The Library
Craft notes for the work.
Plain-English pieces on Etsy SEO, fees, pricing and building a warm audience that's yours. Some are open to everyone; members get the rest.
- 11 August 2026
I emailed my list and nobody bought. What went wrong?
Usually nothing you did on the day. I sent one email to 100 people and got 1 click, and the problem had been decided weeks before I ever hit send.
- 8 August 2026
What should I put on my digital download delivery page?
The page at the end of your download link is the one part of the sale Etsy doesn't own. I bought 14 digital products to see what makers were doing with it.
- 8 August 2026
Why am I not making any money on Etsy?
Busy is not the same as paid. The backwards sum that shows what your shop really pays you an hour, and how I fixed mine without ever touching the price.
- 1 August 2026
How do I compete with AI and dropshipping on Etsy?
You won't out-list the machines, so stop competing on volume and price and compete on the one thing they cannot fake. What actually works for a real maker.
- 31 July 2026
How do I deal with a bad review on Etsy?
Wait 24 hours, reply once, publicly and warmly, and write it for the future buyers who read it. What a bad review can and can't do to your shop.
- 31 July 2026
I know I need to market my shop, so why can't I make myself do it?
Because the version of marketing you've been sold never ends, and nobody can sustain work with no finish line. Marketing with a date on it is a different job.
- 31 July 2026
Why can't I stop checking my Etsy stats?
Because checking is the only lever Etsy gives you. Why the refreshing happens, why it's worst when things are quiet, and the one stat worth your time.
- 31 July 2026
Why didn't I sell anything at my craft fair?
Mostly it comes down to who happened to walk past your table. What really decides a fair, and why the makers who sell out started before the day.
- 31 July 2026
How do I price a custom order?
Start from your normal price, then add for everything custom costs on top: the messages, the sourcing, the sample, the risk. Being chosen is not a discount.
- 31 July 2026
How do I deal with a difficult customer on Etsy?
Decide what ending you want before you reply. Nearly every difficult message is one of 5 things, and most are cheaper to solve than to argue with.
- 31 July 2026
Should I sell digital products as a maker?
Probably, but not for the passive income promise. What a digital product actually fixes for a maker, what it doesn't, and my honest numbers from selling one.
- 31 July 2026
What should I write in my Etsy listing description?
Answer every question a buyer would ask if she could tap you on the shoulder, starting with the 2 lines that show before anyone taps read more.
- 31 July 2026
Are Etsy Offsite Ads worth it?
Sometimes, and the only honest way to know is maths on a real order. What the fee actually leaves you, and which of your sales carry no ad fee at all.
- 31 July 2026
Why have my Etsy sales suddenly dropped?
Usually nothing you did. The real causes of a sudden Etsy drop, why none of them are levers you hold, and what to do with a quiet fortnight.
- 31 July 2026
What do I do if Etsy suspends my shop?
Read the notice properly, appeal once through the official route with evidence attached, and don't open a second shop. The first hour, calmly, in order.
- 31 July 2026
Should I use Etsy vacation mode when I go on holiday?
Mostly no. Vacation mode closes your shop and costs you momentum you spent months building. Extend your dispatch times instead and come home to orders.
- 31 July 2026
Why am I getting views on Etsy but no sales?
Because a view is a stranger comparing you against a screen full of shops. The honest listing checks, and the warmth lever that actually moves sales.
- 31 July 2026
How do I get my first sale on Etsy?
Almost nobody's first sale comes from a stranger in search. It comes from a person, and you already know some people. What to do while you wait.
- 31 July 2026
Should I offer free shipping on Etsy?
Free shipping means the postage comes out of your price, so the real question is whether your price can carry it. Let's do the honest sums on that.
- 31 July 2026
How do I find out how my Etsy customers found me?
Etsy's stats will tell you more than most sellers ever open, and I'll walk you through it, the honest limits, and the one move that beats any dashboard.
- 31 July 2026
How many products should I launch at once?
Fewer than you think. 4 to 8 pieces that belong to one idea, and the real ceiling is what you can photograph, list, pack and post, not what you can make.
- 31 July 2026
How do I price my handmade products?
Start from what the piece genuinely sells for and work backwards, not up from your materials. Adding up costs is how makers end up paying themselves nothing.
- 31 July 2026
How do I get more reviews on Etsy?
Ask when the parcel opens, not days later when Etsy's nudge lands. And what your happiest customer could give you that's worth more than the 5 stars.
- 31 July 2026
How do I take good product photos at home?
Daylight from a window, the phone in your pocket and a sheet of white card. Most of what makes a product photo work at home is free, here's all of it.
- 31 July 2026
How do I raise my prices without losing customers?
Give people notice, raise new work first, and don't apologise for it. You will lose a few, and they're usually the ones costing you the most anyway.
- 31 July 2026
How do I sell handmade on Instagram?
Instagram is brilliant at people meeting you and quite bad at telling them when something is for sale. Use it for the first job, and move the second.
- 31 July 2026
What do I do if someone copies my designs?
Report the direct copies, act fast on stolen photos, skip the public pile-on, and lean on the one thing about your work a copycat can never relist.
- 31 July 2026
How do I know if my product will sell before I make it?
You find out by asking people to commit before it exists. What counts as real interest, and the shelf of fabric that taught me the difference.
- 31 July 2026
When should I start my Christmas collection?
Thursday 17 September 2026, and there's real maths behind it. Start then and you launch on 1 November with the whole of Christmas still ahead of you.
- 31 July 2026
Should I sell wholesale as a maker?
Only if your price can survive being halved and your process can survive repetition. The wholesale maths, what shops expect, and when no is the right answer.
- 22 July 2026
How do I get repeat customers on Etsy?
Mostly you can't, and Etsy built it that way. Your buyers would happily come back, they just need a way to hear from you that you actually own.
- 21 July 2026
Do I actually need an email list as a maker?
Yes, and sooner than you think. The list is the only audience you own outright, and it quietly outsells followers.
- 21 July 2026
How do I sell handmade without Etsy?
You can keep the shop. The trap is depending on it, and the way out is an email list you launch to.
- 13 July 2026
Should I price lower than my competitors?
Why going in under everyone else feels like the safe move, what a sell-out in an hour actually costs you, and the question to ask before you set the number.
- 25 June 2026
Why am I getting no views on Etsy?
The real reason your listings stall, and the three things to fix before you touch anything else.
- 24 June 2026
More listings won’t increase your sales. So what will?
The listing lie that keeps good makers stuck at the same number, and the shift that actually moves it.
- 23 June 2026
Do Etsy listings expire, and should I renew early to rank?
The renew-to-climb myth, what actually happens when a listing renews, and where to put that energy instead.
- 22 June 2026Members
Etsy fees in 2026, all of them, plainly
Listing, transaction, payment processing, the regulatory operating fee, Offsite Ads and the 20% VAT on Etsy's own fees that nobody counts. What Etsy really takes, and why it bites hardest on cheap items.
- 21 June 2026Members
A warm hundred beats a cold ten thousand
Why the follower count you're jealous of isn't paying anyone's bills, and the maths of a small list that actually shows up.
- 20 June 2026Members
Should I open a second Etsy shop?
When a second shop genuinely helps, when it just splits your effort in half, and the question to ask before you do it.