Every wonder how much Etsy sellers make on the platform?
Are you artistic and interested in selling on Etsy but not sure if it’s the right choice for you?
In this article we’ll dive into how Etsy sellers make their money, what kind of profit margins they see, how much they make per month and we’ll quickly cover how you can start your your very own Etsy business.
So go make yourself some coffee (or tea…) and let’s get started!
How Etsy Sellers Make Money
The majority of Etsy sellers use the Etsy platform as a side-hustle to make some extra income on top of their day-job.
That being said, there are plenty of Etsy sellers that have successfully turned their side-hustle into a full-time business.
Etsy seller fees
Etsy doesn’t charge monthly fees like other platforms such as Amazon and Shopify, instead, Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee for each individual product.
Etsy will also take a 5% cut from every product you sell on the marketplace.
Unless you opt-out, Etsy may use off-platform advertising to promote your products, if someone ends up ordering through one of these advertisements within a 30-day period, they will take an additional 15% cut.
Etsy seller profit margin
It seems Etsy seller profit margins differ widely depending on how much competition their niche has, the average seller is reporting a 40% profit margin.
In an income report, handmadejourney revealed they make 70% profit on their Etsy revenue before taxes.
However, this seems to be the exception and some Etsy sellers on Reddit are saying their profit margins are closer to the 40% range.
Even more Etsy sellers are reporting ridiculous profit margins, just like this seller who made just $1500 profit from $25,000 revenue. If we have to believe them, that’s a mere 6% profit.
It seems the web is full of complaints about Etsy’s steep fees and the competitive pricing amongst sellers.
From this, we can conclude that only Etsy sellers that dominate small niches are able to maintain healthy profit margins and grow their business.
How Much Do Etsy Sellers Make?
The average Etsy seller makes $291 profit per month according to a study by smartmoneymamas.
Shops in their survey group make anywhere between $8.50 to $5000+ per month in revenue.
How To Start Selling on Etsy
Step 1: Find a niche
The first step towards opening an Etsy shop is to pick a niche. You’ll want to do thorough research as to how much competition each niche already has on Etsy.
For example, the ‘long distance relationship’ niche seems to be pretty saturated already, if you were to enter this market, you’d have to come up with some entirely new products.
Step 2: Find the perfect product(s)
Once you’ve established a niche you want to enter, you’ll need to come up with products you want to sell.
The majority of sellers will go to Etsy and copy products others are already making, this strategy is fine, as long as not hundreds of sellers are selling this exact product.
Ideally, you’ll only use Etsy to look up products in your niche and draw inspiration from them to come up with your very own.
Step 3: List your items
Once you’ve found a niche and products to fill the niche, you can start by listing your items.
If you’re in the arts and crafts space, you’ll have to make some sample products first so you can have product images to show off.
A listing should have multiple pictures, a good well-thought off title and a long description that targets niche-relevant keywords.
It’s very beneficial for Etsy sellers to know a thing or two about SEO as this will help them rank higher on Google and potentially outrank competitiors simply by leveraging this knowledge.
Step 4: Market your items
This step is optional, and a large majority of sellers will skip this entirely as they believe Etsy will simply bring in the results.
Sadly, this isn’t true as people won’t find your listing right away cause you won’t have positive reviews.
So in order to obtain positive reviews, you’ll have to do some marketing of your own.
You could start a blog within your niche, create an arts and crafts Youtube channel, share some of your products on social media like Instagram and Facebook and so on.
You can also lower your price at first in order to rack in your first couple of reviews. You’ll probably make a loss but no business starts off profitable right away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I live off Etsy?
There are plenty of sellers on Etsy that make a full-time living on the platform. That being said, the average seller is way below that point.
Niches on Etsy can be very saturated and competitive, you should do plenty of research before diving into it.
Is Etsy a good side hustle?
Etsy is only a good side hustle if you are able to sell something new on the platform. The majority of sellers focus on copying the competition and driving prices down thus making this a very saturated side hustle.
Is Selling on Etsy a Good Way to Make Money?
It seems that Etsy is far from the best place to make money online. The platform reportedly has very high fees and many of the niches are far too saturated with competitors driving the price down.
While some big fish seem to be doing really well, the majority of sellers are struggling hard to keep their head above water due to the low profit margins and competition amongst sellers.
Which makes sense, if you go to Etsy today and lookup a typical Etsy product like a long-distance relationship map or engraved jewelry, you’ll find hundreds of sellers selling the exact same thing, each competing in the price with the other.
In an article by HuffPost which interviewed big-time Etsy sellers, it instantly becomes clear that these people are anomalies and bring new things to the market or hop on markets that are expensive to enter in the first place.
Most Etsy sellers, however, are in the arts and crafts niche and try to sell something that everyone else is already selling.
From this, I can only conclude one thing: Etsy is only really profitable if you bring an entirely new product to the market.
And then you hope the other sellers don’t start copying your idea…