm sure you could sell a t-shirt or coloring book. smh
